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Winners of three straight, the Green Bay Packers welcome in the Arizona Cardinals who appear on the opposite side of the spectrum with four straight losses.
The Cardinals (4-4) are the first team since the 2002 Oakland Raiders to start the year 4-0 and lose their next four games. Green Bay has a chance to make sure the birds from the desert don’t follow the same path as that Raiders team went on to finish the year 11-5 and win the Super Bowl behind MVP-quarterback Rich Gannon.
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The Green Bay Packers have had one of the tougher schedules to start the year. They started with the stout 49ers, a division rival in the Bears, a Seattle game marred by the replacement refs and a Saints team desperate for a win. To come out of that with a 2-2 record could be looked at as a success or an utter disappointment.
And just when you thought the road gets a little easier, it doesn’t.
The Packers travel to Indianapolis to take on a Colts team who will be playing with heavy hearts after learning about their Head Coach Chuck Pagano and his diagnosis with leukemia.
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Now that the Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints have combined for only one win in a total of six games, it almost makes you believe that the league has some kind of vendetta against them.
Because of Bounty-Gate, the Saints (0-3) are without key defenders and their head coach Sean Payton which has them reeling at the end of close games. Meanwhile the Packers (1-2) are on the wrong side of a .5oo record due to the replacement refs’ blunder on Monday Night Football.
For these reasons, the match-up on Sunday is pretty much a must-win if either team wants to make the playoffs.
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Bad reffing aside, the Green Bay Packers’ defense had no answers for the San Francisco 49ers who went into Lambeau Field and pulled out a 30-22 win.
Aaron Rodgers wasn’t horrible, but he also wasn’t his MVP-self with a costly interception in the fourth quarter with the game on the line.
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Green Bay Packers Linebacker Clay Matthews is the very definition of tough guy. The embodiment of brute force and strength. Which what makes this picture, cut at the last minute from the latest issue of NFL Magazine, after the jump all the more ridiculous. It’s just wrong on so many levels.
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Everyone knew Aaron Rodgers and the offense would have a big game, but it was the Green Bay Packers’ defense and special teams who stole the show this Monday Night.
Coming into the game, the undefeated Packers (9-0) were allowing 22.4 points per game, but Adrian Peterson and the Minnesota Vikings (2-7) came nowhere close to that in a 45-7 loss at Lambeau Field.
Rookie wideout Randall Cobb jump-started the Packers big win with a 80 yard punt return for a touchdown on Green Bay’s first possession. With the score, Cobb became the only rookie in Packers history to return a kick-off and punt for a touchdown in the same season.
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In OLB Clay Matthews, the starting defense of the 2010 Green Bay Packers features one of the most dynamic young players in the NFL. The second year pro out of USC is really flourishing within Defensive Coordinator Dom Capers’ 3-4 system, and the race for NFC Defensive Player of the Year figures to come down to him and Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Asante Samuel.
Matthews finished fourth in the NFL in sacks, second in the NFC.
“Once you finish your rookie year you kind of see what you need to improve on,” Matthews said at Cowboys Stadium during the Nike Football Media Summit last week.
“For me, I think I finished the season pretty well and I knew coming into the season that I was going to get a lot more attention from opposing offenses, so I knew I had to not only get bigger, faster, stronger, but also my mentality- that’s kind of where I been this year. Trying to be a leader and being relentless and ruthless in getting after it, kind of the same approach I’ll take going into my third year,” he continued.
By Paul M. Banks
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It’s really been a phenomenal season for both the NFC Champion Green Bay Packers defensive unit and their star Left Outside Linebacker Clay Matthews. The second year pro out of USC is really flourishing within Defensive Coordinator Dom Capers’ 3-4 system, and the race for NFC Defensive Player of the Year figures to come down to him and Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Asante Samuel. If you’re one to bet on sports, you might want to put money on Matthews getting sacks in the Super Bowl.
“I was fortunate enough that my first year was his (Capers) first year. I think we finished one or two in defense last year. And I think right now we’re leading the NFL in points per game allowed,” Matthews said at Cowboys Stadium during the Nike Football Media Summit.
Matthews will be return to Cowboys Stadium for Super Bowl 45, the annual sports betting event.
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