The Packer Pundit

3 things to watch in today's game
Story Jacked from greenbaypressgazette.com

1) Dendy on the spot
Not that there's ever a good time for such a change, but this is a tough week for the Packers to break in a new nickel defensive back, probably Patrick Dendy, after cutting Ahmad Carroll. The Rams have one of the best receiver pairs in the NFL with Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt, who though they are 33 and 30, respectively, remain quality players with big-play talent. Defensive coordinator Bob Sanders will do everything he can to keep starting cornerbacks Charles Woodson and Al Harris matched against them, but Rams coach Scott Linehan will do everything he can to get Bruce or Harris matched with Dendy whenever possible. Plus, the Rams' No. 3 receiver, Kevin Curtis, is a speedster who could burn Dendy for a big play or two if the second-year pro isn't ready for his prime-time assignment. The Packers' secondary has been giving up big plays all year, and the Rams have the receivers to torch it a fifth straight week if Sanders can't shore up the communications, techniques and assignments in the secondary.

2)Change of Pace?
Rams left tackle Orlando Pace missed last week's game because of a concussion and is listed as questionable for today. He practiced Thursday and Friday, which suggests he'll probably be available. His backup is 35-year-old Todd Steussie, the former Vikings left tackle who's lost too much mobility for the position and belongs at guard, where he's started two games this season. If Pace can't go, that opens the door for defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila to have a big day against Steussie pressuring quarterback Marc Bulger, which could affect the Rams' passing game. If Pace plays, KGB's chances of making much of an impact as a rusher decline dramatically.

3)Trouble on offense
The biggest issue with the Packers' offense is whether Donald Driver, their best receiver, will be able to play through a side and hip injury. He missed practice Friday for further tests because of persistent discomfort in his side, so the matter is in doubt. Without him, quarterback Brett Favre could be in rough shape. Even with him, will this be the game the Packers sustain a running game? It's been the bane of their offense. Ahman Green is back from his hamstring injury and will start, and last week against Philadelphia, the Packers found out s backup Vernand Morency brings some quickness to their cut-back run game, though he lacks Green's power. The problem is, Morency played a major role in a huge turnover by botching a handoff from quarterback Brett Favre deep in Packers territory, and failing to catch a pass from Favre that turned into an interception. Morency rushed for 99 yards last week against Philadelphia, but as his 3.8-yard average suggests, the Packers aren't gashing anyone on the ground. Considering the state of their offensive line, with two rookies starting at guard in Daryn Colledge and Jason Spitz, the Packers need to run the ball better to give Favre much of a chance in the passing game. St. Louis ranks 22nd in the NFL in rushing yards allowed and 24th in yards allowed per carry, so maybe this will be the game in which the zone-blocking scheme gains some traction. -- Story






Favre's sore, but he'll start
Rodgers gets more work in practice
than he usually does
By Pete Dougherty
greenbaypressgazette.com
Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre did limited work in team drills on Friday but will make his 226th consecutive regular-season start on Sunday against the St. Louis Rams at Lambeau Field. Favre injured his head and a nerve in his neck and shoulder late in the Packers' loss at Philadelphia on Monday. He sat out Wednesday's practice except for light throwing in the team's walk-through drills, then took part in some team work on Thursday and Friday. "(Favre) took his share of reps," coach Mike McCarthy said Friday. "We worked (backup) Aaron (Rodgers) a little more. Brett took the things more situation-specific that he needed to hit as we went through red zone, third down, things like that. But Aaron Rodgers got some work." McCarthy listed Favre on the official injury report as probable, meaning he almost certainly will play as usual. Favre had soreness in his neck on Wednesday that prevented him from turning his head as far as normal. He still had some pain there on Friday. "You're dealing with nerves. You never know how long it's going to last," McCarthy said. -- More




Green likely to play against the Rams
By Pete Dougherty
greenbaypressgazette.com
Ahman Green should return as the Green Bay Packers' starting halfback for Sunday's game against the St. Louis Rams at Lambeau Field. He missed practices on Wednesday and Thursday because of a sore hamstring but participated in team work on Friday and is expected to play. He's listed as questionable, meaning he has a 50-50 chance of playing. Green has had trouble with both hamstrings after carrying a major load in the Packers' offense in the early part of the season He had 75 carries and receptions combined in the first three games after coming back from a torn-quadriceps tendon that ended his season last year. He missed Monday night's game in Philadelphia. Coach Mike McCarthy was unsure whether he overworked Green in the first three games. He said he'd like Green to average about 20 touches a game, rather than the 25 he's averaging. "It's communication on how he feels, and so forth," McCarthy said. "My experience, when individuals come back from major injuries, you kind of go through a period of some nagging injuries. His is a tight hamstring that takes a while to warm up and fatigues over the long run." -- More




Driver iffy for Sunday
Rib, hip injuries may sideline him
By Pete Dougherty
greenbaypressgazette.com
Continued discomfort in Donald Driver's injured side caused him to miss Friday's practice and leaves in doubt the availability of the Green Bay Packers' best receiver for Sunday's game against St. Louis at Lambeau Field. Driver injured his ribs and hip when he took a hard hit while trying to make a catch over the middle on Monday night against Philadelphia. He missed practice on Wednesday, returned for practice on Thursday but then was absent on Friday while undergoing further diagnostic tests. Coach Mike McCarthy said he hadn't received the results of the tests before meeting with reporters early Friday afternoon, but having Driver miss the last practice of the week to have medical tests isn't a good sign. The Packers appear concerned that Driver's discomfort could be a sign of an undetected internal injury or a more severe rib problem than has shown up on previous examinations. "That's why we had him tested," McCarthy said. Driver was listed on the Packers' official injury report as questionable, a 50-50 chance of playing. -- More






Offense seeks identity
By Jason Wilde / madison.com
Brett Favre was thinking out loud the other day, which often is when the Green Bay Packers quarterback is at his conversational best. As he worked through his team's offensive ups and downs so far this season in his mind - the Packers were shut out by Chicago in their opener, then put up 27 points in a loss to New Orleans and 31 in their lone victory of the season at Detroit before managing just nine points in Monday night's loss at Philadelphia - Favre was struck by one glaring fact:

After four games, the Packers still don't know who they are on offense. "At this point, we are struggling to find our identity offensively," Favre said. In fact, while Favre knows what the offense is based on - "This offense is more about dinking and dunking and being able to take it down the field with yards after the catch," he said - the combination of a new scheme and new, young players leaves him uncertain about what the group is capable of. -- More




Can't keep up with the pass
Sanders struggles to plug leaks in Packers' coverage
By Tom Silverstein / journalsentinel.com
When he was general manager of the Green Bay Packers, Ron Wolf used to say there were three areas of the staff he felt a head coach had to address with the very best assistant coaches possible.
One was the offensive line, one was special teams and the other was pass coverage. When he interviewed Mike Holmgren in 1992 for the Packers coaching position, Wolf spent a good part of his time quizzing Holmgren about those three areas, especially pass coverage, because he recognized where the professional game was going and how important it was in winning games. Holmgren had the San Francisco 49ers' Ray Rhodes lined up to be his defensive coordinator and retained Packers secondary coach Dick Jauron, giving him two former defensive backs and future head coaches to oversee the pass defense. In the years after Holmgren, Rhodes had Emmitt Thomas, and Mike Sherman had Ed Donatell, then Bob Slowik and finally highly respected Jim Bates as their coordinators. All four had assistant coaching background in the secondary and were well-versed in pass coverage. Donatell and Bates got the job done; Thomas and Slowik didn't. -- More






Mike McCarthy column:
First 15 gives players
Blueprint for success
(Note: This is actually a pretty good article by the coach)
When Bill Walsh brought the West Coast offense to the NFL, he also brought a new concept related to game planning and play calling known as the First 15 Play Script. It essentially was a set of plays Walsh would plan to begin the game with, depending on down-and-distance situation, to get his offense into a rhythm and get a look at how the defense was going to react to certain formations and schemes. Almost every coach running a version of the West Coast offense has continued to put together a First 15. Different coaches use it in different ways, and there's no one way to implement and execute it. So, I thought I could provide some insight into my philosophy behind the First 15 and how I go about putting it together for the Green Bay Packers' offense. First of all, I don't refer to it as the First 15 plays. I call it my First 15 thoughts. It's all about giving the players a starting point with the confidence and understanding to attack the opposing defense. Like anything you do in life, everybody wants to know, "What's the first thing I have to do?" It gives players a comfort level, knowing how the game is going to start. To me, that's the benefit of the First 15. It starts with putting together a package of plays in our base offense for the initial first downs, plus second downs of 1 to 7 yards to go. From there, it branches out into a list of first calls for certain situations — second-and- 8-plus to go, third-and-1 to -5, third-and-6 to -10, third-and- 11-plus. There are also initial calls for red-zone and goal-line situations. It's a thought process that goes on during the course of the week, and a lot the selections for the First 15 will depend on the practice repetitions on Wednesday and Thursday. Which plays do the players seem most comfortable with? Which have the best execution? All that factors in. All the coaches have some input during our game-planning phase early in the week. -- More




Timmerman fondly recalls his time here
He's started for Rams for 8 years
By Dylan B. Tomlinson
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers

"That may be my best memory of my time in Green Bay, having my first start in such a huge game like that. It was a special time there, there's no doubt about that." -- Adam Timmerman

Of the 22 starters who lined up for the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXI at the Louisiana Superdome on Jan. 26, 1997 only three are left in the NFL. Quarterback Brett Favre and fullback William Henderson are still with the Packers, never having left during the 10 years that have passed since that glorious season. Adam Timmerman is the other. He started at right guard for the Packers in the Super Bowl. A decade later, Timmerman is still starting at right guard, although he's been doing it for the St. Louis Rams for the last eight seasons. "In some ways, it doesn't seem like that long ago, but in many ways, it seems like a really long time ago," Timmerman said. "I guess it's a little surprising that there are only three of us left because there was a lot of talent on that team." After the Packers chose Timmerman in the seventh round of the 1995 draft, he unexpectedly became a starter during the 1995 playoffs after left guard Aaron Taylor injured a knee in the first-round win over the Atlanta Falcons. -- More






Philosophy, luck are needed for turnaround
By Pete Dougherty
The Thompson-McCarthy rebuilding project is slow the next couple of years, that's something to think about while observing Packers President John Jones when he takes the helm next summer of a franchise in the midst of its hardest times since the Lindy Infante era of the late 1980s and early '90s. This early in their tenures, there's no knowing whether Thompson and McCarthy will succeed — Thompson is in his second season, McCarthy his first. No doubt, they ultimately could fail, even badly. The odds are they won't succeed in a 32-team league where there's only one champion each year. That's why there's at least several coaching changes every year. But anyone who hasn't worked closely with Thompson and McCarthy and claims to know already that they'll fail is delusional. All they're really doing is playing the odds. Regardless, a lesson of the 1990s Rams is that without a philosophy, excellent scouting and some first-rate luck, this could just as easily be a long drought as a short one for the Packers. The Rams of the '90s, for instance, drafted high for years but got nowhere. From 1991 through 1996 they had five top-10 selections —Todd Lyght (No. 5 overall in '91), Sean Gilbert (No. 3 in '92), Jerome Bettis (No. 10 in '93), Kevin Carter (No. 6 in '95) and Lawrence Phillips (No. 6 in '96) — yet never won more than seven games. So what finally turned them around? First, they finally hit big on two high draft picks with tackle Orlando Pace at No. 1 overall in '97 and receiver Torry Holt at No. 6 overall in '99. Coach Dick Vermeil and Rams management also made a major philosophical commitment to building an overwhelming offense by trading for halfback Marshall Faulk in '99 to go with the drafting of Holt. -- More






Packers might have to use high draft pick for RB
By Rob Demovsky
greenbaypressgazette.com
Based on early returns, the Green Bay Packers don't know whether Ahman Green ever will be the running back he was less than two years ago, when he was coming off his fifth straight 1,000-yard season. Green, who last season ruptured a quadriceps tendon and had season-ending surgery on Oct. 25, has been bothered by hamstring injuries in both legs. It has cost him one game — he couldn't play in Monday night's loss at Philadelphia — and his status for today's game against the St. Louis Rams remains in question because he was limited in practice this past week. What's more, Green will turn 30 in February, is playing on a one-year, incentive-laden contract and has put together just one 100-yard rushing game in the last 23 months. "The thing with Ahman Green is, I don't know," Packers offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski said this week when asked about Green's future. "No one knows." The Packers got a spark against the Eagles from Vernand Morency, who was picked up last month from the Houston Texans in the Samkon Gado trade, but few in the organization believe Morency is the heir apparent at running back. With that in mind, the Packers may have to break from their recent history and spend a high draft pick on a running back, like all the other NFL teams have done in the last two decades. -- More






Colclough out for season with neck injury
Colts won't pay rest of Simon's salary
NFL commish visits L.A., Anaheim mayors
Panthers looking to stay fresh defensively







Meet Tirffany
Oakland Raiders Cheerleader


Tiffany is joining the Raiderettes for her third season. Currently a freelance make-up artist, Tiffany is also attending Diablo Valley College, where she is working to obtain her Associate of Arts degree. Her future goals are to become a real estate agent, attend culinary school and travel throughout Europe, Asia and the Caribbean.

Before becoming a Raiderette, Tiffany performed in the production Smokey Joe's Café at Diablo Valley College, and was encouraged to audition for the Raiderettes. She speaks Tagalog and some Spanish and has traveled with the Raiderettes to Japan and Korea to support Armed Forces Entertainment, a program which works with the U.S. military's Morale, Welfare and Entertainment programs. This busy lady also likes to participate in Latin and Salsa dancing, and is learning to expand her ability to speak Spanish.