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Packers one win away from Super Bowl

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8,456 fans at Lambeau Field on Saturday

Aaron Rodgers passed for 296 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Green Bay Packers to a 32-18 win over the Los Angeles Rams, advancing to next Sunday’s NFC Championship game at Lambeau Field.

It’s Rodgers fifth appearance in the NFC title game, but the first at Lambeau Field.  It’s also the second time in two years that Matt LaFleur has led the Packers to the NFC Championship game.  The Packers lost last years NFC title game 37-20 to San Francisco.

The Packers used all three of their running backs on Saturday.  With the Rams trying to take Davante Adams away, the Packers used a heavy ground attack to rush for 188 yards on 36 carries, a 5.2 yards per carry average with two touchdowns.

Aaron Jones led the way with 99 yards on 14 carries and a score.  Jamal Williams added 65 yards on 12 carries and A.J. [Read more…]

Six Packers named All-Pro

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Six Green Bay Packers players were named to the Associated Press All-Pro team on Friday, including QB Aaron Rodgers, WR Davante Adams, T David Bakhtiari and C Corey Linsley named to the first team.

Linebacker Za’Darius Smith and cornerback Jaire Alexander were also named second team All-Pro.

The four first-team selections are the most the Packers have had since 1967, which is the last year the Packers had two offensive linemen make the first team (Forrest Gregg and Kerry Kramer).

It’s the fourth All-Pro selection for Rodger, who was previously voted first-team All-Pro in 2011, 2012 and 2014.  He started all 16 games and completed 372 of 526 passes (70.7%) for 4,299 yards and 48 touchdowns with only five interceptions.  His 121.5 passer rating is the second-best single-season mark in NFL history behind only his own 122.5 rating in 2011. [Read more…]

Rodgers, Adams lead Packers past Eagles

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Packers RB Aaron Jones

Aaron Rodgers passed for 295 yards and three touchdowns and Davante Adams caught 10 passes for 121 yards and two scores to lead the Green Bay Packers to a 30-16 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at Lambeau Field.

The second of Adams two touchdown catches was a 9-yard, catch and run, stiff-arming Eagles corner Darius Slay for the final five yards, was the 400th of Rodgers career.  The Packers superstar signal caller became the quickest quarterback in NFL history to reach 400 career touchdown passes, reaching the milestone in his 193rd game.  New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees needed 205 games to reach 400.

Rodgers three touchdown passes gives him 36 for the season, his fifth season with at least 35 touchdown passes.  No other quarterback in NFL history has accomplished that feat.

Rodgers doesn’t have any of his previous century-mark touchdown balls.  Hours before kickoff, Adams made sure all of the receivers/running backs knew that the game ball used for 400, would go right to Rodgers.

Adams, who finished with 997 receiving yards for the second time in his career last season, surpassed the 1,000 yard mark to go along with 13 touchdowns and still has four more games left in the regular season.  To make those numbers even more impressive, Adams missed 2 1/2 games with an ankle injury. [Read more…]

Packers head to bye week undefeated

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Robert Tonyan

Last year, the Green Bay Packers were one of the healthiest teams in the National Football League.  This year, they’re far from it, but it hasn’t stopped the green and gold from a perfect 4-0 start.

Playing without Davante Adams, Marcedes Lewis and Kenny Clark, the Packers rolled to a 30-16 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night at Lambeau Field.  Aaron Rodgers passed for 327 yards and four touchdowns, with three of the scoring strikes going to tight end Robert Tonyan.

The Packers have now opened a season by scoring at least 30 points in four straight games for the first time in franchise history.

Tonyan’s touchdown receptions came from 19, 8 and 21 yards.  He finished the night with six catches for 98 yards.  His five touchdowns for the season ties him with Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans for the NFL lead. [Read more…]

Packers improve to 3-0 with 37-30 win over the Saints (AUDIO)

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WR Allen Lazard receives game ball following win over the Saints.

The Green Bay Packers continued putting up big numbers on offense, improving to 3-0 on the season with a 37-30 win over the New Orleans Saints (1-2) on Sunday night at the Superdome in New Orleans.

Aaron Rodgers passed for 283 yards and three touchdowns and the Packers scored 10 points in the final nine minutes to break a 27-27 tie and secured the victory.

Playing without their top receiver Davante Adams (hamstring), Rodgers turned to number two receiver Allen Lazard, who caught six passes for 146 yards and a touchdown.

Saints running back Alvin Kamara gained 197 yards from scrimmage, scoring a pair of touchdowns.  His 52-yard reception included four broken/missed tackles on the way to the end zone to tie the game at 27. [Read more…]

Live tackling is a question mark for the Packers

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Matt LaFleur

With the Green Bay Packers and every other NFL team not getting preseason games, it is assumed they’ll use some of their padded practice work on live tackling.

Asked about how much live tackling the Packers expected to do, head coach Matt LaFleur said he’s really not sure.  The Packers coach seemed to have reservations about putting his veteran players through live tackling, opting instead to make sure they stay as healthy as possible heading into the regular season.  LaFleur said he would more than likely put his rookies and young players through some live tackling work.

NFL teams had the number of padded practices reduced from 16 to 14 in this training camp, but LaFleur [Read more…]

Virtual offseason workouts ahead for NFL teams

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The NFL and players’ union will kick off a virtual offseason workout program starting next week.  The programs are an alternative to teams being able to open their own facilities, which will not take place until all 32 teams are permitted to do so.

The three-week virtual offseason starts on April 20, and allows teams to hold classroom instruction, workouts and non-football educational programs using online platforms.

Players who don’t have the necessary workout equipment are being offered a $1,500 stipend to buy it.

The program also allows players with a workout bonus in their contract to collect on that bonus, as long as players participate in the percentage of workouts that are laid out in their contract.

For the Green Bay Packers, nearly 20 players with offseason workouts would be affected.  Those players [Read more…]

Bulaga gets three-year deal with the Chargers

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Bryan Bulaga

Bryan Bulaga had spent his entire career with the Green Bay Packers, after being drafted in the first round back in 2010.  On Tuesday, Bulaga agreed to a three-year, $30-million deal with the Los Angeles Chargers.

Bulaga started 111 of his 115 games, having gone through a pair of ACL injuries in 2013 and 2017.

The Packers counted on Bulaga’s leadership during his time in Green Bay.  They’ll now look to veterans David Bakhtiari and Corey Linsley for some of that responsibility.

The Packers did sign tackle Rick Wagner, the former Badger from West Allis, to replace Bulaga.  Wagner has started 87 of his 102 games and was released by the Detroit Lions in a cost-cutting measure.

Packers linebackers headed to the Big Apple

The Packers signed free agent linebacker Christian Kirksey to and have now seen two of their own head to New York. [Read more…]

Three Packers named to the Pro Bowl

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Za’Darius Smith

Green Bay Packers WR Davante Adams, DL Kenny Clark and LB Za’Darius Smith have been named to the NFC Pro Bowl roster today.

Adams (Atlanta Falcons WR Julio Jones), Clark (Los Angeles Rams DT Aaron Donald) and Smith (Chicago Bears LB Khalil Mack) are all replacing players who are unable to participate due to injury.

It marks Adams’ third straight trip to the Pro Bowl (2017-19), making him the first Packer WR to make three straight Pro Bowls since Sterling Sharpe (1992-94).  Despite missing four games due to injury, Adams registered his second career 80-plus-reception season (83 in 2019, 111 in 2018), which is tied for the fourth most in franchise history behind Jordy Nelson (three), Donald Driver (four) and Sharpe (four).

This is Clark’s first trip to the Pro Bowl after being named an alternate in 2018.  He tied his career high from last season with six sacks in 2019, with 4.5 sacks coming in the final four regular-season games.  Clark finished second on the team with a career-best 89 tackles (52 solo).

Smith is making his first career Pro Bowl in his first season with Green Bay.  He registered 13.5 sacks, ranking No. 6 in the NFL and tying for the fifth most in a single season in franchise history (since 1982).  Smith was tied for No. 1 among NFL linebackers in QB hits (37), and No. 2 in total pressures (50.0) during the regular season.

Sack celebrations a thing of the past in Green Bay

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Za’Darius Smith

Za’Darius Smith is second on the Green Bay Packers team with six quarterback sacks and each one has drawn a more elaborate sack celebration.

“I had one for this week,” Smith said Thursday.  “It was going to be nice.  Coach (Matt LaFleur), he felt situations during that time could affect the punt team or (if) they want to go for fourth down, I’m taking up too much time.”

So for now, the sack celebrations are history.

Smith came up with the sleepy-time celebration that he unveiled Monday against the Lions after he missed a meeting last week.  He was fined and decided to let everyone know he got caught napping with a little on-field celebration.

Za’Darius Smith has six sacks in six games this season.  Teammate Preston Smith leads the way wit

h seven and even without a sack celebration, both should continue to cause havoc with the opponents passing game. [Read more…]