GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Nobody had to tell Charles Woodson the Packers needed this game. The team didn't have to call any meetings or make any fiery pregame speeches about protecting houses and separating backs from walls. When they showed up for work Sunday morning, the Packers were 4-4 and reeling from an inexplicable loss to the Buccaneers the week before. The mission couldn't have been clearer if it had been tattooed on the insides of their eyelids.
"I don't think anything needed to be said, " Woodson said when it was all over. "But me, I believe in self-motivation."
So Woodson motivated himself into a frothing frenzy and completely took over Sunday's game. He blanketed Dallas tight end Jason Witten. He forced fumbles, made a critical interception and basically made sure he was everywhere he needed to be -- even if that meant being everywhere at once. If there's one player who's the reason the Packers are 5-4 instead of 4-5, it's their still-hungry 33-year-old cornerback.
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- You could smell this game as far away as Madison, and the part of it that stunk the worst was the Dallas Cowboys offense. On an afternoon in which everybody -- the officials, the head coaches, the offensive lines...everybody -- seemed to be conspiring to set the game of football back 40 years, it was the Cowboys who came up the smallest, committing 10 penalties and converting just 3 of 12 third downs in a 17-7 loss to the Packers at Lambeau Field.
"This was an impressive win for Green Bay," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. "But it was unimpressive the way we didn't execute, especially early, when we still had a chance to get the game going the way we wanted it to go."
But the most disappointing part for the Cowboys was that, by losing this game, they blew a very real chance to get the season going the way they wanted it to go.
PHILADELPHIA -- Brian Westbrook did not practice with the Eagles on Wednesday, nor did he talk about why. His coach, Andy Reid, said Westbrook would practice Thursday and that the reason he was held out Wednesday was his ankle, and not the concussion he suffered in the team's Oct. 26 victory over the Redskins. But if you buy that, I've got a South Philly bridge to sell you, too.
The ankle is a red herring. Westbrook's ankle is a chronic problem, for which he's had surgery, and his ankle probably hurts every day. They can put him on the injury report with an ankle problem anytime they want, and nobody's going to bat an eye. This thing with Westbrook is a case of a player, concerned about his own personal future, taking it slow amid a culture that's only starting to embrace the danger and seriousness of concussions.
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- You can wear an Aaron Rodgers jersey in Wisconsin now and it means something. No longer a roster curiosity stalled in waiting behind Green Bay legend Brett Favre, Rodgers has seized the all-important starting quarterback role here and made it uniquely his.
"I think I've won over everyone here," says Rodgers, 25, who has assumed the role of Big Cheese in Green Bay with an admirable mix of humility and dignity, "because I've tried to just be steady, be even-keeled, on and off the field. That's how you get it done."
It's July, the slowest month of the year for the NFL, and it's driving you nuts. You need a fix. A hit. Anything NFL to pull you through the dog days. FanHouse is here to help with an in-depth look at each division that should have you plenty prepared for training camp. We're calling it the Summer Scramble. Today we look at some burning questions in the NFC North and offer a ridiculously early prediction for how the teams in the Black-and-Blue Division will finish.
It's July, the slowest month of the year for the NFL, and it's driving you nuts. You need a fix. A hit. Anything NFL to pull you through the dog days. FanHouse is here to help with an in-depth look at each division that should have you plenty prepared for training camp. We're calling it the Summer Scramble, and today we look at the NFC North's looming position battles.
If you're wondering how hard the battle lines are going to be drawn in the coming CBA negotiations between the NFL and its players, union, look no further than this spin-heavy news item. The Green Bay Packers released financial information that shows a $20.1 million profit for the fiscal year that ended March 31, and Packers CEO Mark Murphy used the occasion to cry poverty.
Players union head DeMaurice Smith has called on NFL owners to release audited financial statements to support their claim that they're struggling financially. The owners have so far refused, but the Packers, as a publicly owned franchise, are the one franchise that has no choice in the matter. Their financial information shows an increase in total revenue from $241 million to $247.9 million.
Our annual Brett Favre fatigue is upon us. The once-beloved Green Bay Packers icon is dominating the sports news again, in the ponderous, mind-numbing way only he can, and if you're sick of the guy you're in good company.
But the blame is all misplaced. This isn't Favre's fault. It's our own fault, and we can fix it. At the end of this season, which it increasingly appears Favre will spend with the Minnesota Vikings, when it comes time to ask whether this is it -- whether he really, truly is retired this time -- we all need to stop, think and NOT ASK.
B.J. Raji, the Green Bay Packers' first-round draft pick and No. 9 pick overall, confirmed yesterday that he did indeed test positive for marijuana while a student at Boston College -- but not, as SI.com and others reported some weeks ago, at the NFL scouting combine. From the Green Bay Press-Gazette:
The distinction between the tests is important for a practical reason because if Raji had tested positive at the combine, he'd automatically be in the NFL's substance-abuse program and subject to a four-game suspension if he tested positive again. But because his only positive test was in college, he enters the NFL with a clean slate.
The distinction is important for other reasons, too.
Well, not really, but it felt that way during a two-hour conference call that NFL.com draft guru Mike Mayock held with members of the media this afternoon. I'm pretty sure every NFL writer and every college writer in the country was on the call, and that everyone got to ask a question. Mayock is, I am 100 percent certain, either a computer or the 21st-century version of the robot 2XL (without, of course, the 8-track tapes). Only one time in the entire two hours did he fail to answer a question, and that was because somebody asked about a kicker, and he admitted he didn't really look at kickers in the draft.
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Nobody had to tell Charles Woodson the Packers needed this game. The team didn't have to call any meetings or make any fiery pregame speeches about protecting houses and separating backs from walls. When they showed up for work Sunday morning, the Packers were 4-4 and reeling from an inexplicable loss to the Buccaneers the week before. The mission couldn't have been clearer if it had been tattooed on the insides of their eyelids.
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- You could smell this game as far away as Madison, and the part of it that stunk the worst was the 
PHILADELPHIA -- 
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- You can wear an 
If you're wondering how hard the battle lines are going to be drawn in the coming CBA negotiations between the NFL and its players, union, look no further than 
Our annual 
B.J. Raji
