Hawk rekindles Ray of hope in Green Bay
Richard Pufall, JSO

You could almost see Ray Nitschke looking down from the heavens and uncurling that snarling lip into a big, broad smile. Cynical Bears and Vikings fans would argue that old No. 66 had to be looking up and smiling. But the direction doesn’t matter. It’s the smile that’s important.

And why wouldn’t he smile? After all, it was a great week for the defense and a very good one for Nitschke’s beloved Packers in general.

It all started with the best possible gift you can give to the boys on “Dââ⠀šÂ¬Ã‚ — a future Hall of Fame quarterback who is capable of keeping the offense on the field while the defense rests.

And that’s what happened when Brett Favre ended his 113-day Mississippi-lawn-tractor pull by announcing his return for a 15th season with Green Bay.

Then there was the turnabout gift to Favre, the mini-blockbuster signing of free-agent cornerback Charles Woodson. Good defense, you see, can only help Favre’s offense in this the ultimate team sport.

With Al Harris on the other corner the improvement in Green Bay’s defense should be hugely significant. And it would appear now that Ahmad Carroll will be called upon only when the Packers are in dire need of a clutch holding penalty.

And don’t forget the Packers had already signed nose tackle Ryan Pickett along with safety Marquand Manuel, who will play opposite the young and talented Nick Collins.

Then came the draft and what many are boldly hailing as the second coming of Nitschke at linebacker. But let’s give A.J. Hawk a chance to play a few games before we start chiseling his bust for the Hall of Fame in Canton.

To be sure, when the Packers used that No. 5 pick to select Hawk out of Ohio State it created a buzz that makes many believe Green Bay’s defense can now do to opponents what it had been doing to the home fans at Lambeau Field — scare the hell out of them.

Then there’s GM Ted Thompson. Give this guy a few loaves and fishes and he can feed all of Packer Nation. Thompson insists that he and Mike McCarthy aren’t rebuilding the Packers, but Teddy Ballgame has done a masterful job in the last several days of reconstructing what had become his own tattered professional image.

Thompson went into draft weekend with seven selections and came out with 12 new players on Green Bay’s roster. And you know what? Some of them look to be pretty good, too.

After Hawk came Daryn Colledge with the first of Green Bay’s two second-round picks. Colledge, primarily a left tackle at Boise State, has a good chance to step in and start at left guard. (OK, no big deal you say, because you think your uncle Ollie could beat out last season’s guards. But hey, it’s a start).

The Packers, with their second pick in the second round, drafted wide receiver Greg Jennings out of Western Michigan. Jennings is just the 11th player in NCAA Division I history to gain more than 1,000 yards in three seasons. That’s impressive, but the lad now plies his trade in the National Football League, not the Mid-American Conference. So we’ll wait and see if Mr. Jennings makes us forget about Javon Walker.

Of course, Walker in recent months has made himself most forgettable. The rebellious wide receiver had been howling that he never again would play for the Packers, who had wronged him beyond repair. You see folks, the Green Bay organization had committed the unpardonable crime of making Walker a millionaire after he had turned in one great season of work in four years on the job. Wouldn’t you want your boss to slap you around like that?

So Thompson traded Walker to the Denver Broncos for a second-round draft choice. And that is, indeed, excellent value for a former good guy who had become a team cancer, missed about 15½ games of the 2005 season and is trying to come back after a serious knee injury.

But more to the point, the greatest player in the world — which Walker isn’t — is no good to your team if he doesn’t want to be there.

Give Thompson credit for erasing the Walker distraction long before the Packers hit training camp.

Meanwhile, back at the draft, it looked like Thompson was reloading, not rebuilding.

The GM selected Abdul Hodge, a hit seeking missile of a middle linebacker. The Packers have to be considering moving the speedy Nick Barnett from the middle to the strong side, putting Hodge in the middle with Hawk on the weak side. Others, of course, such as Ben Taylor, Brady Poppinga and Kurt Campbell factor in at linebacker, so the Barnett-Hodge-Hawk trio might not take the same stage for a while.

In any event, the linebacker position which was a weakness just a few days ago, now appears to be a strength.

And the jewel of this unit, to be sure, is A.J. Hawk. This youngster brings an intensity to Green Bay that reminds us of — dare we say it — Mr. Nitschke.

Hawk, like Nitschke, is a search-and-destroy hitter who loves contact. Nitschke was bigger, but Hawk is faster.

Nitschke, like Hawk, was a no-frills guy. Green Bay was all the big city Nitschke wanted and Hawk seems to agree.

When many of his peers were strutting their stuff in New York on Day 1 of the draft, Hawk was with family and friends at home in Ohio.

By all accounts, Hawk is a wonderful, gentle, warm, well-spoken, intelligent family guy off the field. And so was Nitschke.

But Hawk, like Nitschke before him, is transported into his private little world of all-consuming violence at the moment he snaps that chin strap.

Nitschke would love this kid.

These two are almost alike in every way.

Now, all Hawk has to do to complete the comparison is play 15 years, win five NFL championships and be inducted in the Hall of Fame.