Receiving tandem leads the Pack
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Green Bay Packers enter the NFL playoffs much the same as they did last year — NFC North champions with a home game in the wild-card round, a 10-6 record and the momentum of a winning streak.
As valued as the past is around Lambeau Field, comparisons to last year barely make the chat rooms these days for two reasons: Javon Walker and Donald Driver.
The wide receivers set franchise records for receptions and yards by a tandem and, in the process, changed the personality of the Packers' offense.
A year ago, Green Bay set a franchise record for rushing yards before bowing to the Philadelphia Eagles in the second round of the playoffs. This year, Green Bay shattered the mark for receiving yards set in the James Lofton-John Jefferson era, setting up the possibility for a more extended postseason run.
After a 1-4 start that threatened to bury them beneath the 7-inch-thick ice on the bay, the Packers have won nine of their last 11 games and are the hottest team in the NFC as they prepare for Sunday's third meeting against the Minnesota Vikings. Green Bay twice won by 34-31 scores on last-second field goals.
Quarterback Brett Favre enjoyed his first 4,000-yard passing season since 1999 and has, in Walker, his best deep threat since Robert Brooks was in his prime nearly a decade ago.
"I think the evolution of our receivers has allowed us the opportunity to take more vertical shots downfield," Packers coach Mike Sherman says of an offense that has produced 13 pass plays of 40 yards or more. "We've had a lot more explosive passes this year."
A porous defense (25th in the NFL) and a recently uninspired running game are a splash of cold water to the face of Super Bowl XXXIX dreamers, but no one in the NFC can ring up points like the Packers. It prompts them to defy the conventional wisdom of controlling with a running game when the defense is weak.
"There are differences of opinions: Run the ball to keep the opponents' (offensive) team off the field or score points," Favre says. "I say score. There's no substitute for scoring points.
"It's like when we played Philadelphia last year (in the regular season). We rushed for 250-plus yards (actually 241) but didn't have a whole lot of points to show for it," he says. "If we could rush the football and keep them off the field and still score a lot of points, that would be the ideal way to go about it. But I just don't know how realistic that is."
The receivers agree.
"We've got one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, a Hall of Fame quarterback. Why wouldn't you want to put the ball in his hands and let him air it out?" Walker says.
"We know sometimes the running game is not going to be there," says Driver, a Pro Bowl receiver in 2002. "We go into a game with everything on our shoulders. I'm sure (running back) Ahman (Green) feels the same way. ... We have to make plays."