AllGreenBayPackers.Com

Peterson scores an early touchdown and helps Minnesota secure the win but falls 9 yards shy of the single-season rushing record

Green Bay Packers vs. Minnesota Vikings:

---- Get AddToAny

Packers Vs. Vikings Prediction Contest

Win a “Why are the Vikings Purple?’ T-Shirt, courtesy of the fine folks at www.Sconsinwear.com  (a $20.99 value). They also have a wide variety of other cool T-Shirts and other items available at their online store. (General Wisconsin themes, Badgers, Brewers, hunting, fishing, drinking, etc… Quite a collection!)

THE CONTEST:

Make your picks in the comments below.   The person with the correct winning team and the closest overall in point differential wins the T-shirt.

Don’t forget the tiebreaker question… (you won’t be eligible if you don’t answer it.)

Winning Team:

Final Score:

Tiebreaker: (Total net yards of offense for the Packers):

Post your entry in the comments below. Only entries posted here and received by 4:15PM Eastern Time on 12/30/12 will be considered. ALLGBP writers are not eligible for a prize. The winner will be announced in the comments section of this post, so check back if you think you did well.

Follow Jersey Al:

          Follow @JerseyAlGBP           Add to Circleson

Jersey Al Bracco is the founder and editor of AllGreenBayPackers.com, and the co-founder of Packers Talk Radio Network. He can be heard as one of the Co-Hosts on Cheesehead Radio and is the Green Bay Packers Draft Analyst for Drafttek.com.

——————

---- Get AddToAny

Rodgers in a baseball cap and waving a celebratory towel would be a welcome sight on Sunday. Green Bay can clinch a playoff bye with a win

Here we are in week 17 and another season is nearly in the books.  The Green Bay Packers end their regular season schedule with a trip to Minnesota to face the Vikings.  A few years back, the NFL changed its schedule making such that the last week of the season would be a divisional game for all teams.  This was in the hopes that the games would be meaningful and teams wouldn’t rest slews of their starters in preparation for the postseason.

The NFL has gotten its wish this year and with this game.  Each team has something on the line.  The Vikings need to win to secure a playoff spot.  The Packers can clinch the second seed in the NFC with a win.  Should the Vikings win, the Packers can still gain the #2 seed with a San Francisco and a Seattle loss.

Last week’s format was a success so I’m going stick with a “Keys to the Game” theme.  Let’s see what will likely determine the outcome of tomorrow’s contest.

Vikings Running Back Adrian Peterson

I feel like a broken record with the thoughts I share about Peterson but given the season he is having, they bear some repeating.  According to ESPN, Peterson has 1,898 yards in 15 games.  102 yards shy of 2,000 yards, an accomplishment only six other running backs can claim.  Peterson is also 208 yards shy of the 28 year-old and all-time single-season rushing record set by Eric Dickerson in 1984.  Read more... (1953 words + 3 images, estimated 7:49 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny

Around the NFC North in week 17

In week 17, The NFL is getting what it always hopes for when they create the schedule each spring.  Each of this week’s NFC North matchups have playoff implications and there is another NFL record in jeopardy.

After the Detroit Lions’ Calvin Johnson broke Jerry Rice’s single-season receiving yardage record last week, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has the single-season rushing record in his sights.  Peterson needs just 208 yards to break Eric Dickerson’s record of 2,105 yards.

Peterson’s Vikings host the Green Bay Packers and that game has been flexed by the NFL to the 3pm CDT time slot.  It is setting up to be one of the better matchups around the league.  Green Bay can secure the second seed with a victory or both a San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks loss.  For the Vikings, it’s simple:  win and they’re in.

The Chicago Bears are still alive in the wild card race after beating the Arizona Cardinals.  Chicago travels to Detroit and must win to keep any hopes alive of securing the last wild card spot.  The Bears also are in the precarious position of having to cheer for their arch enemy Packers.  Should Bears win and the Packers beat the Vikings, the Bears would claim the sixth and final seed in the NFC.

Let’s look at the matchups and playoff scenarios a bit more closely.  Read more... (1548 words + 3 images, estimated 6:12 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny

Packers Offensive Lineman Don Barclay

After stepping in for an injured TJ Lang at right tackle in last week’s game against the Vikings, Packers rookie Don Barclay is suddenly the subject of many questions.

Even before the Vikings game, there were calls by many to move Lang back to left guard and insert Barclay at right tackle (all without ever having seen Barclay play a single meaningful offensive snap in the NFL).

Either these folks knew something we didn’t, or blind luck shall be given the credit, as Barclay stepped in and did an adequate job. Adequate meaning he didn’t do anything fantastic, but he also didn’t do anything horrible. For his first game ever, a solid performance.

For some fans, this is enough to anoint Barclay the Packers starting right tackle for the rest of the season in place of TJ Lang, there in place of Bryan Bulaga. And so the questions start…

Packers fans have a seemingly endless unquenched thirst for information about every guy in a Green & Gold uniform -even undrafted rookie free agents no one has ever heard of before.

And that, in a sense, is why we’re here. To provide you, the insatiable Packers fan, with volumes of minutiae about your beloved Packers players.

So without further ado, we present to you Don Barclay:

Don Barclay, 6’4″, 310lbs, West Virginia University

Barclay is from Cranberry PA, about an hour outside of Pittsburgh. He was deemed too big for Pop Warner football, and didn’t start playing until just before High School.  Read more... (955 words + 3 images, estimated 3:49 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny

Packers QB Aaron Rodgers scrambles to evade the pressure from Vikings DE Jared Allen

It was a solid rebound from their blowout loss to the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers are back in first place in the NFC North.

Thanks to their 23-14 win over the Minnesota Vikings and the Seattle Seahawks’ 23-17 overtime win against the Chicago Bears, the Packers find themselves right back where they were before the meltdown against the Giants.  The Packers currently hold the tiebreaker against the Bears, but the two teams face off in less than two weeks at Soldier Field for what very likely could be the NFC North title game.

As for the victory over the Vikings, it was a much more inspired effort than what the Packers turned in against the Giants.  The Packers allowed Adrian Peterson to gain more than 200 yards on the ground yet were still able to win thanks to some opportunistic plays by the defense as well as some bad decisions by Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder.

The Packers offense used a two headed rushing attack that worked well and the offensive line, despite now losing TJ Lang to injury, improved and only allowed two sacks against a solid Vikings defensive line.

So who performed well and who left something to be desired in the Packers’ big divisional win? Let’s take a look?

Game Balls

S Morgan Burnett

Burnett very well may have won this game for the Packers.  Read more... (1171 words + 1 image, estimated 4:41 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny