Packers Team Report

INSIDE SLANT

In the Super Bowl era of football, the Packers have finished a regular season as the NFL’s top-rated defense only twice.

Both times, they went on to become world champions, winning Super Bowl II in 1967 and Super Bowl XXXI in 1996.

Fast forward to 2009, and the Packers enter the final month of the regular season perched atop the defensive rankings.

Green Bay, at 7-4 entering a Monday night home game against the Baltimore Ravens, isn’t being typecast as Super Bowl-winning material. Yet, if the defense can hold its esteemed spot after five more games, talk of a correlation between that and what could unfold in the playoffs certainly will arise—after all, the saying goes that defense wins championships.

Not that the Packers players on that side of the football are envisioning a week in South Florida in early February for Super Bowl XLIV.

“We’ve got to keep things in perspective,” linebacker Nick Barnett(notes) said of the No. 1 ranking. “You’re not No. 1 unless you end the season No. 1. We know we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us and still got room to grow. Our No. 1 goal is to make sure we get into this postseason, and on fire.”

Defensive end Cullen Jenkins(notes) didn’t hesitate to say “no” when asked whether the body of work produced thus far has the feel of A-1 material.

“Our goals are season-wide,” Jenkins said. “We’re not just trying to make it to the No. 1 spot for Week 11 and then lose it. We want to keep that spot. We still feel like we’ve got a lot of proving to do, a lot of good play left in us that we still have to go out there and show.”

A month after openly criticizing first-year defensive coordinator Dom Capers on how players were being used in his 3-4 scheme following a season sweep inflicted by the rival Minnesota Vikings, Jenkins was singing a happy tune this week about the unit’s progress since then.

Jenkins cited “some attitude adjustments, assignments, effort” for reasons for the Packers’ ascension to No. 1.

“I think everybody on the defense has done a great job of just playing their responsibilities now and really focusing in and trusting that everybody else is going to do their job,” Jenkins said.

Green Bay’s big climb in the rankings for total defense—it sat 18th after its bye in Week 5—is all the more impressive since it lost veteran leaders Al Harris(notes) at cornerback and Aaron Kampman(notes) at linebacker to season-ending knee injuries two games ago.

Just as the Packers have been stingy in giving up an average of 281.5 yards per game, they have followed the lead of industrious cornerback Charles Woodson(notes) in coming up with 27 takeaways. Combined with an offense that has been frugal with its giveaways, Green Bay has a league-leading turnover ratio of plus-17.

“It’s building confidence with our defensive ranking right now, and it’s something that we wanted to generate more productivity for more players,” head coach Mike McCarthy said. “I think the scheme is doing that. We’re doing a very good job of stopping the run (No. 4 ranking at 89.1 yards), and that will be a major focus as we go into this next game.

“But, statistics are a barometer,” McCarthy added. “It kind of gives you something to look at both from a positive standpoint and a negative standpoint. We still need to keep focused on doing the little things, and that’s the way we approach it. Being No. 1 in week 12, 13, 14 really doesn’t give you any merit. You want to be No. 1 at the end of the season. But, I think our defense definitely is on the right pace to be the championship defense that we anticipate we’d have here.”

Series History:   4th regular-season meeting. Packers lead series, 2-1. The interconference opponents are meeting for the first time since 2005, when the Ravens scored their only win in the series by a whopping 48-3 in Baltimore - the largest margin of victory in “Monday Night Football” history. Both of the Packers’ wins, in 1998 and 2001, came in Green Bay.

NOTES, QUOTES

—The double helping of honors bestowed on cornerback Charles Woodson this week could be a prelude to the grand prize that will be handed out next month.

Woodson was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week on Wednesday and will be hailed as NFC Defensive Player of the Month for November on Thursday.

The recognition comes after Woodson became the first player in league history to have two interceptions, an interception-return touchdown, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in the same game—the Packers’ 34-12 win at the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day.

“I think Charles is having clearly his best year (out of four seasons) as a Green Bay Packer,” head coach Mike McCarthy said. “I don’t know if there is anybody playing any better in the National Football League from a defensive perspective. He’s been extremely productive, very flexible as far as the different positions that he is playing and the things that we’re able to do with him schematically. His toughness, his anticipation, he’s playing at a very high level.”

Woodson, 33, has put himself in the running for NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

His four forced fumbles equal a career high, and his seven interceptions are one short of his personal best in 2006, his first season with the Packers after leaving the Oakland Raiders as a free agent.

“He is being utilized from different angles, different positions more, so we’re creating more opportunities for him to be around the ball,” McCarthy said.

Woodson has been named NFC Defensive Player of the Month twice this season (also for September), and he has earned the conference’s weekly honor two times (also after the Week 10 win over the Dallas Cowboys).

• Al Harris, Woodson’s running mate at cornerback, underwent surgery Monday for the season-ending torn ACL he sustained in his left knee in the Nov. 22 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.

Harris, who turns 35 on Monday, is determined to make a speedy recovery to get back on the field before the start of next season.

There’s been no word that linebacker Aaron Kampman, who also suffered a season-ending torn ACL in the same game, has had his surgery. Kampman remains on the 53-man roster.

• The Packers filled out their eight-man practice squad by signing rookie tight end Tom Crabtree(notes) on Tuesday.

The 6-foot-4, 245-pound Crabtree previously signed with the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted player out of Miami (Ohio). Crabtree was with the Chiefs into the preseason, then was on their practice squad early in the season.

• The impending matchup against the Baltimore Ravens marks the first Monday night game to be played in Green Bay in December.

The latest in the year the Packers had hosted a Monday night game was Nov. 29, 2004, when they beat the St. Louis Rams 45-17.

Green Bay has been on the road for eight Monday games in December, going 4-4. The most recent occurrence was Dec. 22 last year, a 20-17 overtime loss at the Chicago Bears. Before that was a crushing 48-3 setback at the Ravens on Dec. 19, 2005.

By The Numbers:   125—Consecutive passes by quarterback Aaron Rodgers(notes) without an interception, during a span of more than three games dating back to the Nov. 8 loss at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Rodgers’ longest pick-less streak is 159 passes, which extended from the end of last season to the fourth game this season.

Quote To Note:   “The best feeling right now is that we’re not talking about how we’re not going to the playoffs, like last year. It’s great to be talking about how we can control our playoff destiny. But, we’re not thinking too far ahead. … Once we get to 10 wins, we’ll start talking about playoffs.”—Linebacker Nick Barnett, on the 7-4 Packers’ having the inside track to a wild-card berth in the NFC playoffs, a season after they finished 6-10.

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

By the time the Packers next play Monday night at home against the Baltimore Ravens, the Green Bay players will have enjoyed and, they’re hoping, benefit from more days off than days on the field since they last played a game.

Head coach Mike McCarthy excused the players for four days following the 34-12 Thanksgiving victory at the Detroit Lions on Nov. 26. The team returned to practice Tuesday, then had another off-day Wednesday before moving into the heavy preparations for Monday’s game from Thursday to Saturday.

Riding a season-best three-game winning streak, the Packers are 7-4 and in good shape to garner one of the two wild-card spots in the NFC playoffs.

Carrying that through will be challenging, however, with an impending three-week stretch of games against the Ravens and road tilts against the Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers.

“Our margin of error is going to need to be a lot less than it has been in the first 11 games because it’s December football now,” McCarthy said. “This is the most important football that we’ll play all season.”

Player Notes  

• LT Chad Clifton(notes) went through only the jog-through portion at the start of practice Tuesday as he tries to recover from a hamstring injury that knocked him out of the Nov. 26 win at the Detroit Lions. With the team off Wednesday, Clifton’s status for the rest of the week and making the start Monday against the Baltimore Ravens won’t be known until at least Thursday. Rookie T.J. Lang(notes) is Clifton’s backup.

• WR Jordy Nelson(notes) practiced Tuesday and appears to be in the clear for playing Monday after suffering a shoulder injury late in the game last week.

• RB Ahman Green(notes) received the green light to resume practicing this week after he missed the last two games because of a groin strain. Whether Green will jump back ahead of Brandon Jackson(notes) as Ryan Grant’s(notes) top backup remains to be seen later this week.

• CB Brandon Underwood(notes) bounced back from suffering a hamstring injury in the last game to practice Tuesday. The rookie was contributing on special teams before getting hurt.

• OL Allen Barbre(notes) is back practicing this week after the former starting right tackle was sidelined for two games because of an ankle injury.

Game Plan:   The Packers rank second in the league with an average time of possession of 33:26, but thinking they can control the clock by consistently and effectively running the football could be a pipe dream. The relentless Ravens are allowing an average of only 97.6 rushing yards per game, ranking sixth, and thrive on turning opposing offenses one-dimensional. So, look for Packers head coach/play caller Mike McCarthy, who isn’t bashful about going to the air, to continue a recent trend of quick, short throws from Aaron Rodgers, and count on the receivers to keep the chains and the game clock moving. Green Bay defensive coordinator Dom Capers undoubtedly took some pointers from the Pittsburgh Steelers in how they with a similar 3-4 scheme frequently hounded Joe Flacco(notes) and sacked him five times in the Ravens’ overtime win Sunday. The fate of the Packers’ No. 1-rated defense likely will hinge on how it can handle Baltimore’s late-season switch to a bigger, unbalanced front as the Ravens look to take pressure off Flacco by pounding the football with the three-back trio of versatile Ray Rice(notes), Willis McGahee(notes) and Le’Ron McClain(notes).

Matchups To Watch:   Packers linebackers vs. Ravens RB Ray Rice. Green Bay’s young and steadily improving linebacker corps, which features rookie bookend starters Clay Matthews(notes) and Brad Jones(notes) in the 3-4 scheme, will be put to the test against the multidimensional Rice. Baltimore’s second-year player is as dangerous catching the football as he is running it. He is second in the league with 1,403 all-purpose yards (821 rushing, 582 receiving) and is the top-rated running back with 61 receptions. Rice is diminutive at 5-8 but quick and elusive. Packers linebackers will have to be sure with their fits against the run. How the Packers defend him coming out of the backfield in the passing game will be interesting. They can ill afford to stick coverage-challenged inside ‘backer A.J. Hawk(notes) on Rice, but Jones is an upgrade over injured Aaron Kampman in that realm.

Packers offensive line vs. Ravens ILB Ray Lewis(notes). It’s been eight years since the Packers last had to contend with the ageless enforcer that Lewis is in Baltimore’s formidable 3-4 front. Lewis missed the teams’ most recent meeting in 2005 because of a hamstring injury. The two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year continues to have a nose for the football with a team-leading 116 tackles (74 solo), more than twice the total of the Ravens’ No. 2-ranked player. Although Lewis’ sack numbers are down with two this season, Green Bay’s seemingly solidified front five will have to be on its toes to pick up Lewis in Baltimore’s myriad blitz schemes. Erasing Lewis from run plays to create open lanes for Ryan Grant’s cutbacks also is a daunting task.

Injury Impact:   After losing Pro Bowl defensive players Al Harris and Aaron Kampman to season-ending knee injuries two games ago, the Packers are encouragingly healthy entering their stretch run of five games. The only question mark in the days leading up to the Monday night contest against the Baltimore Ravens is the status of left tackle Chad Clifton. The veteran suffered a game-ending left hamstring injury in the second half of the Thanksgiving Day win at the Detroit Lions. Clifton didn’t practice Tuesday, when the team reconvened after an extended break. The Packers will be back on the practice field Thursday after another day off. Clifton could be held out another day or two since the practice week won’t wrap up until Saturday. If the hamstring doesn’t improve with the extra rest, the Packers will turn to rookie T.J. Lang, who has been dependable in recent weeks as a fill-in for both Clifton and right tackle Mark Tauscher(notes).