Looks like the Brett Favre "will-he-or-won't-he saga" is really starting to heat up. Cnnsi's front page is full of Favre links. Peter King, Perloff, a blog post about the spot Rogers is in, and a photo essay on past QB replacements.

I understand part of this is cnn/espn/js hyping this story up because there is not much football news right now, and Favre sells issues, but seriously, if I wanted drama I would watch soaps with my girlfriend. I want to watch football, and I'm sure the current Packers want to get ready for football, not play a game of "what does Favre feel like doing now."

I read the King article, and skimmed the rest, and at least Peter King has one good take on the situation that I didn't consider before. He says it might be hard for Favre to be traded because he will count 12 million against the Packers salary cap this year. If they cut him he will count $0, and most teams know that. The only reason to trade with the Packers is so they don't have to compete in free agency.

Favre had a great run, and Packers fans around the world appreciate him. By coming back all he is going to do is split the fans into two camps and lose about half of them.

A big reason I have taken a long break from writing about the Packers is because I didn't want to rip Brett Favre, even though I think he deserves some ripping, especially for the way he played against the Giants.

But with the recent news that he is talking about playing again, I need to come down firmly on the side of Aaron Rodgers. It is his team now, and all that Favre is doing with his comeback talk is tarnishing his good reputation.

Favre is an attention whore with his "I don't know if I will come back" shtick for the last what, 5 years? He made up his mind and now he needs to stick with it.

For the most part Brett had very good year last year, but he showed his age in two cold weather games, and that does not cut it at Lambeau. In the regular season, the Pack would probably be better with Favre over Rodgers, but Favre cannot make it through the playoffs to the Super Bowl, so what does it matter. The Packers may as well start grooming a potential Super Bowl champ (Rogers) rather than stick with someone who can't get it done in the post season.

Favre looked all Packers fans in the eye and said good by, its time he stuck to his word.

The Packers released Koren Robinson today.

I was a big Koren Robinson fan, especially the Koren Robinson who played 4 games in the 06 season, but todays move is not that big of a surprise to me.

Koren Robinson was never quite the same player after he came back from his 1 year suspension. It seemed like he lost a step and never really got anything going on kick returns, at least nothing like he had before his suspension. As a receiver he didn't get open as much, and it seemed like he dropped a few balls because he wasn't "in the zone".

Koren made mistakes in his life, but Koren always seemed like a good guy, like his mistakes were not out of malice, but out of a lapse of judgment, so a lot of people were pulling for him to right his career with the Packers.

It seems like that didn't work out. Good luck Koren Robinson.

The Packers just finished their 2008 draft, and I will offer some quick analysis. The complete list of players they drafted is at ESPN, but I will be focusing on their first pick, WR Jordy Nelson.

The conventional wisdom did not have the Packers trading down to take a WR with their first pick, and I am sure most people were a little surprised when they heard the news.

The thing to remember is that Ted Thompson does not draft to need, but rather takes the best player available at the time. He is on record multiple times saying as much, including this quote from his bio on Packers.com: "'A draft is an investment in a player that's going to be here for a number of years,' Thompson said. 'And when you don't take the best player, it'll just come back and bite you every time.'"

When the Packers first turn came up (30th pick overall) Ted must have figured that Jordy Nelson would still be around a little later, so they traded down 6 spots and got a 4th round pick for it.

I don't follow college football that much, so I don't know that much about the young players, but ESPN has this to say about Jordy Nelson:

Nelson isn't a very sexy pick; he doesn't have great speed and isn't elusive. However, this kid knows how to play the game. He is a very good route-runner, has a wide-frame that allows him to catch the ball very well and shield defenders from the ball. He is a high-character player who is going to have a positive influence in the locker room once he establishes himself.

That sounds like a Packer to me, or a Patriot. It sounds like Jordy Nelson will play hard, catch balls over the middle, block on running plays, and has a Packers character.

When drafting the best player rather than drafting for need a team gains a lot of flexibility. The Packers are taking the best player now, and giving themselves a chance to trade for a proven commodity down the line. Lets say Jordy Nelson turns into an NFL starter (or the next Don Bebe) and the Packers find themselves with 6 WR who could start in the NFL. At that time they can trade for a player they need, and they can get one that has a track record in the NFL rather than taking a chance in the draft.

This works because of the fickle nature of the NFL draft. Not every player drafted in the first round will be an NFL starter. Of course even fewer second and fourth round players will be NFL starters, but you will probably get more NFL starters from 4 2-7 round picks than you would from 2 1st round picks. (Excluding picks 1-5, a lot of times they play no matter what for marketing reasons.)

Being stocked with good players means you can trade for need, or let good players go if their market price gets out of whack with their talent.(Javon Walker or Mike McKenzie anyone?)

I was pulled out of my Packer hangover yesterday by my Dad's post in the Packer Forum, and figured a good place to start was a recap of the past season.

Despite how it ended, the '07 Packer season was a great one. Some people will argue that the season was good rather than great because the Packers didn't make it to the Super Bowl, but finishing 4 points out of the Super Bowl, playing a close, competitive game for the NFC Championship is a great season, and not only that, but the season was very exciting.

A 13-3 finish will always be exciting, and I think this season was particularly exciting because of the low expectations at the beginning of the year, and because many of the games were close and hard fought. Two fumbled punts recoveries against the Eagles made for a great finish, an 80 yard touchdown pass in overtime against Denver might have been the regular season highlight, sweeping the AFC West made for great drama, and taking the future Super Bowl champions into overtime in the NFC Championship game was nerve racking, if not exciting.

If I had a main complaint against the Packers season, it was the special teams play, the kickoff team in particular took a beating. They averaged 21.8 yards on kick returns 22nd in the league, and while I can't find the numbers on what they allowed per return, I would guess around 30. What is worse, it seemed like the kicking team played worse in big games, Dallas and New York in particular.

But that is the only major complaint I have about this season. It was very exciting, and the Packers are still a young team. I expect next year to be more of the same.

The Giants and the cold were just too much for the Packers today in Lambeau, and the Packers season is over after falling 23-20 to the Giants.

Besides the score, this game was about the opposite of what I was expecting. I expected the Packers to out punch the Giants, but it was the Giants who would not and did not give up, and the Packers who looked tired and cold at the end of the game. I give the Giants a lot of credit, I thought they would be beaten and tired by the time they got to Green Bay, but they never gave up, and seemed to have more fight in them than the Packers.

It was a good run for the Packers, and they unfortunately finish one game shy of the Super Bowl.

The New York Giants come the Lambeau this Sunday to face the Green Bay Packers in order to win a berth to the Super Bowl. The game time is 5:30 and the forecast is cold, cold, cold.

The Packers are the obvious favorites in this game. They are coming off a huge win against the Seahawks, they are in Lambeau, and they are healthy. One of the hidden gems of the Seahawks game was that the Packers did not have any injures, and the game was basically over at the half (28-17).

The Giants are coming off a big upset as well, but they are very banged up, and I believe are probably drained emotionally. They played a very tough, physical game against the Patriots in the season ender, then another physical game against Tampa Bay in the first round of the playoffs. The game against Dallas was a fight as well, with the Giants defense basically willing a victory out in the second half.

There are only two things that concern me in this game, the weather and the Giants running game.

Everyone knows what happened at Soldier Field in the 13th week. The Packers got beat bad, and worse, they looked scared and miserable. The game against the Seahawks was snowy, but not miserable, or even cold, it was slippery at worst. However I don't expect a repeat of Soldier Field, I attribute a lot of that to the Packers being in coast mode,and the Bears playing up to them.

The other thing that worries me about this game is the Giants running game. Brandon Jacobs is huge, he is listed as 6-4, 264. The Packers had trouble with Marion Barber and Stephen Jackson earlier in the season, and they are big running backs well. The Packers were able to bottle up Shaun Alexander last week, but he is not nearly as big, and he is more of a finesse runner; Jacobs is more of a plow ahead style runner. I think the Packers can stop the Giants rush because they are comparatively healthy on the D-Line, but I think it will be one of the keys to the game.

For the Giants to win this one, it would be a huge upset for them, and a huge letdown for the Packers. The Packers still have a hard time getting respect, and if they make it to the Super Bowl a lot of people will say they backed into it. But it is important to remember, that of the 3 teams left in the playoffs the Packers could have played, they beat two of them already, the Giants and the Chargers.

People will also say the Giants and Chargers are different teams now than they were. That is true, but so are the Packers. They Packers are really coming together, and at the right time.

Packers vs Giants prediction: 34-20 Packers. The Pack is going to the Super Bowl for a rematch against the Patriots, and its going to be sweet.

The Giants upset the Cowboys today 21-17 to advance to the NFC Championship game next Sunday. On Sunday, January 20th they will come to Lambeau to face the Packers.

In my last post I said I would root for the Cowboys just so the Packers could finally beat them there, but during the game I couldn't help but root for the Giants, I just dislike the Cowboys that much. (Probably because the always beat the Packers.) If the Cowboys had beat the Giants, I am still confident the Packers could have beat them, the Cowboys did not look that sharp today.

The Giants are a good team, but right now I do not think they are as good of a team as the Packers are, and I fully expect Green Bay to face the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

The Giants vs Cowboys game was a great game, and a great finish to a fun weekend of playoff football.