Bretsky
10-24-2007, 08:18 PM
Packers in a prime position to win NFC North title
Posted: Oct. 24, 2007
Tom Silverstein
E-MAIL
As tough as their next two games are, the Green Bay Packers are in such good position in their division and the NFC that anything but a playoff berth - and you might as well throw in the NFC North title - would be a colossal failure.
Coach Mike McCarthy would probably prefer not to hear it, but the Packers' 5-1 start has his team stiffly ahead of the competition, almost to the point where it merely needs to go .500 the rest of the season to capture the flag.
Even with 4-2 Detroit nipping at its heels and 3-4 Chicago refusing to say die, Green Bay's ride through a perfect storm of early season fate and circumstance has put it in perfect position to finish the job. It's not so much what the Packers did to get to 5-1, it's who they beat to get there.
Now, things could get dicey with a doubleheader road loss to Denver and Kansas City over the next two weeks - beating any AFC team is a challenge when you reside in the lower-class neighborhood known as the NFC - but even at 5-3 the future would be bright for the Packers because of what they accomplished in the first month and a half.
By beating Philadelphia, the New York Giants, San Diego and Washington before the bye, the Packers took care of business that most of the division still has on its to-do list. And by no means will it be easy.
And let's not kid ourselves, fate and circumstance played a big part in the Packers starting out so well. They essentially caught those four teams exactly at the right time and did what a good team should do: sent them home with a loss.
It's not the Packers' fault that in the opener Donovan McNabb was playing his first game since tearing up his knee last year and his talented tight end was barely able to run because of a groin injury. Nor was it their fault that in Week 2 Eli Manning was coming off a significant shoulder injury, Michael Strahan was coming off an unpaid vacation and Osi Umenyiora wasn't even half the six-sacks-in-a-game man he should have been because of a knee injury.
It sure wasn't their fault that San Diego was a shambles when it came to town - not to mention it was traveling cross country for the second consecutive week - or that Washington did everything it could to give away the game at Lambeau Field on the way to its second loss.
The Packers did everything necessary to win those four games and the game against the Vikings in the Metrodome. The only instance in which they did not complete the task was in the second half of the Chicago Bears game, which ultimately ruined their chances of starting out 6-0.
So, maybe the Packers aren't as good as their 5-1 record indicates, but the fact of the matter is they're sitting here behind only the 6-1 Dallas Cowboys in the NFC and they have a chance to parlay their fast start into something big.
Of the four teams in the NFC North, the Packers have the easiest remaining schedule based on combined record of their remaining opponents (32-32). Detroit has the toughest at 40-26, Chicago is next at 31-25 and Minnesota is third at 33-29.
You can argue that those numbers are skewed based on the fact all three of those teams have the Packers remaining on their schedule - Detroit has them twice - and this kind of comparison is based on who other than the Packers the opposition plays the rest of the way. But numbers are numbers and the combined record of remaining opponents does stand for something.
More important than the combined numbers are the specific teams the Packers' competition plays the rest of the season.
Chicago has the Giants and Redskins left - not to mention Minnesota, which already dealt it a painful defeat at home - both teams the Packers beat. Detroit has the Giants and Chargers. Minnesota has Philadelphia, the Chargers, the Giants and the Redskins.
Since the Packers beat them in Week 2, the Giants have been on a roll, winning five straight. Chicago, Detroit and Minnesota will be facing a far different team than the Packers did.
Since the Packers beat them in Week 3, the Chargers have regained their footing and won two of their last three, including a pair of AFC West games in which they outscored Kansas City and Oakland by a combined 69-17. The Lions and Vikings could be facing a vastly better team than the Packers did when they faced the Chargers.
Since the Packers beat them in Week 6, Washington bounced back to beat Arizona by the narrowest of margins, 21-19, and improved its record to 4-2. Chicago has to travel to face Washington in Week 14, while Minnesota gets to face it at home in Week 16. Just as the Packers found out, Washington will not be a pushover.
The point here is that for teams like Chicago, Detroit and Minnesota, it's difficult to make up ground when you're facing teams who have gotten their act together and are better teams than they were at the start of the season. Every game the Bears, Lions and Vikings lose to one of those teams keeps them from gaining ground on the Packers.
Thus, you can see that the Packers' early victories were as timely as they were impressive. Sometimes facing the right team at the right time is part of being successful, and at this point in their rebuilding program, it has meant a lot to the Packers.
If you want a bottom line on what all of this means, it's that there are no excuses for Green Bay the rest of this season. If they blow it, they'll be no better than that 2003 Minnesota team that started out 6-0 and failed to make the playoffs. If they blow it, McCarthy will have to answer to it.
There is no reason short of an epidemic of injuries that the Packers shouldn't win the NFC North and be in the running for a first-round bye. They have five teams with winning records left on their schedule and play three of them (Kansas City, Detroit and Dallas) on the road.
But they also have the likes of 0-7 St. Louis and 2-4 Oakland at home near the end of the season, not to mention a rematch with the Vikings.
The Packers might not be the team they have been built up to be by some national media outlets, but they are in prime position to make the playoffs for the first time since the '05 season. After a 5-1 start, there's no reason why they shouldn't finish the job.
Posted: Oct. 24, 2007
Tom Silverstein
As tough as their next two games are, the Green Bay Packers are in such good position in their division and the NFC that anything but a playoff berth - and you might as well throw in the NFC North title - would be a colossal failure.
Coach Mike McCarthy would probably prefer not to hear it, but the Packers' 5-1 start has his team stiffly ahead of the competition, almost to the point where it merely needs to go .500 the rest of the season to capture the flag.
Even with 4-2 Detroit nipping at its heels and 3-4 Chicago refusing to say die, Green Bay's ride through a perfect storm of early season fate and circumstance has put it in perfect position to finish the job. It's not so much what the Packers did to get to 5-1, it's who they beat to get there.
Now, things could get dicey with a doubleheader road loss to Denver and Kansas City over the next two weeks - beating any AFC team is a challenge when you reside in the lower-class neighborhood known as the NFC - but even at 5-3 the future would be bright for the Packers because of what they accomplished in the first month and a half.
By beating Philadelphia, the New York Giants, San Diego and Washington before the bye, the Packers took care of business that most of the division still has on its to-do list. And by no means will it be easy.
And let's not kid ourselves, fate and circumstance played a big part in the Packers starting out so well. They essentially caught those four teams exactly at the right time and did what a good team should do: sent them home with a loss.
It's not the Packers' fault that in the opener Donovan McNabb was playing his first game since tearing up his knee last year and his talented tight end was barely able to run because of a groin injury. Nor was it their fault that in Week 2 Eli Manning was coming off a significant shoulder injury, Michael Strahan was coming off an unpaid vacation and Osi Umenyiora wasn't even half the six-sacks-in-a-game man he should have been because of a knee injury.
It sure wasn't their fault that San Diego was a shambles when it came to town - not to mention it was traveling cross country for the second consecutive week - or that Washington did everything it could to give away the game at Lambeau Field on the way to its second loss.
The Packers did everything necessary to win those four games and the game against the Vikings in the Metrodome. The only instance in which they did not complete the task was in the second half of the Chicago Bears game, which ultimately ruined their chances of starting out 6-0.
So, maybe the Packers aren't as good as their 5-1 record indicates, but the fact of the matter is they're sitting here behind only the 6-1 Dallas Cowboys in the NFC and they have a chance to parlay their fast start into something big.
Of the four teams in the NFC North, the Packers have the easiest remaining schedule based on combined record of their remaining opponents (32-32). Detroit has the toughest at 40-26, Chicago is next at 31-25 and Minnesota is third at 33-29.
You can argue that those numbers are skewed based on the fact all three of those teams have the Packers remaining on their schedule - Detroit has them twice - and this kind of comparison is based on who other than the Packers the opposition plays the rest of the way. But numbers are numbers and the combined record of remaining opponents does stand for something.
More important than the combined numbers are the specific teams the Packers' competition plays the rest of the season.
Chicago has the Giants and Redskins left - not to mention Minnesota, which already dealt it a painful defeat at home - both teams the Packers beat. Detroit has the Giants and Chargers. Minnesota has Philadelphia, the Chargers, the Giants and the Redskins.
Since the Packers beat them in Week 2, the Giants have been on a roll, winning five straight. Chicago, Detroit and Minnesota will be facing a far different team than the Packers did.
Since the Packers beat them in Week 3, the Chargers have regained their footing and won two of their last three, including a pair of AFC West games in which they outscored Kansas City and Oakland by a combined 69-17. The Lions and Vikings could be facing a vastly better team than the Packers did when they faced the Chargers.
Since the Packers beat them in Week 6, Washington bounced back to beat Arizona by the narrowest of margins, 21-19, and improved its record to 4-2. Chicago has to travel to face Washington in Week 14, while Minnesota gets to face it at home in Week 16. Just as the Packers found out, Washington will not be a pushover.
The point here is that for teams like Chicago, Detroit and Minnesota, it's difficult to make up ground when you're facing teams who have gotten their act together and are better teams than they were at the start of the season. Every game the Bears, Lions and Vikings lose to one of those teams keeps them from gaining ground on the Packers.
Thus, you can see that the Packers' early victories were as timely as they were impressive. Sometimes facing the right team at the right time is part of being successful, and at this point in their rebuilding program, it has meant a lot to the Packers.
If you want a bottom line on what all of this means, it's that there are no excuses for Green Bay the rest of this season. If they blow it, they'll be no better than that 2003 Minnesota team that started out 6-0 and failed to make the playoffs. If they blow it, McCarthy will have to answer to it.
There is no reason short of an epidemic of injuries that the Packers shouldn't win the NFC North and be in the running for a first-round bye. They have five teams with winning records left on their schedule and play three of them (Kansas City, Detroit and Dallas) on the road.
But they also have the likes of 0-7 St. Louis and 2-4 Oakland at home near the end of the season, not to mention a rematch with the Vikings.
The Packers might not be the team they have been built up to be by some national media outlets, but they are in prime position to make the playoffs for the first time since the '05 season. After a 5-1 start, there's no reason why they shouldn't finish the job.