John Childress -> RE: RE:The Packers (12/27/2010 12:21:04 PM)
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Green Bay is the potential wild-card team that exited Week 16 with the biggest dose of momentum heading into January. The Packers in essence started their playoff run Sunday with a 45-17 destruction of the Giants at Lambeau, and they now hold the key head-to-head tiebreaker with New York. Green Bay still must beat Chicago at home next week to clinch a berth, but the Bears have already locked up the NFC North and won't have as much to play for as the Packers. Green Bay has a hot quarterback in Aaron Rodgers, and a defense that's starting to come together. The Packers picked off Eli Manning four times and forced six New York turnovers on Sunday. And facing Rodgers will make any playoff opponent nervous. Coming back from his second concussion of the season, Rodgers threw for 404 yards and four touchdowns against New York, with Green Bay amassing 515 yards of total offense. The Packers scored in every quarter and buried the Giants 24-3 after halftime. If the Packers put a whipping on the Bears next week at home, they'll go into the playoffs without being intimidated at all by the thought of playing in Chicago for the second time this season. The Packers have already won at Philadelphia, and at the Jets this season, and their strong performance at New England last week also gives them confidence that they can handle the wild-card route. We've got one more week for the regular-season storylines to unfold, but I've already got the feeling that this year's wild-card teams won't be easy outs. And that hunch starts with what I see from Green Bay, but could include three other strong wild-card qualifiers as well. Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/don_banks/12/26/snap.judgments/index.html#ixzz19KzdfEtA
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