Football

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

No-panic Packers coming around

Demolish Detroit, might be a wild card

By: Tom Silverstein

27/11/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

CARLOS OSORIO / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Enlarge Image

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers gets some pressure from Lions defensive end Cliff Avril in Thursday’s game in Detroit.

DETROIT -- For most, several thousand kilometres and a whole lot of sunshine separate Tampa from Detroit.

But for the Green Bay Packers, it's more like light-years and night from day.

It was just 19 days ago that the Packers suffered what appeared to be a knockout blow at Raymond James Stadium, losing to the previously winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers to fall to 4-4.

Coming on the heels of humiliation at the hands of Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings at Lambeau Field, the Packers were reduced to flotsam in a pool of NFL mediocrity. As players stood in the locker-room trying to explain how such a thing could happen, they were hardly thinking about the possibility of being 7-4.

But after winning their third game in 12 days, a 34-12 Thanksgiving Day thumping of the Lions at Ford Field, they were officially in a place they weren't sure they'd ever be.

"Part of our success is that we didn't get too far ahead of ourselves, even after we lost to Tampa," linebacker Nick Barnett said.

The three-game winning streak has put the Packers in a favourable position in the NFC wild-card race, ahead of Philadelphia (6-4), the New York Giants (6-4 ) and Atlanta (5-5). There's still little chance they can catch the Vikings (9-1) in the NFC North, but for the first time this season, they've strung together three good performances.

Gone Thursday were the landslide of sacks, the unwillingness of quarterback Aaron Rodgers to get rid of the ball and the inability to put pressure on the opposing quarterback. There are still some serious problems on special teams that need to be corrected, but the number of fires coach Mike McCarthy and his staff have to put out has dwindled.

Before the Packers take on the Baltimore Ravens at home Dec. 7, they will take off Friday, Saturday and Sunday and rest their bodies.

-- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 27, 2009 C9

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