Where Do We Stand?

Going into Week Four, there are only three undefeated teams remaining in the entire NFL.  I think that’s remarkable.  I don’t have stats in front of me about previous seasons, but I do have the definite impression that the race for perfection usually has more contestants at this early stage.

The good news, of course, is that our Green Bay Packers are one of those “the few, the proud,” the undefeated.  The bad news, however, is that the other two teams are the Detroit Lions and the Buffalo Bills.

What are we to make of being in a group with such perennial bottom-feeders?  What’s more, of those three teams, we are the ones with the poorest point differential!  Could it be that we are ‘behind’ Detroit and Buffalo?

Or could it be that the Bills and Lions have not only improved significantly, but are playing their best ball?  While the Packers, meanwhile, are 3-0 despite not playing their best ball?  That is Don Banks’ encouraging thesis in his excellent analysis of the 2011 Packers and their recent triumph over the Bears. 

And so, going into Week 4, Green Bay still sits atop Banks’ “NFL Power Rankings” for SI.com.  Brian Billick also puts Green Bay ahead of the rest of the league.  And we are the unanimous first choice of ESPN.com’s writers in their weekly rankings. 

And so, the team that hoisted the Lombardi Trophy back in February is still the consensus #1team in the NFL at the end of September.  And this week, we get to play back home at Lambeau Field, with the slightly dysfunctional, controversy-laden, 1-2 Broncos coming to town.  It’s the sort of game that an earlier Packers squad would have lost.  Not this one, though.  I think this is a no-nonsense, focused, professional group that isn’t likely to “look past” or get suckered by a “trap game.”  I think we’re the better team, and I believe the better team will win.

More about our upcoming game -- and others -- as Sunday approaches.

Technorati Tags: Green Bay Packers,Detroit Lions,Buffalo Bills,Don Banks,ESPN.com,Brian Billick,Denver Broncos

Wisconsin Weekend

So three months ago, my wife and I were looking ahead at the family schedule and the Brewers’ schedule, trying to decide which game this season we wanted to take the kids to.  We decided on Friday night, September 23rd against the Florida Marlins.

Well, in case you’re not a Brewer fan, it was an amazing night!  The Brewers entered the game with a magic number of 2.  They needed to win, plus they needed the St. Louis Cardinals to lose to the Chicago Cubs.  They were mirror games -- 1-1 ties through the 7th innings. 

In the Brewers 8th, Ryan MVP Braun hit a three-run homer that put Milwaukee ahead for good.  And in the Cubs 8th, Chicago’s Soriano also hit a three-run homer that buried the Cardinals -- at least for the night.

The Brewers game ended earlier than the affair in St. Louis, and so most of the 44,000+ in attendance at Miller Park just stayed there, celebrating Milwaukee’s victory, and watching the end of the Cards’ game on the scoreboard’s big screen.  The atmosphere was electric!  And when the Cardinals registered their final out, the place erupted again,and turned into one enormous party.  Many of the Brewer players came back out of the clubhouse, waving, greeting fans, and spraying champagne.  What an atmosphere!

This video captures some of the excitement -- the Braun home run,the final Florida out, and then the scene inside Miller Park as the Cardinals lost.  Good stuff. 

The other must-see from the game is Ryan Braun’s double play catch and throw.  What a stud!

(The Brewers went on to sweep the Marlins on this all-Wisconsin weekend, and now they welcome the Pittsburgh Pirates to Milwaukee for the final three games of the season, as they seek to lock-up the #2 spot in the NL.)

Then, on Saturday, the Wisconsin Badgers hosted lowly South Dakota in Camp Randall in Madison, thrashing their guests 59-10.  And get a load of this: South Dakota managed to win the time of possession (30:42 to 29:18), but in that slightly-less-than-half-a-game, the Badgers put up 612 yards of total offense.  612!  Awesome. 

Madison will be absolutely rocking next Saturday as the Nebraska Cornhuskers and ESPN's College Gameday come to town.  This will be Nebraska’s Big Ten debut.  And, as though that wasn’t appealing enough, the Cornhuskers come in ranked #8 in the country to face the Badgers, who weigh in at #7.  It’s the best game of the day, and it’ll be in Wisconsin.

And, finally, the Wisconsin weekend reached its climax with the latest iteration of the NFL’s oldest rivalry.  The Packers and Bears played for the third time in the 2011 calendar year.  And the Packers beat the Bears for the third time in the 2011 calendar year.

Jay Cutler managed to play the entire game this time, unlike his infamous early exit in the NFC Championship game last January.  Indeed, Cutler was the centerpiece of the Bears’ offense, as Mike Martz dialed up only 12 rushing plays all afternoon against the Packers.  Admittedly, the Green Bay DBs’ performances against New Orleans and Carolina should make a guy like Martz drool at the prospect of throwing the ball against them.  But there was simply no balance in the Bears.  They totaled just 13 yards on the ground, and the Packers’ D sacked Cutler three times while picking him off twice in a 27-17 win at Soldier Field. 

Green Bay’s opening drive was a thing of beauty.  As the game aged, however, the beauty faded.  There was lots of ugliness along the way, including the near-disaster at the end when Green Bay’s entire punt coverage team decided to swarm Hester, even though he didn’t have the ball. 

In the end, though, Rodgers had a solid day (first INT of the season notwithstanding), Ryan Grant looked like his old self, and Jermichael Finley was every bit the nightmare for an opposing defense that he was supposed to be. 

So the Brewers win the NL Central.  The Badgers are one of the best teams in the country.  And the Packers are 3-0 on the season, with all three wins coming in the Conference, and one of them coming in the Division. 

September has been great.  October should be so good!

Technorati Tags: Green Bay Packers,Jermichael Finley,Chicago Bears,Wisconsin Badgers,Milwaukee Brewers,Ryan Braun,Ryan Grant,Jay Cutler

A Look Ahead: Week Three

It’s all intramural in the NFC North this week.  The Lions play in Minnesota, while the Packers play in Chicago.

Detroit and Minnesota are two teams going in opposite directions.  The Vikings’ moment was the 2009 season, when everything went right for them -- up until that critical Favre interception in the playoffs, that is.  The wheels came off in 2010.  And now they are off to a grim 0-2 start in 2011.  The Lions, on the other hand, were 0-16 in 2008, but have reeled off six straight wins (going back to last season), and are coming off a public embarrassment of the Kansas City Chiefs. (The Chiefs, remember, were division winners last year.)

So I fully expect that, by the time the curtain closes on Week Three, the Lions will still be undefeated and the Vikings still winless.  Still, anything can happen in the Division.

And, speaking of in-the-Division, the Packers head to Chicago in one of this Sunday afternoon’s late (i.e., marquee) games.  No need to elaborate on why this is a huge early-season game. 

I’m sure that we’re the better team.  Clearly, though, we need to straighten out a few things in order to be all that we can be.  The offense is not as consistently balanced and productive as it really ought to be, given the quarterback, the skill, and the weapons we have.  And the defense -- oh, my!  I heard a local radio person immediately following this past Sunday’s Packer game say, “Well, the real problem for the Green Bay defense is the big play, and then the way that quarterbacks can check down and throw short against us.”  Okay, but which is it?  The big play or the dink-and-dunk?  I’m afraid it’s both, and that’s pretty unsettling.  And they didn’t even mention the poor tackling. 

Still, going back to the must-win games with which we ended the 2010 regular season, plus the playoff victories, plus the two games so far this year, we see this undeniable pattern: Capers’ defense manages to do what they need to do in order to win.  And I think they’ll do the same against Chicago this Sunday.

Elsewhere around the league…

Life doesn’t get any easier for the 0-2 Chiefs.  They’ve been snake-bit with injuries, they were humiliated by the Lions, and now they have to head to the west coast to face the San Diego Chargers.  The Chiefs were a playoff team in 2010.  I expect that they’ll be starting 2011, however, at 0-3.

Nor does the future look any brighter for the 0-2 Colts.  They host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football.  (I’m sure NBC expected that to be a better match-up than it will probably turn out to be in the end.)

Finally, it’s a battle for AFC North supremacy when the 2-0 Patriots (no surprise there) face the 2-0 Bills (big surprise there) in Buffalo.  Only one team will emerge undefeated, and I fully expect it to be the red-hot Patriots.

Technorati Tags: Green Bay Packers,Chicago Bears,Detroit Lions,Minnesota Vikings,Kansas City Chiefs,San Diego Chargers,Pittsburgh Steelers,Indianapolis Colts,New England Patriots,Buffalo Bills

Week Two Miscellany

As we wrap up Week Two in the NFL, here are a few random observations…

 

I was really tired when I sat down to watch the Sunday Night match-up between the Eagles and Falcons.  I figured I would fall asleep watching.  But, no...  It was too good a game -- I couldn’t fall asleep on it!

At times, it seemed to be a battle of two teams intent on giving the game away.  So many turnovers, so many mental errors.  Pretty sloppy stuff, really.  Still, it was a compelling back-and-forth, and it came down to the very end.  Good game.

I hold no great affection for Michael Vick -- and it has nothing to do with his dog-fighting history.  My dislike for him long precedes those revelations.  So I was inclined to root against Vick’s Eagles. Plus, I have been turned off by all of the “dream team” hype surrounding Philadelphia coming into 2011.  And so, while the game had no immediate impact on Green Bay, I was pulling for Atlanta -- and was delighted by the surprising end result. 

Has to be a bitter loss for Philly, though, for they mostly outplayed the Falcons.  Plus, the concern about Michael Vick’s immediate health and long-term durability is palpable.  Tons of money invested in a guy whose style of play makes him a natural candidate for the hospital.

 

Speaking of the hospital, the Colts are in trouble.  For a lot of years, they have been the NFL’s gold standard in terms of consistency, regular season wins, division titles, and playoff appearances.  But throughout all that time, they have been primarily a Peyton Manning team.  And since he was the next best thing to Brett Favre when it came to iron man reliability, no one gave much public thought to what the Colts would be without him.  Well, now we see.  They are 0-2 without him, including a home loss to the Cleveland Browns.

 

The 0-2 Dolphins are also in trouble.  Everyone else in their division is 2-0.  That’s a bothersome early hole to try to dig out of. And now they head up to Cleveland to play the resurgent Browns.

 

In Packerland, I know it’s early and it’s hard to complain about a 2-0 start.  Still, look at the “Net Points” column on the ""standings" page on NFL.com.  This stat simply reflects the difference between the total number of points a team has scored and the total number of points their opponents have scored against them.  The 2-0 Packers number is +15.  Not bad.  The 2-0 Lions number, meanwhile, is +52.  Yikes!

 

Finally, have you seen the GEICO sushi commercial?  GEICO has some of the best commercials going, and this one got me laughing out loud the first time I saw it.

(Conversely, who convinced Deion Sanders that being some strange sort of football fairy was a good career move for him?  Ridiculous.)

Technorati Tags: Indianapolis Colts,Deion Sanders,GEICO,Peyton Manning,Green Bay Packers,Detroit Lions,Michael Vick,Philadelphia Eagles,Atlanta Falcons

And May the Best Man Win

Well, once the Packers began to play, they looked pretty good.  Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to arrive until the second quarter.

It was a grim first fifteen minutes this afternoon in Carolina. The Panthers ran twenty plays to the Packers’ three.  We showed no ability to stop them on their impressive opening drive; and then one of the stars of the Saints game, Randall Cobb, coughed up the ensuing kickoff, giving it right back to the Panthers. We were down by thirteen by the time the first quarter mercifully came to an end.

When my daughter saw the score, she worriedly asked, “Do you think we’ll win?” 

“Yes,” I assured her.  “We’re the better team.”

Cam Newton is a disconcerting talent.  Carolina has some good weapons, to be sure.  And they did pile up a disturbing yardage total against our defense.  But a football game is too long for an inferior team to come out on top very often.  More often than not, the best man wins. 

And today, the best man was Charles Woodson! 

I admire the Packers for withstanding the early flurry, keeping their poise, doing what they do, and leaving town with the win.  So that’s 2 down, 14 to go.  And more importantly, that’s two in-conference wins, which is huge.

On the other hand, while we may have notched two victories, Dom Capers and company can’t be pleased by their overall performance.  They have taken bend-but-don’t-break defense to a new level, allowing the prolific Panthers into the Red Zone six different times.  Yet, in the end, they only gave up two touchdowns.  Very reminiscent of last week’s performance against the Saints. 

I assume that next week’s trip to Chicago will present our offense with their stiffest test so far.  On the other hand, I don’t think the Bear offense will be quite as potent as what we have seen from Carolina and New Orleans.  Let’s hope not!

Speaking of the Bears… They sobered up quickly in their trip to New Orleans.  (How often has that sentence been written or spoken?)  I think Chicago fans were pretty full of themselves after beating the Falcons last week, but they couldn’t keep up with the Saints today. 

Perhaps they won’t be able to keep up with us, either.  That is my expectation.

The 2011 Vikings, meanwhile, are showing their versatility: able to lose both at home and on the road.  What did the old Buccaneers coach say during their worst year?  “We’re looking for a neutral site.”

The 2011 Lions, however, seem to be for real.  They beat the Bucs on the road last Sunday and then totally demolished the visiting Chiefs today.  Wow!  Of course, they haven’t played a top drawer team yet; and they won’t next week, either, when they head down to Tennessee to face the 1-1 Titans. 

The Steelers took out their frustrations on the poor Seattle Seahawks.  I  don’t know who could have succeeded against the Steelers in the week after they were humiliated by the rival Ravens. 

And those same Ravens, perhaps a little drunk with last week’s big win, got upset by the Tennessee Titans.  Ah, on any given Sunday.

So, all-in-all, a good football weekend -- indeed, a good sports weekend -- in Wisconsin.  The Badgers overwhelmed another opponent, moving to a strong 3-0.  The Packers won.  The Bears lost.  The Vikings lost.  And the Brewers swept the Reds.

Technorati Tags: Green Bay Packers,Carolina Panthers,Cam Newton,Dom Capers,Detroit Lions,Chicago Bears,Minnesota Vikings,Pittsburgh Steelers,Baltimore Ravens,Tennessee Titans,Wisconsin Badgers,Milwaukee Brewers

A Look Ahead: Week Two

The Carolina Panthers are 0-1 after losing a one-touchdown game in Arizona last week.  The Cardinals, you recall, were 5-11 in 2010, and the Panthers were 2-14.  Not exactly a clash of the titans. 

On the other hand, both teams entered 2011 with promising new quarterbacks, and by all accounts the Panthers’ Cam Newton had a great debut: 24 of 37 for 422 yards and 2 touchdowns.  That’s a daunting performance.  On the other hand, can he be any tougher to beat than Drew Brees?

I expect Green Bay to win this game.  We’re coming off the long week, we have all our weapons, and we’re the better team.  If we lose, it will be a colossal waste of a great opportunity.  Plus, we need to be 2-0 going into Chicago the following week.

Speaking of Chicago, the Bears’ schedule doesn’t get any easier. After upsetting the Peter King Falcons last Sunday, they head to New Orleans to face the well-rested and angry Saints. Like last week’s game with the Bears and Falcons, this is a win-win for us. We’ll be happy to see a notch in either team’s loss column. My natural preference in this case, though, is a Saints’ win.

Elsewhere in our Division… The Buccaneers couldn’t beat the Lions last week.  Perhaps they’ll have better luck at the 0-1 Vikings this week.  And those Lions, meanwhile, host the Kansas City Chiefs, who got it handed to them at home by the Buffalo Bills.  Yes, the Buffalo Bills.  41-7.  That sounds like a 2-0 start for Detroit. 

The best games of the week, meanwhile, come later on Sunday.  The hobbled but victorious Chargers are at New England in a match-up that has postseason implications.  And, on Sunday Night Football, the Falcons host the Eagles.  These are both teams that figure to be playing in January, and the Falcons can’t afford to go down to 0-2 with two consecutive NFC losses.  And, of course, there is the added dimension of it being Vick’s return to Atlanta. 

The Cowboys and 49ers lock horns this weekend.  Remember when that was a great game?

And then there are the Browns in Indy.  Cleveland was a bit stunned at home by the Bengals, and the Manning-less Colts were manhandled by the Texans.  It’s a Conference game, and both 0-1 teams need it.  We’ve all heard the stats about how often 0-2 teams make the playoffs. 

Technorati Tags: Green Bay Packers,Carolina Panthers,Cam Newton,Chicago Bears,New Orleans Saints,Minnesota Vikings,Tampa Bay Buccaneers,Detroit Lions,Kansas City Chiefs,Atlanta Falcons,Philadelphia Eagles,New England Patriots,San Diego Chargers,Dallas Cowboys,San Francisco 49ers,Cleveland Browns,Indianapolis Colts

A Look Ahead: Week One

The most important game of the week, of course, has already been played.  It’s done and it’s won, and so everything that follows this weekend is sheer pleasure for Packer fans.

The next most important games, of course, belong to our Division opponents (though admittedly it’s easy to be thinking more about Conference opponents like the Saints, Falcons, and Eagles at this point).  Within the Division, though, all three of our rivals face tough match-ups.

First, the Bears host the Falcons, which is a win-win for us.  One of them is bound to lose, and either way is good. I think the Falcons are a much better team, and I expect them to win.  If the Bears pull it off, though, then that may be a sign that they are going to have another one of their occasional charmed, over-achieving seasons.  (They just had one last year, so I don’t expect it to happen again already in 2011.)

The Lions, meanwhile, travel down to Florida to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Both teams are widely regarded as comers, and so it becomes a fascinating match-up.  Naturally, we are Bucs fans on Sunday.

Finally, the Vikings head west (no, not moving yet, just visiting) to play the Chargers.  I’m quite certain that San Diego is the better team, and I would be shocked if the disheveled Vikings can pull off a win on Sunday.

Other games of interest around the league this weekend include…

Steelers at Ravens.  That’s a marquee match-up, and it’s a high stakes way for both clubs to start the season.  These two have been neck-and-neck for years, and one senses that they genuinely hate each other.  Should be great football.

The Colts in Houston should be interesting, too, though more in the way that a traffic accident is interesting.  It’s the perverse fascination to see what Indy is like without Peyton Manning.  (More about him and his situation in an upcoming post.)

The Jets hosting the Cowboys has a lot of sex appeal.  They are hardly rivals, but they are both big-name teams with larger-than-life characters and a certain tendency toward exhibitionism with their problems.  I expect New York to win, but perhaps I am under-estimating the new-look Cowboys.

The Patriots play in Miami on Monday Night.  I don’t really expect it to be very competitive game.  It should be good viewing, though, just to see if New England is as good as their press.

Finally, the Seahawks head to San Francisco to see which team can get a jump on the 8-8 record they’ll need to win the NFC West.

Technorati Tags: Detroit Lions,Minnesota Vikings,Chicago Bears,Atlanta Falcons,San Diego Chargers,Tampa Bay Buccaneers,Pittsburgh Steelers,Baltimore Ravens,Indianapolis Colts,Houston Texans,New York Jets,Dallas Cowboys,New England Patriots,Miami Dolphins

Controlled Burn

I’m glad we have nine days before our next game.  I need the extra time to recover!

Last night’s thrilling opener at Lambeau against the New Orleans Saints was exciting, nerve-racking, exhilarating, tense, incredible… and now I am exhausted!

I am remembering in the scene in Apollo 13 in which the astronauts have to do a ‘controlled burn’ to get them in proper position for reentering the earth’s atmosphere.  They had to do it without the aid of computer navigation, and the scene shows the incredibly intense, frenetic, and high-stakes moments of this burn.  And when it was complete, the drained Jim Lovell character says, “Let’s hope we don’t have to do that again.”

That’s how I feel after last night’s game.  We got the win, but I hope we don’t have to go through that again. 

The potent Saints offense put up an alarming 477 yards against our great Dom Capers defense.  And if they had made it 478, we might be feeling quite different today.

But they didn’t, and that is key.  While the Saints’ offense had their way much of the night, especially passing the ball, in the end our defense kept stopping them when it counted.  Wayne Larrivee, the voice of the Packers, noted after the game that Green Bay scored four touchdowns on their four trips inside the red zone.  The Saints, by contrast, scored only one touchdown on their five opportunities inside the 20.  How huge is that? 

Mark Belling (WISN radio in Milwaukee) made his annual season predictions for the Packers on Thursday afternoon, and I was somewhat disappointed by his lack of enthusiasm.  One of his points was that we had not improved ourselves at any position.  But perhaps he had not factored in Randall Cobb and a dramatic upgrade in the return game.

What a debut by a rookie! 

Don Banks (SI.com) has written a great summary and analysis of last night’s triumph, including this report on Cobb:

Thursday night's game could have been subtitled "A Star is Born,'' because that's how much "wow'' factor Cobb adds to the Packers' offense. The acceleration he showed on his 32-yard second-quarter touchdown reception was eye-opening, but the former Kentucky Wildcat simply blew folks away with his team-record 108-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Cobb exploded into the open field after appearing to be all but stopped by Saints tacklers, giving Green Bay its first kickoff return for a touchdown since Allen Rossum took one 92 yards in 2000.

"It was amazing,'' said Cobb, of his NFL debut. "The feeling of being at Lambeau Field and coming off a Super Bowl, I was just doing anything I could do to contribute and I was trying to make the most of my opportunities tonight.''

Mission accomplished. The second-round pick is a huge addition to the Green Bay arsenal. I'm not sure how much veteran Packers receiver James Jones is even going to get on the field if Cobb stays healthy and productive. Until tonight, no rookie NFL history had ever had a scoring reception and a kickoff return for a touchdown in his team's season opener.

"You've got to be excited about Randall,'' Packers head coach Mike McCarthy said. "He's shown that from the first day of training camp, his ability. When other players talk about a player having a chance to be special, he's one of those guys. He's very raw, but he's picking up our system, and he knows what to do when he gets the football in his hands and how to get open. He's a gifted young man with a lot of good football in front of him.''

I heard Cobb interviewed on the radio after the game: what a great kid!  Humble, team-oriented, self-deprecating.  He admitted that he had made mistakes on both of his scoring plays.  And he shared that he spent part of the day leading up to the game watching a video sent to him by his pastor. 

In the end, it’s hard to measure what a huge victory that was.  The Saints aren’t the only great team in the NFC, but they’re clearly one of the top three.  They were also the team that made such a point of practicing together during the offseason.  They were the next most-recent Super Bowl champs.  They were one of the teams most eager to get back on the field and avenge the way their 2010 season ended (remember that they were upset by the like 3-13 Seahawks in the playoffs).  It was an immensely important night emotionally for the Packers and for the city of Green Bay, so much of which would have been spoiled and deflated by a loss.  And at the end, when it comes time to determine playoff seeding and home field advantage, this opening-night victory may prove to be an enormous factor. 

So it really was a great game.  And I hope we don’t have to go through that again.

Technorati Tags: Green Bay Packers,New Orleans Saints,Don Banks,Mark Belling,Wayne Larrivee,Randall Cobb

‘Tis the Season for Predictions -- part 2

So ESPN.com has published its experts' picks for the 2011 NFL season, and I thought we should give it a little attention.

Their chart reflects all of the league-wide predictions of twelve different pundits, and the Packers are the unanimous choice to win the NFC North.  Interestingly, three of them also predict the Lions will get in as a wild card, and one even thinks the Vikings will.  But not a soul believes that the Bears -- last year’s NFC North champs, as well as hosts of the NFC Championship Game -- will even make the playoffs in 2011.  That’s quite remarkable, it seems to me.

One guy thinks the Cowboys will emerge as NFC Champs, and one picks the Falcons.  (Evidently, he’s been talking to Peter King.)  Everyone else lines up behind the Eagles (3), the Saints (3), or the Packers (4). 

Meanwhile, on the AFC side, there is much less division: one vote for the Jets, one for the Steelers, one for the Chargers, and NINE for the New England Patriots.  Indeed, the Patriots are the favorites at ESPN.com to win it all, with six of the 12 experts picking New England. The next most popular pick is our Packers, with just two votes. The Jets, Saints, Steelers, and Chargers each get one vote.

Over at NFL.com, meanwhile, they have assembled seven experts, and they are generally much higher on the Saints than at ESPN.com.  Five of their seven guys do see the Patriots getting to the big game, but not one of them figures that New England will win it.  Four pick the Saints, two pick the Pack, and one picks the Jets (over the Pack.)

As the season is set to kick-off tomorrow night, though, both ESPN.com’s and NFL.com’s power rankings put the Packers at the top of the league.  Perhaps it’s an inherited slot, due to the defending champs.  But we can certainly solidify that estimate with a win over the much-heralded New Orleans Saints at Lambeau tonight! 

Technorati Tags: NFL predictions,ESPN.com,NFL.com,Green Bay Packers,New England Patriots,NFC North

2011 Schedule

Here is the 2011 Regular Season Schedule for the Green Bay Packers.  I have posted some observations about the schedule below.  

Week 1: Thursday, September 8th, 7:30 p.m. on NBC

Saints at Packers

Week 2: Sunday, September 18th, 12:00 p.m. on FOX

Packers at Panthers

Week 3: Sunday, September 25th, 3:15 p.m. on FOX

Packers at Bears

Week 4: Sunday, October 2nd, 3:15 p.m. on CBS

Broncos at Packers

Week 5: Sunday, October 9th, 7:20 p.m. on NBC

Packers at Falcons

Week 6: Sunday, October 16th, 12:00 p.m. on FOX

Rams at Packers

Week 7: Sunday, October 23rd, 3:15 p.m. on FOX

Packers at Vikings

Week 8:

BYE

Week 9: Sunday, November 6th, 3:15 p.m. on FOX

Packers at Chargers

Week 10: Monday, November 14th, 7:30 p.m. on ESPN

Vikings at Packers

Week 11: Sunday, November 20th, 12:00 p.m. on FOX

Buccaneers at Packers

Week 12: Thursday, November 24th, 11:30 a.m. on FOX

Packers at Lions

Week 13: Sunday, December 4th, 3:15 p.m. on FOX

Packers at Giants

Week 14: Sunday, December 11th, 12:00 p.m. on CBS

Raiders at Packers

Week 15: Sunday, December 18th, 12:00 p.m. on FOX

Packers at Chiefs

Week 16: Sunday, December 25th, 7:30 p.m. on NBC

Bears at Packers

Week 17: Sunday, January 1st, 12:00 p.m. on FOX

Lions at Packers

Green Bay has just one West Coast trip -- Week 9 at the Chargers -- and mercifully it comes in the wake of our bye week.  And it is a perfectly-placed bye at that, coming smack in the middle of the season.

Meanwhile, two other road games (Week 2 at the Panthers and Week 13 at the Giants) also follow more than the standard one week in between.

Only the Cincinnati Bengals, Jacksonville Jaguars, New Orleans Saints, Tennessee Titans, and Indianapolis Colts are scheduled to travel fewer miles than the Packers this season. 

We play each of our three Division rivals on the road before hosting them in our second match-up with each. 

Green Bay plays on all three major holidays during this coming football season -- Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.  Not very family friendly!  The first is on the road; the latter two are both at home.  Don Banks (SI.com) reports that the Packers are the first team ever to play on all three holidays in the same season. 

Three of our final four games are on the Frozen Tundra -- a stretch which includes visits from the West Coast Raiders and the home-in-a-dome Lions.  

In addition to 4 prime time games, we also have a nationally televised game on Thanksgiving Day, and 5 ‘late games’ on Sunday afternoons.  

It’s a good-looking schedule -- the road to a repeat championship!

Technorati Tags: Green Bay Packers,2011 NFL Schedule

‘Tis the Season for Predictions

I see that Peter King has made his predictions for the 2011 season and postseason.  I always enjoy reading King.  And, of course, when you’re cheering for a good team the beginning-of-the-year predictions are endlessly fascinating.  But I have to take issue with some of his regular season reckonings, as well as much of what he pictures in the postseason.

First, he has clearly drunk too much of the Detroit Lion Kool-Aid.  I concur that they are up-and-comers, and I also believe that the Bears and Vikings will both take a step back this season.  But for Detroit to go from perennial bottom-feeders to a close second in the Division and a wild card berth…?  I think that’s a bit much.  Also, it is worth noting that in 2010 (when they went 6-10) the Lions were tied for 12th in terms of strength of schedule.  In 2011, by contrast, they are tied for 3rd in terms of toughest schedule, yet King predicts that they will end the season at 10-6.  Are they really that much better?

I’m also interested to see that King continues to view the Patriots as the class of their division, rather than the Jets.  And he still thinks the Steelers and Ravens are neck-and-neck atop the AFC North.

I think he may be underselling the Buccaneers a bit at 8-8 and the 49ers at 5-11.  And, within our own Division, I think that 8-8 and 6-10 for the Bears and Vikings, respectively, is insulting.  Not that I would mind seeing them both flail around like that, but I simply don’t think either team is as mediocre as he is predicting. 

If he is right about Chicago and Minnesota, though, that would represent an ear-poppingly fact descent for the past two Division winners.

My real beef with King’s predictions, though, comes in his rendering of the postseason.

First, he sees the Packers losing a home playoff game to the Falcons.  Is he nuts?!  The same team that we manhandled in Atlanta last year is going to beat us in Lambeau in January?  

Second, he predicts that the Chargers will outlast the Jets, Ravens, Steelers, Colts, and Patriots to represent the AFC in Super Bowl XLVI.  Those other teams include some proven winners, while the Chargers have been consistently disappointing in the playoffs for years.  Furthermore, if the Chargers end up having to hit the road to play any of those teams, they’ll never make it to the Big Game.  I just don’t think they can win in January in places like Foxboro, New York, or Pittsburgh.

Third, he calls for the Falcons to beat the Saints at home in the NFC Championship game, followed by a Falcon Super Bowl victory over the aforementioned Chargers.  In other words, Peter King really believes in the 2011 Falcons. 

I don’t doubt that the Falcons are good.  I do doubt, however, that they are that good.  Just as King thinks this is the year Atlanta take that next step, I think it is just as likely that this is the year the Falcons will fall short of expectations, appearing on every-one’s “Biggest Disappointments” lists a few months from now.   

Finally, even though conventional wisdom says that the Packers face a tough test because everyone is gunning for the defending champs, the reality (surprisingly) is that there was more national hype about Green Bay going into last season than there is this season.  The Falcons, Saints, and Eagles are all proving to be more fashionable picks for February 2012 than the Packers. 

And I bet that Mike McCarthy likes that just fine.

Technorati Tags: Peter King,NFL predictions,Green Bay Packers,Atlanta Falcons,San Diego Chargers,Detroit Lions,Chicago Bears,Minnesota Vikings

The Bigger They Are…

Our primary focus here is football.  Specifically, NFL football.  And more particularly, the Green Bay Packers. 

Still, it is hard for me to resist making mention of some other sports and teams along the way.  And I came across today this charming pair of media concerning Brewers’ superstar Ryan Braun.

Braun was instrumental in the Brewers’ big comeback win in Houston on Friday night.  If we had ended up losing by a run, then this particular turn of events would not be so funny.  As it is, though, you have to watch Braun "fall short" of an in-the-park home run. 

And then, after seeing the live version of what Braun did, see the photo and read the report of how Braun's teammates chose to commemorate his performance the next day.

Good stuff!

Technorati Tags: Ryan Braun,Milwaukee Brewers

On, Wisconsin!

Well, it’s a good day to be a sports fan in Wisconsin!

The Milwaukee Brewers recovered nicely tonight from the nap they took during the Cardinals’ visit to Milwaukee.  And just as the Brewers were pounding the Astros with late-inning heroics, the Reds were beating the Cardinals.  I’m sure St. Louis feels very good about sweeping the Brewers in their series up here, but the clock is ticking on them.  As of this night’s wins and losses, their elimination number is down to 16 with 47 games to go (combined). 

Meanwhile, the Badgers football team got back on the field last night, and they made quite an impression.  There’s a lot of talk about Wisconsin's new quarterback, Russell Wilson, who made believers of Badger fans in his debut.  Even more important than Wilson, however, is Wisconsin’s epic offensive line.  Rick Reilly has a great piece at ESPN.com, which is worth the reading just for the humor of it.  Among other things, he waxes on about our O-line:

Do you realize the Badgers' offensive line this year will weigh about 1,600 pounds? That's more than the max payload of a 2008 Toyota Tundra. It's also about 80 pounds more than the Green Bay Packers' offensive line. That's a sixth grader more. They will cut down everything in the conference like wheat threshers. Welcome to the adult dinner table, Nebraska.

With traditional Big Ten powers Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State in various states of flux, Wisconsin should be headed back to the Rose Bowl.  (Speaking of which, my remnant bitterness from last year’s bowl game was delighted to see that TCU was upset tonight by unranked Baylor!)

And then, most important of all, there are the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers.  I was at Lambeau last night for their final exhibition game -- a mostly undeserved win over the visiting Chiefs.  It was an uninspiring preseason for the Packers, yet still they managed a 3-1 record.  McCarthy looks to me like a poker player who likes his hand and is ready for the real betting to begin. 

The experts at NFL.com like this year’s squad pretty well, too.  They unanimously picked Green Bay to win the NFC North.  Four of the seven expect Aaron Rodgers to win the NFL MVP award at the end of the season.  And three of them pick the Packers to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, with two of them predicting we’ll win it.  

And the last team standing at the end of the 2010 season will be the first team to play in the 2011 season.  We host the Saints in less than a week.  ‘More about that critical match-up in a few days.

Technorati Tags: Wisconsin Badgers,Russell Wilson,Milwaukee Brewers,St. Louis Cardinals,TCU Horned Frogs,Green Bay Packers,Aaron Rodgers,NFC North,NFL predictions,New Orleans Saints,NFL.com,Rick Reilly,ESPN.com