The Packer Pundit

Getting outside
Like the rest of the team, kicker Dave Rayner and punter Jon Ryan practiced all week in the Hutson Center with the upcoming indoor game Sunday at the Metrodome. But both soon will start kicking periodically inside Lambeau Field to try to get used to the wind and cold weather the Packers likely will encounter during their three December home games. Winds have been known to swirl around inside the stadium bowl in the wintertime, making it difficult for kickers and punters to gauge. "What I've heard about here is it's a whole different level of cold and wet field and all that kind of stuff," Rayner said. "But I'm not that nervous about it. Obviously I'm going to make some changes with my footwear. "We're actually going to try to get out in the stadium I think once a week when it starts to get cold out here, just to hit some balls and get used to the wind."

Game on
One of the Packer players' favorite pastimes in the locker room is the game of backgammon, and they now have a new table on which to play. An exquisitely decorated stone granite backgammon table is now in the auxiliary locker room, adjacent to the main locker room. The table itself is the game board, bordered by etchings of the names of all the Packers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, team logos on all four corners, and small etchings of Lambeau Field on each half of the board. The game pieces all have the helmet of another NFL team on them as well. "It's nice. Fantastic," said center Scott Wells, who was playing on it Friday after practice against running back Arliss Beach. "It looks phenomenal, the way it incorporates all the tradition and rich history. It's such a nice gesture." The board was constructed and donated by Scott Carlson, owner of Marble Essence, Inc., in De Pere. Carlson said it took him about 120 work hours to construct, and he considered this one of the more elaborate projects he's undertaken. Offensive linemen Mark Tauscher and Chad Clifton played the first official game on the board late Thursday afternoon, when most of the locker room was empty.

Thompson likes team's direction
Ted Thompson had few complaints Friday when the subject of the Green Bay Packers' performance in the first half of the season was put to him. "I'm OK with it," said Thompson, the team's general manager. "I just think we all wish we had a few more wins. But I think week to week I've seen some improvement and I think our team is having fun playing the game." The Packers are 3-5 under new coach Mike McCarthy, two games better than at this point last season. It's also the same mid-season mark that Mike Holmgren opened with in 1992 and MikeSherman started with in 2000.

Run stuffer
Through eight games, the Packers' most effective defensive lineman against the run has been Ryan Pickett. Pickett has played 60.8% of the defensive snaps, or 326 in all. He has 41 tackles, an average of one tackle every 7.95 snaps. Next among defensive linemen is Jenkins with one tackle for every 9.31 snaps; Colin Cole, one every 9.77 snaps; Kampman, one every 9.94 snaps; Corey Williams, one every 11.91 snaps; Mike Montgomery, one every 12.08 snaps; and Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, one every 14.38 snaps. When the Packers decided not to re-sign Grady Jackson, Thompson targeted Pickett and signed him March 15 for $14 million over four years. "I think he's played very well," Thompson said. "He's got the ability to be in all kinds of traffic and know what's happening around him. He can feel pressure and know how to counter that pressure. He's big and strong and can play that way. He also has some lateral juice."

The big roar
For the better part of a decade, long snapper Rob Davis and Ragnar, the Vikings mascot, have been jawing and gesturing at each other during player introductions at the Metrodome. Ragner, whose real name is Joe Juranitch, comes roaring out of the tunnel on a motorcycle after the Packers are introduced and before the Vikings' names are called. He hits the brakes in the middle of the field, usually near the spot where Davis is trying to make a few last-minute snaps to the punter. "I'll be saying, 'Get your (expletive) out of here with that bike,' " Davis said. "He'll be lipping back, revving it up, blowing exhaust in my face, saying, 'Here, take that. Bend over and snap the ball now.' You're trying to blow him off. "It's all good. It has nothing to do with the game. Just a sidebar." In June, Juranitch and some friends drove from Minnesota to Green Bay and participated in the Cruise for Cancer bike rally founded by Jerry Parins, the Packers' security director. Parins has a friendship with Juranitch, whom he calls the NFL's greatest mascot.

Injury update
Cornerback Charles Woodson (questionable, knee) returned to practice Friday as expected and should be ready to play on Sunday, McCarthy said. Whether or not Woodson would return punts in addition to his defensive duties will be decided over the weekend. Receiver Greg Jennings (questionable, ankle) practiced but did not make it through the entire workout, and McCarthy said he would be a game-time decision after a morning workout on Sunday. "I just felt it was smart (to have him quit early)," McCarthy said. "I saw what I needed to see. He felt better than when he started, so we're just being smart. He did team (11-on-11) stuff. He just didn't do all of it." Defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins missed practice because of soreness with his ankle, the injury that forced him to miss two games before he returned last week. McCarthy said the rest was just precautionary and he expects Jenkins to play.






Packers Prepared For Noise
By Mike Spofford / Packers.com
Posted 11/10/2006
Like they do before every road game, the Packers practiced this week with crowd noise piped in for the offensive snaps. The team worked in the Hutson Center to simulate the environment at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, where the Packers play Sunday. This week the team continued to practice its silent count because of the excessive noise the Metrodome is noted for, and because a miscommunication with quarterback Brett Favre taking a shotgun snap without a silent count forced a costly turnover last week at Buffalo. "We feel like we're pretty good in the crowd situation and we like silent count," rookie left guard Daryn Colledge said. "Brett seems to actually like it better than a normal count. "For us it's just an adjustment. I know the Metrodome is going to be a little louder than it was out there (at practice), but hopefully we'll do what we can to keep them quiet." Green Bay's only indoor game thus far this season was in Week 3 at Detroit's Ford Field. But the noise was never really a factor, partly because there were numerous empty seats during that game, and because the Packers held the lead essentially from start to finish, taking the crowd out of it for much of the game. That would be the best formula at the Metrodome as well, but unable to count on that the Packers have done their best to prepare. "It will be louder than we've been exposed to all year, but we're ready for it," Head Coach Mike McCarthy said. -- Story



Verbal Cuts
Packers fire back at Vikings' criticism of
'cowardly' blocking technique
By BOB McGINN / journalsentinel.com
Posted: Nov. 10, 2006
The exchange of words between Minnesota and Green Bay continued Friday with the Packers defending the wholesale cut-blocking of their offensive line against charges of "cowardice" by the Vikings' defensive tackles. "All you can do is laugh it off," center Scott Wells said. "If they're talking about it, they're talking it for a reason. Obviously, it's a concern." On Thursday, nose tackle Pat Williams and defensive tackle Kevin Williams called the Packers "cowards" for blocking below the waist rather than keeping their feet and engaging them mano-a-mano. The Vikings were invited to respond to comments made by coach Mike McCarthy on Wednesday in which he saluted the Williams' as the finest pair of interior players that the Packers have encountered this season. "You can't single-block them," McCarthy said. "Frankly, we need to cut them all day." On Friday, McCarthy was asked if had ever been called a coward before. "I'm sure I've been called worse than that," McCarthy replied. "Hey, I gave an honest answer to a question in the press conference the other day. We have a lot of respect for their tackles. I really don't want to get into the he-said, she-said type things. "To me, that stuff is totally irrelevant to the football game. We play a certain way and they play a certain way. We try to put our players in the best situation to be successful, and that will be our plan Sunday."
-- More






D-Line Uses Depth,
Teamwork To Maintain Steady Impact
By Mike Spofford / Packers.com
posted 11/10/2006
Defensive end Aaron Kampman isn't exactly sure why the Packers' defensive line is playing as well as it is right now. "I don't know," he said. "I can't put my finger on it." The lack of a ready-made explanation from the NFL's sack leader is probably an indication of two things.

First, it's not as though the defensive line has come out of nowhere to make an impact lately. The unit has seen a boost in sacks in recent weeks but has been pretty steady all season long and seems to keep improving with each passing week, a progression that doesn't lend itself to obvious explanations.

Second, it could be a sign that much of the unit's success is due to chemistry and cohesion amongst the linemates, attributes that generally go unspoken and develop without the players saying or thinking much about them. "We've just been plugging away," defensive tackle Ryan Pickett said. "We're getting to know each other better and we're starting to work together better." As simple as that sounds, that's probably as good an explanation as any. With the way the Packers rotate defensive linemen throughout a game - Michael Montgomery regularly subs in at end for either Kampman or Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, while defensive tackles Pickett, Corey Williams, Colin Cole and Cullen Jenkins (who recently returned from an ankle injury) take their turns in the middle - learning each individual's tendencies becomes all the more important and can take a little longer than a group that plays the same four players every down. -- More






Green's solid play could give Packers tough decision
By Rob Demovsky
greenbaypressgazette.com
If Ahman Green keeps cranking out the yards like he has the last three weeks, the Green Bay Packers might have a difficult decision to make regarding his future. Green is working on a string of three-straight 100-plus yard games, has 561 rushing yards at the halfway point of the season and he missed consecutive games in Weeks 4 and 5 due to a hamstring injury. He returned to the Packers this season after signing a one-year, incentive-laden contract that included only a $500,000 signing bonus. That deal was done in March, when Green was only six months removed from a career-threatening quadriceps tendon injury that ended his 2005 season after only five games. There was no way to know then how Green would respond. He started the season slowly despite a 110-yard game in the regular-season opener against the Chicago Bears. A good chunk of those yards came in garbage time of the Packers' 26-0 loss. The next two games, Green rushed for only 42 and 63 yards before a hamstring injury that most believe was tied to his quadriceps tendon problem forced him to miss consecutive games against Philadelphia and St. Louis. When the Packers returned from their Oct. 15 bye and Green had three full weeks of rest, he began to look like the back who had five straight 1,000-plus yard seasons from 2000 to 2004. It was at that point when he began to run with some of the same burst and power he showed before the injury. If Green continues to produce at his current pace, he almost certainly will ask the Packers for a long-term contract with a multi-million dollar signing bonus. The problem is Green will turn 30 on Feb. 16, and teams don't often throw millions of dollars at aging running backs. -- More



Kampman on pace to set a Green Bay record
Defensive end leads the NFL in sacks
By ROB REISCHEL / Special to Packer Plus
Posted: Nov. 8, 2006
Aaron Kampman studies more film than almost anyone in the National Football League. But the Green Bay Packers defensive end apparently doesn't study record books. Kampman was asked recently whether he knew who held Green Bay's single-season sack record. Kampman, as studious as they come, didn't have the answer. "Was it Reggie (White)?" Kampman asked. "Something like 13?" Not quite. Since sacks became an official statistic in 1982, Tim Harris' 19½ in 1989 is the team record. But Harris - a mortgage broker in Freemont, Calif., today - should probably be looking over his shoulder. That's because the way Kampman is going, he could have the record by year's end. At the season's halfway point, Kampman leads the NFL with 9½ sacks, putting him on pace for a whopping 19 in 2006. Kampman has had at least a partial sack in seven of eight games and has already set a personal single-season high. "Right now, he's definitely our most valuable player on defense," said defensive tackle Ryan Pickett. "He makes calls, he's a leader up front. There's a lot of stuff on his shoulders and he's still playing well every week." Several NFL scouts - and even a teammate of Kampman's - raised their eyebrows when the Packers gave him a four-year, $21 million contract last winter that included $12 million in guaranteed money. To many, Kampman was simply a try-hard guy not worthy of a big contract. Right now, though, Kampman's undoubtedly one of the best bargains in the sport. -- More






Williams, Wells are turning into gems
By Chris Havel
Mike Sherman-the-GM's finest hour was his final hour. With the 179th pick overall in the 2004 NFL draft he selected Corey Williams, a defensive tackle from Arkansas State, in the sixth round. With the 251st pick overall he selected Scott Wells, a center from Tennessee, in the seventh round. Today, Wells and Williams join defensive end Aaron Kampman and middle linebacker Nick Barnett as the only Sherman-drafted players on the team. They also factor heavily into the future of the offensive and defensive lines' interior play. Wells received a five-year contract extension for his ability to understand, excel and lead in the zone-blocking scheme. Williams had his second multiple-sack game of the season when he sacked Buffalo's J.P. Losman three times on Sunday. That and a two-sack game at Detroit give him five sacks at the season's midpoint. What sets Williams and Wells apart from Najeh Davenport, Kenny Peterson, Ahmad Carroll, Donnell Washington and B.J. Sander is the ability to thrive under a new coaching staff. -- More



Halfway, and not half bad
By Mike Woods
So, here we are at halftime of the NFL season. The Packers are 3-5, and if an election were held today, Mike McCarthy would be voted village idiot and Brett Favre the bum of the month. Oh, and that Packers secondary? They'd be voted out of office. Probably in a landslide. Who thought a loss to the Buffalo Bills would have such ramifications? Then again, the Packers, with a league-high number of trainees (17), with four plebes in the starting lineup, are 3-5, just one success short of matching last year's victory total, a figure many believed they would not surpass this season. True, the Packers gave away a game they should have won Sunday. They not only continue to give the ball away — 17 times to rank 28th in the league — but at the worst possible times. They don't take the ball away enough, either. They're minus-six in the takeaway-giveaway department to rank 27th in the league. They continue to struggle with communication on defense, though they finally seem to have the ability to count to 11 mastered. Favre, who has been much better at taking care of the football this season, still will implode on you when you least expect it. Then again, you don't hear a lot of whining about the guard play or the play of the offensive line anymore. -- More





Meet Sara
Minnesota Vikings Cheerleader

Education or Profession:
Education: Student at the University of Minnesota studying Elementary Education

Professional or Future Goals:
Personal goals: To get married and have children
Career goals: To become a second grade teacher

Accomplishments:
Dancing in the 2000 Olympic Games in Australia.

Hobbies:
Sara enjoys being on the lakes, working out, cooking, and spending time with her friends and family.

Her experience as a Vikings Cheerleader:
Years on Team: 3

What are you looking forward to most this year as an MVC? Beating the Green Bay Packers and going to the Superbowl.
(Edit: Oh it's On Sara... it's On!
Just Bring it Girly)

Fun and Interesting Facts:
Hometown: Anoka, MN
Marital Status: Single
Children/Pets: Wants both!
Three words to describe self: Healthy, outgoing and confident
Place you would most like to visit: Fiji
Favorite Food: Anything from Panera
Favorite Vikings Player: Brad Johnson
Favorite part of practice: She enjoys being able to work out and practice with all of her friends on the team.
Fact that many people do not know about you: Sara has a little brother that is 20 years younger than her. She also gets acupuncture once a week.