The Packer Pundit

Packers show they're a 'legit' team
Pass-happy Green Bay is the surprise team
from a group of four undefeated clubs
By Pete Dougherty / greenbaypressgazette.com
MINNEAPOLIS — The Green Bay Packers have one of the NFL's hottest teams and hottest quarterbacks, and now, they have the attention of the entire league. It's hard to believe that only two years ago, this club opened the season with four straight losses. Last year, it was 1-3 one-quarter of the way through Mike McCarthy's first season as coach. Judging by the way the Packers handled the Metrodome like it was a home away from home on Sunday, this isn't the same team McCarthy rolled out as a rookie coach. With Favre throwing darts, breaking the NFL's career-touchdown record and expertly commanding a ball-control passing game, plus a defense that yielded a few big plays but kept the quarterback-challenged Vikings out of the end zone for the first 58 minutes, the Packers held off Minnesota for a 23-16 win that puts them at 4-0 for the 10th time in franchise history. "They're 4-0 in the NFL. That's a legit team," said Darren Sharper, the former Packers safety who's in his third season with the Vikings. "How many teams start out 4-0? Not too many. So, they're a legit team." More >>


Favre uses a favorite route to pass Marino
By Rob Demovsky
greenbaypressgazette.com
MINNEAPOLIS — No. 421 sure looked a lot like No. 420 — and so many others during his illustrious 17-year NFL career. Same receiver. Same route. Same result. Brett Favre became football's career leader in touchdown passes on a historic Sunday afternoon at the Metrodome, breaking Dan Marino's NFL record of 420 — a mark the Green Bay Packers quarterback tied a week earlier. Perhaps more importantly, Favre played practically mistake-free football, and the surprising Packers rode his right arm to a fourth straight victory to open the season. But this game — much like last week's against the San Diego Chargers — will be remembered for one play: the record-breaking touchdown. Just like he did against the Chargers, Favre went to the old reliable slant route and looked to second-year receiver Greg Jennings. Last week, Favre fired a slant to Jennings, who turned it into a 57-yard catch-and-run touchdown to turn Favre into Marino's statistical equal. "He throws the slant better than any quarterback I've seen," Jennings said. "It's up to us to get open, and he's going to hit us."

Against the Vikings, the route worked again, though this time, Favre nearly didn't get it off. Almost as if he wanted to get the record out of the way, Favre saw an opportunity to go to the slant on the Packers' second series. Facing a third-and-7 at the Vikings' 16-yard line, Favre noticed the Vikings were showing a blitz. Knowing there's no better route against the blitz than a quick slant, Favre changed Jennings' route from an 8-yard hitch to a slant. The problem was, tight end Donald Lee, who was lined up tight to the line next to right tackle Mark Tauscher, needed to alter his route as well but couldn't hear Favre's call because of the crowd noise. With time winding down on the play clock, Favre had to run over to Lee, give him the change and get back to his shotgun position before time ran out. With only a second to spare, Favre took the snap, watched as Lee ran a drag route to the right sideline that took a safety with him. That opened a window for Favre to throw a quick strike to Jennings, who beat cornerback Marcus McCauley and had a clear path to the end zone. More >>


Numbers can't sum up the value of Brett Favre
By Jeremy Reeves / Special to The Capital Times
Posted 10/01/2007
MINNEAPOLIS -- "There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first or last time. I owe him my best." That was New York Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio's famous response more than 50 years ago when asked why he gave so much effort whenever he took the field. Those words just as easily could have come from Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre. Is it really possible that 5,485 days had elapsed between Favre's first career touchdown pass -- a 5-yarder to Sterling Sharpe vs. the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 20, 1992 at Lambeau Field -- and record-setting No. 421 to Greg Jennings on Sunday vs. the Minnesota Vikings at the Metrodome on a perfectly thrown 16-yard slant route? Ten days before his 38th birthday, Favre is now the NFL's all-time leader in touchdown passes with 422 after he added a 33-yard scoring toss to James Jones to help seal Green Bay's 23-16 victory, its eighth straight dating to last season. Much of the focus in newspapers and on TV and radio in recent days had been on how Favre would take over the aforementioned record from Hall of Fame QB Dan Marino, who played his entire career for the Miami Dolphins. And with good reason, because monumental sports moments like this usually occur only a few times a generation. This was certainly one of the best, with Jennings receiving his first-ever in-game hug from Favre immediately after his record-breaking catch, followed by a congratulatory message from Marino on the stadium's video board. More >>


Favre is the best in the business
By Terry Bradshaw / Foxsports.com
Hey folks, I'm not kidding around. I really meant it when I said that Brett Favre is the best quarterback I've ever seen play. I will say it again. I have documented it. I put it on the cover of a book. He's the best there ever was and that covers everybody. I know people are going to get on me and say Joe Montana. Joe and I both won four Super Bowls. But you know I don't believe in all these 1-2-3 systematic quarterbacks that run that West Coast offense that we've seen for so many years now — with all that great talent around them, too. Just think of that. I know that Favre has thrown a lot of interceptions (49 since the '05 season), but when you think of all the great quarterbacks in the modern era — I don't even know if you would call me a modern quarterback — all of us have had a stable set of wide receivers. Look at Dan Marino with Mark Clayton and Mark Duper when he started. Look at me with Lynn Swann and John Stallworth and Montana with Jerry Rice, Dwight Clark and some of the others. Dan Fouts had great receivers in San Diego his entire career. All of them had a steady, very reliable complement of receivers. But look at Favre. He's had to endure so much there. Antonio Freeman was a good receiver but wasn't in the same class as a Rice or a Swann or a Kellen Winslow. Now he has Donald Driver, and he's solid. But he also has a rookie receiver in James Jones and he might be good some day, but he's a rookie. Brett is doing so much just leading that team, and it just looks like he's playing so smart. More >>





Sharp Corners
Harris and Woodson endure pain
to keep receivers from making big gains
By TOM SILVERSTEIN / journalsentinel.com
Posted: Oct. 1, 2007
The day after the Green Bay Packers beat the Minnesota Vikings, it was a toss-up as to who was hurting more, veteran cornerbacks Al Harris and Charles Woodson or the receivers they punished on Sunday. The two veteran bump-and-run specialists limped into the facility Monday morning after another day of mugging the opposition - some of it legal, some of it not so legal - but their pain was certainly soothed by the knowledge they had knocked around the opposition and their team was sitting at 4-0. The Vikings cried foul after Woodson, draped all over receiver Bobby Wade, deflected a pass that bounced into the arms of safety Atari Bigby, preserving the Packers' 23-16 lead with a little more than a minute to go at the Metrodome. But the Packers were making no apologies for the physical play from their cornerbacks, which has become a trademark of their defense. "That's who we are; that's the way we play," coach Mike McCarthy said. "That's our scheme, and I know people have identified that and are trying to create or emphasize that we are bumping downfield too often and so forth. But we aren't going to change." More >>





Coaches still in Bush's corner
Kind words for nickel back after rough outing
By TOM SILVERSTEIN / journalsentinel.com
Posted: Oct. 1, 2007
Green Bay - Despite two straight games in which opponents have worked him over a bit, Jarrett Bush will remain the Green Bay Packers' nickel back. Defensive coordinator Bob Sanders said he had no intention of pulling Bush in favor of Will Blackmon, Frank Walker or Tramon Williams even though Bush has given up touchdowns in consecutive games and had difficulty covering Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Sydney Rice. "He did a nice job," Sanders said of Bush's performance Sunday. "He had a lot of good plays. A lot of times the sacks or the pressures we got were because he and the other guys were in good coverage. A lot of times you don't see all those type situations. The number of times they threw and the times they actually caught the ball, there are a lot of times he's playing very, very well." More >>


Bush's job not in jeopardy
By Jason Wilde / madison.com
GREEN BAY -- Jarrett Bush will keep his job as the Green Bay Packers' No. 3 cornerback, but he can expect more days of being picked on like he was during Sunday's 23-16 victory over Minnesota. Defensive coordinator Bob Sanders and cornerbacks coach Lionel Washington said they were pleased with how Bush has played in the first four games, even though he gave up a 15-yard fourth-quarter touchdown pass to the Vikings' Sidney Rice and was also beaten deep by Rice in the first quarter, only to be bailed out by quarterback Kelly Holcomb's overthrow. Those plays came after Bush gave up five completions to San Diego's Craig Davis and Antonio Gates the week before, including a 9-yard TD catch by Davis. "The guy (Rice) made a play on him. It was an excellent play on the receiver's part -- and I never like saying that. He just went over him," said Washington, who spent extra time with Bush following meetings Monday. "As a coach, what do you tell him? He asked me, 'What did I do wrong?' I said, 'You did nothing wrong.' He can't get down on himself. He's done well. He gave up a touchdown -- that's going to happen. Hopefully he can learn from it." More >>





Frustrated With Fumbles
By Mike Spofford / Packers.com
Posted 10/01/2007
Head Coach Mike McCarthy has said after each of the four victories this season that the 2007 Green Bay Packers are by no means a finished product, and there's still plenty of work to do. One of the most glaring deficiencies to come out of Sunday's win at Minnesota was the shaky ball security, as the Packers fumbled five times, fortunately losing only two of them. "That's unacceptable," McCarthy said. "We had a couple instances where guys just didn't have the ball high and tight, and we're not happy about it. You can't play like that." The three fumbles that didn't hurt the team were by running back Vernand Morency (the ball rolled out of bounds), receiver Greg Jennings (he recovered his own fumble) and running back DeShawn Wynn, who the coaches said lost control of the ball on a shovel pass and regained it, but the fumble did not show up in the official NFL statistics. The two that did become turnovers were by tight end Donald Lee, after a reception that moved the ball inside the Minnesota 10-yard line, and running back Ryan Grant in the final two minutes of the game, when he didn't give quarterback Brett Favre a big enough "pocket" to stick the handoff into. More >>