In Green Bay, the kids are all right

By Os Davis  |   Thursday, October 26, 2006  |  Comments( 1 )

Green Bay Packers
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Although the craziest factoid resulting from the Green Bay Packers' win on Sunday was that the Pack managed their first win in Miami since freakin' Super Bowl II, the most important statistic was, even for number monkeys like yours truly, the score: 34-24.

Here's the second most important statistic: two. As in Green Bay's two wins. With the win over the Miami Dolphins, the first pleasant realization in the minds of Cheeseheads (even the rational ones) has got to be of the Packers' very real chance to kiss .500 with upcoming games filled by the still doubled-over Arizona Cardinals and at the Dick Jauron-"led" Buffalo Bills.

(Aside: Hasn't any noticed that Jauron is 38-54 as an NFL head coach? Take away the fluky, no-schedule 2001 Chicago Bears, and he's a pitiful 25-51. Why is this dude still employed at this level?)

(Another aside: With opposing teams led by Dennis Green and Jauron, the Packers could conceivably get coaches fired in back-to-back weeks with a couple of wins; that's got to be a record of some sort.)

Not only did this win indicate that the green-and-gold no longer deserve to be mentioned alongside league dregs like say, oh, the Dolphins, but excitingly enough for Packer backers, the rebuilding plan is coming along slightly quicker than expected. (Hey, could Brett Favre actually have been on to something with all that "most talented team" stuff?)

And make no bones about it: This team is in rebuilding mode. While guys like Favre, Ahman Green, Donald Driver and Charles Woodson still start (and a couple of them even consistently perform well - no, not Woodson), this is by the numbers the youngest team in the NFL. The Packers came away with 13 players in the draft this year, 10 of which are on the active roster (and fourth-rounder Cory Rodgers might still be around if he hadn't indulged his fondness for handguns).

The Miami game saw the youth movement contributing in a big way. While Woodson finally got himself a Packer pick (a bit of a right-place-right-time deal, it should be said), others were contributed by fourth-year man Nick Barnett (who, with 35 tackles in the past four games, is looking pretty scary) and sophomore LB Brady Poppinga.

Meanwhile, first-round pick A.J. Hawk finally showed an energy level on a par with his reportedly high learning curve. Hawk was everywhere in running up 12 tackles; after his eight-tackle performance in the St. Louis Rams game, the former Buckeye might be at those Urlacher-type levels the "draftologists" hyped him up with. (Just imagine how good Hawk might be right now if he had signed a contract earlier.) Hard to imagine that Hawk might soon be leading a linebacker corps fearsome in reputation, yet populated with names like Poppinga and Barnett - but, hey, it's the future.

Meanwhile, old hand Ahman Green showed up on highlight reels and got the undying affection of his fantasy-league coaches (the Wizards of Os thank you for your efforts, Mr. Green) for his 70-yard scamper in the fourth quarter, check out the most excellent hole created at the line by much-maligned OG Daryn "Fresh Out Of" Colledge and Mark Tauscher.

Speaking of that line, this has been the bane of Favre and Packer fans' existence all season long. Fans were surely stomach-sickeningly unhappy when they saw Jason Taylor brush Colledge aside early off to pummel Favre for a fumble from the QB. Slowly in this game, though, you can see the Colledge boy learning. After toying with him throughout the first half, Taylor gets more and more ragged as the game proceeds before the OG managed to redeem himself by setting up the Green run.

Though hardly a perfect game by any standard - how the heck do you let Joey Harrington run up over 400 yards, even if he does throw it approximately 200 times? - these kids showed they can, in fact, play ball alongside the grizzled guys. Thanks to their youthful support, the Packers have earned some new enthusiasm for this year, optimism for the next, and, most importantly, a much-needed win.

The Green Bay Packers today, tomorrow, next week and forever on RealFootball365.com
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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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