The Packer Pundit

By Packer Pundit / Patrick Stuckey
Who says Brett Favre doesn't like Domes... heck the 16 year vet has half our wins 'indoors' and against division rivals taboot! Coach McCarthy's coaching of Brett has really payed off. I mean what a difference from last year! Favre is more under control... not 'airing it out' as much (though teams still need to repect his ability there)... and... well... has been very fortunate in that not as many passes seem to be bouncing off of receivers hands and shoulder pads and helmets... for easy 'pop up' type picks for the defense. M&M's version of the West Coast Offense has been more 'high percentage' dink and donk of the 6-8 yard variety. Quite frankly... we don't have the horses (outside of Driver and Jennings when healthy) to go more vertical than that.

All week long we heard stories of the verbal wars between the Williams' (Vikings Defensive tackles) and the Packers O-Line and McCarthy... over the Packers's use of the cut block. In the end... the Packers used the run effectively... but beat the Vikings via the pass. Green's numbers were respectable... but our not being able to punch it in on short yardage and down at the goal line... caused Brett to complete short passes... most notable the touch to Noah Herron.

Have you noticed just how freakin' good AJ Hawk is??? I mean holy crap! He consistantly leads the team in tackles... he had 1 and 1/2 sacks... forced a fumble (on a helacious crunching hit) and he never leaves the field while the Packers are on Defense. What is even more noticible to me... is that when I peruse the Packer's picture galleries... AJ is in almost every 'group tackle' picture. Can you say... "Defensive Rookie of the Year?"

Favre overcomes own house of horrors
Associated Press
Brett Favre avoided those infamously big mistakes at the Metrodome, and - surprise, surprise - Green Bay emerged with a victory over struggling Minnesota. Favre threw two touchdown passes without a turnover and Donald Driver had 191 yards receiving, leading the Packers past the Vikings 23-17 on Sunday. Green Bay (4-5) was boosted by a strong pass rush, and Favre completed 24 of 42 passes for 347 yards and no interceptions. Brad Johnson went 18-for-30 for 257 yards, one touchdown and two turnovers for Minnesota, which lost its third straight game. Dave Rayner made three field goals, besting former Green Bay kicker Ryan Longwell, who only got a chance to kick one - a 34-yarder with 58 seconds left. The Vikings (4-5) had three first downs on that desperation drive, the only time they were able to move the chains after halftime without the help of a penalty. They recovered the onside kick, but Artose Pinner was whistled for offsides. -- More



Packers bounce back to beat Vikings, 23-17
By Todd korth / PackerReport.com
The Packers (4-5) moved into a tie for second place in the NFC North Division with the Vikings and snapped a three-game losing streak, including playoffs, against their arch-rivals to the west. Green Bay, which equaled its total number of victories in 2005, took advantage of two Vikings turnovers that led to 10 points. “I thought we played well in all three phases,” said Packers coach Mike McCarthy. “I thought the special teams won the field position battle. The defense was outstanding, especially in the second half, they gave us the short field for most of the second half, and on offense we generated points.” Brett Favre passed for 347 yards (24 of 42) and two touchdowns with no interceptions in his own House of Horrors. Veteran wide receiver Donald Driver had a career day, catching six passes for 191 yards and an 82-yard touchdown that gave the Packers a 17-14 halftime lead that they never relinquished. “I thought our pass protection was outstanding,” said McCarthy. “Brett had a lot of time back there today.” Despite out-playing the Bills in all facets seven days earlier, the Packers committed four turnovers and lost 24-10. Against Minnesota, the Packers dominated Minnesota’s pop-gun offense, especially in the second half, sending the Vikings to their third straight loss. Green Bay sacked Vikings quarterback Brad Johnson four times, and the Vikings were forced to punt five straight times before cornerback Patrick Dendy, who was burned on a couple of occasions earlier in the game, made his first career interception midway through the fourth quarter. -- More



Packers Bounce Back With Another Road Win
By Mike Spofford / Packers.com
Posted 11/12/2006
The Green Bay Packers continue to show their resiliency on the road. Back in Week 3 with an 0-2 record, they pulled together to win at NFC North Division rival Detroit. Then three weeks later, sitting at 1-4, they used their bye week to regroup for a much-needed victory at Miami. Now on Sunday, fresh off an ugly loss at Buffalo, the Packers got their season back on track once again by coming to their most hated road venue, Minnesota's Metrodome, and posting a 23-17 triumph over the rival Vikings that required turnover-free offense, active defense and a few strokes of good fortune. "This is a big win for us, especially here in this stadium where a lot of times we haven't been successful," linebacker Nick Barnett said. "We're leaving here with a win. We wanted to win last week, that was a heart-breaker for us, but we just have to continue this momentum." All the offensive momentum on Sunday was created by receiver Donald Driver and quarterback Brett Favre. The two connected on the game-turning touchdown play, an 82-yard catch-and-run on a slant pattern with 48 seconds left in the first half as the Packers reclaimed the lead at 17-14. That play capped a 97-yard drive for which the Packers took an aggressive approach despite being backed up near their own goal line with under 2 minutes left in the half. But the stars' performances went far beyond that one play. Driver finished with six catches for a career-high 191 yards, including 151 in the first half after his big reception just before intermission. He repeatedly beat the Minnesota defense over the middle and was the primary weapon with the ground game scuffling against the Vikings' tough front seven. -- More



Driver Has Career-Best Day
By Mike Spofford / Packers.com
Posted 11/12/2006
The Packers weren't likely to make their living running the ball against the league's No. 1 rush defense on Sunday. Donald Driver made sure they didn't have to. Driver turned in a monster day against Minnesota, catching six passes for a career-high 191 yards, including an 82-yard touchdown just before halftime that gave Green Bay the lead and the momentum for good in its 23-17 victory. "It's amazing how he's able to turn what should be 3-yard, 5-yard completions into 70-yard touchdowns," fullback William Henderson said. "And let's give him credit, because he's having that year where people should look at him for possibly Pro Bowl honors, and bigger honors than that." Driver is certainly making a case for that. He now has 56 catches for 771 yards and four touchdowns this season, but it's the way he comes through when his team needs him most that makes him so impressive. Driver looked unstoppable from the start, taking advantage of a Minnesota secondary without cornerback Fred Smoot, who was inactive after missing practice all week following his half-brother's death in a car accident. Driver converted three consecutive third downs on the Packers' first scoring drive with catches of 27, 22 and 20 yards that helped set up a chip shot field goal. -- More



Driver proves his worth
Receiver shows Vikings what they missed out on
By TOM SILVERSTEIN / journalsentinel.com
Posted: Nov. 12, 2006
Unfortunately for the Minnesota Vikings, wide receiver Donald Driver has a long memory. Ever since he made a visit to their Eden Prairie headquarters as a restricted free agent before the 2002 season, he has carried with him the desire to show the Vikings that they will know exactly what they missed out on when they chose not to sign him to an offer sheet and give up seventh-round compensation. "I guess I have something, I guess a grudge, against these guys," Driver said after making the Metrodome his personal playground Sunday. "I remember when I came over here as a restricted free agent on a visit and these guys said, 'Should we give up a seventh-round draft pick for you?' "Coach (Mike) Tice put me back on that plane and sent me home. After that, I just decided after that every time I play them I'd have a grudge for them." Pity the Vikings. -- More



When in doubt, throw it to Driver
82-yard TD highlights a career day
By Rob Demovsky
greenbaypressgazette.com
The Minnesota Vikings had the NFL's top-ranked rushing defense, but they didn't have an answer for Donald Driver. The Green Bay Packers receiver had the most productive game of his eight-year NFL career, burning the Vikings' suspect pass defense in a variety of ways. On the way to a career-best 191 receiving yards — which accounted for almost half of the Packers' 349 yards — Driver caught a back-breaking, 82-yard touchdown pass in the final minute of the first half. That wasn't the half of it. Driver caught five other passes, and in the third quarter he took an ill-advised lateral from receiver Greg Jennings and tacked on 30 more yards to a 12-yard completion to Jennings to help set up a field goal. Playing without their top cornerback, Fred Smoot, who left the team last week to attend his half-brother's funeral in Mississippi, the Vikings didn't have anyone who could stay with Driver. They tried some man-to-man coverage but more often played a variety of zones. None of it worked. "They left the middle of the field wide open," Driver said. "We took advantage of it early on. After that, we tried to pound the ball a little bit more." -- More



Favre right at home in Metrodome
By Jason Wilde / madison.com
Antoine Winfield is only in his third year with the Minnesota Vikings, so the cornerback doesn't know any better. He was in Buffalo for his first five NFL seasons, and in college at Ohio State before that, so he wasn't exactly paying attention while the Metrodome was serving as Brett Favre's personal house of horrors throughout most of the 1990s. So you'll have to excuse Winfield if what he saw from the Green Bay Packers' quarterback during the Packers' 23-17 victory over the Vikings Sunday felt like the norm. "It seems like he always gets hot in the Metrodome, ever since I've been here," Winfield said after Favre completed 24 of 42 passes for 347 yards, with two touchdowns, no interceptions and no sacks for a 100.0 passer rating. "He comes in here and lights it up." Actually, for most of Favre's career, he'd come in and stink it up. Before 2003, he'd won two of 11 starts, throwing 12 touchdown passes against 16 interceptions and carrying a 72.0 rating in the Twin Cities. But after his fourth straight virtuoso performance in this boisterous building - and third victory in those four games - Favre made it clear Sunday: He can still be The Man. "A lot of people say he's old, washed up. Nah," Winfield said. "That guy can throw the ball. You have to give his offensive line credit, (and) his receivers got open. But Brett's going to be Brett." -- More



Favre has a ball in the Metrodome
QB gets plenty of time to throw against Vikings
By MICHAEL HUNT / journalsentinel.com
Posted: Nov. 12, 2006
Brett Favre has had a number of memorable games in the Metrodome, both good and bad. Yet all things considered Sunday, Favre said he thought the Green Bay Packers' 23-17 victory against the Minnesota Vikings might have been "the best one we've had here." The Packers were coming off the loss at Buffalo, where they gave one away as Favre was involved in all four turnovers. With a week to reflect and correct, the Packers overwhelmed their divisional rival with 347 passing yards by Favre, who moved closer to Dan Marino's all-time record with two more touchdown passes. And he had no interceptions. The Packers went into the game with the plan to put the majority of their offense in Favre's hands because of Minnesota's league-leading run defense. The 37-year-old future Hall of Famer was more than up to the challenge with 42 attempts behind the best protection he has had in a long time. "Brett had a ton of time to throw," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "I thought Brett played very well today. When you throw 40-plus passes that's tough for a quarterback, but I thought he made clean decisions." And so it goes for the Packers. When Favre plays well, their chances of winning dramatically increase. -- More



Block issue comes to pass
Favre gets good protection
By TOM SILVERSTEIN / journalsentinel.com
Posted: Nov. 12, 2006

"We handled the assignment challenge great, I wish we could go back a week in time. I told our guys they could do it and we did it. No one probably gave us a lot of chances." -- Brett Favre

For all the banter there was between the two teams about the use of cut blocks going into Sunday, you could probably count on both hands the number of times the Green Bay Packers were able to execute them against the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings' outstanding tackle tandem of Pat Williams and Kevin Williams simply refused to be put on the ground, rendering the Packers' running game ineffective. What wasn't discussed much in the run-up to the game was the Packers' ability to protect quarterback Brett Favre, and almost nothing turned out to be more important in the team's 23-17 victory over their NFC North rivals. Despite facing excessive crowd noise and a defense that ranked 13th in sack percentage, the Packers protected Favre about as well as they have all season. He was not sacked once all day and on a number of occasions had time to wait for his receivers to clear into the open after making their initial breaks. It was a far cry from the way the line blocked the week before against Buffalo. -- More



Defense survives miscues
By Jason Wilde / madison.com
Watching nickelback Patrick Dendy being beaten for 35- and 40-yard bombs to Bethel Johnson brought back painful memories of Ahmad Carroll's early season follies. And watching Billy McMullen get behind a zone-playing Al Harris for a 40-yard touchdown felt like a rerun of last week, when Buffalo's Lee Evans did the same thing on a 43-yard touchdown. The difference Sunday, of course, was the Green Bay Packers survived it all. Survived it beautifully, actually, as the defense nearly pitched a second-half shutout in the Packers' 23-17 victory over the Minnesota Vikings at the Metrodome. "They really hung together," defensive coordinator Bob Sanders said. "Something bad happened, and we just kept playing. My hat goes off to the guys." The three aforementioned plays accounted for 115 of the Vikings' 312 yards and led to 14 of their 17 points. The most egregious mistake was on McMullen's touchdown, which came against a cover-2 zone defense in which Harris correctly covered McMullen short, expecting safety help behind him. The same thing happened against the Bills last week, when Harris let Evans go only to see him wide open after cornerback-turned-safety Charles Woodson had played the wrong coverage. This time, it was Nick Collins who took the blame, admitting he came up too far on the play. -- More



Packers' pass rush packs mighty punch
Vikings stop Kampman but can't slow LBs
By Dylan B. Tomlinson / Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers

"I just think over the last couple weeks, we are getting them more involved in our pressure packages. I think those guys are really finding their groove. Our pass rush has been excellent, and it seems to get better every week." -- Mike McCarthy

Nobody at the Metrodome on Sunday was more impressed with the Green Bay Packers' pass rush than Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brad Johnson. After being sacked four times in the Vikings' 23-17 loss, Johnson was quick to credit the Packers' defense as the primary reason why the Vikings' passing game struggled, especially in the second half. "They have a way of applying pressure that is almost as good as any team we've faced," Johnson said. "Green Bay is very, very good at what they do." Packers defensive tackle Corey Williams said the game plan was to get to Johnson as often as possible. "He kind of sits in the pocket and doesn't move much," Williams said. "He doesn't run very well, so we thought we'd have a good chance to get to him today." The Packers entered the game having forced 11 turnovers, fifth fewest in the league, but linebacker Brady Poppinga sacked Johnson and forced a first-quarter fumble that Williams recovered. Seven plays later, the Packers had a 10-0 lead after Brett Favre threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Noah Herron. In the Packers' first eight games, the majority of sacks and big plays by the defense had come from the defensive line, specifically Aaron Kampman and Williams. The Vikings did their best to keep them away from Johnson, but that didn't mean they were able to keep Johnson upright. -- More



Packers linebackers lead sack attack
Hawk, Barnett and Poppinga keep the pressure on Johnson
By BOB McGINN / journalsentinel.com
Posted: Nov. 12, 2006
They're young, they're restless and now they're being turned loose on opposing quarterbacks. Green Bay's mobile and increasingly hostile corps of linebackers sacked Minnesota quarterback Brad Johnson three times Sunday in the Packers' 23-17 victory at the Metrodome. "It's who we are, man," strong-side linebacker Brady Poppinga said. "We're aggressive guys that want to make plays. We're going to do what we can to get in on plays." The Packers entered the weekend with 27 sacks, trailing only San Diego (31) and Seattle (30). With 31 after Sunday, their total is just four fewer than all last season. Defensive end Aaron Kampman has been the pass-rushing constant. But defensive coordinator Bob Sanders has been blitzing more and more in recent weeks, including a whopping 62% the previous Sunday in Buffalo. The difference against the Vikings appeared to be simple. Johnson, 38, provided a fairly stationary target and the blitzers got home. -- More



Special play for receivers
By Nick Zizzo / madison.com
Donald Driver and Greg Jennings ran a play the Green Bay Packers' coaches have banned in practice. The way it worked Sunday afternoon against the Minnesota Vikings, maybe the staff ought to let the wide receivers do their thing. With 6 minutes, 11 seconds left in the third quarter of the Packers' 23-17 victory at the Metrodome, Jennings caught a 12-yard pass from Brett Favre and cut to the outside. As he was being dragged down, Jennings pitched the ball to Driver, who ran 30 yards to the Vikings' 15-yard line. A facemask penalty added 7 more yards and led to a Dave Rayner field goal. "We've done it a few times every practice, but they stopped us, telling us quit pitching and all that stuff because they wanted ball security, and we stopped it," Driver said. With a laugh, he added: "If anybody gets a fine, it's going to be Greg." The play also cost the Vikings a replay challenge when it was ruled Jennings' knee did not hit the turf before dumping the ball off. Jennings didn't hear Driver scream 'Pitch it' but did so on instincts. "I just knew he had outflanked the defenders and he had an opportunity to possibly score so I pitched it," said Jennings, who added the play was a one-time deal. -- More













Additional Game Stats -- Link







Tauscher's status uncertain
By Jason Wilde / madison.com
The Green Bay Packers were forced to use three rookies on the offensive line for the final 20 minutes Sunday, and the lineup could be featured for a while if right tackle Mark Tauscher's right groin injury proves as serious as it appeared. Although coach Mike McCarthy didn't have an update on Tauscher's condition following the Packers' 23-17 victory over the Minnesota Vikings, a team source said the lineman suffered a pulled groin with 4 minutes, 42 seconds left in the third quarter. In an interview with WITI-TV in Milwaukee, Tauscher wouldn't say what his injury was, but he did admit he tried to play through it for one play. On the play before Dave Rayner kicked a 24-yard field goal on fourth-and-goal from the Vikings' 6-yard line, Tauscher stayed down on one knee, then limped slowly off the field and up a tunnel that led directly to the Packers' locker room. On the next series, rookie Tony Moll took Tauscher's place, joining rookie guards Daryn Colledge and Jason Spitz on the line. -- More


Doing his part
Wide receiver Greg Jennings, who had re-injured the sprained right ankle that caused him to miss one game, played 28 snaps, working only in three-receiver sets. He finished with three catches for 38 yards, including a 12-yarder that turned into a 42-yard gain after he lateraled to Donald Driver. "I obviously wasn't 100 percent, but I felt like I could go out there and pretty much do it all. Sometimes you have to gut and grind things out," Jennings said. "This was one of those games I knew I didn't want to miss. "I'm not myself. I told (McCarthy), 'I don't want to hurt the team in any way,' and he doesn't feel I'm hurting the team by playing hurt. That's my biggest concern. If having me out there in certain situations is going to help the team, I'm going to do it."

Snap decision
One week after one of Scott Wells' shotgun snaps surprised quarterback Brett Favre and bounced off his facemask, the Packers used silent counts exclusively in shotgun situations. Their only false start penalty was on Colledge and didn't come on a silent count. "In a noisy environment, sometimes you think you hear something and you don't, and somtimes you don't hear something when you're supposed to. The silent count eliminates all that gray area," Wells said. "Obviously, today it was very effective."

Getting his kicks
Rayner admitted that after the last four Packers-Vikings games came down to last-second field goals - and after all the attention ex-Packers and current Vikings kicker Ryan Longwell got leading up to the game - he was hoping to kick a winner. Rayner didn't get that chance, but his two second-half field goals - a 24-yarder in the third quarter that doinked off the left upright before going through and a 29-yarder with 2:11 left that made it a two-score game - did provide the winning margin. "Yeah, I kind of wanted that game-winner, but I'll take a win 100 percent of the time," Rayner said. "In the end, it kind of did (come down to a field goal) with those two."

Bump, set, spike
With Jennings limited, Ruvell Martin started opposite Driver and played in two-receiver sets. He had three catches for 47 yards, including a 20-yarder on third-and-7 from the Minnesota 39 to set up Rayner's second field goal. After absorbing a wicked hit from linebacker E.J. Henderson on the catch, Martin spiked the ball - and was lucky not to draw a penalty. "It felt great - I'm sure you could tell by my reaction," Martin said. "I guess I kind of lost myself a little bit in the moment. (The coaches) weren't happy that I did it, but it wasn't like I was planning for weeks, 'If I catch a ball, I'm going to spike it.' I feel bad. I would never want to put my team in a situation where I could hurt it." Vikings coach Brad Childress threw the red replay challenge flag on the catch, but the call wasn't overturned.

Challenges costly
The Vikings used both of their replay challenges unsuccessfully in the second half, and the two lost timeouts proved costly at game's end. The first challenge came on Green Bay's 42-yard pass play on which Brett Favre hit Greg Jennings on a 12-yard crossing route, and then Jennings lateraled the ball to Donald Driver, who ran an additional 30 yards. The Vikings contended that Jennings' knee was down before he lateraled the ball, but the replay showed otherwise. The second challenge came in the fourth quarter on the Packers' final scoring drive, when Ruvell Martin snagged a 20-yard pass and took a big hit from linebacker E.J. Henderson. The Vikings thought Martin lost control of the ball on the way down, but once again the call was not reversed and Minnesota lost another timeout. That left the Vikings with just one timeout in the final two minutes while needing two scores to catch up. Upon kicking a field goal with 58 seconds left, the Vikings had no choice but to try an onside kick.

Funny bounce
The Packers nearly got a big turnover on special teams on the opening play of the fourth quarter. Jon Ryan's 57-yard punt was muffed by Minnesota's Mewelde Moore as he was drilled at the 9-yard line by Jarrett Bush. But as Bush powered through the hit, his leg swatted the loose ball backwards and out the back of the end zone, with no one having any realistic chance of recovering it. Originally, one official ruled the play a safety, but after a discussion amongst the crew it was ruled a touchback and Minnesota took over on the 20. Because Moore never established possession of the ball when he muffed the catch, the ball officially never changed hands and Packers couldn't be awarded a safety.

Extra points
The Vikings also were wrong on another replay review earlier in the game, when Childress unsuccessfully challenged Jennings' lateral to Driver. ... Favre's wife, Deanna, was at the game. ... Vikings safety Dwight Smith was benched for the first series for being late for a team meeting Saturday morning. Defensive end Ray Edwards was inactive for a disciplinary reason as well. ... Minnesota cornerback Fred Smoot remained in Mississippi and did not make it back from his half-brother's funeral. ... Sports Illustrated's Peter King reported during halftime of NBC's "Sunday Night Football" that McCarthy said he wants Favre to come back for one more year and believes the quarterback could play two more years at a very high level. ... Bubba Franks caught two passes after going without a reception the previous two games.

We're beginning to learn about McCarthy
By Pete Dougherty
General Manager Ted Thompson's hiring of Mike McCarthy as the Packers' coach in January was a shocker in many in NFL circles. McCarthy was far from a hot candidate. His six seasons as an offensive coordinator — five with New Orleans and one with San Francisco — yielded one playoff berth. That's not the kind of pedigree that generally lands a head-coaching job. All those opinions mean nothing. What mattered was, Thompson liked what he learned of McCarthy through his research, and then something clicked when they interviewed. There are many reasons for choosing a coach, but Thompson appeared to place a premium on communicating and working together with his coach. That rated high with Thompson after he'd worked closely with Mike Holmgren and Mike Sherman, both of whom carried the weight of losses heavily, though in different ways. The only thing that made Holmgren more moody than winning was losing; Sherman in defeat often retreated into himself. McCarthy, at least early in his career, appears more capable of letting go of defeats and treating players and the football staff consistently. Perhaps that will change with time, because he is, after all, in a honeymoon year with a rebuilding team. But whereas Holmgren and Sherman tried to give the impression of staying off the roller coaster, so far McCarthy actually has done it. The aim of this column isn't to judge whether McCarthy will be a successful coach — eight games into his first season hardly qualifies as enough time to know. Just look back to last year, when Nick Saban finished 9-7 in his first season as Miami's coach, a genius in the making. Now his Dolphins are 2-6, and McCarthy beat his team on Oct. 22. Circumstances change fast. What matters in evaluating McCarthy this season is whether there are signs of growth, from the first game to now, and more importantly, from now until the end of the season. -- More



Linebackers lead the hit parade
By Chris Havel
They say bad news travels fast. They also say bad news comes in threes. If they were talking about A.J. Hawk, Nick Barnett and Brady Poppinga, I would say they were right. The Green Bay Packers' linebackers are growing together and growing up. If they keep it up, their potential is unlimited. Hawk, Barnett and Poppinga were a terrific trio in the Packers' 23-17 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday at the Metrodome. They were the shock troops on a day when the Packers' defense chased the Vikings' Brad Johnson to Valhalla and back, or to Edina, at least. The Packers' linebackers forced as many fumbles against the Vikings – two -- as they did the entire 2005 season. They teamed up for 21 tackles, three sacks and two quarterback hits. They helped the Packers' defense pitch a shutout for eight straight possessions before Minnesota scored what proved to be a futile field goal. This is what General Manager Ted Thompson envisioned when he drafted Hawk with the fifth pick in April, and when he drafted Poppinga in the fourth round in 2005. Together with Barnett, a first-round pick in 2003, they are talented enough to make big plays and good enough to cover up bad plays. "When you have guys that can run and play (at linebacker), you don't have to do so much situational stuff for those guys," Thompson said. "Each one brings something a little different: Brady certainly has pass-rush skills. Hawk and Barnett have the ability to play all over the field and in coverage, so that helps us." -- More



Driver has the game but lacks the fame
By Mike Woods
Really couldn't tell you what's wrong with Donald Driver. Really couldn't tell you why, when they talk about the NFL's best receivers, he rarely gets a mention. Really couldn't tell you what he's lacking. Guy just shows up every week, makes a ton of plays, and goes home. Hardly anyone outside of America's Former Dairyland notices. Maybe that's it. He's a touch boring. Excellent, but boring. Take Sunday, for instance. He caught six balls for a career-high 191 yards, including an 82-yard touchdown reception just before the half that sparked the Packers to a 23-17 win. That effort put the Packers in the conversation for a wild-card playoff spot, but it remains just talk at this point. Yet, as the information seekers circled Driver at his locker in the aftermath, the truth is what Driver was wearing was more interesting — a tan pin-stripped suit with sunglasses — than anything that came out of his mouth. He took a pass on turning the spotlight on himself and wasn't interested in self-promotion. While everyone asks where the Packers would be without Brett Favre, you could ask the same about Driver. The answer is easy: In trouble. "The questions of doubt, how good we could possibly be, lacking that big-name receiver," fullback William Henderson said. "He's proven he is that big-name receiver." -- More

Meet Courtney
Houston Texans
Cheerleader

This is Courtney's second year on the squad. Besides being a Houston Texans Cheerleader, she is a graduate of the University of Houston with a degree in Dance and is pursuing a job in teaching dance at a high school. Her sign is Aries. Her most favorite part of the day is spent dancing. Her cereal of choice for breakfast is Mini Cinnamon Swirls, but her favorite meal includes anything from Mexican food, burgers and fries, and steaks, but absolutely no seafood. Ice cream as a dessert is always a must. Her favorite ice cream is Strawberries with Sweet Cream with a white chocolate dipped cone from Marble Slab. Courtney's favorite color is purple! The CD that never leaves her CD player in her car is Britney Spears Greatest Hits. Her five favorite songs are - "Not a girl, not yet a woman" by Britney Spears, "Held" by Natalie Grant, "Don’t Cha" by The Pussycat Dolls, "Sara Beth" by Rascal Flatts, and "Hold On" by Wilson Phillips. Courtney wishes that she could sing like her sister, the best singer in the world, just like an angel. Her favorite movie includes a list but the top three are "The Notebook", "Crossroads", and "Sweet Home Alabama". Her favorite TV show was and always will be "Friends". Courtney’s favorite Texans uniform is the blue skirt and blue top. She says she could not live without music because it makes a bad day good and good day great!

What I like about being a cheerleader is getting to know 32 amazingly talented, sweet, and gorgeous girls that all have the same goals and values and are the most wholesome, all-around American girls anywhere. A really great evening to her is spent teaching dance, working out, or practicing with the Texans Cheerleaders. My favorite thing to do outside of practice is to spend time with my family and boyfriend. The toughest thing about being a cheerleader to Courtney is managing time between work/school, family, and friends.