Former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy, who led the team to a championship in Super Bowl XLV, seems to be constructing a sort of Green Bay east in his new role as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He’s already hired long-time Packers coach and consultant James Campen to be his offensive line coach; he publicly stated he would welcome his former quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, back for another season in black and gold as well. And the latest rumored hire is his former backup quarterback and assistant coach Scott Tolzien, who will soon be interviewed for the role of offensive coordinator. Packers fans, of course, remember Tolzien for his brief stint in a starting role in 2013 following Rodgers’ collarbone injury during Week 9 in a game against the Chicago Bears. It was an injury that sidelined Rodgers for much of the season. That pressed backup Seneca Wallace into service as the starter in Week 10, but the veteran quarterback was injured early in the game. Enter Tolzien, who had been on the practice squad for most of the season. Most of us remember Tolzien primarily for one specific play: a deadly spin move for a touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings. Interestingly, however, Tolzien did show some signs of life apart from that one play, which we’ll revisit in a moment.  When Wallace was injured against the Philadelphia Eagles, Tolzien came into the game, evoking memories of Randy Wright in his No. 16 jersey. But the backup journeyman, who had played for the Chargers and 49ers before coming to Green Bay, flashed more life in his arm than Wright ever did. While the game ended in a 27-13 Packers loss, Tolzien went 24 of 39 for 280 yards in about three quarters of action, tossing a touchdown pass to tight end Brandon Bostick (remember him?). The flaw in Tolzien’s game might have been his look of a true gunslinger, which resulted in a pair of interceptions. When Tolzien got the start the following week against the New York Giants, there was some measure of hope, and Tolzien again delivered in terms of moving the ball. He went 24 of 34 passing for 339 yards and an impressive 10.0 yards average, with zero sacks. Once again, however, his flaw was that penchant for picks, including a game-clinching pick-six to linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul, who actually predicted his big play to teammates before the ball was ever snapped. Not a good look for the Packers offense. Final score: Giants 27, Packers 13. Randy Wright, indeed. Tolzien drew the start again the next week versus the Vikings, a game in which he cemented his legend. Well, sort of. Tolzien was only 7 of 17 in this game, also taking two sacks. But he did engineer an 87-yard scoring drive that culminated in that aforementioned spin move.  On second and goal from the 6, Tolzien dropped back to pass and faded right, but the protection quickly broke down. He pump-faked one rusher into jumping, ducked under him, and scrambled to his left. At the 6, defensive lineman Letroy Guion (who would become a Packer the next season) made an attempt to corral Tolzien, but the quarterback spun back to the right, leaving Guion grasping at turf and looking a bit foolish in the process. From there, Tolzien stumbled into the end zone awkwardly to cap the scoring drive. As we all know, Tolzien would ultimately be benched in that game in favor of Matt Flynn, who had returned by way of being waived by the Seattle Seahawks. The game ended in an unsatisfying 26-26 tie, but it set the stage for a memorable finish to the season, with Flynn keeping the Packers in playoff contention with a couple of big wins, including an incredible comeback against the Dallas Cowboys. Tolzien remained with the Packers through the 2015 season, but barely saw the field following the 2013 season. From there, he went to Indianapolis for two seasons.  Now 38, Tolzien has made a name as an up-and-coming coach, spending four seasons in Dallas with McCarthy and last year working with promising New Orleans Saints rookie quarterback Tyler Shough. If he gets the OC job in Pittsburgh, he and McCarthy will be looking forward to making some Green Bay-style magic.  But it’s safe to say that, short of winning a Super Bowl, nothing Tolzien does in the Steel City will match the famed Tolzien Spin Move. Filed Under: FeaturedKevin Gibson   PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Kevin Gibson is a professional writer and author based in Louisville, Ky. He's also a former sports writer who covered high school, college and professional sports, a Packers shareholder and a fan since 1975. Even John Hadl couldn't break him. Follow him on Twitter: @kgramone __________________________   NFL Categories: Green Bay PackersTags: Scott TolzienMike McCarthyMatt FlynnAaron Rodgers Like 0 points

Before going down for the season with a torn ACL, Green Bay Packers EDGE rusher Micah Parsons, for whom the team traded before the 2025 season, had recorded 12.5 sacks and 79 quarterback pressures. Since his departure to the training table, the Packers have struggled to get to the quarterback consistently. There’s been some measure of pressure, mostly thanks to the scheming of defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley to disguise pressures with varied looks, but Green Bay’s defense has gotten home only five times to show for those efforts, including two sacks in that nothing of a game against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 18. The Chicago Bears’ Caleb Williams, unlike in his rookie year, has proven to be a tough out in the sack department of late, meaning the Packers will have their work cut out for them in Saturday’s win-or-go-home Wildcard tilt in Chicago. The question is, who will the Packers’ coaching staff run out there on the defensive front when defending Williams and the Bears? Rashan Gary remains effective at setting the edge in the run game, but he hasn’t had a sack since October 26 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. His quick pressure rate is woefully low at under 2%, and he simply doesn’t look like the player he once hinted at becoming. Which brings us to the new guard. Lukas Van Ness is back and healthy and will have a starting role – he has looked good since his return from a foot injury (even if he hasn’t sniffed the quarterback since Week 5), so expect him to get a high percentage of defensive snaps on Saturday. But after solid showings in the Vikings game from rookies Collin Oliver and Barryn Sorrell, what might we see of them against the Bears in a game of such importance? Green Bay tends to rely on its veterans, but even with that, Gary’s snap counts have been low this season, at least relative to his $25 million-plus cap hit in 2025. His snap count peaked at 73% in Week 12, but since then, he hasn’t cleared the 60% mark, hitting a season low 45% in Week 17 before sitting out the finale in Minnesota. In the meantime, fellow EDGE Kingsley Enagbare’s snaps have steadily gone up, a reflection of his effectiveness in comparison to his well-compensated teammate. Sorrell has gotten nominal snap counts all season, but showed in Week 18 that he might be worth a longer look in the Wildcard game. Sure, it seems unscientific, but Sorrell just looked like he, for lack of a better term, wanted it last weekend. The 2025 fourth-round draft pick hustled and bustled his way, over a 78% snap count (52 snaps total), to eight tackles with a sack, a tackle for loss and a fumble recovery – in short, he looked the part against Minnesota’s starting offensive line. He looked decisive, he looked fast.  To these eyes, he looked like he had earned more snaps, and quite frankly, getting him a few snaps in Gary’s stead might not be the worst thing for the Packers on Saturday. Let’s face it, Gary looks gassed – meanwhile, Sorrell looks energized, and some fresh legs getting after the nimble Williams might turn into a blessing. And Oliver’s versatility can help Hafley disguise pressure looks, something he’s had to do with regularity in the wake of Parsons’ injury. Let’s face it, the Packers’ stud EDGE rusher isn’t walking through that door anytime sooner than next training camp, so the time is now to make the most of what’s in that locker room. If Green Bay opts to eat Gary’s dead cap hit of about $17 million next season, this playoff game could even be a small glimpse into the future – a look at how the development of Cox and the drafting of Sorrell and Oliver might look over the next season or two. Sure, it’s a hell of a time to experiment, but at the same time, we know what Gary has brought to the table the past two-plus months, and it isn’t conducive to winning defense. JJ and LVN will certainly get their snaps, as will Cox, who has earned his share as well, but it would be fun to see what the Packers’ youth movement on the edge can do in this playoff game, at least situationally. Sorrell sure sounds ready. “When I go out there, I’m really trying to dominate every phase of the game,” Sorrell told Packers.com’s Larry McCarren this week. “I think that mentality carries out and shows in the way I play. … There’s no better feeling than going out there and making plays, and getting wins.” Filed Under: FeaturedKevin Gibson   PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Kevin Gibson is a professional writer and author based in Louisville, Ky. He's also a former sports writer who covered high school, college and professional sports, a Packers shareholder and a fan since 1975. Even John Hadl couldn't break him. Follow him on Twitter: @kgramone __________________________   NFL Categories: Green Bay Packers Like 0 points

Not gonna lie, I shuffled into Christmas thinking that, with all the injuries and late-game failures of late, my Green Bay Packers’ playoff hopes were in serious jeopardy. Sometimes, things just don’t work out the way you want them to, even during the magical season of Christmas. And even though we went into the holiday break knowing that a Detroit Lions loss to the Minnesota Vikings would elbow Green Bay into at least a Wildcard seed, did anyone really believe a Vikings team led by third-string quarterback Max Brosmer would beat the recent bullies of the NFC North? I sure as heck didn’t. And then the Spirit of Christmas came down from wherever the Spirit of Christmas hangs out and said, “Let it be so.” Brosmer led the Vikes and their co-opted “Skol” chant with a stellar line of 51 passing yards – and an impressive 3 net – with a mere seven sacks taken against a defense that once was feared. Brosmer didn’t even need to throw a touchdown pass, so fearsome was he in the defeat of the toothless Lions. Per ESPN, the Vikings became just the third team in the past 40 seasons to finish with fewer than 10 net passing yards in a victory. That’s impressive. I guess. OK, enough of the sarcasm. The Lions were awful. More than that, their quarterback, once revered, had what might have been the worst game of his career, with two interceptions and three lost fumbles after being assaulted all afternoon by a surprisingly dominant Vikings defense. Detroit's offensive line was, in a word, terrible. Minnesota is far from playoff contention, but the Vikes’ D was relentless all day in exposing the once-fearsome Lions offense as merely mediocre. At least for one afternoon. How can one explain it? There’s only one way: It was a rare, mystical gift to the Green Bay Packers on Christmas – an unlikely gift that replaced a lump of stocking coal that once looked like injuries to both Jordan Love and Malik Willis, not to mention the lost seasons of Micah Parsons, Tucker Kraft and more. It was easy to stumble into the long Christmas weekend wondering if the Packers could beat the Baltimore Ravens, even if Tyler Huntley was under center (remember that Huntley nearly beat Green Bay in a 31-30 nailbiter in 2021). And to be honest, watching the Vikings on Christmas day, I had to wonder just how much good fortune the Packers’ offensive line might have against that Minnesota defensive front, given what I was watching unfold as I nibbled on my last Christmas cookie and pondering what fate might be crawling out of the chimney hole. I mean, what if Love doesn’t clear concussion protocol by Saturday? What if Willis can’t play after his shoulder injury just days ago? The reports on both have been positive, but if Clayton Tune is to be forced into action, what chance might Green Bay have against the Ravens, even without Lamar Jackson? And it’s not like any of those three could tackle Derrick Henry, even if they did line up on defense. No, I did not expect a holiday miracle. And of all Christmas spirits (of which I generally prefer bourbon), it was the Vikings, the despised rival Minnesota-freaking-Vikings, with their stolen celebration and stupid horn, who delivered the blow in not only nudging the Packers into the playoffs, but in an unlikely win over a hapless-looking Lions team. It was a gift wrapped with a big green and gold bow. And on top of that, former Packers fan favorite Aaron Jones scored the first touchdown in the affair to add an extra twist of the knife into the Lions’ annoying hubris. And just a week earlier, as we know, a guy who used to play in Green Bay by the name of Aaron Rodgers took down the Lions in his new black and gold duds to help his former team’s cause. I mean, could there there a better holiday movie script already written for some eager young screenwriter? (Maybe I should try to find an agent.) No, Green Bay’s season has not been perfect, and two mental collapses in two straight weeks sure doesn’t instill confidence, but the Packers are in the playoffs. That alone means that, at least for now, it’s a wonderful life – a Christmas story for which we can at least temporarily be thankful. Now, if the Packers can get a pair of wins against the Ravens and the aforementioned Vikings – who no doubt will want to play as playoff-seeding spoilers if they possibly can – who knows? Maybe the holidays will give way to a miracle on Lombardi Avenue and another NFC North title. Filed Under: FeaturedKevin Gibson   PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Kevin Gibson is a professional writer and author based in Louisville, Ky. He's also a former sports writer who covered high school, college and professional sports, a Packers shareholder and a fan since 1975. Even John Hadl couldn't break him. Follow him on Twitter: @kgramone __________________________   NFL Categories: Green Bay PackersTags: Aaron RodgersJordan LoveMalik WillisChristmas Like 0 points

Hard to believe Christmas is almost here, yet here we are. Meanwhile, the 2025 NFL season is winding down, and the Green Bay Packers are quite possibly one win away from a playoff berth.  And so, in the spirit of both seasons, and inspired by Twitter/X user Wisconsin Family, here are 7 Things Packers Fans Want in Their Stockings This Christmas (in no particular order): One More Win Over the Chicago Bears Not only might this wish, if granted, catapult the Packers into the playoffs, it also massively improves the chances for an NFC North title. I have no illusions it will shut the always overconfident Bears fans up, but maybe that’s more of a birthday wish.  A Rashan Gary Sighting I mean, come on, Rashan. You’re wearing that No. 52 and not quite living up to its previous occupant's standards. In Week 7, Gary had two sacks in a 35-25 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers to put him at 7.5 for the season, prior to even reaching the halfway mark. It worked! Trading for Micah Parsons unleashed the beast in Rashan Gary! Not so fast. That Week 7 game was the last time No. 52 got both hands on any quarterback. And now Parsons is out for the season, so where does the pass rush come from now? Prime Clay Matthews is not walking through that door, Mr. $25.77 million cap hit. It. Is. TIME. No More Freaking Injuries Speaking of Micah Parsons, the big question this Christmas is … why? Parsons was essentially ripped out of our stocking, just like tight end Tucker Kraft, center Elgton Jenkins, Devonte Wyatt and, heck, even Mar’Shawn Lloyd, although we have no idea what he might have contributed, if anything. So, Santa Claus, can you just leave that particular stocking alone for the rest of the year? We’d like it to be a Merry Christmas. Continuity at Defensive Coordinator Speaking of empty stockings, it seems like everybody with a mouth or a Twitter/X account is saying Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley is as good as gone, even going so far as to say he’s destined to be the next head coach of the New York Giants. You see, THIS is why we can’t have nice things. After years of up-and-down defensive play, Hafley Claus finally shows up to bring a measure of efficacy to the defensive side of the ball, adding a dash of fire and meanness in the process, and now he’s already as good as gone? Thanks a lot, Krampus. We’ve been mostly good; we deserve a Jeff Hafley in the stocking for at least the next couple of seasons. Keep the sugar plums and candy canes; give us defense. A Healthy Christian Watson Yes, I know he’s been back for a few weeks now, but how about letting us have him, fully healthy, at least through the end of the season, Kris Kringle? We don’t ask for much. (OK, this list disproves that, but bear with me here.) I mean, the passing offense just isn’t the same without him, as we saw before his return. Moreover, the young man has been through enough. He’s a budding star, and the injury elf just keeps on making him toys that don’t work. Heck, just last Sunday, he ended up in a Denver hospital after a hard fall while trying to reel in a Jordan Love bomb. He’s not naughty, he’s nice, and he deserves better. WE deserve better. Check it off the list, Santa. All Gas, No F***ing Brakes When Matt LaFleur is digging in his bag of tricks, he can often catch fire as a play-caller – a fire fit for roasting chestnuts. (Or something, I don’t know.) And while that third-quarter shot play, on which Watson was injured, has been criticized, that’s the Matt LaFleur we want to see, not Bo Melton jet sweeps. The Packers were having trouble converting red zone trips into touchdowns against that stingy Denver Broncos defense, and in my mind that’s what helped LaFleur decide to dial up that longball – the attempted kill shot. And who knows, if Love wasn’t hit as he released the ball, it might have been caught, and Watson might not have gotten injured. The point is, there’s no sense in getting timid at this point. It’s December football – no brakes. Sounds like a helluva stocking stuffer to me. Special Teams Consistency I know, I know. Even Santa can’t grant a wish like this. (Apparently. Because, lord knows we’ve been asking for it every freaking year like it’s a Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle.) But “we-fense” coach Rich Bissacia is getting paid a pretty penny and has even brought in a few of his ringers from his days with Raiders, and still we can’t get basic consistency in the Packers’ special teams performance. It’s maddening. It’s enough to make you stop believing there even IS a Santa Claus. The Packers are 29th in the league in kickoff returns of 20-plus yards, per NFL stats. They’re dead last in average punt return yards. And the penalties just seem to never stop – 21 special teams penalties so far this season, sixth most in the league. Yuck. Oh well, I guess we should be thankful for Daniel Whelan. Merry holidays, folks. And as a Packers fan, what are you wishing for this Christmas? Filed Under: FeaturedKevin Gibson   PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Kevin Gibson is a professional writer and author based in Louisville, Ky. He's also a former sports writer who covered high school, college and professional sports, a Packers shareholder and a fan since 1975. Even John Hadl couldn't break him. Follow him on Twitter: @kgramone __________________________   NFL Categories: Green Bay PackersTags: Rashan GaryRich BisacciaChristian WatsonMicah ParsonsMatt LaFleur Like 0 points

All the analysis of the Green Bay Packers ‘ impressive 31-24 victory over the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day has been done. There's nothing more anyone can say about Jordan Love’s four-touchdown masterpiece or Micah Parsons’ late-game dominance, so this week, much like with “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” I will offer up some fan service. As a Packers fan, my day-after-game ritual is something that, like many fans, I refer to as Victory Monday. For this time around, it was Victory Friday. And it was glorious. Here are a few tips for enjoying your Victory Day-Afters: First, always don Packers gear on Victory Day-Afters. It will invite conversation, and what else would you want to talk about the day following a Packers victory? (Similarly, when the Packers lose, I wear something completely neutral to avoid having my churlishness aroused. If one more person asks me, “What happened to your Packers?”, I swear I will explode.) Next, read/watch as much content as you can possibly find time for. Obviously, it’s typically a work day on Victory Monday/Friday/Tuesday, but you can still take breaks here and there to read about how Packers Head Coach Matt LaFleur out-Dan Campbelled Dan Campbell, going for it on fourth down three times, resulting in two touchdowns and game-sealer. Part of this ritual is, of course, watching highlights online. Relive the victory – soak it in. Bask in it. Because next week might be different. Hey, it’s the way of the NFL. Any given Sunday, etc. Obviously, there’s plenty of content to be had at Cheesehead TV, but another go-to is the venerable packers.com, home of the Green Bay Packers. You’ll get player interviews, press conferences, commentary and plenty more. One of my favorite features at the Packers’ website are the post-victory locker room speeches. That’s one of the first things I look for after a Green Bay victory, as it comes complete with game balls, speeches and general joy. Of course, there are also the many game breakdowns, the Rock Report with Larry McCarren, the Insiders Inbox Q&A, player interviews, Packers Daily features and, probably best of all, Wayne Larivee’s Call of the Game, many of which feature his signature “dagger!” call. It’s like heroin. Of course, it’s always worth checking out whatever content Tom Grossi is posting on his Youtube Channel, and Annie Agar always seems to come up with funny and insightful content. And if you really like getting into the weeds with quarterback play, check breakdowns on Jordan Love’s game with one-time Packer J.T. O’Sullivan’s The QB School. Circling back home, obviously, when the game ends, you gotta check out Aaron Nagler’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Gut Reactions, not to mention the content that follows through the week.  I guess if you’re truly desperate on a Monday Morning following a Sunday game day, you can tune in to Good Morning Football on NFL Network to watch them fawn over the Chiefs and Cowboys, then spend about 40 seconds on Packers highlights. And you can watch Kyle Brandt make a buffoon of himself while at the same time somehow believing he’s funny. (But that’s only for the truly desperate.) What's your day-after ritual? Filed Under: FeaturedKevin Gibson   PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Kevin Gibson is a professional writer and author based in Louisville, Ky. He's also a former sports writer who covered high school, college and professional sports, a Packers shareholder and a fan since 1975. Even John Hadl couldn't break him. Follow him on Twitter: @kgramone __________________________   NFL Categories: Green Bay PackersTags: Jordan LoveMicah ParsonsWayne LariveeLarry McCarren Like 0 points

Tucker Kraft is lost for the 2025 season, and Green Bay Packers fans are still in mourning. But in the aftermath, will we finally see a Luke Musgrave emergence? It’s an intriguing question, and it’s going to be fun to find out the answer over the back half of the schedule. Following Kraft’s freak knee injury Sunday in the team’s ugly 16-13 home loss to the Carolina Panthers, Musgrave caught three Jordan Love passes for 34 yards, including one catch and run that helped set up the Packers’ lone touchdown drive. That said, the oft-injured Musgrave has just a 9-88-0 line on 10 targets through the team’s first eight games of the 2025 season. Musgrave sightings have been rare in the shadow of Kraft, who emerged as one of the best tight ends in the league heading into week 9.  For the season, the 2023 third-round draft pick Kraft had looked nearly unstoppable in amassing 32 receptions, 489 yards and 6 touchdowns. He averaged – averaged – 10.8 yards after the catch, per Pro Football Focus, and Love had a ridiculous 157.2 passer rating when targeting Kraft. He’s not going to be easy to replace, and no reasonable observer should expect any one player to do so. Head Coach Matt LaFleur said precisely that this week. But it does offer a tantalizing opportunity for the Packers’ No. 2 tight end to finally shine. Coming out of his college career at Oregon State, Musgrave earned a 9.95 Relative Athletic Score. He was a second-round pick for a reason, folks. And heck, he was drafted one round ahead of Kraft, so clearly the Packers were sold on the promise he offered. Musgrave’s measurables are, in a word, ridiculous. He’s a six-foot-five, 253-pound gazelle, as tight ends go. He earned an elite grade in his level of explosiveness. He has all the tools of a down-the-seam monster.  The main drawback is, thanks in part to his injuries and the emergence of Kraft, we simply haven’t seen more than flashes at the NFL level. For his part, Musgrave, while he isn’t openly predicting a breakout, sounds confident and ready to go to work. “I'm focused on how I show up on film, that I'm playing with good energy, good effort,” he told the media this week when discussing his three receptions Sunday following Kraft’s injury. "I always prepare like I'm going to play in a full capacity, so my preparation is going to be the same." "But I think that we're all confident in what Luke brings to the offense,” Packers wide receiver Christian Watson said of his teammate this week. “I'm excited to see him get a little bit of spotlight again." All that said, if a breakout is imminent, it may not be in the offing this week. No tight end has gone for more than 61 yards – and that was savvy veteran Travis Kelce (yes, Taylor Swift’s fiance) – against the Eagles this season. Sledding is likely going to be tough for the Packers’ offense on Monday night. Musgrave is not Tucker Kraft; he’s not a yards-after-the-catch monster like his teammate, and in all honesty, it sometimes seems like Musgrave goes down too easily when hit. But what we would all like to see from No. 88 is to offer Love a trustworthy set of hands and the ability to get open down the field. Let’s hope he might develop into a reliable third-down option to take some of the heat off of Romeo Doubs in must-have scenarios.  Musgrave has the hands, size and speed to do all of the above, and mismatch opportunities against linebackers and safeties should be plentiful down the stretch, especially when Jayden Reed returns to the lineup.  Let’s see if, with an extended look in the lineup, Musgrave can – in the words of LaFleur two years ago – “stay on his feet.” Filed Under: FeaturedKevin Gibson   PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Kevin Gibson is a professional writer and author based in Louisville, Ky. He's also a former sports writer who covered high school, college and professional sports, a Packers shareholder and a fan since 1975. Even John Hadl couldn't break him. Follow him on Twitter: @kgramone __________________________   NFL Categories: Green Bay PackersTags: Luke MusgraveTucker KraftJordan LoveChristian WatsonGreen Bay PackersMatt LaFleur Like 0 points

recently reported that 42% of its customers do not realize that its potato chips products are made from potatoes.

This Sunday’s throwback uniforms – based on those worn by the 1923 Green Bay Packers – weren’t a random choice by the NFL’s only publicly-owned team. In fact, 1923 might have been the most important year in the franchise’s history. Why? It wasn’t because the team went 7-2-1 in just its fourth season. And it wasn’t that it was the Packers’ first season playing at its new home, Bellevue Park, either. Nor was it because it’s the first time the Chicago Bears traveled to Green Bay for a game (the Packers lost, 3-0).  Nope. It’s an important choice because 1923 is the year in which the Packers originally became the publicly-owned team we know today. In 1922, the Packers were booted from the NFL – then known as the American Professional Football Association – over a cheating scandal involving college ringers playing in a non-league game against Racine. The Packers naturally protested the league’s decision, and due to plenty of legwork by team founder Earl “Curly” Lambeau, the team was reinstated for the 1923 season in the newly-named National Football League. Had Lambeau’s efforts been unsuccessful, there’s little chance the team would have existed much longer. Ultimately, the NFL board agreed that the Packers were good for professional football.  Around that time, Acme Packing Company, which had become the team’s sponsor of sorts, had found itself in bankruptcy, and there was reportedly brief consideration on the company’s part of moving the club to Chicago. In short, things in Green Bay were on some slippery turf, in football terms. But, thankfully, this time of difficulty was not to last.    Can't hear you over all this aura pic.twitter.com/F6dL9M1k01 — Green Bay Packers Football Club (@packers) October 29, 2025   With the team accepted back into what by then had become the National Football League under the name the Green Bay Packers Football Club, and Acme finally now out of the picture, it was time to focus on the franchise’s finances, which were bleak.  The team essentially had been losing money hand over fist. A booster club fundraiser was derailed by inclement weather, so in stepped Press-Gazette owner Andrew Turnbull, who spearheaded a drive to change the club’s ownership structure through the creation of the Green Bay Packer Football Corporation.  This shift made the club a publicly-owned property, the first – and still only – of its kind in professional sports.  An initial stock offering starting at $5 per shares was sold across the city, and the team raised more than $5,500, selling more than 1,100 shares. The Packers never had to deal with a sole owner as a result, which ensured the team would remain where it started, so long as the city supported it.  “There’s no way the Packers would have survived under private ownership,” Packers Historian Cliff Christl told me in a recent interview. “I’d say they would have been forced to move to Milwaukee – that’s the most likely scenario that the league would have forced.”  1923 Green Bay Packers   In that case, a private owner would have been brought in for the franchise, and it’s unlikely the team would even be recognizable today. Further stock issuances in 1935 and 1950 were undertaken to help the team survive further financial woes, which kept the Packers moving forward. Modern stock offerings in 1997, 2011 and 2021 were issued to help fund improvements to Lambeau Field. Today there are well over 5 million honorary stockholders of the Green Bay Packers. But it’s thanks in large part to those early Packers supporters, some of the original fans to ever Carry the G, that the team still exists. “I would call it a miracle – and not a minor miracle” that the Packers still exist in Green Bay, by far the smallest NFL market, Christl said. “It’s beyond belief almost when you look back at all the obstacles they faced, all the crises they were involved in. They not only survived, but have been the most successful franchise.” So, when you pull on that throwback jersey on Sunday, give a little nod to those first-ever Packers stockholders. Filed Under: FeaturedKevin Gibson   PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Kevin Gibson is a professional writer and author based in Louisville, Ky. He's also a former sports writer who covered high school, college and professional sports, a Packers shareholder and a fan since 1975. Even John Hadl couldn't break him. Follow him on Twitter: @kgramone __________________________   NFL Categories: Green Bay PackersTags: Curly LambeauCliff ChristlGreen Bay PackersACME Packing Company Like 0 points

It’s just another game. Well, it is to the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers. At least that’s what they’ll tell you. "We're playing the Pittsburgh Steelers, who happen to have Aaron Rodgers," Packers head coach Matt LaFleur told the media this week ahead of his team’s game in Pittsburgh on Sunday night. "It's as simple as that. … It's about the Green Bay Packers versus the Pittsburgh Steelers. That's for you guys to talk about, all those other storylines." Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said of Rodgers this week, “I imagine some external things are going to make more out of it than it is for him. He’s playing and playing to win. That’s what he does. That’s kind of my perspective on it.” But to fans, it’s a little more.  I remember watching Brett Favre step onto the field in purple against the Packers for the first time, and I watched with disdain. Disdain for how it ended with the ridiculous public standoff after he “un-retired.” Disdain for the fact he changed his mind after all the attention he commanded in several years of his “will he/won’t he?” game. Disdain that he was a Minnesota Viking, period. And then he and the Vikings took down the Packers and first-year starter Aaron Rodgers, 30-23, tossing three touchdown passes in the process. For fans, it felt personal. And yet there are countless incredible Favre memories when he was wearing the Green and Gold to ease the sting. Sunday night’s showdown against a Rodgers-led Steelers team won’t feel quite the same, but Rodgers did stir his own share of drama and frustration during his final few seasons in Green and Gold. Many fans have written him off as a diva. Others seem to wish he was still a Packer. For his part, and to his credit, Rodgers has publicly maintained his respect for the franchise that drafted him, and said he does not view Sunday’s matchup as a “revenge game.” Whichever side of the Rodgers divide you land on, the truth is that, much like Favre before him, he was one of the greatest players to ever pull on that G-emblazoned gold helmet. But even if you still look at Rodgers with hearts in your eyes, you also are still looking for a Packers win on Sunday.  And if Rodgers carves up his old team, it won’t surprise me. Even if he has no animosity toward the Green Bay franchise, it’s the only team he has never beaten. He’ll be driven. The front four has to make him uncomfortable, lest he shred the defense via the skies. And getting to Rodgers isn’t going to be easy, even if Pittsburgh doesn’t put a scary offensive line on the field on Sundays.  The unit was ranked outside the Top 20 by Pro Football Focus entering the season. Currently, right tackle Troy Fauntanu carries an overall 57.9 PFF grade, or 74th out of 116, although his pass block grade is a bit higher at 60.8 (62nd). And left tackle Broderick Jones has a 51.3 overall grade (88th) and a 47.4 pass blocking grade (87th). Not great. Center Zach Frazier, however, is good enough to keep the center of the pocket pretty clean.   Micah Parsons still has Aaron Rodgers’ No. 12 jersey in his man cave. He thought Rodgers was joking when he wanted to swap in 2022. “He’s become one of my favorite players just because of that moment.” Story on a new and old Packer ahead of Sunday night: https://t.co/tExgTmapSI pic.twitter.com/DvyiYO1I9J — Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) October 22, 2025   I do believe the Green Bay pass rush will pressure the old man and at least get a couple of hits on him. But he gets the ball out so quickly, and he’s still mobile enough, that it’s going to be tough to sack him, especially when employing a four-man rush. And that’s even with Micah Parsons on the field. (Hey, at least maybe they will trade jerseys again.)  Regardless, I look for both teams to come out slinging it. I could see it being a high-scoring, whoever-has-the-ball-last situation like we saw in Dallas. Keeping the Steelers’ offense in longer down and distance situations can only help the pass rush, but if the Pittsburgh gameplan is to dink and dunk their way down the field, it could be a long afternoon for the Packers. Whatever the outcome, it promises to be a memorable night for Packers fans around the globe, even if the coaches and players are downplaying it. And it will likely be the one and only time the Packers take on the former face of the franchise in Rodgers. That in itself makes it more than just another game. Filed Under: FeaturedKevin Gibson   PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Kevin Gibson is a professional writer and author based in Louisville, Ky. He's also a former sports writer who covered high school, college and professional sports, a Packers shareholder and a fan since 1975. Even John Hadl couldn't break him. Follow him on Twitter: @kgramone __________________________   NFL Categories: Green Bay PackersTags: Aaron RodgersMatt LaFleurGreen Bay PackersPittsburgh SteelersMike Tomlin Like 0 points

The narrative of “Who is Green Bay’s No. 1 Receiver?” is absolutely relentless. It smacks of fantasy football posturing mixed with a nostalgia for Aaron Rodgers-to-Davante Adams Fever. Enough already. By now, we should all understand that the Packers are now running the LaFleur offense, not the Rodgers/LaFleur hybrid system. It’s designed, per the coach’s own words, to allow quarterback Jordan Love to go through his reads and find the open man. Period. In other words, if you’re a receiver in the system and you’re running a route, just do your job. Period. If you do, you’ll eventually be targeted. It keeps defenses guessing and, perhaps more importantly, it allows the offense to utilize the full complement of player skillsets at its disposal. The zero-in-on-Adams approach left with him. In a 2022 interview with NFL Network, even LaFleur half-joked, “I think every play on our call sheet WAS designed to go to Davante Adams.” In five games so far this season, the Packers have totaled 1,259 passing yards, without a clear No. 1 pass-catcher in sight. Check out this workload split: * Tucker Kraft: 268 receiving yards on 18 receptions * Romeo Doubs: 18/234 * Josh Jacobs: 15/176 * Matthew Golden: 14/212 * Dontayvion Wicks: 12/129 * Luke Musgrave: 5/49 Kraft is the de facto “WR1,” and he’s not even a wide receiver, for Pete’s sake. He’s the run-after-the-catch, get-the-tough-yards pass-catcher that Love clearly trusts. He’s averaging just under 10 yards after the catch, first in the NFL, and when he’s targeted, the resulting passer rating is a ridiculous 158.3. That’s not even human. That’s like a Vince Lombardi team chasing perfection and not having to settle for mere greatness. Doubs, meanwhile, who has garnered 28 targets, generates a 115.2 passer rating when Love is throwing his way. This is a trusted, veteran red zone weapon and one of Love’s most relied-upon targets in general. He’s a first down waiting to happen. For Jacobs, his 15 catches have come on just 19 targets. While he’s utilized more as a runner, he’s bailed out the offense plenty in tough situations via the air. Fans can usually feel pretty good about seeing Love get the ball out to Jacobs on a checkdown. (I know I do.) And then there’s Golden, the first-round pick everyone seemingly wants to anoint. And the truth is, he’s coming on. Like, quickly. Of his 212 receiving yards, 196 have come in the past three games.    Matthew Golden scored an elite 90.4 PFF grade in week 6. He also ranks 9th in the NFL in Catch Rate Over Expected. The Golden Era has begun in Green Bay pic.twitter.com/C2dS5hcVU5 — Packerfan Total Access- Clayton (@packers_access) October 13, 2025   Targeting him generates a 110 passer rating. He has garnered just 19 targets on 119 total routes run thus far, but the upward trend is there. The more he grows within the system, the more he will help his teammates be better. As Packers fans, we just have to let it evolve naturally within the construct of LaFleur’s offense. Probably the best example of Golden’s evolution was the 31-yard strike on Sunday late in the game on third and 9. The young wideout saw Love scramble to his left, instinctively flattened his route and gave his quarterback a target. Love delivered a sparkling strike, and the game essentially was in the bag. It was a beautiful play and certainly a sign of what’s to come. But it simply isn’t in the plan to force the issue. Golden is a highly-touted rookie, but he’s still a rookie. More importantly, it’s not the LaFleur way. “You go into a game, and guys get excited if they think they have a legitimate shot at getting the ball. So, you have plays for each guy,” LaFleur told the media this week. “You want to get ’em all involved.” He added, speaking of Golden, that, “It’s always about trying to spread it around, but he’s definitely a very explosive playmaker and just got to keep finding ways to get it to him.” Yet among many fans, click-baiters and talking heads, there continue to be calls to funnel touches through rookie wideout Matthew Golden, a la vintage Adams. But that was done outside the construct of the offense – it was a connection and a trust Rodgers and Adams built over time that LaFleur and the offensive coaches clearly didn’t want to interrupt. Golden has certainly looked the part of a No. 1 receiver when targeted. But as Packers.com editor Mike Spofford astutely observed, “... For all the fans who want him to get more action, whose touches get reduced? Tucker Kraft’s? Romeo Doubs'? (Josh) Jacobs'? … I think fans need to be less fixated on making someone a star and just let him become one.” And if we think it’s a crowded pass-catching corps now, just wait until Christian Watson and Jayden Reed return – someone’s going to have to go to bed without seconds every week. So, if Golden is destined to ever become that ever-elusive “No. 1 Wide Receiver” in this offense, it will likely be later rather than sooner in the grand scheme of things. And it will happen organically. Filed Under: FeaturedKevin Gibson   PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Kevin Gibson is a professional writer and author based in Louisville, Ky. He's also a former sports writer who covered high school, college and professional sports, a Packers shareholder and a fan since 1975. Even John Hadl couldn't break him. Follow him on Twitter: @kgramone __________________________   NFL Categories: Green Bay PackersTags: Matt LaFleurMatthew GoldenDavante AdamsTucker KraftRomeo Doubs Like 0 points

The farcical rumor that Green Bay Packers’ timeless “G” logo stands for “Greatness” has long been debunked. But did the G stand for more than just “Green Bay” to Vince Lombardi? Some think so. Josh Gordon, son of John Gordon, the man who designed the logo in 1961, said his father, who died in 2023, believed it was a symbol for Lombardi’s desire to dominate the NFL. His Dad’s reasoning largely was based on the timing. (Photo above shows Gordon in the Packers Hall of Fame in 2021. Courtesy of Josh Gordon.) The story has been told many times: The Packers lost to the Eagles 17-13 in the 1960 NFL Championship game, a contest Lombardi felt his team should have won. Afterward, Lombardi famously told his team that he never intended to lose another playoff game. The pledge came true. It was the following year leading up to the season when Lombardi told equipment manager Gerald “Dad” Brashier, to come up with a logo for the helmets, specifically saying he wanted a football-shaped “G.” Gordon was an assistant to Brashier and also an arts student at St. Norbert College, so he was handed the task. He took the logo concept as a symbol. “My dad, from the beginning, got the impression that the football shape represented the National Football League, and the ‘G’ represented the Green Bay Packers,” Josh said when I caught up with him in Green Bay this week. “And that represented Lombardi’s intention to dominate any NFL team the Packers faced ever since the Packers lost that first championship game. It was a symbol. It wasn’t just a cool logo – it was to dominate the game.” Gordon got the Packers job largely because his father knew Braisher professionally: “Dad said, “I got the job and I kept it for 10 years.”’ That he was an artist was mere coincidence, but thanks to him, the logo was born. It was altered in 1970 to look more like an oval, and that slight revision has stuck. “My dad remembered grabbing a pencil and starting to draw it out,” Josh said. “My dad just does everything on paper. My dad realized, ‘This is going to be a project,’ and he went home to his parents’ house. And he finished it at 2 or 3 in the morning.” As Gordon was drawing it, he realized the green outline created a negative shape, so he wondered if that would be a hindrance when Lombardi saw it.  “He said, ‘I don’t know what Dad is going to say about that,’” Josh said. But Bashier took it to Lombardi the next day. “Lombardi accepted it right away,” Josh said.  He recalls his father saying, “‘Dad returned to the locker room and told me Lombardi had approved my drawing,’”  Brashier had a local company turn the logo into decals. “They arrived a few days later,” Josh said. “When they arrived, my dad and Dad Brashier put them on by hand.” Asked if his dad got paid for designing the logo, Josh said, “He never talked about that.” Josh Gordon   Gordon went on to become an accomplished artist, and would do custom work for players and their wives while he was employed by the Packers. He remained prolific, creating many works in multiple styles. He taught for years and went on to start his own Gordon School of Art. In his program, he had a teaching style inspired by Lombardi’s coaching style. “The first thing they had to learn was to hold the pencil properly,” Josh said. (Yeah, that sounds Lombardi-esque.) Most importantly, Gordon kept moving forward in life. Josh, now a writer outside of his day job as a FedEx driver, remembers an active childhood that didn’t waver into his adulthood. “There was always something going on,” he said. “There was just a lot of life and energy every day.”   PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Kevin Gibson is a professional writer and author based in Louisville, Ky. He's also a former sports writer who covered high school, college and professional sports, a Packers shareholder and a fan since 1975. Even John Hadl couldn't break him. Follow him on Twitter: @kgramone __________________________   NFL Categories: Green Bay PackersTags: Packers logoVince LombardiDad BrashierJohn Gordon Like 0 points

Remember when the Packers let Jaire Alexander walk during the off-season, setting off a widespread gnashing of teeth across Green Bay fandom? Don’t look now, but it turns out the Packers’ cornerback room is pretty good even without Ja. And the safeties are pretty darn good, too. Heading to play a Browns offense averaging just 16.5 points per game (26th in the NFL), Green Bay looks poised to do more damage against a quarterback in Joe Flacco who is not just a statue in the pocket, but an elderly one. (Can you imagine Flacco trying to run from Micah Parsons? Sorry, I digress.) Against the Washington Commanders last Thursday, Keisean Nixon played 14 snaps in man coverage. Five passes came his way, to the tune of zero receptions. All five of those incompletions were pass breakups on Nixon’s part, including a fourth-down breakup late in the game to help seal the win.  Meanwhile, however much stock you put into Pro Football Focus grades, it’s still better to have a good grade than a bad one. On the very young season, Nixon has an 85.2 PFF coverage grade over 136 snaps – tied for first with the Jets’ Sauce Gardner, who is, well, pretty good. Suddenly, it seems like a really long time ago that Nixon told reporters he didn’t want to return kicks anymore as the “CB1,” raising eyebrows across the country. On the other outside corner is Carrington Valentine, the former seventh-round draft pick out of Kentucky. Valentine showed flashes as a rookie, exhibited tremendous growth last year, and even had an impressive interception in the end zone in a Week 15 tilt with the Seahawks. Through two weeks this season, he is graded at 79.3 in coverage by PFF, good for seventh in the NFL. Nate Hobbs, the off-season acquisition by General Manager Brian Gutekunst, is back in the fold after sitting out most of training camp and Week 1 with an injury. Over just 36 defensive snaps, his PFF coverage grade sits at 71.3, which is about six points shy of making the Top 10. Rookie Micah Robinson hasn’t played any snaps yet, but he looked the part in the preseason, and during his final year at Tulane, he was graded at 80.7 in coverage and a 90 in run defense. Kamal Hadden, who also hasn’t seen a snap yet, had similarly high grades in college. Meanwhile, Javon Bullard, who often slides into the slot, just had one of the better games of his young career against the Commanders, with five solo tackles and a crushing hit on a scrambling Jayden Daniels over 58 snaps. Obviously, Bo Melton is currently injured and is still learning the position, but he’s got corner speed and seems to be quickly developing the instincts to play the position after spending his career as a wide receiver. One obvious difference is that so far this season, the pass rush is getting home consistently – the Micah Parsons effect is on full display. His presence is making the defensive front better, which translates to making life easier on the cover guys. If the goal was to get consistent pressure with four, it looks like the Packers are on their way to achieving that goal. And that only bodes well for the overall defense. And it doesn’t hurt that there’s an All-Pro safety named Xavier McKinney patrolling the back end of the D. Add in the Jeff Hafley effect, which has yellow helmets flying to the ball like buzzards to carrion, and there’s the makings of a complete defense. So far, the Packers' defense is ranked third in the league with 189.5 passing yards allowed per game. Again, a disclaimer: It’s only Week 3. But the Packers’ players and coaches sure seem to believe. “I thought he played really good on Thursday night,” Haffley said of Nixon this week at his weekly press conference. “And now he needs to do that going forward. He has to do that over and over and over and over again, and that’s the sign of a great corner.” “At the end of the day, that’s one game,” Nixon told Packers.com. “I want to do it every week. … My confidence is always through the roof.” Filed Under: FeaturedKevin Gibson   PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Kevin Gibson is a professional writer and author based in Louisville, Ky. He's also a former sports writer who covered high school, college and professional sports, a Packers shareholder and a fan since 1975. Even John Hadl couldn't break him. Follow him on Twitter: @kgramone __________________________   NFL Categories: Green Bay Packers Like 0 points

Prospects of a dominant defense and tight end in Green Bay almost feels like a dream.

The NFL offseason can be a lonely, dismal time. But on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. EST, life becomes bright again for Green Bay Packers fans. Packers fans have navigated quite a wavy sea since Jan. 12 and that ugly 22-10 playoff ouster at the hands of eventual Super Bowl champions Philadelphia Eagles. Following Jordan Love’s three-interception performance while trying to run the offense minus some key weapons, there was the high of the first-ever draft in Green Bay, the first wide receiver taken in the first round since 2002 and the heartwarming story of Barryn Sorrell’s long wait to be drafted. Then there was the rollercoaster of fan favorite cornerback Jaire Alexander’s injury and eventual exit from Green Bay. Of course, just last week, as training camp was drawing to a close, the bombshell trade for Micah Parsons blew away the NFL landscape. Talking heads and fans alike have pontificated on what lies ahead, which is part of what the off-season is about. We endure it the best we can and keep one eye closed when looking at Twitter or X or whatever it's called these days. But starting Sunday, we can sit back and enjoy the spectacle that is professional football. And cheer. Only starting then will questions begin to be answered.  Will Jordan Love take another step in proving he’s the long-term answer under center? Not everyone is convinced of it. Will his receivers catch the ball? Will Marshawn Lloyd ever get on the field? Do Kesiean Nixon, Carrington Valentine and Nate Hobbs (when healthy, ahem) have what it takes to lead the cornerbacks room? Will Edgerrin Cooper emerge into a Pro Bowler (or even All-Pro) as most believe he will? Collectively, can the Packers take back the NFC North? Will Jeff Hafley’s pass rush be more consistent with the addition of Parson? (OK, we probably can feel pretty good about that one.) Finding out the answers to all these what-ifs is part of the fun, and part of the satisfaction week after week is that Sundays again have meaning for hardcore Packers fans. Sundays aren’t just about washing your car or mowing the lawn anymore, starting this weekend. It’s time to don your favorite Packers gear, pour your favorite beverage into your green and gold pint glass (or rocks glass) and bust out the brats. And this Sunday, we’re going to start seeing the answers to all the above questions, and more, emerge. How the Packers fare at home against the Detroit Lions is going to be the beginning of the litmus test for how much ground the team has gained on its division rival (if any). And while the Lions have lost some key coaches and have new faces on the interior offensive line, dominating linebacker Aidan Hutchinson is back on the field following a broken leg last season in Week 6. The Packers are going to have a fight on their hands -- the Lions have won six of the last seven meetings, after all. Last season, the Packers finished on a sour note, losing an ugly game to the Bears in Week 18 followed by the quick playoff exit. Hopes are now reborn. Let’s enjoy the ride, because it’s going to be over much sooner than we want it to be. And let’s hope the upcoming season ultimately ends the way we believe it can.   Filed Under: FeaturedKevin Gibson   PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Kevin Gibson is a professional writer and author based in Louisville, Ky. He's also a former sports writer who covered high school, college and professional sports, a Packers shareholder and a fan since 1975. Even John Hadl couldn't break him. Follow him on Twitter: @kgramone __________________________   NFL Categories: Green Bay PackersTags: Green Bay PackersMicah ParsonsJordan LoveEdgerrin Cooper Like 0 points

Cliff Christl is adamant that Verne Lewellen should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Green Bay Packers’ official historian, and author of The Greatest Story in Sports and other books, points out that not only was Lewellen, who played halfback, a star on Curly Lambeau’s first three-peat Championship teams, based on subsequent research, he scored the most touchdowns of his era and amassed the second-most points. In addition, he was one of the best punters of the time, in an age when punting was a far more important part of the game. Unfortunately, at the time he played, the NFL didn’t keep stats, which sort of hamstrung Lewellen’s bid for the Hall as time went by. “He was an unquestioned star from 1926 to 1931,” Christl, sitting in a coffee shop in downtown Green Bay – located, appropriately, in the historic Bellin Building – told me last week. “Go back and read every game story (from his era) – it’s so obvious that Lewellen dominated just about every game he played.” Christl, who grew up in Green Bay watching the Packers during the Lombardi era,  added that he believes Lewellen was superior even to Packer legend Don Hutson, who is in the Hall of Fame. “The Hall of Fame is so exaggerated,” he said. “It’s just a shame how little knowledge people have at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and my impression is they don’t care.” Brett Favre Memories Christl said he has two early distinctive memories about Brett Favre. The first goes back to training camp in Favre’s first year in Green Bay. “I was standing on the sidelines and he was spraying a fair amount of balls,” he said. He then referenced a notoriously inaccurate former Chicago Bears quarterback: “I said, ‘Holy shit, did they trade for another Bobby Douglass?’ You couldn’t turn your head standing on the sidelines or you’d risk getting hit in the head.” The second distinctive impression of the player who came to be known as “The Ol’ Gunslinger,” the historian recalls, is when Favre threw the game-winning touchdown to Kitrick Taylor to seal the momentous 24-23 comeback win over the Bengals in 1992: “I was close enough to see what kind of a zip there was on the ball, and how close those defenders were to being able to make a play. I watched and said, ‘They’ve found their guy.’” Cliff Christl Super Bowls and Quarterbacks Christl (pictured above) believes that Favre and Aaron Rodgers are the two greatest Packers of all-time. The old question that is asked often is, with 30 years of Hall of Fame quarterback play in Green Bay, why are there only two Lombardi Trophies to show for it? “Favre and Rodgers, neither one was surrounded by Hall of Fame talent,” he said. He reasons that, when you hit on a quarterback, you get good suddenly – and then you spend the forthcoming seasons with low draft picks, making it extremely difficult to stock your team with high-caliber players.  “Wolf never had a high draft pick to give Favre the kind of supporting cast he needed,” Christl said. “The greatest team (Favre) ever played for was the Vikings.” As an example of a notable lack of surrounding talent for Favre, Christl recalls attending the 2007 NFC Championship game at a frozen Lambeau Field – it was Favre’s final game as a Packer, and in overtime he threw a horrendous interception to seal the Packers’ playoff exit. The New York Giants won moments later on a field goal, 23-20. “It was midway through the first quarter or so,” he said. “I could hear [the Giants defense] coming off the field, just screaming at top of (their) lungs, ‘They can’t fucking block us! They can’t fucking block us!’ I don’t blame that loss on Favre’s interception at the end. I blame that they got their butts beat at the line of scrimmage.” The Losing Life was not good for the Green Bay Packers in the 1970s and most of the 1980s.  When Bart Starr was hired as head coach in 1975, Christl, who began covering the team in 1974, said the first public intrasquad scrimmage was nearly unwatchable, with something in the neighborhood of 25 penalties. And as for the John Hadl trade in ’74, he called it “crippling” – not that he believed Starr was a good coach or a good general manager. “Bart had no experience as a coach,” he said. “He wasn’t a good coach and was a terrible general manager.” As revered as Starr rightfully is for his playing days, especially in the playoffs, he made some head-scratching decisions as a GM, such as passing on Joe Montana in the 1979 NFL Draft … for three rounds. He also drafted quarterback Rich Campbell in 1981 in the first round – Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott went two picks later. “He would listen to his assistant coaches rather than the personnel people,” Christl said. “His personnel guy begged him to draft Ronnie Lott.” Christl also shared the story of a local bar owner who was known for selling game tickets across his bar. Unfortunately, during the 1970s, the tickets were not, shall we say, in huge demand. Cliff said one day a patron walked into the bar with a handful of tickets he was trying to get rid of, but couldn’t. He asked the bar owner, a man named Boots Baker, what he should do with them. Baker’s response was, “Do you have a fireplace?” “Sometimes,” Christl said, “you get better stories from a losing team, especially a bad losing team, than you do from a winner.” Filed Under: FeaturedKevin Gibson   PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Kevin Gibson is a professional writer and author based in Louisville, Ky. He's also a former sports writer who covered high school, college and professional sports, a Packers shareholder and a fan since 1975. Even John Hadl couldn't break him. Follow him on Twitter: @kgramone __________________________   NFL Categories: Green Bay PackersTags: Cliff ChristlBrett FavreVerne LewellenAaron RodgersBart Starr Like 0 points

After Colts' first-half debacle, the tackle knows he has to step it up.

Eddie Lee Ivery emerged from Georgia Tech University in 1979 with so much promise that the Green Bay Packers selected him with the 15th overall pick.  Unfortunately, his promising career met with a hiccup just three carries into his NFL career in the ’79 season-opener against the Chicago Bears with a knee injury. He would go on to play eight seasons with the Packers, finishing as the team’s No. 15 all-time leading rusher, but that first injury left fans with a perpetual whisper of “what if?” on their lips. As a young Packers fan, I loved Ivery’s rhythmic-sounding name – I loved pulling his football cards out of freshly opened packs as a kid. And if you stop and think about it, the name almost sounds like he should have been a blues pianist. But Ivery had the size and the burst you want from a stud running back. Usually in a platoon, Ivery never posted a 1,000-yard season, but after returning from his initial injury, he titillated during the 1980 season when he ran for 831 yards on 202 carries with three touchdowns and caught 50 passes for 481 yards and a receiving touchdown. It would turn out to be his best season as a pro. And while he racked up 2,933 rushing yards plus 1,612 receiving yards and 30 total touchdowns in the NFL, it was Ivery’s injuries that seemed to shadow him.  Ivery underwent surgery to repair his torn ACL, rehabbed and worked his hardest to realize that 1980 season, which restored hope to the Green Bay fan base. And then in 1981, and once again in a season-opening game against the Bears at Soldier Field, Ivery’s left knee again failed him. He had posted 14 carries in the game before he was off to rehab yet again.       After this injury, Ivery began using alcohol and drugs to help quell the pain. While he bounced back with a 10-touchdown season in 1982, he gradually played less and less and became less effective. Injuries and addiction were holding him back. In fact, Ivery believes he almost lost his life to his addiction. And he gives a lot of credit to Packers legend Bart Starr, who coached Ivery for most of his pro career. In 1983, after the Packers made the playoffs the previous season, Ivery failed a drug test. Starr called his running back into his office for a sit-down. “He asked me, was I OK,” Ivery told Wayne Larivee. “It was almost like had tears in his eyes, because he knew that I was not being honest with him. I said, ‘Yes sir, I’m doing good.’ And then as we started talking – I think I had gotten tired of playing games with myself and playing games with the Green Bay Packers organization. … I said, ‘Coach Starr, please help me. … He chose to help.” That’s when Ivery began to get clean and was able to continue his career until 1986. He said, “Coach Starr saved my life.” Ivery would have relapses in his sobriety over the years. He claims he turned his back on his faith, and he suffered financially. But he ultimately prevailed in his fight, got his degree and went into coaching. “My life went downhill after my career,” he told Packer.com several years ago. “One thing football taught me is when you get knocked down, keep fighting. When you are dealing with drugs and alcohol, no one else can get your life back in order. I was a Christian man and I felt like I turned my back on it. I ended up finally turning it around.” After his stellar college career as a Yellow Jacket – he garnered 11 first-place votes for the Heisman Trophy his junior season, and as a senior would post an incredible 356-yard rushing game – injuries may have derailed what looked to have the makings of a Hall of Fame career. “What could have been,” Ivery Larivee. “But I knew this: I knew that when I got on that football field, I gave it all I had.” Filed Under: FeaturedKevin Gibson   PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Kevin Gibson is a professional writer and author based in Louisville, Ky. He's also a former sports writer who covered high school, college and professional sports, a Packers shareholder and a fan since 1975. Even John Hadl couldn't break him. Follow him on Twitter: @kgramone __________________________   NFL Categories: Green Bay PackersTags: Eddie Lee IveryBart StarrWayne LariveeGreen Bay Packers Like 0 points

The inconsistency of the Green Bay Packers’ pass rush of 2024 has been thoroughly dissected this off-season. It was fits and starts, and often just plain frustrating to watch. The Packers responded by drafting a pair of young pass-rushers in Barryn Sorrell and Collin Oliver. But Brenton Cox Jr. might be the most interesting young commodity in the EDGE room. The former undrafted free agent enters his third pro season with the memory of a late-season spark still bouncing around the minds of Packers fans. He barely put cleat to grass during his rookie season and was a healthy scratch last season until the team moved on from veteran EDGE rusher Preston Smith last year at the trade deadline. From that point on, Cox was not just in the rotation, he was a key contributor who showed flashes of making good on his size and strength. The 6-foot-4, 250-pounder scored only a just-above-average 6.25 RAS (Relative Athletic Score) coming out of college, but his strength is easy to see. He’s also a large human being. And he apparently is having a strong camp thus far. When he wore a Packers uniform last season starting in Week 10, he quickly made his presence known, with three tackles, a pair of quarterback hits and a sack in the Packers’ 20-19 win over the Chicago Bears. Over the course of his abbreviated season, he totaled 12 total tackles, four sacks and a forced fumble, while totaling seven hits of the quarterback. And that was in just 160 defensive snaps. While the EDGE room is obviously a bit deeper than last season with the two new additions, it’s possible Cox brings a spark to that up-and-down pass rush from 2024. He sounds like a guy who has his head screwed on straight after being dismissed from not only the University of Florida but also the University of Georgia teams during his college days for acts of misconduct. In Green Bay, it seems he’s been a model teammate. Plus, he’s been getting praise from the coaching staff, offering a hint that Cox is primed to get his share of snaps rushing off the edge this year in relief of Rashan Gary and Lukas Van Ness. “He’s another guy that I’m excited to watch when we get into the preseason,” Head Coach Matt LaFleur told the media this week. “Certainly, he’s had a lot of great plays throughout the course of camp. I think he’s progressed as a rusher, as you should expect.” Defensive Coordinator Jeff Hafley added, “I remember sitting here and we thought he deserved to play after he was really hard to block at practice. It’s just the way he is out there. He’s a physical, strong, tough guy who gives you everything that he has and he’s very disruptive.” What Cox might do with a full season’s worth of work is yet to be seen. If the light truly has flicked on for the third-year pass rusher, who knows? But it sure sounds like he’s figuring things out and primed to be a key part of the rotation in 2025. "Mostly just me growing within the game, knowing the game speed and everything," Cox told Packers.com after last season about his surprising leap in production. "What it takes to really beat a great offensive tackle. I'm going to work on that in the offseason, just keep it going and hopefully don't get too high, don't get too low. He continued, "I definitely will be working this offseason to improve my play in the defense. Getting more into that attacking style that Coach Hafley likes and just improving my all-around game.” The more difficult he is to block in practice, the more reps are likely to come. It will be fun to watch it unfold as we roll into preseason games. This oft-maligned Packers pass rush might just surprise us in 2025. Filed Under: FeaturedKevin Gibson   PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Kevin Gibson is a professional writer and author based in Louisville, Ky. He's also a former sports writer who covered high school, college and professional sports, a Packers shareholder and a fan since 1975. Even John Hadl couldn't break him. Follow him on Twitter: @kgramone __________________________   NFL Categories: Green Bay PackersTags: Brenton Cox Jr.Green Bay PackersLukas Van NessRashan GaryJeff Hafley Like 0 points

On the eve of Green Bay Packers legend Sterling Sharpe’s induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, let’s take a look at another – relatively unheralded – former Packer whose career was cut short due to injury: Barton Elliott “Barty” Smith. Smith had the misfortune of playing for the mostly awful Packers teams of the 1970s. For example, in his best season, in which he was recognized as Packers Offensive Player of the Year at the fullback position, the team went 4-10.  During that 1977 campaign, splitting duties with running back Eric Torkelson, he posted 554 rushing yards to go with 37 receptions for 340 yards. (That he scored three total touchdowns that year and was still honored as the offense’s best player tells you all you need to know about that season.) Nevertheless, as a fullback, Smith was the complete package. He was a 6-foot-3-inch, 240-pound sledgehammer with the ball in his hands, had strong receiving chops, and he could lead a run and pass protect like a guard.  The only thing he couldn’t do on a football field with his body was stay healthy. Smith suffered numerous knee injuries; that he continued on as such a battering ram is impressive. Before becoming a Packer, he attended his hometown University of Richmond (Virginia), helping the team to a Southern Conference title and a bid to the Tangerine Bowl, winning multiple awards and being invited to the East-West Shrine Game, the College All-Star game and other honors. His bio on the UR website said Smith “is considered to be the best blocking back in UR history.” (Matt LeFleur would have loved this guy.) His college career would make him a first-round pick by the Packers in 1974. Humorously, on draft day he was waiting at his mother’s house, anticipating a call from an NFL team. In those days, the NFL Draft was not televised, so players just waited to be called. The phone rang, and Smith eagerly answered. It was a furniture company wanting to arrange details for a forthcoming delivery to his mom. “I was very abrupt with my response,” Smith told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Over his seven-year career, Smith would total 1,942 rushing yards on 544 carries with 18 rushing touchdowns. He also tallied 979 yards receiving, catching 120 balls, with three additional scores. One highlight for Barty Smith was posting a career-high 133 yards from scrimmage during a 28-17 loss against the Vikings on Nov. 2, 1975.      His 1978 season was nearly as impressive as his 1977 season, with 567 yards rushing and 256 yards passing, even while ceding most of the carries to running mate Terdell Middleton, who put up 1,116 yards rushing with 11 touchdowns that season. Still, Smith was known primarily for his blocking, so it’s no stretch to assume many of Middleton’s runs featured Barty leading the charge. "Guys used to go to the special-teams meetings just to watch Barty play the up-back on the field goal and extra point team," Smith’s former teammate Larry McCarren told Packers historian Cliff Christl. "He'd literally knock the snot out of guys trying to rush off the edge. People would go in there just to watch it." As for the injuries, Smith suffered his first major knee injury post-college in one of the all-star games in which he played. That injury cost him the first several games of his rookie season. He would end up having constant knee problems during his playing career, including four surgeries. "You're never the same," Smith told Christl 2002. "You have to remember back then, when they did surgery, if there was any cartilage damage, they just yanked it out. There wasn't any of that trimming it up and leaving the buffer in your knee joint. They just yanked it out and you ended up with bone on bone." Ouch. So it was that, after the 1980 season, the Packers let him go. The team reportedly told him he barely passed the physical prior to that season, and there was no way he would pass one with another full season of wear and tear. United Press International wrote a story about Smith attempting to get an injury settlement of $37,500 based on the collective bargaining agreement rules on injury releases. When asked if he would consider filing a grievance against the Packers to get the money, Smith said he wouldn’t. “I don't want to get into that, because I left there with a good taste in my mouth and I want to keep it that way,” Smith said in 1981. “I'm not hacked off and I don't feel I was treated unfairly. I'm completely satisfied with my career up there. There's no way I'm going to try to stick it to the Packers.” Filed Under: FeaturedKevin Gibson   PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Kevin Gibson is a professional writer and author based in Louisville, Ky. He's also a former sports writer who covered high school, college and professional sports, a Packers shareholder and a fan since 1975. Even John Hadl couldn't break him. Follow him on Twitter: @kgramone __________________________   NFL Categories: Green Bay PackersTags: Barty SmithLarry McCarrenGreen Bay PackersTerdell Middleton Like 0 points

Everyone knows the play. The football is in the Green Bay Packers’ Hall of Fame, along with a video of the play visitors can watch on a loop. The date was Sept. 7, 1980, and Packers placekicker lined up in overtime of a 6-6 tie against the hated Chicago Bears. The snap to David Beverly, the placement, the kick … and it was blocked – right into the arms of the bespectacled and surprised Marcol. But the Packers’ 1972 second round pick out of Hillsdale – which sounds more like a neighborhood from “Back to the Future” than a college – wasted no time. In the instant of confusion on the part of the Bears, Marcol tucked it home as best he could and darted left. With his brief head start and a couple of friendly jerseys between him and the defense, he scored easily, crashing into the wall of the end zone, where he was mobbed. In fact, he was mobbed all the way into the locker room. It was an incredible moment to behold in real time for a 14-year-old kid like me – the magnificent nerd having scoring one of the most dramatic and improbable touchdown in Packers lore. “Marcol appears to be in tears!” one of the announcers exclaimed, adding to the moment. “I believe he’s in tears!”     It’s such a classic Packers moment. But there’s more to Marcol than that one amazing play. For starters, he was named NFL Rookie of the Year in 1972, the only time a placekicker ever earned that honor. He certainly earned it, scoring a lead-leading 182 points as a rookie, then coming back in 1974 to lead the league again. He was voted All-Pro both seasons. It was an unlikely story for Marcol, who moved from Poland to Michigan with his family when he was 15. His father would take his own life during Chester’s teen-age years, thrusting young Chester into a role of responsibility in the family. Moreover, he had not wanted to leave his friends and life behind in Poland, where he was a standout soccer player. But it was his soccer skills that got him noticed as a potential football kicker. In a documentary about his life titled “Hillsdale to Hilltop: The Story of Chester Marcol,” he recalls that in his first high school semester, he was playing soccer indoors with his classmates when he got to show off his trademark leg strength. And his physical education teacher John Rowan experienced that strength head-on. “There was a penalty kick, and I kicked it, and he didn’t know that was a soccer play,” Marcol said in the documentary. “And I just kicked the bugger as fast and as hard as I could, and it went right by his head. He turned around and it hit him in the face, and [he got a] bloody nose. … I was scared and didn’t know what to think, but then they took out these footballs and I went outside and was kicking 50-, 60-yard field goals, kicking the ball off 70 yards, and they were looking at me like I was some kind of second coming.” And thus, Chester Marcol the Football Placekicker was born, leading to a college career, being drafted into the NFL and finding stardom (well, in a kicker sense of the word), and finally his signature play. It’s easy, then, to forget that, after that unforgettable touchdown run and his moment of ultimate glory, just a few weeks later, he was cut by Head Coach Bart Starr. Marcol would end up playing just one more game in his career, for the Houston Oilers. While his skills had clearly declined, there was also the problem of his growing substance abuse issues. He had begun drinking and taking opiates during the 1970s to "treat” pain related to an injury. It led to cocaine addiction. He would be admitted to rehab more than 20 times over the course of a decade. In fact, he later admitted that he snorted cocaine in the locker room during that fateful overtime victory over the Bears in 1980. Six years after that touchdown, having hit rock bottom, Marcol attempted suicide by ingesting battery acid. He survived but was hospitalized for two months and endured multiple surgeries. He also did serious damage to his esophagus and other organs in the failed suicide attempt. He still battles health issues to this day but is married. He and his wife have five children.  And best of all, he is substance-free.     “I didn’t want to go back to the point in my life where I looked in the mirror and wanted to spit at what I saw,” Marcol said in a 2019 interview. “By the grace of God, I’m here. I feel like I’m doing now what my maker wanted me to do, but I wouldn’t want to go through that again.”  Perhaps not surprisingly, these days Marcol is an addiction counselor and public speaker – he believes he owes his recovery to people who counseled him and simply wants to give back.  Marcol’s is a full-circle story in a sense. He went from kicking footballs at the highest level to kicking an addiction to helping others kick theirs. So, in a sense, that famous touchdown, that play that’s enshrined in the Packers Hall of Fame and the hearts of Packers fans everywhere, isn’t even close to being the biggest victory of Chester Marcol’s life. Filed Under: FeaturedKevin Gibson   PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Kevin Gibson is a professional writer and author based in Louisville, Ky. He's also a former sports writer who covered high school, college and professional sports and a Packers shareholder and a fan since 1975. Even John Hadl couldn't break him. Follow him on Twitter: @kgramone __________________________   NFL Categories: Green Bay PackersTags: Chester MarcolBart StarrGreen Bay Packers Like 0 points

Perhaps because of Jordan Love’s injuries, perhaps because of chronic wide receiver drops or perhaps simply to feed the hot hand in Josh Jacobs, the Green Bay Packers were a run-heavy crew in 2024. Let’s face it, since he’s been head coach of the Packers, Head Coach Matt LaFleur hadn’t had a physical, dominating running back like Jacobs. Aaron Jones was a talented fan favorite, but he had the tendency to be brittle while in Green Bay. And for all of A.J. Dillon’s popularity in and around Green Bay and Door County, he was at times inefficient. So handed a weapon like Jacobs, perhaps LaFleur simply decided to wear defenses out on the ground more often. But for a quick comparison, during the 2023 season, Jordan Love’s first full season as the starter, the offense recorded a total of 441 rushes for 1,905 yards, for 4.3 yards per carry. Last season, quarterbacks handed off (or took off themselves) 526 times for 2,496 yards, notching a 4.8 average. Jacobs handled 301 of those carries on his own. Chris Brooks and Emanuel Wilson split most of the rest and did so efficiently. And in 2025, the team expects 2024 third-round running back Marshawn Lloyd back in the fold after a lost rookie season that was torpedoed by injury and illness. Is it possible the Packers could keep four running backs on the roster? Doubtful, but at the same time, it’s tough to say goodbye to either of those undrafted backups. Here’s a quick look at what the running back riches in Green Bay – outside of the obvious starter in Jacobs – look like as we bear down on training camp. Chris Brooks The undrafted third-year player is a California/BYU product who, until two of the final three games of the season, didn’t handle more than four carries in a game. He then had six carries in a Week 16 blowout of the Saints, totaling 23 yards on the ground and scoring his first touchdown in the NFL. In a meaningless loss to the Bears in Week 18, he notched 8 carries for 59 yards, breaking one for 23. On the season, the talented Brooks totaled 36 carries for 183 yards, with 11 receptions for another 69 scrimmage yards. Coming out of college, he projected as a backup – a downhill runner with mostly average traits. It will be interesting to see if he finds a place on the 53-man roster at the end of camp, or if the Packers attempt to sign him to the practice squad. Emanuel Wilson A more frequent contributor in 2024, the 5-10, 229-pound Wilson, racked up 103 carries for 502 yards and four touchdowns. He also hauled in 11 passes for 48 yards and an additional score. In other words, a solid backup who at times flashed. His most productive game last season was that aforementioned loss to the Bears, in which he carried the ball 14 times for 73 yards and a touchdown. The Fort Valley State product also was undrafted coming into the NFL, first signing with the Denver Broncos and then getting a shot in Green Bay in 2023. He’s a solid pass-catcher and has the trust of the coaches. NFL Analyst Lance Zierlein said of Wilson, “Wilson’s size and burst are NFL-caliber and worth keeping an eye on if he makes it into camp as a priority free agent.” It’s proving out, as Wilson has proven to be a worthy backup. Marshawn Lloyd I’m looking forward to watching Lloyd in preseason games. Fans saw little of the second-year player during his rookie season, thanks to hip, hamstring and ankle injuries early in the season, followed by appendicitis last November. The 5-9, 220-pounder showed serious burst in college, but only had 6 carries for 15 yards and one catch for 3 yards during his rookie year in the NFL. If he turns out to be what the Packers apparently believe he can be, after choosing him 88th overall in the 2024 draft, it will provide one heck of a one-two punch along with the powerful Jacobs. During his final college season at USC, Lloyd rushed 116 times for 820 yards, for a 7.2-yards-per carry average. He also caught 13 passes for another 232 yards. Those stats might just give LaFleur a reason to keep running the ball – it would be nice to see Lloyd stay healthy and get 100-plus carries this coming season. There are also two other running backs coming into camp: Jalen White and Amar Johnson. White enjoyed a solid career at Georgia Southern with more than 3,300 scrimmage yards and 36 touchdowns, while Johnson was first team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference last year at South Dakota State. Could one surprise?  Filed Under: FeaturedKevin Gibson   PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Kevin Gibson is a professional writer and author based in Louisville, Ky. He's also a former sports writer who covered high school, college and professional sports and a Packers shareholder and a fan since 1975. Even John Hadl couldn't break him. Follow him on Twitter: @kgramone __________________________   NFL Categories: Green Bay PackersTags: Josh JacobsMarShawn LloydEmanuel WilsonMatt LaFleur Like 0 points

(With a side voyage to Titanic.)

Well, Jaire Alexander is now a Baltimore Raven. Since his release from the Green Bay Packers, he has reunited with his best pal Lamar Jackson. It seems like the logical next step for the player and the franchise. Packers fans are going to miss his big plays and his colorful personality. Packers fans, however, are not going to miss wondering from week to week if he was even going to suit up. The NFL can be a bear sometimes when it comes to players’ bodies, so let’s not dwell on that. Rather than question the front office’s decision to let him walk, rather than mourn the loss of the best cornerback on the Packers’ roster, and rather than tearfully declare 2025 a lost season without him, let’s take a look back at some favorite Ja Money moments. Screen Pass? Not on Ja’s Watch The first moment during Alexander’s rookie season in which I literally got goose bumps was when the Vikings ran a wide receiver screen pass to the left side and the Packers corner said, “Um, no.” He blew up would-be blocker Adam Thielen, knocked him into Stefon Diggs almost simultaneously with the catch, then chased Diggs down for about a 10-yard loss. Now, THAT’S football. You can watch the play here on Facebook. Ja Griddy One of Alexander’s best games as a Packer arguably is when he strapped down Justin Jefferson for a full game, bullying him, jawing at him and holding him to a single reception on the day. The coup de gras came when he broke up a pass and mocked Jefferson by doing the wide receiver’s signature griddy celebration right in front of him. Packers fans are going to miss that WR-CB rivalry. Mine In a 2019 game against the Denver Broncos, tight end Noah Fant came down with a reception with his team trailing the Packers, 17-10. What initially was a first down for the Broncos then became a new Packers’ possession. Alexander zeroed in on Fant, delivered a hit, wrapped up … and, channeling vintage Clay Matthews, simply snatched the ball out of the hands of a guy who outweighed him by 50 pounds. Boom: Packers’ ball. Reservation for Six This one is still fresh in the minds of Packers fans. In Week 3 last season, Will Levis of the Tennessee Titans threw an ill-advised – and slightly telegraphed – sideline pass in Alexander’s direction. It almost looked like slow motion as the cornerback strode in front of Calvin Ridley and high-stepped into the end zone. A true thing of beauty. Two From Tom Yeah, we’d rather forget the outcome of this game (the name Scotty Miller still kicks up PTSD for many of us), but it also was a gorgeous sight watching Alexander pick off Tom Brady twice in the playoffs following the 2020 season, a season in which it sure looked like MVP Aaron Rodgers was going to lead the Packers to the Super Bowl. Alexander sure did his part in that game; unfortunately, it ended up being the final game of the season as a 31-26 loss. Um, That’s No ‘Fan’     This one isn’t a play on the field but rather a moment of playfulness off it that at the time exemplified Alexander’s goofy personality. That poor local reporter had no idea what had just happened, and it’s still a classic Packers moment. “Huuuh!” Cutting Corners It was the first game of that aforementioned 2020 season, against the hated Minnesota Vikings, that Jaire enjoyed another fine on-field moment. The Packers had come up a yard short on a drive, turning the ball over on downs early in the second quarter. Quarterback Cousins dropped back to pass on a play-action look, and Alexander came on a corner blitz, sneaking around the purple-clad left tackle to take Cousins down for a safety. Final score: Packers 43, Vikings 34. ‘Oh snap, He fast!’ In a Christmas Day game in 2022, Alexander got a pick thanks to an overthrow of Tyreek Hill by Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovaiola. That interception helped the Packers cruise to a 30-17 victory, but it was the post-game interview that really completed the play in the most Jaire way. It’s worth watching the entire discussion with sideline reporter Pam Oliver – Alexander mostly plays it straight at first, using a “checkers/chess” analogy in a slightly cheeky way. Then Oliver asks him about the interception, and the look on Alexander’s face at that moment let the world know he was about to do Ja things. Always worth a re-watch. And if you suddenly find yourself in the mood to watch a boatload of Ja highlights, we’ve got you covered right here. Filed Under: FeaturedKevin Gibson   PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Kevin Gibson is a professional writer and author based in Louisville, Ky. He's also a former sports writer who covered high school, college and professional sports and a Packers shareholder and a fan since 1975. Even John Hadl couldn't break him. Follow him on Twitter: @kgramone __________________________   NFL Categories: Green Bay PackersTags: Jaire AlexanderJustin JeffersonJa MoneyLamar JacksonGreen Bay Packers Like 0 points

Hard work was his calling card.