August 2009 - Posts

  • Ted Kennedy Was Packers Prospect

    Had Ted Kennedy given a different response to a letter from a Packers head coach, it's possible Senator Ted Kennedy may have become Packers receiver Ted Kennedy.

    The senator's web site says that Kennedy, a senior right end for the Harvard football team in 1955, received a letter from Packers head coach Lisle Blackbourn.

    "You have been very highly recommended to us by a number of coaches in your area, and also by our talent scouts as a possible pro prospect," said Blackbourn in the letter.

    Kennedy responded that he was flattered, but he stated he was planning on going to law school and "another contact sport, politics."

    If Kennedy had changed course and made the Packers' roster in 1956, he would have joined future pro football Hall of Famers Bart Starr and Forrest Gregg as rookies that year.

    Four years after that, Packers head coach Vince Lombardi gave Kennedy's brother John his endorsement for the Presidency.  Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon in that election.

    A year later, Kennedy personally made sure running back Paul Hornung, linebacker Ray Nitschke and wide receiver Boyd Dowler passes from the U.S. Army so they would be available to play in the NFL Championship game on December 31st, 1961 against  the New York Giants.

    The Packers won that game, 37-0, to take their first of five NFL titles from 1961-67.

    Sen. Kennedy died of a brain tumor at 77 years old late Tuesday night.

  • Accuscore: Rodgers Will Outperform Favre, Packers Should Make Playoffs

    A web site that forecasts sporting events says that Aaron Rodgers will again outperform the purple-clad Brett Favre, and that the Packers have better than 50-50 odds of playing in mid-January.

    Accuscore.com ran 10,000 simulations of the 2009 season, and according to those simulations, the site says that this year should be a banner year for Aaron Rodgers.

    The web site says he'll throw for more than 4,000 yards, 30 TD's and just 11 interceptions.

    It also says he'd lead Green Bay to a 10-6 record, and that they have a 63% chance of making the playoffs.

    The web site says Rodgers will have better stats than Favre in every major statistical category.

    Player Completion % Yards TD Passes Interceptions QB Rating
    Aaron Rodgers 65.6% 4,022 30 11 99.9
    Brett Favre 65.6% 3,192 24 16 90.9

    However, it also shows that Favre will be enough of an upgrade at the quarterback position that the Vikings have the best chance to win the NFC North.

    Team Odds: Making Playoffs Odds: Winning NFC North Forecasted Record
    Minnesota 72% 49% 10-6
    Green Bay 63% 36% 10-6
    Chicago 34% 15% 9-7
    Detroit <1% <1% 4-12

    The site also ran a scenario sticking Favre on the Packers and Rodgers on the Vikings.

    According to the site, the Vikings' chances of winning the division would increase, while the Packers' would have less than a 50-50 shot of making the postseason.

    Team Odds: Making Playoffs Odds: Winning NFC North Forecasted Record
    Minnesota 84% 65% 11-5
    Green Bay 49% 21% 10-6
    Chicago 34% 13% 8-8
    Detroit <1% <1% 4-12

  • Packers Reaction to Favre: From "Not Surprised" to "Bulletin Board"

    The Green Bay Packers, like the rest of the National Football League, now know it won't be Sage Rosenfels or Tavaris Jackson behind center for the Vikings this year.

    It's the old familiar number four of Brett Favre, wearing very unfamiliar colors.

    Linebacker Nick Barnett has a warning for Favre: He will be looking for you.

    Barnett had a little fun with the possibility that Favre might come back to the NFL to play for the rival Vikings.

    Packers-Vikings Game Dates:
    October 5th at Minnesota
    November 1st at Green Bay

    Hamming it up for cameras, Barnett said he respects Favre but can't wait to hit him:"I want to get a nice little shot on you, Brett. I said it. Put it on the bulletin board."

    His former coach, Mike McCarthy, wasn't as pointed with his comments.

    "If he's going to play, that's obviously his choice," said McCarthy. "I'm not surprised by it. I don't think anyone should be surprised by it."

    "We always look forward to playing the Vikings. I don't think that will ever change here in Green Bay."

    To wide receiver Donald Driver, the move to Minnesota won't move around the standings in the NFC North.

    "He's a good quarterback," said Driver, who has said often he maintains his friendship with Favre.

    "He's a Hall of Famer, but I don't think it's going to change who's going to be on top of the division. We're not going backwards for anyone, regardless of what teams get who."

    Cornerback Al Harris will have to guard receivers Favre will be throwing to when they match up this year.

    It's something he was used to for years in practice when Favre was a Packer, and he says the issues Favre faced with the team wasn't with the other guys suiting up in Green and Gold.

    "We didn't have any distractions here in the locker room," said Harris.

    "It was more of an upstairs thing. Everybody who's played with Brett up here knows Brett. Brett is Brett. This is a business. We understand the business side of it. Brett understands the business side of it. You play long enough, things happen."

    Now, what has happened is the Packers facing Favre twice, though Harris says that's not the thought in their mind.

    "Right now, my focus is Buffalo. (When) we play the Vikings, then we'll focus on the Vikings, but Buffalo's our focus right now, then Arizona, then Chicago.

    "We're here. We're grinding. We're doing what we need to do, no matter who they have for quarterback, no matter who the Bears have for quarterback, Detroit, or whoever. We're concentrating on the Packers and what we need to do."

    Special thanks to Sirius Satellite Radio for their assistance.

  • Packers Rewind: '65 Champs Were Out-Statted

     When you think Packers-Browns in the context of Packers history, you probably go back to the 1965 NFL Championship game played in the mud which the Packers won, 23-12.

    But the '65 Packers, in many ways, had no business even making that championship game, let alone winning it.

    The first reason involved this team's regular season futility in a number of areas, including the fact that opponents actually outgained the Packers over the season (3,969 yards given up, 3,601 gained).

    Only one championship team since, the 2001 Patriots, can say that.

    Over a four-game stretch, the Packers' offense scored no more than 13 points in any single game.
    10/24/65: 13-3 win vs. Dallas at Milwaukee
    10/31/65: 31-10 loss at Chicago
    11/7/65: 12-7 loss vs. Detroit
    11/14/65: 6-3 win vs. Los Angeles at Milwaukee

    Where this team excelled was in two categories.

    One: causing turnovers.

    The team had an amazing plus-24 advantage, picking off 27 passes per game and snagging 23 fumbles, and changing many games with how they could put up their own points.

    "We really developed the attitude that if the offense struggled, we just might have to make the difference," said Hall of Fame Defensive End Willie Davis in a recent interview.

    "We played every game believing that if the offense did not get a winnable number of points on the board, we would do whatever was necessary to get us on the big end of the score."

    The other: the category of comebacks.

    Half of the Packers' 1965 wins came in cardiac fashion.

    Five came where the team produced the go-ahead score in the later part of regulation or overtime. Four of those were of the regular season variety:
    9/26/65: 20-17 vs. Baltimore at Milwaukee on a late 37-yard Zeke Bratkowski-to-Max McGee touchdown pass
    11/14/1965: 6-3 vs. Los Angeles at Milwaukee on a last-second Don Chandler field goal
    11/21/1965: 38-13 at Minnesota on a 28-point fourth quarter started by a 47-yard Bart Starr-to-Boyd Dowler touchdown pass
    12/5/1965: 24-19 vs. Minnesota on a 27-yard Zeke Bratkowski-to-Bill Anderson touchdown pass

    The other was an 18-point second-half comeback with three third-quarter Bart Starr touchdown passes and a Starr fourth-quarter scoring run against the Lions to produce a 31-21 victory on October 17th.

    But even with that, many believe the Packers had no right to play in the '65 championship game, an opinion mainly from Colts fans who thought the 1965 Western Conference Playoff shouldn't have gone to overtime.

    That's because a Don Chandler game-tying 25-yard field goal in the final two minutes should never have counted, at least in Baltimore lovers' minds.

    The Colts and their followers to this day feel that field goal should have been ruled wide right.

    In fact, at a banquet after the season, Colts running back Tom Matte gave Vince Lombardi a cake with a goalpost that extends far to the right.

    But despite their protests, history sided with Green Bay, and Chandler made a 25-yard overtime field goal, right down the middle, to produce a 13-10 victory to send the team to the NFL title game.

    One week later at Lambeau Field, the Packers used 201 rushing yards by Jim Taylor and Paul Hornung - 13 on a key second-half scoring run - as the Packers steamrolled the Browns 23-12 to earn their first of a record three consecutive world championships.

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