The Packer Pundit

Ryan back at practice
after spending time with his father
Green Bay punter Jon Ryan returned to practice Thursday after spending Wednesday with his ailing father. Ryan's father, Bob, was diagnosed with terminal cancer in the fall. Although kicker Dave Rayner remarked at how well Ryan was holding up while he returned to work Thursday, it is clear the rest of the season could get even more difficult for the first-year punter. "He goes through this like a pro," Rayner said. "I wouldn't even want to be in his position, couldn't even handle that kind of stuff. Today, just being with him, I wouldn't even know there were problems at home." Rayner hasn't asked Ryan much about his father, not wanting to pry or make him feel uncomfortable, and it seems the rest of the team wants to give Ryan his space as well. But Rayner said the Packers wanted Ryan to know they support him. "I just asked him how things were going, and he said, 'Not great, but I can't do anything about it,' " Rayner said. If Ryan is unable to punt for a game because of personal reasons - and the Packers have not in any way indicated that is a possibility - third-string quarterback Ingle Martin could be an emergency option. He punted 89 times at Furman with an average of 37.7 yards, with 33 punts inside the 20-yard line. Ryan is also the holder for Rayner on field goals. The backup is receiver Ruvell Martin or backup quarterback Todd Bouman, who practiced holding this week. "I don't think it makes a huge difference" who holds, Rayner said.

Injury update
Ben Taylor (hamstring, doubtful) Chad Clifton (hamstring, probable), Cullen Jenkins (illness, probable) and Ahman Green (knee, probable) all returned to practice after missing the day before. Nick Barnett also took part in his first practice in full pads while also wearing a club-like cast on his broken right hand. He remains listed as questionable for Sunday. "I felt pretty good, hitting people with it, trying to club with it," Barnett said. "It's really up to the coaches, if they see that I am kind of favoring it or if I'm not really hitting, then obviously they're probably not going to let me go. I'm hopeful to go." Defensive coordinator Bob Sanders couldn't say for certain just yet if Barnett will play. (More on Barnett below) Nick Collins, Mark Tauscher, David Martin, Charles Woodson and P.J. Pope missed practice Thursday.

Woodson is a gamer
Woodson leads the Packers with four interceptions and 15 passes knocked down even though he has been hampered with shoulder and knee injuries. "He's been consistent every week. He's a very, very instinctive player," Sanders said. Against Seattle, Woodson had two interceptions and broke up a touchdown pass. "He gets into position, played physical, had a lot of good tackles, just had a good game," Sanders said. With four of the Packers' 11 interceptions, Woodson could be on pace to match or exceed his career high of five, from his rookie year in 1998. Since then, he had one interception every season except 2000, when he had four, and 2003, when he had three.

Speaking of pass defense
You already know the Packers have a poor pass defense ranking, among the worst in the NFL. But here's what is weird: the Packers allow just 57% of opponents' passes to be completed, ranking them eighth in the league, just behind defensive powers New England and Chicago. Yet they're allowing 232.7 yards in the air. "We've just got to eliminate the big plays," Sanders said.

Zone blocking vs. 3-4
For the third time this season, the Packers will face a three-defensive-linemen, four-linebackers scheme. The Jets have a tough defense, holding opponents to 20 or fewer points in five of their last six games. The 3-4 presents a different challenge, but the Packers think they can beat it with simple perseverance. "At Miami, we kept chipping away at them," center Scott Wells said. "We didn't get big plays early on, but we were able to break the big one in the second half with Ahman (Green), and the 2-yard runs turned into 4 yards, and 4 turned into 8. "In zone blocking that's what you have to do. You have to wear them down because it takes one guy on defense to make the mistake and that's the big play. It's kind of like a war of attrition; who can hold out the longest."They know that we run the same plays. Zone blocking, you stretch the front side, cut the back side. Everybody knows that. If we're able to eliminate our mistakes, eventually you'll be able to get them to guess wrong and all of a sudden that opens a big play." The Packers sound as if they want to re-establish their run game. The Packers are tied Miami atop the NFL with an average of 38.1 pass attempts a game, even though coaches said earlier in the year they didn't want to have those numbers so high. "At Minnesota, we wanted to use the run to set up the pass because we knew they had an outstanding rushing defense," Wells said. "We were hoping to break them, but we knew if we didn't, we were going to have to continue to pound the rock to open up the big passing plays, which we did. But there were games were our game plan was primarily to throw the ball."




Barnett hoping to play with cast on right forearm
By Chris Jenkins / Associated Press
Nick Barnett was finally in the club on Wednesday. And it wasn't the FiveSix Ultra Lounge, the linebacker's trendy late-night hot spot in otherwise sleepy downtown Green Bay. Barnett, who sat out Monday night's game in Seattle with a broken right hand, practiced with a huge club-style cast on his right forearm on Wednesday. Barnett said after practice that he is still getting used to playing in the cast, and won't know until after the Packers practice in pads today whether he'll be able to play against the New York Jets on Sunday. "Even though I know it's there, I'm trying to throw it out there and play," Barnett said. "So I guess the real test will be trying to tackle, and that's what I'm going to try to do tomorrow. I know the running backs, a couple of the running backs are going to be mad at me tomorrow, but I'm going to have to take them down to the ground to get a good idea of how I'm going to do it." The Packers certainly would welcome him back. Green Bay's defense hadn't allowed a 100-yard rusher all season. But with rookie Abdul Hodge filling in for Barnett, Seattle's Shaun Alexander gained 201 yards in the Packers' 34-24 loss on Monday night. -- More






Focus On Fundamentals
By Mike Spofford / Packers.com
Posted 11/30/2006
Head Coach Mike McCarthy believes the game of football is 95 percent fundamentals. So when he analyzes what the Packers need to correct to turn around their current two-game losing streak, it starts and ends with the basics in all three phases of the game. "The fundamentals is always the key," McCarthy said. "If you're looking for a common thread, it's the little things that matter." Those little things apply to offense, defense and special teams, and those are what the Packers are focused on this week in preparing to face the New York Jets. On offense, it's primarily the blocking. Poor footwork can lead to missed blocks in the run game or in pass protection. Cut-blocking is a big part of the zone scheme for running the ball, and the coaches emphasize taking a certain number of steps before going down to throw a cut-block. Come up one step short, and the block won't be executed properly. Those fundamentals are a big reason the Packers have averaged only 47 rushing yards per game the last three weeks. "There's just common errors that we've had before that are correctible and we just have to continue to do it," McCarthy said. "Confidence does play into that. Reps is a big part of it. We just have to continue to work it." -- More






Learning how to play meet the press
Jennings handles himself well
By RICK BRAUN / Packer Plus writer
Posted: Nov. 29, 2006
Greg Jennings arrived at training camp as a second-round pick and immediately became the talk of the Green Bay Packers' training camp. And 11 games into his rookie season, Jennings has continued to impress on the field. Jennings caught six passes for 50 yards in Monday night's 34-24 loss to the Seahawks in Seattle. He is second on the team with 36 catches for 561 yards and three touchdowns, behind Donald Driver's 60 catches, 895 yards and five touchdowns. Jennings' average of 17 yards per reception leads the team. So it's been obvious that Jennings has learned more and more each week about how to be a professional on the field. What many fans don't see, however, are the things Jennings has been learning about being a pro off the field. Friendly, articulate and outgoing, Jennings immediately became a favorite interview for many of the reporters who cover the Packers. And at times that became a strain on Jennings. Early in the season, reporters would come to Jennings in waves. He'd answer questions for 10 minutes and think he was done, only to see the process repeat itself time after time as wave after wave of reporters approached. So there were times in the first month of the season that Jennings would find himself still talking to reporters 30 minutes after he started. So Jennings has had to learn to cut things off. The first time it happened came in Buffalo after he aggravated an ankle injury. He talked with some reporters in the first 20 minutes that the locker room was open, but turned down later requests as he finished dressing and headed to the team bus for the flight back home. It's one of the tougher things he's had to learn. -- More




Not completely green
Culver's experience should help if he starts Sunday
By LORI NICKEL / journalsentinel.com
Posted: Nov. 30, 2006
The Green Bay Packers have enjoyed a great deal of luck, believe it or not, on defense. They've been healthy. Aaron Kampman, Ryan Pickett, Brady Poppinga, A.J. Hawk and Marquand Manuel have been immovable as starters. Al Harris hasn't missed a game since the start of the 1998 season. Colin Cole, Cullen Jenkins and Corey Williams have been healthy enough to fill the defensive tackle rotation. Charles Woodson has missed 11 practices since Week 7 with nagging injuries but has made all 11 starts this year at cornerback, perhaps on his way to his first complete season in three years. Nick Barnett missed just his first start in three years on Monday with a broken hand. So even though safety Nick Collins might miss his first start as a pro if his hamstring isn't healed by Sunday for the New York Jets game, the Packers have been spared the type of injuries that dogged this unit in recent years. "Very fortunate," defensive coordinator Bob Sanders said. "Let's hope it stays that way." Yet if it weren't for a few injuries - three to be exact - Tyrone Culver might not have even made it onto the field. Because of those injuries, he has had a significant amount of playing time that could prepare him for potentially replacing Collins in the secondary. -- More




Big play highlights Hodge's mixed debut
Linebacker has room to grow
By ROB REISCHEL / Special to Packer Plus
Posted: Nov. 29, 2006
Abdul Hodge has waited - perhaps not all that patiently either - for three months now to show his stuff. And while Green Bay's rookie middle linebacker has a long way to go in his development, he also showed why the Packers invested a third-round draft choice in him. Hodge, making his first career start for an injured Nick Barnett, made an enormous play in Green Bay's 34-24 loss to Seattle on Monday night. With just two minutes left in the first half, Packers defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila sacked Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and forced a fumble. The ball fluttered in the air, Hodge caught it in mid-stride and raced untouched for a 29-yard touchdown that gave the Packers a 14-9 lead at the time. "It was exciting," said Hodge, who finished the game with six tackles. "It was good for our team. It put us in a good position." On the flip side, Hodge had his share of blunders, too. Hodge was responsible for Seattle's final touchdown, a three-yard pass in which he was beaten by Seahawks tight end Jerramy Stevens. That play gave Seattle a 34-24 lead. Hodge was also beaten by Stevens on a two-point conversion with 14 minutes, 11 seconds left in the game that gave Seattle a 27-21 advantage. -- More








Meet Jen
Arizona Cardinals
Cheerleader

My name is Jen and this is my second year cheering for the Cardinals. Being a member of the Cards Organization has been a very positive and rewarding experience which I will cherish forever. Performing is my passion, and I have been dancing for most of my life. The energy from the fans this year is extraordinary. I love dancing at the games and the new stadium is amazing.

I graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree from the Eller College of Business with emphasis in Business Management and a Minor in Dance. I was a member of the U of A dance team for four years, and I was given the opportunity to perform at all of the basketball and football games. My dream has always been to dance professionally, and being a Cardinals Cheerleader has been a dream come true. Besides having a full-time job as an Account Executive, teaching dance, and cheering for the Cardinals, I love filling my schedule with activities such as hiking, reading, working out, traveling, going to concerts, watching sports, and relaxing with my family, and friends.

The Show Team entertains both nationally and internationally, and I am honored to be a member of Show Team. This year we went on a 15 day tour sponsored by Armed Forces Entertainment. We performed for the troops in Egypt, Turkey, Italy and Portugal. Visiting the troops is such an indescribable feeling. I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity. Thank you to all the troops!

As a Cardinals Cheerleader we participate in community outreach and promotional activities. Practice, conditioning, running, and perfecting new routines takes numerous hours per week. The Cardinals Organization, my coach, family, friends, and every woman on this team motivate me to be the best cheerleader and role model that I can. Hard work pays off, and there is nothing I would rather do then perform.

This has been the opportunity of a lifetime and I would not trade it for the world.

Having a full stadium at each and every game is the best.