Without intending to cause a Thanksgiving Day outbreak of upset tummies, dare we mention that the Green Bay Packers are on national TV tomorrow against the Detroit Lions? The 9-1 Packers, the surprise team of the NFL season, are tied with the Dallas Cowboys for the best record in the NFC. Even those who bleed Viking purple may want to have a look at this game where the 6-4 Lions, in second place in the NFC North, try to tighten up a division race for themselves, the Chicago Bears and Minnesota (both 4-6).
The task for the Lions obviously won’t be easy going against a Packers team that is off to its best start since 1962, seven years before 38-year-old fountain of youth quarterback Brett Favre was born. Vikings’ kicker Ryan Longwell played in Green Bay for nine years before coming here for the 2006 season. He thinks the Packers are the best team in the NFC, better than the Cowboys. The two teams can settle some things on the field soon when the Packers play in Dallas a week from tomorrow night.
“You know, I think that the Packers defense is highly under rated,” Longwell told Sports Headliners last Thursday. “Not many people know about them but I think they got two shutdown corners (Al Harris and Charles Woodson) that would match up really well against the Dallas offense. … Kampman (Aaron) is one of the most under-rated guys at d-line in this league. …I think that each offense (Dallas and Green Bay) is pretty even. …”
Longwell said that except for Terrell Owens of the Cowboys he thinks the Packers could “shut down” the other receivers. “I don’t know that Dallas could shut down all of the Packers receivers, they’ve got a good group,” Longwell said. “So I mean after seeing them both, I really feel like they’re the team (the Packers) to beat, especially if they could somehow get home field advantage, playing in the cold. Brett’s really good throwing the ball in the cold which is tough to do.”
Longwell was asked about a Packer match-up with the defending Super Bowl champs, the Indianapolis Colts, or undefeated New England Patriots, 10-0. “I don’t even know,” he said. “I think they (the Packer players) really bought into coach (Mike) McCarthy’s program and they have fun. You can see they’re playing with more and more confidence every week. And you’ve seen Indy hiccup the last couple weeks and you don’t know how New England is going to go down the stretch. They look pretty powerful.
“You know, Brett just seems to have this magic about him that I would never say never. I wouldn’t say they couldn’t beat either one of those teams for sure.”