Pack93z
You retired too? .... Not me. I'm in my prime
Interesting parallel that was drawn between the two teams, and reading some of the Childress quotes and what not.... he isn't sniffing at McCarthy's ability to lead a team. I am definately liking and hearing what is comming from McCarthy and it isn't just that they are winning. How he is handling different situations and keeping things grounded.
Dang.. Kampman's quote at the bottom is impressive... I think I might go buy a Kampman jersey... blue collar baby.
PS... the wins help too..
http://www.startribune.com/vikings/story/1448592.html
GREEN BAY, WIS. -- The Vikings and Green Bay Packers found themselves in very similar predicaments early last December.
The Vikings' 23-13 loss at Chicago left first-year coach Brad Childress and his team with a disappointing 5-7 record on the evening of Dec. 3. That same day the visiting New York Jets had cruised to a 28-point victory over Green Bay, putting the Packers and their first-year coach, Mike McCarthy, at 4-8.
Neither team had much hope, and from the looks of things, the Packers appeared to be in worse shape. That hasn't turned out to be the case.
While the Vikings are 2-5, including a 1-2 start this season, since that point, the Packers have won seven consecutive games and are 3-0 heading into Sunday's NFC North matchup at the Metrodome.
Veterans Donald Driver and Al Harris, members of the Packers' last division title team in 2004, say there was no magic moment when things turned around for the franchise. Rather, it was a combination of factors that included adjusting to McCarthy and also having some of the young players mature.
"I just feel like we started playing the game that we know we can play," said Driver, one of the elder statesmen on the NFL's youngest team. "I think early on we felt like we had a lot of doubts. We started building off everybody else saying we weren't going to be good, and I guess we kind of fed off that. As the season went on we realized that we are a good team, we can win games and that's what we decided we were going to do."
That simple formula has continued to work for the Packers this season. Green Bay has relied on Brett Favre's passing -- the run game has been almost nonexistent -- and solid play from the defense and special teams to beat Philadelphia (16-13), the Giants (35-13) and San Diego (31-24).
It's the Packers' first 3-0 start since they went 12-4 in 2001 and the first time in franchise history the team has started 3-0 with all three victories coming against teams that made the playoffs the previous year. The victories over the Eagles and Chargers both came at Lambeau Field and were the result of late-game heroics.
A field goal by rookie Mason Crosby with two seconds left beat Philadelphia, and Favre's pass to receiver Greg Jennings on a quick slant resulted in a 57-yard touchdown that gave the Packers a 24-21 lead with 2 minutes, 3 seconds remaining. Favre cautioned that "it's only been three games" and also pointed out it hasn't been three great performances, either.
"The first game was about as ugly as it can get and everybody was writing us off," he said. "Now everyone's saying all these great things. It can easily change."
But there is no doubt this team has a confidence that didn't exist a year ago. "It's important to win close football games," McCarthy said. "Clearly, last year compared to this year, we're winning those games where last year we did not. I think we're a more experienced football team. I think we're a more physical football team than we were at this time last year. We understand how to handle adversity better."
That will be important Sunday as the Packers play in the noisy Metrodome. Green Bay swept the season series from the Vikings in 2006, winning 23-17 in Minnesota. The Packers then lost the next three games to New England, Seattle and the Jets by a combined score of 107-34. That was followed by the season-ending winning streak that nearly gave them a shot at a playoff berth but didn't register more than a blip on the NFL radar.
The Packers' success so far in 2007 has gotten plenty of attention and only the defending Super Bowl champion Colts (eight games) have a longer winning streak. While the Green Bay players are enjoying the success, truth be told some also would like the team to remain in the background.
"Me personally I'd just as soon keep us under the radar," defensive end Aaron Kampman said. "That's not going to happen if we continue to win. But that's my philosophy. I'd rather just kind of be the unknown guys and when all the dust settles we'll go from there. ... The word that we don't want to get is complacent, and I think our guys are still hungry because we can get better."
Dang.. Kampman's quote at the bottom is impressive... I think I might go buy a Kampman jersey... blue collar baby.
PS... the wins help too..
http://www.startribune.com/vikings/story/1448592.html
GREEN BAY, WIS. -- The Vikings and Green Bay Packers found themselves in very similar predicaments early last December.
The Vikings' 23-13 loss at Chicago left first-year coach Brad Childress and his team with a disappointing 5-7 record on the evening of Dec. 3. That same day the visiting New York Jets had cruised to a 28-point victory over Green Bay, putting the Packers and their first-year coach, Mike McCarthy, at 4-8.
Neither team had much hope, and from the looks of things, the Packers appeared to be in worse shape. That hasn't turned out to be the case.
While the Vikings are 2-5, including a 1-2 start this season, since that point, the Packers have won seven consecutive games and are 3-0 heading into Sunday's NFC North matchup at the Metrodome.
Veterans Donald Driver and Al Harris, members of the Packers' last division title team in 2004, say there was no magic moment when things turned around for the franchise. Rather, it was a combination of factors that included adjusting to McCarthy and also having some of the young players mature.
"I just feel like we started playing the game that we know we can play," said Driver, one of the elder statesmen on the NFL's youngest team. "I think early on we felt like we had a lot of doubts. We started building off everybody else saying we weren't going to be good, and I guess we kind of fed off that. As the season went on we realized that we are a good team, we can win games and that's what we decided we were going to do."
That simple formula has continued to work for the Packers this season. Green Bay has relied on Brett Favre's passing -- the run game has been almost nonexistent -- and solid play from the defense and special teams to beat Philadelphia (16-13), the Giants (35-13) and San Diego (31-24).
It's the Packers' first 3-0 start since they went 12-4 in 2001 and the first time in franchise history the team has started 3-0 with all three victories coming against teams that made the playoffs the previous year. The victories over the Eagles and Chargers both came at Lambeau Field and were the result of late-game heroics.
A field goal by rookie Mason Crosby with two seconds left beat Philadelphia, and Favre's pass to receiver Greg Jennings on a quick slant resulted in a 57-yard touchdown that gave the Packers a 24-21 lead with 2 minutes, 3 seconds remaining. Favre cautioned that "it's only been three games" and also pointed out it hasn't been three great performances, either.
"The first game was about as ugly as it can get and everybody was writing us off," he said. "Now everyone's saying all these great things. It can easily change."
But there is no doubt this team has a confidence that didn't exist a year ago. "It's important to win close football games," McCarthy said. "Clearly, last year compared to this year, we're winning those games where last year we did not. I think we're a more experienced football team. I think we're a more physical football team than we were at this time last year. We understand how to handle adversity better."
That will be important Sunday as the Packers play in the noisy Metrodome. Green Bay swept the season series from the Vikings in 2006, winning 23-17 in Minnesota. The Packers then lost the next three games to New England, Seattle and the Jets by a combined score of 107-34. That was followed by the season-ending winning streak that nearly gave them a shot at a playoff berth but didn't register more than a blip on the NFL radar.
The Packers' success so far in 2007 has gotten plenty of attention and only the defending Super Bowl champion Colts (eight games) have a longer winning streak. While the Green Bay players are enjoying the success, truth be told some also would like the team to remain in the background.
"Me personally I'd just as soon keep us under the radar," defensive end Aaron Kampman said. "That's not going to happen if we continue to win. But that's my philosophy. I'd rather just kind of be the unknown guys and when all the dust settles we'll go from there. ... The word that we don't want to get is complacent, and I think our guys are still hungry because we can get better."
