All of the headlines in the passing game go to Donald Driver and Greg Jennings but the tight ends of the Packers have been quietly productive.  Jermichael Finley is the best of the bunch as he has caught 17 passes for 260 yards (15.3 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Donald Lee has been really effective on the short stuff as he has caught 19 passes for 152 yards (8.0 avg) this year.  Spencer Hafner has come out of nowhere lately as he has caught 4 passes for 89 yards (22.3 avg) with a TD this season.  The Packers will continue to throw the ball a lot to the TEs especially with all of the protection problems that the O-Line is having.

The Green Bay Packers (4-2) are hosting their former quarterback Brett Favre and his Minnesota Vikings (6-1) Sunday.  This should be a great game and Lambeau Field and the Packers fans will be treating this like a playoff game.  This will be Brett Favre’s first game back in Green Bay since he played there, so I am sure he will have a lot of emotions and adrenaline pumping through him.  Favre loves the big game and often thrives in this type of atmosphere, something Packers fans know best.  The Packers defense will obviously have to deal with Favre, but Adrian Peterson is the best player on the Vikings squad so they cannot forget about the talented running back.  Favre may be trying to make a statement to the Packers and their front office, as I am sure he is still bitter about the way things ended there.

Aaron Rodgers will be trying to prove himself, and I think he will have another big passing game like their last match-up, but he gets very little protection and is sacked almost five times a game.  The Vikings sacked him 8 times in their week four match-up, with Jared Allen getting 4.5 sacks.  The Packers will really need to focus on stopping Jared Allen and the rest of the Vikings front line, as they will not win this game if Rodgers gets sacked that many times again.  Ryan Grant will need a good running game to open things up for Rodgers, and if he can do that then the Packers will have a great chance in this one.  I think this will be another close game, but with the talented front line the Vikings have on defense combined with the Packers pathetic pass protection, I think the Vikings will win again.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Minnesota Vikings 34, Green Bay Packers 31

The Packers have placed 24-year old WR Brett Swain on the Injured Reserve List with a bad knee ending his season.  Swain played in 6 games for the Packers this season and he didn’t catch any passes but he did make 3 tackles on special teams.  The Packers have promoted WR Jake Allen from the practice squad to serve as the #4 WR and to help out on special teams.

The Browns were winning this game 3-0 early in the 2nd quarter and then the Packers destroyed them the rest of the game.  Aaron Rodgers had a lot of time to throw the ball as he was not sacked for the first time this season.  Rodgers completed 15 of 20 passes for 246 yards with 3 TD passes and 0 INTs.  He also carried the ball 4 times for 23 yards (5.8 ypc).  Matt Flynn finished up the game at QB by completing 1 of 2 passes for 12 yards.  Ryan Grant was unstoppable as he had his best game of the season rushing for 148 yards on 27 carries (5.5 ypc) with a TD run.  Donald Driver only caught 2 passes but he still finished up with 84 yards receiving and a TD.  Little used TE Spencer Havner had the best game of his NFL career catching 2 passes for 59 yards with his first NFL TD reception.  James Jones only caught 1 pass for 5 yards but it was a TD reception.  The Packers finished up with 460 total yards on offense (202 rushing, 258 passing) in this game as they had possession of the football for 35:54!

Linebacker A.J. Hawk led the way for the Packers in this game with 8 tackles and 3 tackles for a loss.  OLB Aaron Kampman also had a great game finishing with 5 tackles, 1 sack, 2 tackles for a loss and 3 QB hits.  The Browns finished up with a whopping 139 total yards on offense (58 rushing, 81 passing) in this game.  The Packers improve to 4-2 after this dominating win.

The Green Bay Packers (3-2) travel to Cleveland to play the Browns (1-5) on Sunday.  The Packers really need this game so they won’t be looking past the Browns.  This is the game that the Packers will likely try to get Ryan Grant going on the ground against a Browns’ D that is allowing 165.3 yards rushing and 4.9 yards per carry.  That doesn’t mean that the Packers won’t come after  the Browns with Aaron Rodgers and his fantastic receivers.  After all, the Browns are also allowing 242.0 yards passing per game this season.  The Browns will likely be blitzing often in this game with Kamerion Wimbley (4 sacks) being the most likely player to meet up with Aaron Rodgers in the backfield.

The Packers also have a underrated defense which is only allowing 298.0 yards per game of total offense.  The best chance for the Browns to make a game of it on Sunday is to give the ball to Jamal Lewis and Jerome Harrison a combined 40 times.  That won’t be easy though as the Packers are allowing 105.4 yards rushing per game but only 3.6 yards per carry.  Derek Anderson will likely be under some fire from the Packers’ pass rush in this game and he better beware of OLB Clay Matthews (3 sacks) who is playing where his dad did as a star for the Browns.  The Packers have two outstanding corners and the Browns would be wise not to attack them much down the field. 

PREDICTION:  PACKERS 31, BROWNS 13

It’s amazing to me that the Packers are averaging 359.6 yards on offense this season with the way the offensive line has blocked this year.  Poor Aaron Rodgers has been sacked 25 times already this season and the Packers are only averaging 101.2 yards per game on the ground which shows how weak the O-Line has played.  The Packers better go with shorter passes the rest of the season or they better sign a better back up QB than Matt Flynn.

The Packers have signed 32-year old Ahman Green to back up Ryan Grant.  Green played in 8 games (1 start) for the Texans last season and he carried the ball 74 times for 294 yards (4.0 ypc) with 3 TD runs.  He also caught 11 passes for 32 yards (2.9 avg).  Green was once one of the best running backs in Packers’ history and they hope he still has something left in the gas tank.  Green played 7 years for the Packers appearing in 96 games (91 starts) in which he carried the ball 1,810 times for 8,162 yards (4.5 ypc) with 53 TD runs.  He also has caught 347 passes for 2,708 yards (7.8 avg) with 14 TD grabs with the Pack.  It will be exciting to see Ahman Green back where he belongs.

The Packers will be without running back DeShawn Wynn for at least a month due to a knee injury.  He has carried the ball 6 times for 19 yards (3.2 ypc) and he has caught 2 passes for 19 yards (9.5 avg) this season.  The Packers did not wait around to replace Wynn as they have signed Ahman Green to back up Ryan Grant.  That was needed because Brandon Jackson just isn’t cutting it for the Packers.  He has carried the ball 2 times for 6 yards (3.0 ypc) and he has caught 1 pass for 12 yards.  Jackson will remain the #3 RB for the Packers even with Wynn out of action.

UPDATE:  The Packers have placed DeShawn Wynn on the Injured Reserve List ending his season.

Jordy Nelson will likely miss the next couple of weeks due to a minor knee injury.  He has caught 7 passes for 104 yards (14.7 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Brett Swain will likely replace Nelson as the Packers’ #4 WR despite not catching any passes yet this season.  Look for the TEs and WR James Jones to pick up the slack in the passing game until Nelson is ready to return.  Nelson has also returned 7 kickoffs for 205 yards (29.3 avg) and 4 punts for 15 yards (3.8 avg) this season for the Packers.  CB Tramon Williams will likely replace Nelson in both roles until he is ready to return to action.  He has returned 1 punt for 45 yards this season. 

The Green Bay Packers (3-2) shut out the Detroit Lions (1-5) today and wide-receiver Donald Driver became the Packers’ franchise leader in career receptions, passing Sterling Sharpe’s 596 receptions.  Aaron Rodgers had a big game with two touchdowns and 358 passing yards on 29/37 attempts, but he lacked protection once again.  The Lions were able to sack Rodgers five times and forced him into an interception.  The Packers defense completely shut down the Lions offense though, so they got plenty of points from Rodgers and the Packers offense.

Daunte Culpepper started for the Lions today, since their starter Mathew Stafford sat out with a knee injury.  The Lions were also without their best offensive player in wide receiver Calvin Johnson.  Culpepper joined them on the sideline after injuring his hamstring in the 3rd quarter and Drew Stanton replaced him.  Both Culpepper and Stanton struggled with the Packers defense playing great.  They combined for only 71 yards on 11/25 attempts and 3 interceptions (2 from Stanton).  Rookie Clay Mathews had a great day for the Packers D, accounting for five tackles and two big sacks.  The Packers could have, and should have put up more points than they did.  They will need to do a better job getting touchdowns in the red-zone against other teams who are much better than the Lions.  They are on the road against the Cleveland Browns next week.