The 2009 Green Bay Packers came into the season with high expectations after rolling through the pre season and quickly became the "trendy" pick of the so called "experts". I also went on record stating that I thought the Packers were a 13 win team (at the most) with 11 wins being their low total.

Then the season started and the offensive line went to hell, okay, not hell, more like the injury report and Aaron Rodgers was flat on his back 25 times through the first 5 games. Chad Clifton, Jason Spitz and Darryn Colledge missed games or portions of games which caused players to play either to soon or at a position they hadn't practiced at.

After a strong game against the Browns, T.J. Lang may again get the start Sunday. He is more of a run blocker then Clifton and didn't play "that bad" vs Jared Allen in emergency duty last time the Packers Vikings. Mark Tauchser at least a week away from taking over at right tackle.

The running game (Ryan Grant) was almost nonexistent (much like last year) and Brandon Jackson was hurt (again). The offensive line is part of the problem, but Grant has not been the same guy since he got his big pay day last season. Against the Browns Grant looked like his "old self" and he has had good success against the Vikings in the past.

There is hope that the Packers can rekindle their running game, but it looks as if Jackson is in McCarthy's dog house since the recently signed Ahman Green took reps as the #2 running back at practice on Tuesday.

The running situation needs to be addressed in the off season and I wouldn't be surprised to see the Packers clean house after the season if Grant doesn't pick his play up to 2007 form.

Greg Jennings has been open, and even more open and even wide open, but Rodgers hasn't got him the ball enough as anyone Packers player, coach or fan would like. Again the lack of time Rodgers has to throw falls on the o-line's poor play. Donald Driver is showing again that he is an ageless wonder. James Jones is showing some playmaking ability now that he is the untested #3 since Jordy Nelson (who looked good himself) got hurt.

On defense the Packers injury to Atari Bigby hindered their coverages and caused to many big plays on deep throws and limited Nick Collins playmaking ability. Charles Woodson, Al Harris and Tramon Williams make up one of the best CB trio's in the NFL. There are depth issues after those five players. David Martin, Jarrett Bush and Matt Giordano are all really good special team players, but are not great players in terms of coverage skills.

The Packers haven't got that much of an impact from Aaron Kampman. The past 2 games Dom Capers has gotten Kampman some time to rush the passer with his hand down and that seems to have worked. Clay Matthews Jr. is everything the Packers had hoped at the other outside linebacker. He can do it all and also always seems to be at the right place at the right time making a play.

In the middle Nick Barnett seems to have recovered from his knee surgery and has played well. A.J. Hawk on the other hand get ripped for not being the playmaker he was at Ohio St. or even his rookie year. Here is a stat for you, Hawk doesn't have a turnover play (interception, forced fumble or fumble recovery) dating all the way back to 2007. In his defense, his position in the 3-4 is one where he doesn't get the glory. He did have a good game against the Browns where he led the team in tackles with 8, but three of them went for losses. But he seemed to be in the right spot at the right time.

Aaron Rodgers is playing at an even higher level than last year. Consider that he has been sacked 25 times in 6 games, he has a 123.9 QB Rating, 10.5 Y/A, 7 TD's, 4 turnovers, 329.3 yards per game, 48 rushing yards. Is he in the MVP race? Not yet, but if he keeps putting up those numbers and the Packers keep winning, his name will be mentioned.

This Packers team seemed to get hit with the injury bug early, which effected their play in both their losses. I also think that maybe some bought into their hype. But keep in mind both losses came to teams with a combined record of 11-3 and are current division leaders. Not to bad for a team that lost their starting left tackle, strong safety and center. I didn't include their dime back and primary returnman (Will Blackmon) and their left guard (for the remainder of the Viking game).

GM Ted Thompson has done a SOLID job putting together this team. Thompson likes to build through the draft and acquire "Level 2 or 3" type free agents. A knock on him by other NFL people is he doesn't use all the tools in front of him (in particular free agency or landing that big name player in free agency). Thompson has tried to trade for players at the deadline or in the off season (Randy Moss, Tony Gonzalez, Steven Jackson and DeAngelo Williams) only to be rebuffed, so it's because of lack of effort on his part.

Thompson does how ever need to dip into free agency more, and if you look at his track record he has done pretty well. Woodson, Ryan Pickett and Brandon Chillar namely have been key additions to the Packers. If the Packers have a chance to land that top notch player in the off season, without having to give up to much, then he should do it, but otherwise I think he has done a very good job so far.

Mike McCarthy is also doing a fine job, in my opinion. He calls a very good game and has a good grasp of "who his team is". The one knock I have on him is all the penalties. That falls on him because the teams lack of discipline. That has to be cleaned up in order for the Packers to take that next step.

All in all, a team that is 4-2 and still in contention for their division lead with the injuries to key players so early in the season, shows the type of team and effort they are putting fourth and that is a direct indication to McCarthy,Thompson and the coaching staff.

I think the Packers and us fans will be in for a fun season if people don't make mole hills into mountains and people realize that other teams have it worse than the Packers. This team is one of the best being one of the youngest. Time will tell, but again to be 4-2 and getting healthy now with rookies starting to peak, veterans playing at a high level and quarterback putting up great numbers..it could be a lot worse. Hell, we could be Rams or Raiders fans!

Grant needs carries.
Opp - Result - Att - Yds - Avg
CHI - W 21-15 - 16 - 61 - 3.8
CIN - L 24-31 - 14 - 46 - 3.3
@STL - W 36-17 - 26 - 99 - 3.8
@MIN - L 23-30 - 11 - 51 - 4.6
DET - W 26-0 - 24 - 90 - 3.8
@CLE - W 31-3 - 27 - 148 - 5.5

Just one small thing. Rodgers' stats according to NFL.com: 121 of 184 for 1702 yards and 9.3 yards an attempt. 11 TDs, 2 ints (2 fumbles lost). Rating is 110.8. He has 136 yards rushing and 1 rushing TD.

Aside from the number of sacks he's been taking, Aaron Rodgers has been phenomenal. If he stays healthy and plays all 16 games I think that he'll easily pass for 4,000 yards again. Considering the struggles he's had with poor line play, slow running game and early drops by recievers it's nothing short of amazing. The Packers are extremely lucky that he fell to them in the draft.

I'm glad to see that the offensive line, defense and the running game are showing improvement from the early part of the schedule. If it continues, this team should be in the playoffs and competeing to reach the Super Bowl this year. There's still some bumps and wrinkles that need to be worked out, but traditionally Mike McCarthy's teams finish the season stronger than they start it. If they get hot around the playoffs, anything can happen. They need to win this game against the Vikings though, because the Wild Card spots will be tough to secure this year. Need to win the Division outright to ensure a spot in the post-season.

Marquand Manuel, Frank Walker, Anthony Smith, Dave Rayner, Derrick Frost...

I'm sure there are others I don't remember that didn't do well as FA by TT

Hurray! The injury excuse! I've waited longer than expected for this and now my cup runneth over.

Almost every team gets the injury bug early. The Packers have lost fewer than average starts to injury so far in 2009, as they did in 2008, 2007 and 2006. This team has been and continues to be ridiculously lucky with health. Go talk to a Seahawks fan about it.

This is not only a matter of quantity but of quality. Moving to a new scheme on defense requires stability in the line-up. The only starting defender to have missed a game is arguably the unit's worst starter, Atari Bigby. As for the offensive line, it is a bit rich to blame the losses on backups and personnel changes forced by injury when a) the backups have played better than the guys they replaced, b ) avoiding personnel shuffling on the line was McCarthy's number one offseason priority, and c) in spite of this no-one thought to recruit a backup left tackle.

On the positive side, I would supplement your analysis of the defense by pointing out the great job the defensive line is doing in pass coverage. The three starting linemen already have nearly as many passes defensed and tipped, and tackles on pass plays as the unit (minus Kampman) did in the whole of last year. The Packers rank #1 against passes to RBs, TEs and third and fourth receivers. Sure, recent opponents have not been stellar, but this was a huge weakness on the defense last year which looks to have been successfully addressed.

I see a team that go either way, and it mostly depends on the defense. I think they have the potential to be one of the top defensive teams in the league, and ride that deep into the playoffs. But they need to figure out how to put more pressure on the QB for that to happen. Everything else is in place, or so it appears.

On offense, I'm not worried. They will generally score points on anyone. Bad line, sub-par running game...doesn't matter all that much. Much like Packer teams of the mid 90s, they can use the short passing game as the run, and AR is talented enough to put points on the board. Besides, it's hard to imagine the line will be as bad as they have been earlier in the year. They won't be a domiant unit, but I think they stabilize into an acceptable unit. That will help the run game and pass protection.

We'll find out more about the defense when they play MN, Dallas, and Baltimore. If they can figure out how to blitz like great 3-4 teams do, they're as good as anyone in the NFC. If they can't improve that, start cracking against the run...then they'll fight for a WC spot with Atlanta, Philly, etc.

Injuries are always the wild card, and they've been relativlet fortunate in that regard so far this year.

Especially at skilled positions

I think not only is Rodgers already among the MVP talk, but he's the front-runner.

What other player is more valuable to their team the Rodgers is to the Packers? When you can make a case that Rodgers is a top 2 or 3 QB this year, and gets pressured like he does, it's ridiculous.

I think even if you put a Manning or a Brady or a Brees in Rodgers' spot, I don't think the comparison's even close, because they have no mobility.

Therefore, no other QB is as valuable to their team as Rodgers.

You may feel that way, but that's not reality. Manning, Brees, Brady would all get more votes than Rodgers right now- probably a couple others too. If you meant SHOULD be the front runner that's a different story and can be debated. But do you really believe Rodgers would be named MVP if the vote was today?

No, because not to many people are campaigning for him. But in my reality, he is the MVP front-runner. And I think by the end of the year, if he keeps it up, he'll garner enough support, and will make a serious push in everybody's minds.