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The Packers blogosphere seems to be getting a gauge on the team and where they stand near the midpoint of the season. That seems to be a common theme running through blog posts today.

Waldo of the blog Where's Lambeau? thinks the Packers aren't winning the individual battles they need to win ball games. "Collectively this team from the coaches down to the backups, each need to start winning their battles, beating the man across from them," writes Waldo. "Collectively as a team, they just aren’t doing it. They have before, we’ve seen them do it, and in spurts they look good here an there in parts, but there is just something missing." No complaints on that take.

Monty from Total Packers says the team is somewhere in the middle of the NFL pecking order. "This Packers team is good enough to beat the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions and St. Louis Rams of the NFL," writes Monty. "Those teams have a combined three wins. They’re also good enough to beat a mirror image of inconsistency at Lambeau Field, which is what they did against the Bears. They are NOT good enough to compete with the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL – that is, the elite teams in the league." In that case, the Packers better win against the hapless Buccaneers this Sunday.

Gene Bosling of Ol' Bag of Donuts looks at how the 3-4 defense is progressing. "The Packers are ranked ninth in the league in total defense, in large part because they’ve played the Rams, Lions and Browns," writes Bosling. "They’re generating turnovers, but they’ve also only sacked the quarterback 12 times, and allowed 13 passing touchdowns, tied for fourth-most in the league. Now, a large portion of those stats is because of the two games against the Vikings, who threw seven touchdowns and didn’t give up a sack. But those are the games where you measure yourself, and this defense was designed to be more disruptive behind the line of scrimmage." Agreed. The Packers need to find ways to get into the offensive backfield more often.

Jobe from Acme Packing Company doesn't know what to make of the Packers quite yet. "The problem with the Packer's season so far, is that we haven't really faced much league average competition," writes jobe. "Of course thats bound to happen when league average teams are at such a premium at the moment. In the three wins against the cellar dwellers, the defense performed at or above expectations. In the three losses against what looks to be very good teams, the defense performed at or below expectations." Hopefully the Packers can gain some momentum from wins against cellar dwellars like Tampa Bay and that will carry over into games against teams with winning records.

Greg Bedard of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel details the problems the Packers have had on the opening drives of each half. "In their past 23 games, the Packers have been outscored a combined 102 to 38 on the opening drives of each half (2.22 points per drive to 0.83), including 38-16 this season," writes Bedard. Seeing as this statistic spans two seasons, part of the burden lies on head coach Mike McCarthy. His teams simply aren't getting it done when it comes to coming out of the gates fired up.

Mike Vandermause says Johnny Jolly didn't show much remorse for his momentum changing penalty this past Sunday against the Vikings. "I expected Jolly to say he lost his head in the exuberance of the moment," writes Vandermause. "Or maybe Jolly would explain that Taylor insulted one of his relatives. Surely he would offer an apology to his teammates and Packers fans, or at the very least Jolly would display a shred of remorse and humility for his inexcusable conduct." Instead, Jolly gave none of these reasons. Between this incident and his arrest in Houston, Jolly isn't going to get much leeway from fans anymore. He needs to realize what a privilege it is to be an NFL football player, because it can come crashing down pretty fast.

Cornerback Charles Woodson is getting flak from teammates about his alma mater's poor record the past couple seasons. "I'm not excited about it. I'm not excited about losing," said Woodson said Woodson about Michigan in the Detroit News. "It started out on fire (with a 4-0 start this season) and looked good for a short period, but it's hard to watch a place you love and played and to see your team struggling like that is hard."

Rob Reischel of Packer Plus is, unfortunately, pointing out a trend that's gaining some momentum. "While (quarterback Aaron) Rodgers might be winning games for fantasy owners, he's not posting any big wins for the Packers," writes Reischel. "And right now, he's quickly gaining a reputation for being a stats guy but not a winning quarterback." The same can probably be said for Mason Crosby at the kicker position.

Martin Hendricks of Packer Plus does a Q&A with Spencer Havner.

Railbird endorsed video: Enjoy "Funny How Time Slips Away" by Willie Nelson...