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What follows is a fabricated* letter from JaMarcus Russell to Al Davis. Clay Travis, armed with a hacksaw and a flip cam, altered a peephole to obtain its contents.

Dear Al,

You told me to call you Al when you drafted me back in 2007. You said I could call you Al because you used to be a black panther. I think you said, "I feel you, baby." Then you felt my shoulder. Now I'm offering you a shoulder to lean your head on. I want you to sleep well at night, Al. I want you to do away with all your worries and climb aboard a train to Super Bowl Village. I want you to name me head coach of the Oakland Raiders. I'm ready, I'm prepared. I'm agog at the potential of the Oakland Raiders.

I can be your Pete Rose. Only without the gambling or the baseballs or the baseball bats. Really though, baseballs are just like footballs, only smaller and whiter. Also, not ovals. I'm a lot like Pete Rose too, only fatter, blacker and not prone to hustle. To be honest, I don't even like to run at all. I prefer to stand still and watch men break on me. I'm like Hemingway's Frederic Henry if Hemingway was not capable of subject-verb agreement. Quarterback-coach, it has a nice ring to it, right?

I've decided to itemize the reasons I should be coach. By the end of this letter you'll see that our philosophies, our offensive goals, my proven track record of success, the fact that you are already paying me a lot of money, myriads of reasons militate my hire.

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It isn't any surprise that since Brett Favre announced he'd be done with football (umm, the fourth time), the quarterback situation with the Packers would be tumultuous.

Nobody thought it would get to this. Even with Aaron Rodgers doing whatever he can in Green Bay to win people over, rumors are flying around that the Packers have worked out Duke basketball player Greg Paulus. Yes, that was "Duke basketball player" you just read.

It isn't any surprise that since Brett Favre announced he'd be done with football (umm, the fourth time), the quarterback situation with the Packers would be tumultuous.

Nobody thought it would get to this. Even with Aaron Rodgers doing whatever he can in Green Bay to win people over, rumors are flying around that the Packers have worked out Duke basketball player Greg Paulus. Yes, that was "Duke basketball player" you just read.

The Packers front office has a funny way of dealing with the lingering grief associated with losing that interception machine, Brett Favre: they sign his replacement, Aaron Rodgers, to a long-term deal. (Deanna fires up the blog machine in 3... 2... 1...)

According to Packers.com (via MDS at PFT), the team extended the first-year starter and former first-round pick through 2014.

"As we talked about in the past, we try to be proactive in our discussions with our current players and we felt like this was an appropriate time to try to come to an agreement with Aaron," said Thompson. "We feel like this is good for the organization and the players, and we will continue this approach as we move forward."

I think most rational people would agree with that assessment. The Packers are 4-3 and tied for first in the division with the Bears. Given the state of the defense, and Ryan Grant disappearing for most of the first half of the season, it's fair to say that without Rodgers, Green Bay could easily be a two-win team.

That they're playing relatively well while Favre struggles in New York creates unsafe cognitive dissonance levels for some Packers supporters, but for the rest of us, it's pretty clear that Thompson and Mike McCarthy made the right move. Until Rodgers goes down and it's Matt Flynn's team, anyway.

Until then, though, these guys are brilliant!

With attention spans dwindling, we forego full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious NFL weekend. Click here to go back in time.

The 1s

Tennessee (4-0) at Baltimore (2-1): Okay, fine, I'll agree, the Titans are a good football team. They're giving up just 11.5 points per game, best in the NFL, they have a competent quarterback that doesn't do anything flashy but also doesn't make a lot of mistakes (only one interception in four games) and a rookie running back in Chris Johnson that made every fantasy owner that didn't snag him do a collective head slap. Interesting little comparison here, last week Johnson had just 19 less yards than Adrian Peterson with one less carry and as many touchdowns. Also worth noting, the 4-0 Titans have just one nationally televised game the rest of the season, October 27 against the Colts, while the Browns still have four. Does Al Davis also dabble in national television scheduling? Cool.

Pick -- Tennessee

Packers QB Aaron Rodgers threw a patented Green Bay TD pass to Greg Jennings (quick post, missed tackle, easy run to the endzone).

However, as soon as Jennings was in the open field, Rodger ran over to the Packers sideline with his right arm down at his side. It isn't known if he hurt his arm on that play or not. The FoxSports broadcast team of Kenny Albert, Darryl Johnston and Tony Siragusa are speculating that it happened earlier in the drive when scrambled and dove for a first down.

Rookie Matt Flynn has been warming up, but they've yet to need him. Down 20-14 after the touchdown, Charles Woodson picked off Tampa Bay's Brian Griese and returned it for his own TD. Green Bay now has the lead and their offense is still on the sideline.

UPDATE: Rodgers had been seen throwing on the sideline but has since threw a cap on and seems as if he's done for the day. Flynn has been receiving instructions from coaches as if he will enter the game whenever Green Bay gets the ball back.

UPDATE II: Flynn is entering the game and will presumably play out the rest of the fourth quarter.

UPDATE III: Rodgers did return to the game as the Packers were down 23-21 late. Rodger went back to pass and was absolutely drilled. He got the pass away, but it went into the hands of a Buccaneers defender.

When the Packers used a second-round pick on Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, they were working from the assumption that Brett Favre was actually going to stay retired this time. Green Bay would take LSU QB Matt Flynn five rounds later just for good measure.

Turns out, Favre was just joshing about spending the rest of his days fishin' in Mississippi, he re-un-retired, the Packers balked, and the future Hall of Famer ended up with the New York Jets. And Green Bay enters the season with a first-year starter in Aaron Roders, and two rookies behind him on the depth chart.

And while Brohm seemed like the obvious choice for the No. 2 job -- he came from a prolific college program and was at one time considered a first-round talent -- head coach Mike McCarthy has named Flynn Rodgers' backup.

"Now's the time when your reps are limited," McCarthy said after Monday's practice. "The ability to keep splitting them, we didn't feel was in the best interests (of the team). It would have been in the best interests of the group, but I wanted to be sure we gave one of the individuals an opportunity to get ready. We just felt Matt was a little more productive than Brian in the preseason, but it's a competition that will continue."

These things happen and it really says nothing about Brohm's NFL future; he's just one of countless players whose careers got off to a bumpy start. It happens.

In totally believable news, Brett Favre, retired for most of the spring, apparently wants to play one more year. According to ESPN's Chris Mortensen, Favre has relayed this very important nugget to head coach Mike McCarthy, but we'll all have to wait patiently to see how the most predictable comeback in sports plays out.

While we twiddle out thumbs, PackerReport.com provides some context, and it sounds like some people in the organization are ready to move on without Brett.

According to Mortensen, the Packers source said the team would be reluctant to allow him to return because "Brett retired for the right reasons." Plus, the Packers have spent the offseason tailoring the offense to Rodgers' strengths, and selected two quarterbacks in April's draft.

Still, it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility; as PackerReport.com notes, Favre's salary no longer counts toward the cap, the Packers didn't spend the freed-up money this offseason, and seventh-round pick, quarterback Matt Flynn, could move to the practice squad if Green Bay decided to rejigger the depth chart to accommodate Favre.

UPDATE: Hmm. Evidently, Favre wanted to come back, the Packers said, no thanks, prompting Favre to ask to be released. The Packers again said, no thanks. Weird (via Pancake Blocks).

I wonder if Daunte Culpepper will ever regret not signing with the Packers when he had the chance. I also wonder if Green Bay will wish that the former Minnesota quarterback took them up on their one-year, $1 million offer.

Whatever, after Culpepper said thanks, but no thanks, Packers general manager Ted Thompson looked to the draft to stock the position behind first-year starter Aaron Rodgers. Green Bay made out, landing Brian Brohm in the second round and Matt Flynn five rounds later.

The problem, though, is that there is zero NFL experience behind Rodgers, who, unlike Brett Favre, has an injury history.

...the Packers will be taking a bigger risk than when Rodgers backed up Brett Favre as a rookie in 2005. Favre was a proven iron man, whereas Rodgers has an injury history (a broken foot and substantial hamstring strain the last two seasons). It's risky, but not uncommon for an NFL team. ...

Last season, three rookies opened the season as their team's No. 2 quarterback, though none of the clubs made the playoffs: first-round pick Brady Quinn of Cleveland, second-round pick John Beck of Miami, and Buffalo Bills third-rounder Trent Edwards, who finished the season as the team's starter.

(Just so you know, Rodgers hates it when you bring up all the injuries.)

Dynasty Diaries takes a look at keeper leagues for fantasy football as the season quickly approaches.

With the retirement (finally) of Brett Favre, the Packers now have a new face to the franchise ... only we can't yet be 100% sure whose face it is just yet at the QB position. To me, the real face of the Packers franchise for the next few years is going to be Ryan Grant. I firmly believe the running game is going to take center stage and Grant is going to be an elite back. He's a solid first round pick in yearly fantasy drafts as far as I'm concerned (comparable value to Willie Parker) and houses even more value in keeper leagues -- being that he's only 25 years old and doesn't have much tread on his tires.

Once Brettfavre (I say it as one word because I'm trying to blend in with the rest of the media that refuse to either call him "Brett" or "Favre") called it quits, the reins of QB up in Lambeau Field were handed to Aaron Rodgers.

Or were they?