Each week SI.com's Richard Deitsch will report on newsmakers from the world of TV, radio and the Web.
My weekly look at key matchups and storylines to watch in one game at each time slot. (All times Eastern). Sunday 4:15 p.m. Dallas Cowboys at Green Bay Packers
Football Insiders:Check out Stewart Mandel's College Football Overtime column.
Lost amid the drama of Brett Favre's return to Lambeau Field on Sunday was that a very important game in the NFC North was lost almost exclusively because of poor coaching and game-planning by the Packers. The failure to have a better plan in place to help out young offensive tackles was inexcusable. Perhaps worse was the decision to continue kicking deep to Vikings return man Percy Harvin.
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Now that it's over, and the circus portion of the Minnesota Vikings schedule has concluded with smiles and vindication all around, where do Brett Favre and his latest (and, according to him, greatest) team go from here?
My weekly look at key matchups and storylines to watch in one game at each time slot. (All times Eastern).
Brett Favre's pretty much gone underground this week, except for his regular Wednesday press conference, Thursday's NFL Network interview with Steve Mariucci and a one-on-one with Terry Bradshaw, which will air on the Fox NFL Sunday pregame show. It's not a week for him to be out there very much. It's a week to shut up and play. So what's going through his mind right now, on the verge of the strangest game of his career?
Whether they'll ever admit it or not, a fast start in the NFL gets everyone -- fans, media, players, and even play-'em-one-at-a-time coaches -- dreaming about a magical run through January and the road trip to the game that's so big they use Roman numerals to identify it. Which way to the press conferences?
With everybody from David Letterman to Lamar Odom revealing their most intimate secrets these days, I guess I ought to be up front: I like a woman in a Green Bay Packers sweater.
Click here for Peter King's thoughts on Brett Favre's big game against the Packers.
Each week SI.com's Richard Deitsch will report on newsmakers from the world of TV, radio and the Web.
My weekly look at key matchups and storylines to watch in one game at each time slot. (All times Eastern). Sunday 4:15 p.m. Dallas Cowboys at Green Bay Packers
Football Insiders:Check out Stewart Mandel's College Football Overtime column.
Lost amid the drama of Brett Favre's return to Lambeau Field on Sunday was that a very important game in the NFC North was lost almost exclusively because of poor coaching and game-planning by the Packers. The failure to have a better plan in place to help out young offensive tackles was inexcusable. Perhaps worse was the decision to continue kicking deep to Vikings return man Percy Harvin.
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Now that it's over, and the circus portion of the Minnesota Vikings schedule has concluded with smiles and vindication all around, where do Brett Favre and his latest (and, according to him, greatest) team go from here?
My weekly look at key matchups and storylines to watch in one game at each time slot. (All times Eastern).
Brett Favre's pretty much gone underground this week, except for his regular Wednesday press conference, Thursday's NFL Network interview with Steve Mariucci and a one-on-one with Terry Bradshaw, which will air on the Fox NFL Sunday pregame show. It's not a week for him to be out there very much. It's a week to shut up and play. So what's going through his mind right now, on the verge of the strangest game of his career?
Whether they'll ever admit it or not, a fast start in the NFL gets everyone -- fans, media, players, and even play-'em-one-at-a-time coaches -- dreaming about a magical run through January and the road trip to the game that's so big they use Roman numerals to identify it. Which way to the press conferences?
With everybody from David Letterman to Lamar Odom revealing their most intimate secrets these days, I guess I ought to be up front: I like a woman in a Green Bay Packers sweater.
Click here for Peter King's thoughts on Brett Favre's big game against the Packers.
MINNEAPOLIS -- Dude, this is America.
We're just three weeks into the NFL's new season, and it's already starting to distinguish itself mightily from its predecessor, as seems to be the case each and every year in Roger Goodell's 32-team fiefdom.
Nothing against Mark Sanchez, because New York's rookie quarterback has been everything the Jets hoped for and more, but when you go fifth overall in the draft, the bar of expectation is set ridiculously high. The more intriguing story through the first two weeks of the NFL's 2009 season is how much early impact teams are getting from the most unlikely of sources.
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight as I find myself darn near hypnotized by the super-sized video boards that Jerry Jones has erected at the spanking new Cowboys Stadium, a.k.a. Jerry's World ...
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- This might sound like a bit of a reach, but hang with me for a minute while I make the case that this one was far more valuable than just any old season-opening win to the Green Bay Packers. This one, as ugly as it was for most of the night on offense, was exactly what Aaron Rodgers needed, and by extension, what his team needed.
Breaking down Sunday's Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers game (8:20 p.m., NBC)...
Sitting down to write my annual NFL predictions column, I'm reminded of a few things we didn't know about the 2008 season at this time last year. Such as:
You know the drill by now. It's time to recap some winners and losers from Week 3 of the preseason. While the games don't count, the perceptions sure do.....
HOUSTON -- This is the thought that went through my mind near the end of the first quarter Monday night at Reliant Stadium, after seeing Brett Favre move around and throw enough to think he's still some semblance of himself, after seeing Adrian Peterson toy with another defense, Jared Allen torment another quarterback, and the best run defense in the NFL wall off Steve Slaton: It's possible that I'm witnessing the third-best team in the NFC North.
Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we re-cap the winners and losers of the second week of the NFL's preseason schedule. The games don't count, but the perceptions sure do.....
Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we run down the winners and losers of the first full week of the NFL's preseason schedule. The games don't count, but the perceptions sure do.....
MADISON, Wis. -- For 16 seasons, he was the ultimate Packers hero. But now that the Brett Favre era in Minnesota has launched -- at long last, with yet another trademark flip-flop -- the most fascinating question to ponder is whether that instantly makes him Green Bay's ultimate villain as a Viking?
SI.com has dispatched writers to report on the 32 NFL training camps across the country. Here's what Don Banks had to say about the Packers' camp in Wisconsin.
Is the New England dynasty over? It's one of the burning issues in pro football as Tom Brady, Bill Belichick & Co. prepare to enter training camp and prepare to reset the clock after a disastrous 2008 calendar year.
NEW YORK -- Packers running back Ryan Grant owes his football career -- as well as his extraordinary patience and good humor -- to a childhood spent placating his driven, well-meaning father. A South Bronx-bred former playground basketball whiz who banged with city legends like Nate (Tiny) Archibald and Willie Worsley, Vincent Grant was determined to mold Ryan and his older brother, Netic, into fierce point guards who would achieve his unrealized dream of playing in the NBA.
The upper management that runs the publicly-owned Green Bay Packers may have some explaining to do the next time it attends meetings with the owners of the NFL's 31 privately held franchises. That's because recent news of the Packers' operating profit of over $20 million last year appears to hurt the owners' argument that opting out of the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement with the players was necessary. If a franchise in a miniscule market can turn a profit during a historically down economy, what does that say about big money owners like Dan Snyder and Robert Kraft?
You'll find one very predictable thing in common with every top team in my annual Tick Off Half The Football Fans In America Post-Free-Agency, Post-Draft NFL Power Rankings: quarterbacks. The best teams have 'em. The worst teams don't, at least not that we can see yet. Look at the top dozen teams. Every one has a quarterback you wouldn't be shocked to see playing deep into the playoffs this year.
I couldn't sleep much last night. I just had too many Favre-related thoughts percolating on the brain. I found myself thinking I must record them in Snap Judgment fashion...
Lots of e-mail this week about Brett Favre and whether he might return to football. I've tried to reach him by phone without success, and the only on-the-record reaction to the latest brushfire about a possible comeback seems to have come in a text message to ESPN's Trent Dilfer. Favre reportedly responded "no'' when Dilfer asked if he was coming out of retirement. So we'll see.
Transaction season has arrived, and SI.com's NFL writers are here to analyze the free-agent signing and trades that will shape the season to come.
The 2009 NFL season officially begins Friday at 12:01 a.m. when free agency opens. What follows is a rundown of the game plans for every NFC team heading into free agency and the draft. For the AFC teams, click here.
Another big change is coming to the Green Bay Packers this offseason, but this time it has nothing to do with the team's quarterbacks.
Breaking down Monday's Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Carolina Panthers game (8:30 p.m., Eastern, ESPN) ...
Every Monday, SI.com's Ross Tucker will hand out letter grades to deserving NFL parties...
Five things we learned from the Panthers' 35-31 rabbit-out-of-a-hat win over the Packers at a frosty Lambeau Field ...
For at least three or four weeks now, there has been a building consensus throughout the NFL that 37-year-old Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner is the leader in the clubhouse in terms of the league's MVP race.
Brett Favre has done it again. He's involved in yet another controversy with his former team. Only this time he may be losing the respect of some of the guys who used to be his teammates, to say nothing of other NFL players and officials.
Five things we learned from Green Bay's surprisingly complete 34-14 conquest of Indianapolis on Sunday in Lambeau Field ...
Breaking down Sunday's Indianapolis Colts at Green Bay Packers game (4:15 p.m., Eastern, CBS) ...
The need to "establish the run" is so firmly ingrained in football culture that most people don't bother to question it.
You can't drive a block in this town without bumping into something that reminds of you Brett Favre -- a yard sign, a steakhouse, a jersey in a storefront window. One of the first shops you see when walking into Austin Straubel International Airport is a Packers store stocked with Favre shirts and posters. Even the Barnes & Noble on South Oneida has a section dedicated to the Packers in general and Favre in particular, commemorative tomes, animated picture books and everything in between.
Breaking down Sunday night's Dallas Cowboys at Green Bay Packers game (8:15 p.m., NBC) ...
Breaking down Monday night's Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers game (7 p.m., ESPN) ...
SI.com has dispatched 10 writers to report on the 32 NFL training camps across the country. For the complete schedule of postcards, click here.
One of the biggest stories in recent sports history just got a lot bigger: Brett Favre is a New York Jet.
The Packers have confirmed that they have traded Favre to the Jets.
SI.com has dispatched 10 writers to report on the 32 NFL training camps across the country. For the complete schedule of postcards, click here.
Brett Favre left Lambeau Field just before Green Bay Packers practice Tuesday afternoon, taking a right turn out of the stadium's back gate -- away from the field
So let me get this straight: It has just today dawned on Brett Favre the Packers neither want him around, or want him playing for anybody in their division?
With Brett Favre back in a Packers uniform, Green Bay team president and CEO Mark Murphy referred Sunday to the team now having to revise the "many actions and assumptions'' that resulted from Favre's retirement announcement in early March.
When the NFL reinstated Brett Favre on Sunday, it begged the question: Did the Packers tell Favre he could compete for the starting quarterback job?
Does your department need a ringer for the next company softball game? Barry Bonds is available, and from what we hear, he's willing to work cheap. If you need someone to throw passes to your kids in the backyard when your arm gets tired, Brett Favre just might be your man. At last check he had a job with the Green Bay Packers, but something tells us they would be willing to give him all the time off he needs.
Three new storylines emerged in the Brett Favre Saga Saturday night, as the 38-year-old temporarily unemployed quarterback decided to smoke the peace pipe with Packers general manager Ted Thompson -- for now -- and shelve plans to show up at the opening of Green Bay's training camp Sunday.
Brett Favre apparently won't be among the Packers showing up for the opening of Green Bay's training camp, saying that general manager Ted Thompson had asked him for "a couple of days" to resolve the situation
Brett Favre has told the Green Bay Packers he plans to report to training camp this weekend, according to an NFL Network report Friday
It's May 15, in a ballroom at The Venetian, a Mediterranean-themed catering hall in Garfield, N.J., and three professional football players, one retired and two active, sit facing a room full of well-off Don Bosco Prep alumni.
With the Brett Favre un-retirement drama now entering its third fun-filled week, the topic has unquestionably risen to the status of deserving of its own separate edition of Snap Judgments, with all the accordant musings, observations and occasional insights that you've come to know and love (or at least tolerate) ...
The fact Brett Favre asked for his release from the Packers is not a surprise. What would be a huge surprise is if the Packers granted Favre his wish.
With no football to play for the first time in 18 years, former pro Ross Tucker is passing the time reading about his favorite sport. What follows are a few links to NFL-related articles he found and his take on them.
We are early in what I can guarantee will be a very tumultuous month in the recurring Brett Favre will-he-or-won't-he saga, and what I can tell you for sure is this: No. 4 wants to play football again, and the Green Bay Packers desperately do not want him to.
With no football to play for the first time in 18 years, former pro Ross Tucker is passing the time reading about his favorite sport. What follows are a few links to NFL-related articles he found and his take on them.
In the end, Brett Favre did it his way, as he always has. When he was on the field, quarterbacking the Green Bay Packers, it was impossible for fans to take their eyes off him because so much of his genius was improvisational. And when it came time to walk away from football, Favre was just as unpredictable.
Strangely enough, the screaming headline news of Brett Favre's retirement led my thoughts in an unexpected direction: to the lowly Falcons, and some reflection on how different the fate of two franchises might have been had the Packers never wrested Favre away from Atlanta in their memorable February 1992 trade.
There will be better quarterbacks than Brett Favre. But his bond with fans may never be repeated
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan -- As it turns out, it's not about Randy Moss, it's not about being hurt, it's not about any dissatisfaction with something the Packers did or did not do.
SI.com's Don Banks talked to a veteran NFC insider about the Patriots-Giants Super Bowl matchup.
Brett Favre and Eli Manning met for a private moment at midfield before Sunday's NFC Championship Game at the Lambeau Icebox, and the old lion leaned in to get close to the kid. You could only imagine what they were saying to each other -- something about enjoying the moment because you never know when another one will come, perhaps, or how odd it was for two sons of the South to be playing in one of the coldest games in history.
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Packers offensive linemen have a tradition of going sleeveless during games. Their resolve will be tested this evening when they face the Giants in the NFC Championship Game at Lambeau Field.
Before we get to this weekend's key matchups, it's worth noting a couple of statistical trends that almost always end up being the key to winning in the postseason:
SI.com's Don Banks had a veteran NFC insider assess the Giants-Packers matchup.
Before joining the Packers in 2003, Pro Bowl cornerback Al Harris played five seasons in Philadelphia. One of his teammates was Brian Dawkins, for whom Harris has tremendous respect. He goes so far as to say Dawkins might be "the best safety in the world."
One of the toughest games to pick in a long time. A long, long time. I'm torn.
"Would you say the blessing, Breleigh?" Deanna Favre said last Thursday night before dinner, and her eight-year-old daughter earnestly cast her eyes toward the floor in thought. A day shy of her half-birthday, Breleigh, a bubbly, ponytailed blonde, had much to be thankful for. "God," she said, matter-of-factly, "thank you for this food tonight, and thank you for my family and friends, and please help us beat Seattle, and please let us win the Super Bowl, and please let me have a happy half-birthday tomorrow."
After four days on the road -- Thursday through Saturday in Green Bay, then a late-night blizzardy drive to Chicago for a flight to Indianapolis, then Sunday in Indy -- I have a few things stored up in the cranium. Like:
Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we ponder what Bill Parcells thinks of his one-win Dolphins about now ...
There is no happier place than Green Bay, Wis., on a Sunday evening after the Packers have won. The beer tastes better, the girls are even prettier, and few seem to notice the bite in the air. In a town defined by its team, civic temperament can be quantified on a scoreboard. A few weeks ago, in the moments after the Packers had defeated the Carolina Panthers 31-17 at Lambeau Field, the parking lot was alive with merriment. Kids in number 4 jerseys and GOT BRETT? sweatshirts chased footballs with reckless abandon, tailgaters handed out bratwurst right off the grill, and one optimistic gent tried to sweet-talk the more attractive passersby into adding to the impressive collection of donated bras he had strung up on a flagpole.
After counting myself among the privileged few permitted to watch the NFL's heavily restricted Hostage Bowl, shown to selected viewers, here are the things I'd worry about if I were a Packers fan:
With the big showdown over, the NFC standings this morning say the 11-1 Cowboys lead the 10-2 Packers in the race for homefield advantage throughout the playoffs by what amounts to two games with four remaining to play in the regular season.
Musings, observations and the occasional insight from the NFC's Game of the Year, won by the hometown Cowboys over those plucky Packers of Green Bay (who just might meet again in January) ...
Our top 10 reasons why Thursday night's titanic Green Bay at Dallas game rates as must-see TV (the key stipulation being, of course, that you have access to the NFL Network) ...
We have all due appreciation for the pursuit of excellence, and ample respect for the historical significance of what's unfolding in New England, but we interrupt our regularly scheduled NFL column to declare this space a Patriots-free zone for the time being, in order to bring you something other than more coverage of a certain team's methodical march to perfection.
GREEN BAY -- Here was Greg Jennings, already multi-tasking. With his left hand he was trying to play a game of dominoes with two teammates. With his right hand, he was gesturing to a writer (that would be me) who was asking him questions in the Green Bay Packers' locker room at Lambeau Field. "It's OK, I can handle it,'' said Jennings. "Dominoes is a pretty easy game.''
This NFL season is something altogether different now. Sometime in the middle of Sunday evening it ceased to be the annual carefully constructed exercise in athletic socialism -- in which drafting, scheduling and free agency ensure that many teams, however flawed, can smell the Super Bowl in December -- and devolved into a widely televised and very lucrative game of king of the hill. One team stands at the top, and other perfectly serviceable challengers struggle upward, fruitlessly. Laughably.
• The Cowboys exploited the Redskins' inexperience at safety by attacking down the middle of the field. With the Redskins sitting two-deep and some three-deep zones, Tony Romo manipulated the safeties by looking outside before hitting Terrell Owens repeatedly down the seams. Two of Dallas' three second-half scores were the result of Washington's young safeties being out of position and unable to recover before the ball arrived.
NEW YORK -- Week 10 was odd. The Cowboys exerted their control on the NFC East, and the Giants spit the pressure bit in the second half; no surprise there. The Rams looked like the Martz-era Rams and won their first game. The Lions looked like the Mornhinweg-era Lions and lost their third game.
• Ben Roethlisberger's athleticism is often underrated, but it has made him one of the tougher quarterbacks to defend when he flees the pocket. His running skills and ability to complete throws accurately on the move creates big play opportunity for the Steelers. His 30-yard touchdown run was one of the numerous plays he made with his feet to keep the offense rolling.
Now that every team has at least eight games in the books, it's midseason review time in the NFL. You know the drill ...
1. EAST: Cowboys (7-1) Tony Romo is making the right throws, has two strong backs in Marion Barber and Julius Jones, and continues to build on his chemistry with Terrell Owens and Jason Witten. On defense, the Cowboys are creating pressure and turnovers despite holes in the deep secondary. If the D can make as many big plays as the offense, Dallas will go to the Super Bowl. Scout's take: "As long as Romo rides high, the Cowboys will too. They do a good job stopping the run and rushing the passer."
• The Patriots' favorite play in clutch situations appears to be Wes Welker on a quick out from the slot. Twice in the fourth quarter (Welker's touchdown and third-down conversion), the Patriots spread the formation out of their three-receiver set and hit Welker on option routes. Even though defenses know the route is coming, they are unable to take it away in two-deep zone due to Donte Stallworth and Randy Moss taking outside releases to expand the zone. And nickel corners are unable to challenge Welker in press man due to his quickness.
We interrupt Hype Week to bring you news from the other 30 teams in the NFL. Actually, just one team. The Packers.
Adrian Peterson, RB, Minnesota: The rookie superstar amassed 361 total yards from scrimmage against the Bears. He had a 224-yard, three-touchdown performance as a runner and keyed the winning touchdown drive with a 53-yard kickoff return. They brought him in to be a big-play guy, and he's even more dangerous than they imagined.
One day, in the 1968 offseason, I was in Dallas and I dropped in to the Cowboys' office to visit Tom Landry. It was a bad time for him. His team had lost two straight NFL Championship games to the Lombardi Packers, each game coming down to the final moments, the Ice Bowl being the latest. Already the rumors had started that he was the coach who "couldn't win the big one."
Deanna Favre leaned over the railing after her husband's very big day at the Metrodome and asked: "Do you still have an MVP vote?''
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