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QB Christian Ponder has led the surprising Vikings to a 2-1 record

It’s hard to believe we’re already talking about week 4 and the NFL season will be a quarter done after this coming Monday Night game.  It’s a busy week in the NFC North with some very good matchups to look forward to.

For the Green Bay Packers, week 4 is a very welcome sight.  Need I even explain the who, what, when, where and why?  They are eager to get that putrid taste out of their mouths after a very controversial loss on the final play in Monday Night’s game against the Seattle Seahawks.  They return home and host the 0-3 New Orleans Saints led by QB Drew Brees.

The Minnesota Vikings ride high into Detroit to face the Lions after having knocked off the previously undefeated and heavily favored San Francisco 49ers in Minnesota this past weekend.  It is the first divisional game for both the Vikes and Lions this season.  The Lions come into this game licking the wounds of a brutal overtime loss at Tennessee after scoring twice in the final :18 seconds to force the OT.

The Bears cap off the week with a Monday Night matchup in Dallas against the Cowboys.  Both teams are coming off wins and strong performances in week 3.  The winner of this one makes a strong statement as to their standing as a contender in the NFC.  Read more... (2398 words + 3 images, estimated 9:36 mins reading time)

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Could Alex Smith meet Aaron Rodgers in the NFC Championship game?

The Green Bay Packers haven’t hosted a playoff game at Lambeau Field since losing to the Giants in the NFC Championship on Jan. 20, 2008. After a 7-0 start, the Packers have some people whispering about going undefeated.

Barring injury, the Packers are more talented than any of their remaining opponents. But can they go undefeated? That’s a tall task.

The Packers toughest tests will come after the bye when they travel to San Diego, on Thanksgiving against the Lions, at the Giants and at home against the Bears and Lions.

Lets say the Packers end up 13-3. Would that be good enough for the No. 1 seed in the NFC and homefield throughout the playoffs? I think so. The Saints could give the Packers a run, but Green Bay already has the tiebreaker advantage. San Franscisco and Detroit are still…well, San Francico and Detroit. Both are improved, but not at the Packers’ level. The Giants only have two losses, but they face a brutal schedule down the stretch.

Packers fans should plan on skipping their January house payment. There’s a good chance that money would be better spent on NFC Championship game tickets at Lambeau.

49ers
Record: 5-1
Projected finish: 12-4
Even if you don’t think the 49ers are for real, they still could end up 12-4. I guess it depends how you define for real. If for real means beating the mediocre and bad teams on your schedule, the 49ers are for real. If it means rising up and winning a game or two that you’re not supposed to, I’m not sure the 49ers qualify.  Read more... (772 words + 1 image, estimated 3:05 mins reading time)

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We all know the story: the preseason games means nothing, but fans nevertheless believe in them like they were the real deal (they’re paying for it like its the real deal, for sure).  A 4-0 record in the preseason has got to mean something, right?

Wrong.  If the Colts have proven anything, it’s that 4-20  (16%) preseason record somehow correlates to a 75-21 (78%) regular season record since 2005.  Obviously Peyton Manning has something to do with this (or a lot to do with this); but the fact remains, predicting regular season success based off of preseason results is like drafting JaMarcus Russell: one party is going to be laughing all the way to the bank while the other is going to be wondering how they got robbed.

Perhaps the most famous example from last year was the Dallas Cowboys.  With Super Bowl XLV being held at “Jerry World”, owner Jerry Jones confidently predicted that his Cowboys were going to be the first team to ever play (and win) a Super Bowl in their own stadium.  Going into the preseason, head coach Wade Phillips assumed they already had the Super Bowl in the bag and so did the players, as they were SO talented, after all.  Preseason practices were held like a travelling circus.  And it showed. The preseason games were lackluster with many mistakes and mental errors, but perhaps more importantly, you could tell the team was coasting through the preseason.  Read more... (1039 words + 1 image, estimated 4:09 mins reading time)

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Did you know the Green Bay Packers play the Detroit Lions Sunday? With all the talk about the Packers vs. New England Patriots game on Dec. 19, it seems that most people have already chalked up Sunday’s game against the Lions as a Packers victory.

The people that do realize the Packers play the Lions this week are using one of my least favorite phrases to describe the contest: Trap game.

Loosely defined, a trap game occurs when a good team plays a bad team the week before playing another good team. In this case, the trap game concept assumes the Packers are thinking about playing the Patriots instead of focusing on the Lions. This will cause the Packers to play poorly and maybe lose to the lowly Lions.

I think the trap game concept is just a simple way to let a team that lost off the hook. Sometimes a bad team comes together and plays well enough to knock off a superior opponent. And sometimes a good team, for whatever reason, plays terrible against a foe it should beat.

In either case, all of the credit or the blame should go to the two teams that actually played the game, not a third team that had nothing to do with anything.

The Football Outsiders did a study in 2007 and concluded that the entire concept of trap games was a myth. The Outsiders defined a trap game as any game against a sub-.500 opponent slotted between two games against opponents who, on the season, posted records above .500 (this definition means that Sunday’s game against the Lions would not be a trap game, but anyway…).  Read more... (596 words + 1 image, estimated 2:23 mins reading time)

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The Green Bay Packers beat the New York Jets 9-0 in a game that not even many diehard Packer fans expected them to win.  Even with five starters out, the Packers defense put together a superhuman effort against the Jets’ vaunted rushing game and the Packers got their first road shutout since 1991.

A win that could be a springboard to a title.

But before the Packers can start planning on a February trip to Dallas, the Packers first must beat Dallas in Green Bay. The Cowboys come to town Sunday night at 1-6 an seemingly self-destructing after losing starting quarterback Tony Romo for six to eight weeks.

All the more reason for the Packers to take the Cowboys seriously. No one needs to be reminded of the Tampa Bay game last season.

Breaking down the Cowboys

Actually, it seems the Cowboys are broken down enough already.

With the Wade Phillips Firing Squad on standby, the Cowboys are reeling.  Jon Kitna steps in for Romo and if the last game against the Jaguars is any indication, the Cowboys offense is in even worse trouble than when Romo was healthy.

Of course, the Cowboys offense still has weapons. Their three-headed rushing attack of Marion Barber, Felix Jones, and Tashard Choice still packs some punch.  With Romo gone, the running game will have to carry the team.

The Cowboys have talented receivers in Jason Whitten and rookie Dez Bryant, but without Romo they don’t have a quarterback with a strong enough arm to move the ball downfield consistently.  Read more... (716 words, estimated 2:52 mins reading time)

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