LB Erik Walden ran away from the rest of the field in the vote for the Green Bay Packers game MVP against the Bears. Not only did he have a monster game, it came out of nowhere. The rest of the league was paying attention because he was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week. It's been quite a whirlwind season for a player that was looking for another team just to give him a chance back in October.
On the heels of LB Desmond Bishop's four-year contract extension, which included a $4 million bonus for this season, the Packers again take care of a key potential free agent in....LS Brett Goode? According to JSOnline.com, it's for two years and $1.6 million, which is small NFL potatoes, but I'd be loving life if I ever made that much money over two years. And he wasn't mentioned once in our recent discussion on the topic of free agents. How could we forget about him?
In the past few days, QB Michael Vick's injured quad has gone from 50%, up to 75%, and now he's all the way back to 100%. Is he a fast healer? Is he just saying that to get the press off his back? Whatever the case, JasonB of Bleeding Green Nation told Ol' Bag of Donuts that the injury certainly bothered Vick during the Vikings game, and that "he's taken a ton of brutal shots this year."
If you love a chalkboard diagram, then check out the graphic and post on the big pass to WR Greg Jennings that set up the lone touchdown against the Bears. The first two points talk about the personnel grouping, and the play-action. But the final point was the key to that long developing play: QB Aaron Rodgers had a ton of time to throw.
I hadn't thought much about the new overtime rules (one possession for each team, college style, before the sudden-death portion begins). Once Rich McKay asks me to join the NFL competition committee, I might make up my mind as to the merit of these NFL-NCAA hybrid rules. But Kevin Seifert pointed out that the Packers have sure been involved in a lot of overtime games in recent years. Four of their last six playoff games have ended in overtime.