The Packer Pundit

Packers Win 38-7, Clinch NFC North
Associated Press
The Green Bay Packers didn't need Brett Favre to throw the ball all over the field to clinch the NFC North on Sunday, relying on the running of Ryan Grant and a pair of special teams touchdowns from Will Blackmon in a 38-7 victory over the Oakland Raiders. The Packers (11-2) assured an end to their two-year absence from the postseason with three games left to play. Blackmon, a backup cornerback who has missed most of the season because of a broken foot, returned a punt 57 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter and recovered a muffed punt by Raiders returner Tim Dwight in the end zone late in the third quarter. Grant, who was acquired in a trade with the New York Giants just before the season and took over as the starter last month, rushed for a career-high 156 yards and a touchdown, his fourth 100-yard rushing game of the season.

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Division Title Is First Step
The 2007 NFC North Division Champion T-shirts looked good. So did the hats. And winning that division title felt especially good to Green Bay's veteran players who had tasted success before but had waited to savor it again. The Packers wrapped up their first NFC North title since 2004 with a resounding 38-7 win over the Oakland Raiders in front of 70,828 at Lambeau Field on Sunday to improve to 11-2. For a team that had become accustomed to first-place status, with division crowns three straight years from 2002-04, to get back there is especially gratifying after two postseason-less years.

Easy win wraps up NFC North title
Afterward, Brett Favre looked around the locker room, at the revelry and the joy and the celebration and the freshly printed NFC North champions T-shirt and caps, and recognized just what a remarkable accomplishment it was. "I don't know if too many people gave us a shot to be in this position," the Green Bay Packers quarterback said after Sunday's 38-7 trouncing of the Oakland Raiders at wintry Lambeau Field, a victory that locked up the division title and kept their once-improbable, now-realistic run toward Super Bowl XLII going.

Barnett Fights Back His Way
Nick Barnett didn't exactly appreciate the poke in the eye he took from Oakland center Jeremy Newberry in the final minute of the first half on Sunday. But rather than retaliate in any inappropriate way, Barnett got back on the field in the second half and let his play stand for payback during the 38-7 victory.

Barnett eyes some payback
Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk. Getting poked in the eye by Oakland Raiders center Jeremy Newberry was no laughing matter to Nick Barnett. "He lines it up like the Three Stooges and pokes me in the eye. I'm not Curly or Moe, so I don't like that," the Green Bay Packers linebacker said after suffering a scratched cornea in his left eye in Sunday's 38-7 victory over the Raiders at Lambeau Field.

Grant gains in stature
Joe Philbin has no idea. Is the Green Bay Packers' once-horrendous running game taking off because the offensive line is blocking significantly better? Or is the ground success the direct result of the emergence of featured back Ryan Grant, the team's fourth starter since the opening day of training camp?

Grant Pounds His Way To Career Day
The Packers may have had their troubles rushing the football earlier in the season, but with each Ryan Grant run, memories of those struggles are fading faster and faster. And while Grant may not be a household name quite yet, he's not a secret anymore either. Entering Sunday's game, Grant had 588 yards and four touchdowns, not bad statistics by any means, but nothing really earth-shattering. Yet, it's not until you really take a look inside the numbers that you get a feel for how well Grant has performed lately.

Injuries don't hamper Favre
Gerard Warren was confused. The Oakland Raiders defensive tackle thought he'd heard something about Brett Favre having suffered right elbow and left shoulder injuries in his last game, but it sure didn't look to Warren as if the Green Bay Packers veteran quarterback was any worse for wear Sunday. "Wasn't he supposed to be hurt?" Warren said in the aftermath of the Packers' 38-7 rout of the Raiders at Lambeau Field. "I'd hate to see him healthy."

Blackmon rewards team for patience
When Will Blackmon broke his foot in an Oct. 3 practice, Green Bay's brain trust decided to practice patience and didn't place the second-year cornerback and return specialist on injured reserve. That decision might have seemed curious as the weeks passed, but Blackmon rewarded the Packers for waiting with a two-touchdown performance in a 38-7 victory over Oakland Sunday.