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Green
Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is stripped of the
ball by Detroit Lions defensive end Jeremy Thompson during
the third quarter on Sunday at Ford Field in
Detroit
,
Michigan
. The Packers defeated the Lions 48-25.
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DETROIT - When a
team willfully promotes itself as the league's youngest as a means
to establish an identity, what better way to experience all sides
of that personality early on than have them compressed into the
erratic momentum shifts that typically accompany a 40-point fourth
quarter?
One way would be to
lose a sizable lead, as the Green Bay Packers did Sunday within an
extraordinarily loud building, made that way by exasperated fans
whose volatile mood swings - the "Fire Matt Millen"
chants turned quickly into a wall of cadence-obliterating noise -
are influenced by the likes of the Detroit Lions.
Another is to have
the talent and youthful audacity not just to win, but to win
really, really big when the outcome was in question.
And then there was
Charles Woodson, one of the old guys at 31. Wearing a brown
pinstriped suit and a walking boot on his right leg, Woodson was
one of the last players out of the winning locker room. The
Michigan grad was savoring the homecoming, as well as his two late
interceptions that helped make the 48-25 victory possible, when
someone asked about the Packers' ability to keep on keeping on.
"A great group
of guys, a great head coach, a great organization that knows how
to treat people," Woodson said. "When you're winning,
everybody looks good."
It also helps when
it starts to fulfill a general manager and coach's shared vision.
The Packers played
the youth card last year with Brett Favre's counterbalance, and
now they're 2-0 with an equally young lineup with an inexperienced
quarterback at the fore. Sure, it's only two weeks into a grind
that continues with Dallas but man, oh man, is Aaron Rodgers ever
making the Green Bay brass look like the smartest people in the
room.
Once again, he was
quick with his decisions, smart with his feet, remarkably
efficient on third down, off the charts with Favreian numbers and,
most important, downright confident and composed when things got
all sideways in the fourth quarter. Just before Rodgers hooked up
with rising superstar Greg Jennings on the 60-yard catch-and-run
that turned the game inside the final 6 minutes, he looked around
the huddle and said:
"We're going
to see what we're made of."
He saw two of the
veterans, Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher, confidently nod as the
Ford Field clatter threatened to invade their 11-man universe. And
then everything was calm and fine, because here's the thing about
pro football:
The Lions, no
matter their problems, were going to make a run. That was a given.
It was how the Packers handled it that might help determine their
course for the Cowboys and beyond. The Packers have experienced
the Favre circus, some injuries and a short week, and already they
are the better for it.
"The summer
only made our character stronger," Rodgers said. "It's
been a big learning process for me and a time of growth."
Not that there was
much question about the confidence Rodgers has inspired after his
debut against Minnesota, but Sunday reinforced that he is the man.
After the Lions took the lead, Mike McCarthy, who chooses all the
plays, kept going to No. 12.
"The
play-calling reaffirmed it," McCarthy said. "We kept
pushing the envelope. We were staying with Aaron and staying
aggressive. It's part of the growing process of a play-caller and
a quarterback."
McCarthy, who came
of age last season as a head coach, continues on that arc.
Rodgers, of whom little was known outside perceived fragility, has
been lights out. A pro like Woodson makes plays on a bad foot. And
the Packers, defined by their youth, have been unshakable.
Early, yes, but
such trends are developing.