In Light of Brett Favre Having the Highest Quarterback Rating in the Early '08 Season I thought I'd Peek In At That Vaunted Packer Team To See How They've fared so far in the Post Brett World.....

Things certainly started off nicely as the Packers looked solid in dispatching the Vikings in game 1....the young Mr. Rodgers was competent and effective going 18 for 22/ 178 yards with 1 touch against zero picks....not great,,,,,but certainly not bad either, and a division win against what we all thought was a tough Vikes squad was real big. A great start for Green Bay....In Week 2 the Packers had the Lions and they are, all will agree, not a very competitive team at any level.  Buuuttttttt.....Green Bay handily dispatched them with solid play on both sides of the ball.  In that game Rodgers was stellar with 3 touches and 0 picks on 24/38 and 328 yards....he even ran for 25 yards.....nice, very nice....

Then the schedule turned decidely more difficult with the Cowboys up next....and yes,,,,the 2008 'Boys look like a team trying to find a way to fail...they are still the best team in football until T.O. and Romo actually choke....but in this game the Pack showed some of the problems that will dog this team this year against elite teams....they could not run the ball and while Rodgers did throw for 290 yards with no picks and no scores he did that on 22/39 passing....still pretty darned effective but here's where I was wrong about this guy...he seems genuinely tough....the problem the Packers have is that they gave up two long plays from scrimmage and they were hopelessly out of the contest at 27-9 until just over 2:00 minutes left in the fourth when Rodgers ran it in from the 1, they also did not commit to run the ball with a total of 16 running plays for a total of 74 yards from their running backs..."What the Hell Is Going On Here"...wait....weren't the Packers an awesome offense, and awesome defense and brilliantly coached?  Wasn't the ONLY question whether they could effectively replace Favre and IF they could they were Superbowl bound....I mean that IS what you were saying earlier this year, wasn't it?

Here is the rub my little cheddar curds....the Packers are NOT that solid....as evidenced by what has happened since that beating at home by the Wandering Wannabe Cowboys...the Tampa Bay Bucaneers beat the living hell out of Green Bay...the line was scary ugly for the offense with 16 runs for 20 yards excluding Rodgers (do you guys still want him to run by the way????) and a passing line that had better be an abberation....14/27 165 yards 2td 3 ints.....when you couple that with a defense that could not stop Earnest Graham and Warrick Dunn who combined for 174 yards you have real problems lurking ...well at least Aaron Rodgers is healthy....oh no....he's not hurting is he? 

By kick off in the Atlanta game it was uncertain just how effective Rodgers would be given the shoulder injury he was nursing...most of the pregame nonsense from the talking heads was focused on the irony that Rodgers may not make a 5 game playing streak while Brett was at...ahhh...never mind you guys know the numbers on that one, but even if Rodgers was ineffective the vaunted running game would surely eat up the Matty Ryan led Falcons...I mean these guys are young, they are still learning how to live on their own...young....so this game was a gimme especially since it was at Lambeau....but those nasty trends continued to emerge and become clearly into focus....the 2008 Green Bay Packers cannot play run defense worth a damn....You somehow managed to lose to Atlanta at home, they have a true rookie quarterback playing in his 5th game and he fairly well schooled you....

Look at the line....again with the limited running of 20 combined carries for 94 yards out of Grant and Jackson.....we are starting to wonder what the Green Bay coaching staff thinks they are doing....start trying to run the football and give Rodgers a break before you break him.  Oh wait....you may have already done that you dopes...

Earlier I predicted a 9-7 year for the Packers...they will win this week at Seattle and I think they win that big...I think the Seahawks would lose to USC at this point (God are they awful),,,but then things get interesting for the Pack.  In my earlier scenario I figured the Packers to be 4-1 at this point,, I mean Minnie, Atlanta, Detroit were easy and since Tampa Bay is Tampa Bay I figured they win that in a close one....Dallas was in my loss column....but now, after Seattle, you get the meat with Indy, Tennessee, Vikings, Bears, Saints and Carolina in successive weeks....yikes!  Even a much weakened Indy is still going to throw the ball all over the place....it is not out of the realm of possibility that you could be at 4-8 after Carolina ....and two of your last four are against Jacksonville and Chicago....

Now I expect the usual nonsense, Packer fans are the best for blind, ignore the facts loyalty....

well except for Jets fans....but here is the only question you need to answer and be honest...did you have the Pack at 2-3 and in the process losing in successive weeks to Tampa and Atlanta?  BE HONEST...the Packers have to start to run the ball in order to keep other teams from running over them...they have the equivalennt of a bye this week with a visit to Seattle....Seattle is the NFL equivalent of a spa...

go there feeling down and slightly ill and come back trying to find the best deal on a Superbowl package, it really is a lovely city,,,,here's the deal, Rodgers appears to be NFL ready and he maybe able to get this team to 9-7 or 10-6 but they had better wake the hell up and fast.....

My revised GB prediction....8-8 and out of the playoffs...if they get some breaks.....

  I wonder when Brett will actually utter the words..."I told you so."  It's coming, oh yes, it is most certainly going to be a bitter day...it is so much fun to watch that I wish the world would reverse its rotation so that the Jets could win the Superbowl......nah, Just kidding, the Jets REALLY suck.....

Now That Green Bay Has Decided To Sink With Aaron Rodgers...what is Favre worth in today's NFL?

Here's the ad....Older, durable QB with Hall Of Fame Career and an apparent love of retirement press conferences seeking a really dumb NFL team willing to shell out $12 million for one season.....candidates should be really poor judges of value like John Gruden or the entire Oakland Raiders and New York Jets franchises....asking price....a high pick and/or a quality player.

Here's the skinny kids....Brett Favre is a legend in GB and he deserves that distinction....but in ANY other franchise he is something o####amble because who knows how long he'll stay around.... at this stage of his illustrious career the guy spends EVERY off season retiring or thinking about retiring...it's so bad I honestly think he just likes to cry on camera.....This ought to be called the Rent-A-Favre Sweepstakes....

The only legitimate justification for grabbing this guy is that you have MOST of the pieces in place for a deep playoff run except you have Carson Palmer or Phillip Rivers or either of the knobs in Cleveland staring blankly down the bench at you.....Unfortunately the Pack would be iinsane to send #4 to the teams who need him the most....the Bears, Lions and the Vikes.....so where is a good fit?

The Bucs would love him primarily because Gruden has fond memories of Rich Gannon who was like 300 years old when he almost brought Chuckie to the promised land....and since proving that he could ONLY win with Tony Dungee's team, the Bucs may stretch to get Favre to appease a tortured fan base....I think Favre as a Buc will have an appreciable impact on the playoff picture and it will keep some #### in the seats past half time.....Tampa Bay is a team, though, that is a dangerous trading partner for the Pack because there is a very real possibility that if the Pack can find a way into the playoffs that they might face Brett and the Bucs....not a career extending move for GM Ted Thompson....if Tampa Bay knocks GB out of the playoffs Mr. Thompson will be out of work soon therafter in my opinion. 

Then there is Baltimore....the Ravens are in an epic free fall and all of the coaching changes in the world won't help them out neither will having a Rookie QB ....A guy like Favre would be an outstanding  bridge between the ineptitude of Kyle Boller and the promise of Joe Flacco...plus Ray Ray might like him and then Ray Ray can be happy....the Ravens will still not get by the Steelers, Colts, Jags or Patriots but they would be better....

Then there are the AFC East teams.....the Bills, Jets and Dolphins would give up body parts to get this guy because having your #### whipped for a decade will make you pretty desperate.....the team he would help the most is the J-E-T-S- Jets who are best known for the 50 nitwits who scream their #### off every year at the draft...despite the fact that the J-E-T-S are almost as bad as the Lions when it comes to judging college talent.....Favre and their veteran acquisitions this off season would give them an ability to play with NewEngland .....who knows...they might win a game or two when the games count....They would have to be considered an AFC contender with #4 under center.

If your the Packers front office the obvious first choice would be to someone in the AFC so the guy is not whipping your butts twice a year....but they also have to think long term like Superbowl issues....Green Bay fans will storm Lambeau if Brett goes to a team and gets another ring...that would be a mess...That's why Baltimore makes sense.

As I said in an earlier post, if Favre is traded that is good news for Mr. Rodgers but what would have been a best case scenario for Rodgers would have been a trade for himself because everytime this guy has a tough game the even sophisticated and committed fans like the Packer fans will be making the inevitable comparisons and they will get very nasty if Brett is lighting it up somewhere else....

The Packers should look for a deal with the Ravens....he will do well but that team isn't that close so in the long run a trade will not bite them in the #### too hard.  They Ravens could use some time to get Flacco ready....the Packers should insist on a second rounder in '09 and another one in '10....If he goes, as expected, to Tampa things should get pretty interesting. 

Also...let's not totally discount the chance that Brett may just stay retired....stranger things have happened.

I expect a complete apology from all of you Cheddar Heads....If The Pack take Favre back  they KNOW how bad the upcoming year will be without him....

I will never say a negative word about Brett Favre, in my opinion he is as good as any player who has ever played and had Green Bay had the money he would have won multiple rings....he is as fierce a competitor as there is in the entire sports world and I KNOW he could play at a very high level were he to come back....he is so good that the Packers will win 10-12 games with him under center should he come back...without him they are a team with a solid defense that has improved but with an offense that will absolutely be hampered with what is an unproven quarterback who is really little more than a college sophomore in terms of his playing experience.  They will win 8 and that's only because they play in the worst division inthe weaker conference.....

Many of you nitwits commented about how wrong I was when I made these predictions earlier in the week....well my little cheese whizzes....if the Packers front office do take #4 back, I want full apologies from all of you...YUK YUK....how would that be for a confidence boost for young Mr. Rodgers....plus with him being a PAC 10 guy he'll probably have to up his counselling and start to add some caffiene to his daily Caramel Soy Mochachino with a touch of Madacascar cinnamon.....yuk yuk....he's gonna need lots of Lambeau Leap hugs from you guys...man he gets the word that Starbucks is closing 600 stores and MAYBE Brett is returning on the same day....gee whiz....Aaron had a tough one yesterday.....poor little guy.

Here's why the Packers should take Brett back but won't if they are smart...with Brett they are a playoff team...without Brett they are only a playoff team if 8-8 gets them in....They should pass on Brett for this reason...if Aaron Rodgers can play they need to start getting him ready. I personally have my doubts and it is clear that so do the Packers....you can believe that they allowed Brett to play the "will I or won't I" game for four years out of loyalty to #4....for a year or two they were absolutely right to allow Favre to come back and would have been right if Rodgers was the second coming of Joe Montana....but you're a world class fool if you honestly believe that any NFL franchise would allow that to take place for four years if they had someone that they honestly believed was capable of playing.....If Aaron Rodgers was a natural leader, or if he ran plays flawlessly and should great potential in practice THE GREEN BAY PACKERS AND THEIR FANS WOULD HAVE BEEN CALLING FOR BRETT FAVRE'S RETIREMENT THREE YEARS AGO..... The Packers apparently have a somewhat cautious view of Rodgers as evidenced by their reluctance to nip these Favre rumours in the bud as soon as they are leaked....

The sole justification for keeping or acquiring a veteran QB who is clearly past his prime and in this case has already retired by announcing that he had "nothing left" is because you, as a team, know or believe that you have a problem....Aaron Rodgers is not right out of college, they have had him through 3 camps, some limited game experience and so the Pack have got to have a very good picture of what they have...and if they take Brett back they remain worried....we already know that they have not had great faith in him in the prior two years....

Like I said you dopey cheese eating knuckleheads....the Green Bay Packers are in for an adjustment without Brett and it's not going to be a quick process....following a legend never is.....

While I Certainly Tip My Hat To Green By for It's Football Team...Here's Why It Is Not Title Town At This Time.....

The Green Bay Packers are at BEST an average football team in the post Favre world....With Favre in his MVP prime they managed a single Super Bowl win.....from 1967 to today the Pack have won one Superbowl....Yes you have won 12 "championships" but the first three 1929, 30 and 31 were awarded based upon regular season end of season standings....The NFL did not start playing playoffs until 1936 and yes from that point until the idea of a "Super Bowl" was started for the 1966 season the Packers were clearly a top team in the 1930's and a Power House in the early to mid 1960's.....ok....so let's ask the really pressing question....WHAT HAVE YOU DONE LATELY....after Lombardi left,  the Packers went into a three decade swoon....from 1967 to 1995 the Packers had two seasons where they posted 10 or more wins (1972 and 1989), in that span the team had 15 losing seasons! When Holmgren and Favre arrived the team became a contender but still managed only to win the big game once and then they really sort of choked in the second appearance in a stunner of a loss to Denver....

I point this out because some giant of a mind has informed me in response to an earlier posting that Green Bay is "Title Town" until someone takes that away....in 41 years YOU HAVE ONE TITLE in a one sport town....that takes away any ability to claim Title Town....using your logic the following Cities have a much stronger claim to the moniker....here goes my list for cities with a substantially stronger claim to title town than you Cheeseheads....

1.  Boston-15 Titles since 1967 ....(Celtics 8, Bruins 2, Red Sox 2, Patriots 3) and since the start of the century no city has been close.....

2.  New York 11 Titles since '67...Yankees 6 WS wins since '67, the Giants 3 Superbowls, the Jets 1 Superbowl, and the Rangers 1 Stanley Cup win

3..  Los Angeles- 11 Titles with 9 NBA Titles for the Lakers and 2 World Series Wins for the half watched Dodgers LA. I do not count the Angels win because they did not identify themselves as the LA Angels.....

4.  Detroit 9 titles  (Red Wings 4 titles; Pistons 3 Titles; Tigers 2 WS Titles)

5.  Pittsburg, 9 titles( Steelers 5, Pirates 2, Penguins 2)

6.  Chicago 8 titles  (Bulls 6, White Sox 1, Bears 1)

Honorable mentions include San Francisco, Dallas, Denver, San Antonio (a one horse town) Baltimore, Philadelphia, Toronto, Minnie, St. Louis, Montreal,  Miami, Oakland, all of whom have won the golden ring MORE than you blockheads in Green Bay....

Of course were we to do what you have done...count the records since the dawn of time...then the Yankees, Montreal Canadiens, Boston Celtics and Lakers alone would smoke you guys by HUGE margins....

So my dear little cheddar heads....Green Bay is not and cannot claim title to anything beyond being a really cold and very average footbal town....I would urge you to resubmit your application in a few years...in order to make the top 6 the Pack will have to win 7 more tiles and with 1 in 40 years that should happen sometime in the year 2288...give or take a few decades....Green Bay Title Town ....that's a hoot...but thanks for playing and try again in about 280 years......

Here's our question for the day:  Will Green Bay win more than 6 games in '08?  I say yes, they win 7....I mean it's very hard in that division not to win 7....Detroit, Minnie and Chicago are all horrible so they should come out of that with a minimum of 4 wins....they also get Atlanta, Carolina, Seattle, Houston and Tampa Bay....You will know what kind of season you'll have right out of the box in Green Bay....Minnie at home and the on to Detroit....if the Pack loses both then they tumble into the abyss...if they split...then they have a shot at 7-9 or 8-8 which might give them 1st place in this crappiest of all NFL Divisions.....This squad gets croaked by Dallas, Jacksonville, Tennessee, Indy and New Orleans....Who will lead this team that you could count on to do anything significant...Aaron Rodgers?  Listen closely....Senor Rodgers has thrown for a total of 111 yards over his three years in the league....clearly not his fault given that he was playing behiind the great one....but...that does not mean that he should be given any credit as a proven replacement because he has not established that he can play in this league.....Additionally, who in the name of all that is cheesey are the back ups?  Add to that the fact that Rodgers entire body of post high school work has consisted of playing in 25 college games and you have what?  In his life after high school this guy has played in 30 games....if you're counting on much here you may end up with a bad taste in your mouth when he's staring down the throat of that Jacksonville Defense or when Dallas comes to town.....he may well turn out to be a great player like Peyton Manning or Tom Brady or, but history tells us that he'll  more likley be another David Carr or Byron Leftwich...plus the guy needs a haircut...Green Bay is in for a long cold winter...unless BF comes out of retirement....

Get past the QB mess and this team clearly has talent with little depth....If Ryan Grant stays healthy and can repeat his '07 performance they will still need a lot more help for the long haired freaky dude calling signals....he could have T.O., Marvin Harrison and Chad Johnson and this team might still stink if Rodgers plays as soft as I suspect he will....

Early season favs include the obvious picks....Indy, NE, Dallas, Jacksonville and then it's a bunch of unknowns....will Tennessee continue to improve....has the Jets spending spree landed them a team (still need the QB me thinks)....bet on this Atlanta will slowly start to improve, Baltimore will be horrible, along with AZ, San Fran, Cleveland and I would not bet the farm that Oakland, Miami, Tampa Bay or the Niners have figured anyting out.....

Divisionally the NFC East and AFC South are the two to beat, Pats should clinch a playoff berth by about the middle of September and Indy and Jacksonville should be the best divisional games this year....I think Dallas is right there talent wise, I am no fan of Tony Romo because despite all of the hype that has surrounded this guy he has shown a disturbing trend as not being clutch in playoff games....I have a lot of doubt that he is the answer....but the NFC should fold up nicely foor Dallas to breeze....in the AFC it once again comes down to New England, Indy and Jacksonville....this year I think it's a jump ball in light of all of the secondary turnover the Patriots have had.....

As we enter the Holiday Season Let's Give Thanks...

I must admit that I was shocked that the NFL network has taken a shot a Peyton Manning in a recently released commercial spot where a bar patron (with a decidely Boston accent) points out that Manning is not really changing the play calls, I thinks he questions the guy's manhood a bit as well.  I say this signals the beginning of laughability quotient on Mr. Manning.  When you look like an all world QB there is great tolerance for oversaturation and let's be blunt, Mr. Manning would sell ice to Eskimos if he could.  The fun starts when you start to look like Steve McNair, that's when  the jokes will start to fly.  So it looks like it is really going to be fun because nobody likes to see the fall of a false idol like the American sports fan.  I was at Gillette Stadium when Boy Wonder coughed up a huge furballl, Ty Law picked him 2 or 3 times and it was just tremendous to hear 65,000 people chanting "cut that meat" as Manning litterrally fumed on the sidelines as he tried reconcile his professional life, stay tuned because if this guy keeps slipping they are going to eat him alive.....

This was an interesting week, the Colts continue to look like they closer to being an average football team than to an elite one.  They are led by a quarterback who for all the world looks like a twelve year old Pop Warner quarterback whose receivers are dropping balls.  "Gee whiz, goll dawg it, whay kaint thase guys jest cetch that danged ball Poppa?"....I mean this guy is going to be fun to watch as teams figure him out....I thoroughly enjoyed that effort yesterday.  I've got news for the Indy faithful, that offensive line just got whupped bad by a horrible team, I mean they barely won at HOME to K.C. after losing to a team that scored only one offensive touch a week prior.  The lack of Marvin Harrison is certainly hurting on offense but I guess we can now dispell the notion that Reggie Wayne is his heir apparent, does he just look like he's got bad hands and no heart or is he playing someone who does?....The good news is that Indy has a patty cake schedule the rest of the way starting this week with Atlanta...., and their other three home games down the stretch are against divisional opponents, the Jaguars, Texans and Titans. They should win at least the Houston game.  Their three road opponents are with the utterly inept Falcons, Ravens and Raiders. It is almost impossible for the Colts to go any lower than 12-4 as I see it, although who figured Manning would choke against the Chargers and then the Chiefs? So maybe the Oakland game will be worth watching.  The real problem that they have is that it is a big part of thier history that when they don't think they have the horses to beat New England they usually start wiping down the golf clubs...this year it may just be me but has anyone noticed a lack of any fire in the gifted one? 

Can somebody please make the call, make the damned call already...the New England Patriots are simply too good for the majority of this league.  Buffalo was the latest victim and it was like watching the high school varsity play the powder puff team.  There was no aspect of that game that was competitive. If you are Ralph Wilson, or the person who is tugging on his puppet strings, please tell me that you have some kind of a plan to improve.  Please tell me that Marv Levy is your GM because he's a blast at the office Christmas Party or because he's got something on you....but PLEASE don't tell me that what we saw last night IS your plan. The NFL needs a "contraction" policy where teams that become institutionally incapable of winning are sold to owners who aren't in it purely to sell hot dogs and soda. Say what you want about Jerry Jones, Bob Kraft, the Moras and Rooneys but these people are institutionally committed to winning because they know that you make more money and sell more hot dogs winning.  Let's consider this, who sells more merchandise, the Bills and the stellar corps of players or the Patriots, Colts, Packers or the Cowboys?  I'll bet anyone that outside of the immediate Buffalo area you can't find a bills hat or one of their shirts.  Last year I was in Tortola and the kid serving the Red Stripes on the beach was wearing a Cowboys hat, not a Bills or Chiefs hat.   The list of teams  eligible for contraction appears to be growing exponentially of late, some teams are money makers...they offer innovative menus, shopping malls, state of the art stadiums and they command ticket prices and television revenues that drive the league and then there are those teams that are not committed to winning, have no chance and keep deluding their fans into believing that they have found the next great star...  Miami is obviously hoping that there will be a minor league soon, as are the J.E.T.S. Jets, and the Oakland and Kansas City teams appear to also have lost the will to live. The NFL ought to have a competition committee and they should grade teams and then the five lowest ranked teams should take less in television and revenue sharing money.  Now you'll have a competitive game and parity in that league will not mean let's have 20 teams that are at or below .500 because that is exactly what you have now.  If the playoffs were to begin today, the brackets would include a divisional winner at .5-5 (San Diego)  and two more at 6-4 (Seattle and Tampa Bay) . The level of play is certainly slipping, owners have becoem like fatted calves and they are no longer trying in some instances...it is too bad and what makes it worse is when an elite team strolls into town they all whine about running up the scores and the focus will becoame how do we make the game more competitive by tweaking the rules instead of by forcing the weak teams to start running their teams better.

While it is clear that Tom Brady is the best player of his generation, he stands in and makes throws that are usually on the money, when he was flushed from the pocket twice last night he ran (Manning coughs up the ball in that situation-ask Rosevelt Colvin), he threw for 5 tds, was 31 for 39, had 373 passing yards and a quarterback rating of 146.1. NE put up more than 50 points for the second time this season, and now are ranked first or second in every offensive category.  But that is not the end of the story, they have scored more points and given up less points than the Colts.  Take out the 10 penalty for 145 bag job attempted by the refs and New England did a number on the Colts as well.  They are on a truly historical run and the saddest part of all is that the INDY IDIOTS are actually saying with straight mid-western faces that it's only because New England picked up Randy Moss. The overwhelming evidence is that ALL of Indy's success rests with one certain Marvin Harrison, he is the Colt's because when he is on the field he cannot be covered and when teams do double him Old Brick Hands, Reggie Wayne will occasionally catch the ball.  Without Marvin Harrison, peyton would be his brother, a tall guy who whines about where he's drafted, who he has to play with and the fact that defenders do occasionally hit people especiallly tall immobile quarterbacks.....The only reason Indy got a ring is because of a bag job on that mystery pass interference call last year otherwise NE would be closing in on ring 5 and not Ring 4.  The NFL apologized to New England and Ellis Hobbs because the officials in that game rooted for Indy just like they did again this year.

What we have here is a failure to communicate...."Hey you" out there in that fantasy land known to most of us as San Diego...I've been saying this for 11 weeks now...what in the name of all that is holy compelled you to hire Norv Turner?  Last year's best record in the AFC is a faint memory at 5-5 coming off of another loss yesterday 24-17 to the Jags. One has to wonder is there any point where the management in ChargerLALAland can utter these words...."We made a horrible mistake, please forgive us, Norv wants us to pass along that he has a nice ocean view condo for sale"....I mean cut the #### fellas.  You are a running team with one of the best young backs in the game and you are currently ranked 15th in rushing.  You canned a promising young quarterback in Drew Brees and now are led by a quarteback who looks to have all the talent in the world but who doesn't seem to know what the hell is going on. Philllip Rivers has 11 touches against 12 picks and a qb passer rating in the 70's.   You are currently ranked 23rd in passing yardage and 16th in passing touchdowns. You hired a guy with career coaching numbers that makke us wonder how the hell he ever became a head coach and despite the fact that his reson d'etre is offense he cannot seem to figure out how to score touchdowns.  Your Indy win was just a cruel trick played on your management by the football gods.  Sure you won, six picks from that phony Manning helped and now what to do,,,,what to do...How can we fire a guy who just beat the reigning Champs?  A true dillemma.  YOU WERE AN ELITE TEAM LESS THAN ONE YEAR AGO FIRE THAT COACH NOW!!!!  There,  was that so hard, trust your old professor, it is better to just rip that nasty old band aid off fast, doing it this way is just killing your loyal fans.

Green Bay is for real y'all. I readily admit that I was a skeptic early on. I believe that Brett Favre is one of the best of his time at qb but like most of you it seemed all but certain that his playing days were done and to be honest he looked old and uninspired in recent years.  I would always show him utmost respect though because he has literally done it all.  This year he looks like a young version of himself again.  Yesterdays 31-17 beat down of the Panthers is proof that this is not a scheduling fluke, that Pack are for real and the Cowboys better be very careful that they don't have to go through Green Bay in January because I don't think they can win that game as long as Brett stays healthy.  In Dallas I go with TO and the 'Boys but on the tundra I bet New England may see Brett and the Pack in the Superbowl.

I said earlier that Atlanta deserves a criticism free year after Mike "the Con" Vick went down.  But I mean come one, you cannot throw the ball we get it....but how in the name of the Ghosts of Mike's dead dogs could you put up 49 yards rushing?  I mean that is what you do.  Damned hard living up to promises with you guys.  Must tip the hat to the Bucs, they may have something to say before it's all said and done, I would NEVER bet against Jeff Garcia, even with modest numbers that cat just knows how to play hard....too bad Philly couldn't get a guy like that..yuk yuk yuk.....

Passing thoughts...the league is heading in a troubling direction, much like baseball in the past 12 years...if the individual owners are not concerned about being competitive don't change the rules....change the owners.