Green Bay at Detroit: Seven things to watch

By Os Davis | Thursday, September 21, 2006 | ( 0 )

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It's a storied 62-year-old rivalry about to get a new chapter, it's a battle of two new coaches seeking their first win, it's ... well, it's the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions, a pair of underwhelming and disappointing teams limping early in the season at 0-2. Sure, as they say, there's a lot of football left to play, but early outlook regarding these teams' chances (or Washington's, or Miami's, or Cleveland's...) is far less sunny than it was three weeks ago, and dark clouds have a nasty way of passing the horizon at 0-3.

This is, nevertheless, football. And aside from the dominant plotlines of Armageddon and That First Win As Head Coach, there are oodles of other subplots to watch. Keep your eye on some of the following...

Brett Favre's numbers. As his career goes ever further, the milestones come nearer. Favre could well the magic number 400th passing TD, putting him just 20 behind Dan Marino in the all-time No. 1 spot. Favre is currently 243 completions from Marino's all-time career mark, and is 18 interceptions away from matching George Blanda's 277. In this game, all records are at risk.

Az-Zahir Hakim. Assuming he plays, Hakim should be seeing a lot of passes thrown his way. Not that this former disciple of Mike Martz is a savior, but you've got to figure that Jon Kitna would welcome another viable target aside from everyone's new favorite media beat dog...

Roy Williams. Perhaps heady with the success of being Matt Millen's only overly hyped first-round bonus baby wide receiver to curry favor with Rod "Almighty" Marinelli, Williams is on a spacey trash-talking run. For the first time since his already-classic guarantee and vogueing for the Chicago Bears' fans, he'll be playing at home. Imagine the hilarity if the Pack leads, say, 13-0 when Williams gets a bone thrown his way? Do you think the Motor City faithful will care about the score?

In fact, just note the entire Detroit offense. After all, something has got to give here, right? Martz is breathing, right? When you're honest about it, Kitna isn't in charge of a high-powered offense here; plus, the Lions have run up against a decent Seattle Seahawks defense and one scary bunch of Bears. If the Lions can't put up points against this Green Bay defense, they simply can't put up points.

The Green Bay defense. They couldn't handle all the weapons at the New Orleans Saints' disposal and Rex Grossman torched them like he torched, um, Detroit. This defense is a Frankenstein's mishmash of vets, rookies and question marks that desperately needs to gel. If the Packers can't prevent points from this Detroit offense, they simply can't prevent points.

Koren Robinson. If Robinson doesn't play the tricky game of life a bit more carefully very soon, we may not be able to stop watching him: He'll become rubberneckingly fascinating. The guy who was a Pro Bowler last year was picked up by the Pack as flotsam from the Minnesota Vikings; any game might be his last in a once-promising career cut short by alcohol problems. Or he could be an all-star again. Robinson is listed as "questionable" for Sunday, but the Pack appears to have little choice but to have him return kicks again. He's been getting snaps at receiver in practice this week.

Houston vs. Washington, Tampa Bay vs. Carolina, Tennessee vs. Miami. After these three games and this one, we'll have a pretty good idea of just who is the worst team in football: Oakland.

RealFootball365: Keeping one eye on the Detroit Lions and one on the Green Bay Packers at all times.

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	About Os Davis Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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