The Packers have re-signed 33-year old OT Chad Clifton to a 3-year, $20 million dollar deal with $7.5 million bucks guaranteed.  Clifton played in 12 games (all starts) for the Packers last season.  He has played in 143 games (138 starts) in his 10 years with the Packers in which he has been a rock solid player.  This was a good signing for the Packers and I’m sure it made Aaron Rodgers sleep well last night.

The Packers have released 26-year old DE Michael Montgomery and 27-year old safety Matt Giordano.  Montgomery played in 10 games for the Packers last season and he made 2 whopping tackles.  Montgomery played in 56 games in his five years with the Packers and he made 123 tackles, defensed 3 passes, had 5 sacks and he forced 1 fumble.  Giordano played in 5 games for the Packers last season and he made 2 tackles.  The Packers won’t miss either of these players who were just taking up roster space.

The Packers have slapped the franchise tag on 30-year old NT Ryan Pickett which will guarantee him at least $7.003 million bucks in 2010.  Pickett played in 13 games for the Packers last season and he made 33 tackles, defensed 2 passes and he had 3 tackles for a loss.  Pickett has now played in 59 games in his four years with the Packers and he has made 184 tackles, defensed 11 passes and he has 2.5 sacks.  Pickett is a huge key to the Packers’ run defense so it was smart to make sure he will be playing for them in 2010.

33-year old cornerback Charles Woodson is the Defensive Player of the Year in the NFL.  He played in all 16 games for the Packers last season and he had 74 tackles, 2 sacks, 9 tackles for a loss and he forced 4 fumbles.  Woodson also defensed 18 passes and he intercepted 9 passes three of which he returned for TDs.  Woodson definitely deserved this honor as he helped get his team to the playoffs.

Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers offense put up a ton of points against the Arizona Cardinals defense, but it wasn’t enough.  The Cardinals defense was able to come up with the play of the game when Karl Dansby grabbed Rodgers’ fumble before it even hit the ground and scurried 17 yards into the endzone to win the game.  It sure was an exciting game, with both quarterbacks putting up monster numbers in what would become the highest scoring postseason game in NFL history.  Rodgers came out and was intercepted on the first play of the game, but boy did he bounce back.  He finished with 422 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 1 interception on 28/42 passes.  Down 17-0 after the first quarter, Rodgers slowly got the Packers back in the game, trading touchdown passes with Cardinals’ quarterback Kurt Warner throughout most of the game.  He opened up the 4th quarter with 2 touchdowns, which finally evened the game at 38-38.  After another Warner touchdown, Rodgers came right back and tied the game with under two minutes that eventually sent the game into overtime, where the unfortunate game-losing fumble occurred.

The Packers’ defense really let the team down in this game, even though the Cardinals were expected to score a lot of points.  Kurt Warner did pretty much whatever he wanted in the passing game, going 29/33 for 379 yards and 5 touchdowns.  Warner is a great quarterback, but the Packers should have been able to keep him under a  88% completion percentage.  Even more discouraging is that they gave up 156 rushing yards to a Cardinals team that has not run the ball well this year.  Aaron Rodgers has proven he is a top quarterback in this league, but the Packers need to give him a better offensive line and a stronger defense for him to make a Super Bowl run anytime soon.