The Packer Pundit

Kicker Crosby is a humble hero
By Rob Demovsky / greenbaypressgazette.com
Back in Georgetown, Texas, they say the Crosbys are simple folks. Quiet, humble, hard-working people from the heart of Texas. So, perhaps it should have been no surprise that the day after Mason Crosby, the Green Bay Packers' rookie kicker, booted the game-winning field goal to beat the Philadelphia Eagles, that his younger brother, Rees, a senior at Georgetown High School, barely mentioned a word of it to anyone as he walked the halls on Monday. "I saw Rees in the hallway, said hello to him, but he really didn't say anything about the kick," said Frank Ibarra, the freshman football coach at Georgetown High, the only high school in the town of about 40,000 people. "That's just how Mason was. He also was very quiet and never said much. Everyone knew who he was, but he kept to himself a lot. He wasn't one to brag or boast." More >>


McCarthy isn't second-guessing
Use of Harris on punt team
By Chris Jenkins / Associated Press
Posted 9-11-2007
GREEN BAY -- Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy didn't second-guess himself Monday for using star cornerback Al Harris on special teams. But he did wish Atari Bigby hadn't made a misread that eventually led to Harris' elbow injury. Harris hurt his elbow while blocking on a punt return in the first quarter of Sunday's 16-13 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. Harris was running down the sideline with the Eagles' punt "gunner," trying to bump him out of the play when Bigby came across the field and slammed into both players. "He hit Al," McCarthy said. "He did knock the gunner on the ground." McCarthy said Bigby thought Harris needed help blocking, but he didn't. "The disappointing thing about the injury was really Atari's decision to go over there," McCarthy said. "Because Atari is kind of a free hitter on that particular return, really looking for a player inside -- but if Al needed the help, then to go over there. It was a judgment by him, and that's when the injury occurred." More >>


Bush looks like a different player
By Jason Wilde / madison.com
Posted 9-11-2007
GREEN BAY -- When Jarrett Bush arrived in town a year ago, his coaches weren't exactly sure what to make of him. Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson had picked Bush up on waivers from the Carolina Panthers, and while the undrafted rookie free agent cornerback had impressed the Panthers' coaching staff, Bush didn't exactly make a good impression on his new employers. "We got him the week we played Chicago, the first week of the season," special teams coordinator Mike Stock said. "And if you looked at that performance in that first week, you'd say, Jeez, is he going to stay on the team? But every week from that point on, he worked hard to improve in the elements he needed to. And if you watched him play in the last four games of the (2006) season, and then you watched Sunday's performance -- he played more on defense, too -- you'd say, 'Wow, this kid has grown up big-time." More >>