Aaron Rodgers looks to overtake Brett Favre as the best quarterback in the NFC North, if he isn’t there already.

Welcome one; welcome all. ‘Tis truly an honor to introduce you all to this, the eighth week of football in the 2009-2010 season. I’m feeling that this is a remarkable season and we’re not even halfway through–when was the last time you had so many great teams, so many laughably bad teams, and the rest in the middle have legitimate playoff chances? I’d say, at the very least, 20 teams can say to their fan bases, “Yes, we plan on playing deep into January.” That’s fantastic, and that’s why the league’s business models, including revenue sharing, salary caps, and balanced divisional alignments, work to make the NFL the American sports leader. Let us all hope there is no prolonged stoppage of work owing to a labor dispute between the league and the Players’ Assocation, and let us certainly demand football with a cap. Those of you who would enjoy a team’s perennial entry to the playoffs guaranteed by a bloated wallet (you can stop yelling, Yankees fans), keep in mind that the overall health of the league is bolstered when more teams have access to the ultimate goal–the Lombardi trophy. Anyway, enough moralizing. You’re here for previews! Onward to the games, starting with the most captivating tilt of the week.

VIKINGS AT PACKERS

1. YES!
   The long-awaited game between Brett Favre and his former team, that vitriolic throwdown between arguably the most beloved player on arguably the league’s most historic franchise and the current management team, the head-to-head competition between mentor and student (if only we could consider Favre’s and Rodgers’ shared time in Green Bay to that genial) will kick off this Sunday and at last, patiently-awaiting fans will finally get a chance to–what’s that? They already did this game? Only three weeks ago, you say. Hm. That throws a wrinkle into all of this artificial drama, doesn’t it? While the bigger (and medium-sized, and smallish) media outlets feel obliged to dredge up the same sorry storylines – really, the only difference is that one crowd feverishly supported their new hero and this crowd will be lustily booing a fallen one – I will move beyond that. Hell, you could just click my preview from week 4 and get the same relevant bits of info.
2. Let’s talk lines, and I don’t mean the Vegas odds (which as of typing this favored the Packers by three points…meaning Vegas has no clue who is going to win). I mean backups like Scott Wells and T.J. Lang who are stepping up and doing their part to keep Aaron Rodgers sack-free for the second straight week. The terrors wreaked upon Rodgers’ backside in week 4 at the Metrodome were highly documented, and by Jove, he cannot abide another 8-sack performance. Lang will be lining up directly across from Jared Allen, who accounted for 4.5 of those 8 sacks. Daryn Colledge actually started that game at left tackle but had to leave after a fourth-quarter injury, forcing Lang into action. He played rather well considering the abruptness of his entry and he continued his excellent play last week, albeit against the toothless Browns’ attack. You know how you best disrupt aggressive end rushers? It’s not keeping backs in to protect, and it’s not sending tight ends to chip. It’s quick slants and screens, run-pass option plays, and above all, a steady diet of runs. I’d love to see the Packers open the game running designed traps and counters toward Jared Allen’s side. The Ravens ran these plays to perfection in the second half of their game against the Vikings and Ray Rice capitalized on the out-of-position Allen. A week after a bruising 147-yard performance, Ryan Grant looks to be making decisive cuts and should be leaned on heavily this week.
3. But let’s not get too crazy here. You and I and the Queen of England know the Vikings simply don’t give up chunks of yardage on the ground. To beat this Minny team, you simply must be able to heave the ball downfield. Luckily for Packers fans, Rodgers can achieve that quite readily. He’s in a tie for eighth in the league with 11 touchdowns, is second in the league in passer rating behind the nigh-incomparable Peyton Manning, and has the second-lowest interception total (2) for QBs that have started every game this year. That to me speaks of a highly intelligent player who trusts his receivers–astonishing when you reflect on the amount of punishment Rodgers has faced. Even better news for Aaron: starting cornerback/personal nemesis Antoine Winfield is likely out for the game. Winfield is as sure a tackler as you can get on the outside and plays tight coverage. He had a pick in the October 5th game and Packers’ receivers should be licking their chops.
4. Of course, that receiving corps is facing some injury issues of their own. Fourth WR Brett Swain is out for the year after blowing out his knee during kick coverage last week. The usual fourth guy, Jordy Nelson, is still a few weeks away from returning to the team so the Packers signed Jake Allen to the team off the practice squad. Allen is a tall target (6′4″) but probably won’t see more than a handful of snaps. Look for him down inside the ten; during the preseason, Allen saw a couple fade routes thrown his way owing to his size advantage. The Pack will probably roll out two-wide, two-end sets or three-wide, two-end. Normally, that would mean Donald Lee and Jermichael Finley would be lining up with the likes of Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, and James Jones. Finley has all but been ruled out of Sunday’s game after hurting his ankle in the first quarter of the Browns game, so backup TE/LB/special teams extraordinaire Spencer Havner will take his place. Havner played admirably last week and even scored a pretty catch-and-run TD down the right sideline, but he doesn’t have the sheer athleticism or game-breaking ability of Finley.
5. You’d think with Adrian Peterson lurking in the backfield, the Vikings would ride him 30 times a game and let Favre air it out between 15-20 times maximum, especially considering the toll his shoulders and biceps took at the end of 2008 when his performance dropped. Yet there’s Favre, 5th in the NFL in pass attempts, averaging over 32 heaves a game. To this point, his TD:INT ratio is 4:1, and that will win you a lot of games. But Favre has yet to play in anything but agreeable weather (even last week’s game in Pittsburgh, a city generally overflowing with morose cloud cover and a bitter, demoralizing wind was sunny and pleasant) and you just know that with the cold lurking, Favre’s accuracy and patience are going to decrease. Guess what? Sunday’s high for Green Bay, Wisconsin is a balmy 48 degrees. Interestingly enough, the Phillies’ entry into the World Series may have given the Packers a bit of an advantage. The Giants/Eagles game (also in Philadelphia, more on that in a second) was originally in the large national audience time slot of 4:15 PM, but since that would have caused a traffic nightmare in South Philly the two games traded time slots. Somehow, I think TV ratings played a bit of a role too. But wait, there’s more! Sunday is also the beginning of Daylight Savings Time, which means the clocks get pushed back an hour and sunset comes a lot quicker than usual. All of this means that for a 3:15 CDT start, the sun should be setting roughly around the early parts of the third quarter. Bundle up, Brett, and keep those old bones warm.


Brett best be prepared for more hard-hitting in frigid temperatures.

6. At the end of the day, win or lose, only half of the NFL season will have concluded. Plenty of time will be left for either the Packers or Vikings to gain control of the division or throw it away. Still, you just get the feeling this is a barometer game. Should the Packers win, they’d be a mere half-game back of Minnesota and feeling good after three straight wins. Should the Vikings win, they’d drop the Pack to 2.5 games back, which would virtually be a 3.5 game deficit when factoring in the season sweep. These are the considerations that each team will be focusing on a hell of a lot more than any Favre drama. Careful followers of my blog will note that I’ve predicted the Packers to win every game so far this year, and that doesn’t necessarily make me a homer (besides, I’m from Pennsylvania, not Wisconsin). I truly believe Green Bay could have won every single one of their games, and I don’t feel any differently about this one. Berate me if you must, but I think the Packers balance the scales in the NFC North this week.

   (And if they lose, damn it, I’ll have to start picking against them.)

   Packers by three.

WEEK EIGHT PREDICTIONS

BRONCOS AT RAVENS
A fantastic appetizer to the gourmet spread of week 8. Both teams are coming off their bye expecting to win. The Broncs are the surprise undefeated team of the league, reeling in a 6-0 record on the mistake-free play of Kyle Orton (read that again without blinking) and the Ravens have dropped three straight to fall to 3-3 but must be confident in the way they battled back against Minnesota. Not to mention, Joe Flacco has definitely developed leaps and bounds this year. With that upper body strength and his cannon arm, you never believe there’s a throw Flacco can’t make. Ravens fans will froth at the mouth at the following statement, but there’s a lot of Ben Roethlisberger in Joe Flacco, right down to the awkward-looking head. I’m totally sold on the Broncos (and those sweet sweet throwbacks) but I can’t in good conscience expect the Ravens to have not schemed up some fashion to confuse Kyle Orton. Hence – and I’m getting it out of the way early this week so as not to cause so much consternation – I dub the Ravens my UPSET SPECIAL! of week 8.
Ravens by seven.

TEXANS AT BILLS
If Broncos/Ravens was the appetizer, this matchup is an experimental soup dish. The Bills are an ugly team in disarray, only they’ve ballooned their record to 3-4 by beating two even uglier teams (Cleveland, Carolina). Somehow, Ryan Fitzpatrick is 4-0 as an NFL starter. Surely even his most worldly professors at Harvard could not have divined such a record! On the other side of the field, the Texans are in the midst of their umpteenth straight mercurial season. I’m trying very, very, very hard to believe in Houston. They’re 4-3 and right on the cusp of being a serious wild card contender. The offensive tools are there – Matt Schaub, Steve Slaton, and Andre Johnson are as scary a trio as any – and the defensive front can wreak some havoc, so why is this team so maddeningly inconsistent? Anyway, should the Texans win on the road against an inferior opponent, they’ll have earned the mark of a playoff contender.
Texans by eleven.

BROWNS AT BEARS
I don’t have any more words to spill on how bad this Browns franchise is. They really should be winless (thanks for the gift, Buffalo!) and barely have a pulse. Even the Dawg Pound has lost its bite. I saw a banner at last week’s game that said, “Rush, you can buy our team!” in brown and orange. That’s how depressed Browns fans are, they want a reactionary talk show host to take over the team. Meanwhile, Jay Cutler has thrown for the second-most interceptions in the league and is rewarded with a two-year extension. Overreact much, Bears management?
Bears by thirteen.

SEAHAWKS AT COWBOYS
Welcome to memories of your lowest point, Tony Romo. That picture surely put a smile on every Eagles, Redskins, and Giants fan out there. Here’s reason to smile for Dallas fans: DeMarcus Ware, he of the 6-year, $78 million contract, gets to square off against a decimated Seattle line. Remember the middle of this decade when Shaun Alexander (yeah! I remember him! He was an MVP, right??) was setting NFL records behind the likes of Walter Jones, Floyd “Pork Chop” Womack, and Steve Hutchinson. Those days are dust in the wind, ‘Hawkers. Hutchinson’s in Minnesota, Womack’s in Cleveland, and Jones was just placed on the injury reserved list. Good luck keeping the already-hurting Matt Hasselbeck upright.
Cowboys by twelve.

DOLPHINS AT JETS
Just three weeks ago, the Jets introduced Braylon Edwards to the team and headed to South Beach to beat up on a hapless Fins team. Only it didn’t work quite like that: Chad Henne, Ronnie Brown, and Ricky Williams led Miami to a last-second victory over New York. Neither of these teams is going to challenge the Pats for the AFC East crown, but this is nonetheless one of those rivalry games that means a lot. I say you can toss out the Seminole Offense vs. Wildcat Offense garbage–these teams are so familiar with each other that single-wing formations aren’t going to fool anyone. You have to ask yourself, who do you like more: Chad Henne or Mark Sanchez? Yikes, OK, bad question. Do you like the Dolphins or the Jets running game more? Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams or Thomas Jones and Shonn Greene? Damn, those are some solid options. Fine, do you like teal and white or spearmint-green and white? We have a winner!
Jets by one.

49ERS AT COLTS
A few weeks ago, I thought that the first serious challenge to the Colts’ unblemished record would come at the hands of the Niners, who were at the time undefeated and looking like a threat in the NFC West. Then, in the immortal words of Die Toten Hosen, “Hier kommt Alex.” Alex Smith, the former first-overall pick in the 2005 draft, has returned from the Pine Street Exit to take charge of the bumbling San Francisco offense. Sorry, I just don’t see a team as prepared as the Colts under Coach Manning – oops! I meant to say Coach Caldwell – falling to the likes of Alex Smith.
Colts by ten.

GIANTS AT EAGLES

Speedy, powerful, fun to watch, and can attack both sides of a field? LeSean McCoy is the Jimmy Rollins of the Eagles.

If I know anything about Philadelphia fans, expect to hear no less than twelve “YANKEES SUCK!” chants during this game. If I know anything about Joe Buck, he’ll make no less than twelve cross-sports references during that night’s World Series game. None of them will be amusing. The Giants are walking into a hornet’s nest and boy, their offense looks sluggish and surprisingly out-of-synch. Could it be that those young wide receivers aren’t quite as prepared for every-week dependability as we were led to believe? As for the Eagles, sportswriters everywhere are deploring the Eagles “horrible” play against the Redskins last week. I heard it on FOX Sports radio stations, I read it on ESPN and Yahoo! Sports websites, and Eagles fans spoke it to me. I’m thinking this team isn’t nearly as bad as people are expecting them to be. The Eagles work best when they have their big-play threats active, guys like Jeremy Maclin and DeSean Jackson and now, LeSean McCoy (Pitt alum!). Much like the Phillies, this Eagles team isn’t going to win with singles and bunting–this is a home run squad. Great. Thanks to Joe Buck for invading my brain.
Eagles by six and Phillies by three.

RAMS AT LIONS
This.
Lions by six.

RAIDERS AT CHARGERS
JaMarcus Russell has been named the starter for the rest of the year, one week after being benched mid-game in favor of Bruce “The Polish Pickle” Gradkowski. Apparently, Tom Cable is attempting to bait the Napa Valley P.D. into investigating him again, this time for malicious business practices. Oh, by the way, the Chargers have beaten the Raiders twelve consecutive times. Somewhere, a six-year old kid in Oakland wonders why his family doesn’t just switch allegiances to the clearly superior team. Then he ducks for cover from shrapnel, cos, yeah, he’s in Oakland.
Chargers by fourteen.

JAGUARS AT TITANS
Ladies and gentleman, the Vince Young era, v. 2.0 has begun in earnest. Along with VY and Alex Smith, this is great news for Matt Leinart! Since starting 10-0 last year, Tennessee has gone 3-10 (0-7 this year). Anyway, the Titans are really bad whereas the Jaguars are only kinda bad. Plus it’s a roadie for the Jags, so that added pressure of trying to find enough people in Jacksonville who give enough of a damn to go to the game is relieved. Soon enough, Jaguars, NASCAR season will be over, and then all the eyes of northern Florida will be on you. Scary thought.
Jaguars by seven.
PANTHERS AT CARDINALS
In January of 2008, Jake Delhomme and the Panthers (12-4 record at the time) were hosting the Arizona Cardinals (10-7 record at the time). Since that point, the Panthers have won only twice and lost six games, and Jake Delhomme is averaging three turnovers a game. How can a team win when one in every three or four drives ends in futility and crushed dreams? You and I both know the Cardinals are going to waltz to the NFC West crown, and it’ll start with a fun tap-dance on the spine of what used to be a proud franchise.
Cardinals by fourteen.

Jake Delhomme has reason to cheer: he’s getting paid millions of dollars to run an organization into the ground. Hey, kinda like Wall Street!

FALCONS AT SAINTS
I feel like the NFC South looks at the Saints the way Americans looked at the sky on October 4, 1957: “Uh-oh, they have one of those now? We better get our act together or we’re done for.” Instead of a tin-can satellite, the Saints have unveiled a rushing attack. The Cerberus (can we agree to use that instead of the blah “three-headed monster”?) of the Saints is Pierre Thomas, Mike Bell, and Reggie Bush. They’re keeping the heat off of Drew Brees, who in return rewards his backs with crisp passes to the likes of Marques Colston, Jeremy Shockey, and the developing Robert Meachem. This is a well-oiled offense. On the other side of the ball, Matt Ryan is struggling now that The Burner can’t seem to torch opposing defenses. Michael Turner has to demonstrate some of that post-hit strength that made him such a pinball last year, or the offense is going to be hung out to dry.
Saints by seven.

BYE WEEK BITES

Patriots: Bill Belichick takes advantage of an off week by sleeping four hours a night instead of three.

Bengals: Cedric Benson attends the Dolphins/Jets game to support another former Longhorn experiencing a personal Renaissance, Ricky Williams. Also, Ricky’s got that sweeeeeet hook-up.

Steelers: The team spends Halloween with that legend of the Steel City, zombie king George A. Romero.

Chiefs: Movie night at Larry Johnson’s house includes Hedwig and the Angry Inch Brokeback Mountain, and Milk!

Redskins: Jim Zorn practices for his post-coaching career as a McDonald’s drive-thru manager by relaying orders via a headset. Oh, that happens every week now?

Buccaneers: The team hangs out with members of the 1976 Buccaneers to learn how to handle the overwhelming popularity and fame that comes with being historically putrid.

A reminder: Comments and criticism are encouraged via the link below. You can also e-mail questions to me at selfserve@gmail.com and you can follow me on twitter @greenbayblog.

Last week: 11-2
Overall: 70-33
Upset Special: 3-4