The Green Bay Packers (13-0) take on the Kansas City Chiefs (5-8) at Kansas City on December 18th, 2011. These two teams are headed in opposite directions. Green Bay has clinched not only the NFC North title, but also a first round bye in the playoffs. The Chiefs are in last place in the AFC West and have lost five of their last six.

Part of the reason the Chiefs are in last place is their inability to score. They have scored just 173 points in 13 games, last in the AFC and second worst in the NFL. Some of this can be attributed to key injuries. Running back Jamaal Charles rushed for nearly 1500 yards in 2010 but went out for the season with a torn ACL back in September. Starting quarterback Matt Cassel went on injured reserve in November. Green Bay is the highest scoring team in the NFL with 466 points, so Kansas City will have to keep quarterback Aaron Rodgers and company off the field to have any chance of winning.

The Chiefs do have a fairly good pass defense, allowing 209.3 yards per game, tenth best in the NFL. They’ll need to bring their A game, as Rodgers is the league’s top rated quarterback with a QB rating of 123.3. He has 39 touchdown passes and just six interceptions. Back on November 21st the league’s second rated quarterback, New England’s Tom Brady, threw for 234 yards and two touchdowns against the Chiefs in the Patriots’ 34-3 victory. Kansas City can’t allow a similar performance from Rodgers.

The Packers will be without the services of Greg Jennings (949 receiving yards, nine touchdowns) until the playoffs, but they have so many capable receivers it just means more chances for everybody else. Jordy Nelson has 10 touchdown receptions and 957 yards, James Jones has five TD’s, and the venerable Donald Driver has four, including two in the Packers’ victory over the New York Giants on December 4th. With Jennings out, I would expect to see more of KR/WR Randall Cobb on passing downs. Rodgers also has thrown eight TD passes to tight ends, including six to Jermichael Finley. Again, with Jennings out , I would expect Rodgers to utilize the tight ends even more.

There is more bad news for Kansas City’s defense. Green Bay rediscovered the running game in their 46-16 rout of the Oakland Raiders on December 11th. Ryan Grant rushed for 85 yards and two touchdowns, and Green Bay had a total of 136 rushing yards for the game.

The Packers simply have too much offense for the Chiefs to overcome. Green Bay will improve to 14-0, and in doing so, secure home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Mark Hudziak is a Featured Contributor in Sports for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. He has been a fan of the Green Bay Packers since the Vince Lombardi Era.

Sources:

Yahoo! Sports Green Bay Packers team site

Yahoo! Sports Kansas City Chiefs team site

Statistics from Yahoo! Sports NFL

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GREEN BAY, Wis. — Receiving a modest pay raise was nice. But what Graham Harrell really wanted was a sense that he had a future with the Packers.

Green Bay signed Harrell from the practice squad to the active roster Wednesday, fending off potential interest from the Buffalo Bills.

And with Packers No. 2 quarterback Matt Flynn likely to receive some free-agent offers during the offseason from teams that might give him the chance to show he’s a starter, Harrell now appears to have an inside track to becoming Aaron Rodgers’ primary backup next season.

“It shows they want to keep you around, and that’s always nice,” Harrell said. “It’s a good thing to be wanted. It was a stressful day trying to decide what’s the best situation. It’s a good thing to be wanted, and I’ve always enjoyed it and am happy to still be here.”

Rodgers was happy to see Harrell receive a shot.

“There were some conversations yesterday about his situation,” Rodgers said. “I think he has a bright future in this league. And with Matt’s status up in the air about where he’s going to be next year, I think Matt has played well enough to get some opportunities to be a starter in this league. When you’ve got a guy like Graham Harrell who’s learned the position and done some really nice things, I think he has, definitely, the potential to be my backup and then a future starter in the league.”

Before deciding between Green Bay and Buffalo, Harrell talked it over with Rodgers.

“He told me I should stay,” Harrell said. “Maybe that was a selfish reason because he and I get along so well and he’s pretty comfortable right now. I trust him, and he wouldn’t advise me in the wrong direction.”

Harrell spent a tense Tuesday night talking with his agent, Joby Branion, then ultimately had to decide between Green Bay and Buffalo.

“They were very interested,” said Harrell, who had tryouts in the Cleveland Browns’ rookie minicamps in 2009 and 2010 before landing with the Packers last year. “I don’t know what the quarterback situation is there. They didn’t say they were giving (me) a position or anything like that. They just said, ‘We want to have you here,’ and Joby said they were very interested and picked you and wanted you to come.

“Being here, it’s been too great of a place to me, and I’ve enjoyed every minute I’ve been here. This is too good of an organization to leave if you have an opportunity to stay.”

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

By Carl Bialik

The Green Bay Packers are five wins from the NFL’s second-ever 16-0 regular season — and the hardest part is over.

Green Bay traveled to Detroit for the Lions’ traditional Thanksgiving game and won easily, 27-15. The Packers’ next big challenges come on the country’s next two big holidays: They will host another division rival, the Chicago Bears, on Christmas Day, before finishing on New Year’s Day by hosting Detroit.

The three games Green Bay would have to win to improve to 14-0 aren’t gimmes — all come against playoff contenders — but those opponents’ playoff hopes and strengths looked more impressive at the season’s midpoint. The Giants, who host the Packers next weekend, have lost two straight and are slightly below average, according to Pro Football Reference’s Simple Rating System. Then Green Bay gets two teams from the AFC West, the NFL’s weakest division. Oakland is 6-4, but its last two wins were close against two losing teams, while the Chiefs have lost three straight and their SRS is second-worst in the league, despite their merely mediocre 4-6 record.

Then comes Chicago, and a potential letdown. If the Packers are 14-0, they likely will have clinched home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs. The only way that 15th game, against the 7-3 Bears, would be meaningful at that point would be if San Francisco wins its next three games. Those rooting for an undefeated season can blame Baltimore for that: The Ravens beat the Niners, 16-6, on Thanksgiving. Now the Niners will have to win two relatively easy division games, then beat Baltimore’s AFC North rival, Pittsburgh, to keep the pressure on Green Bay.

Whether or not Green Bay finishes 16-0, it has already become just the 10th team since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to win its first 11 games. Remarkably, five of those teams have done so in the last seven seasons, rising above the league’s supposed parity and the toll of injury, to dominate early in the season. Four of the five teams between 1970 and 2004 that start the season 11-0 won the Super Bowl. The fifth lost in the Super Bowl (the 1984 Miami Dolphins). But since 2005, just one — the 2009 New Orleans Saints — won the title, while the 2005 Colts missed the Super Bowl entirely. (The 2007 New England Patriots, the only team to finish 16-0, lost to the Giants in the 2008 Super Bowl.)

Defending last year’s Super Bowl title remains Green Bay’s ultimate goal, but on the way, the Packers might achieve something else remarkable. They have already won 17 straight games going back to the 2010 regular season. Just one other team to start 11-0 finished the prior year with a winning streak: the 1998 Denver Broncos, who defended their Super Bowl title that year after starting 13-0, winning 18 straight overall. By the Bears game, the Packers could be riding a 20-game winning streak, the second-longest in NFL history.

That Green Bay remains so dominant is rather surprising, given how unbalanced the team is. There is Aaron Rodgers, having one of the all-time great seasons for an NFL quarterback. There is a very accurate kicker, plus good kick and punt return yardage. But there’s also a rushing offense that ranks in the bottom 10 in the league in yards per attempt and a defense that is yielding the second most yards per play and second most first downs. Points count on both sides of the ball, though, and for 17 games the Packers’ prolific passing has been more than good enough to beat the team on the other side of the ball.

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Green Bay Packers outside linebacker Erik Walden was arrested Friday on suspicion of felony domestic violence/substantial battery and will remain in the Brown County Jail until at least Monday.

Walden allegedly assaulted his live-in girlfriend at the couple’s apartment in Lawrence, just outside of Green Bay. Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, the Brown County Court is closed for the weekend, so while Walden’s teammates have the next three days off following the team’s 27-15 Thanksgiving Day victory at Detroit, Walden will remain in jail.

The Packers issued a statement Friday saying, “’’The Packers organization is aware of the situation involving Erik Walden. We are in the process of gathering more information and will refrain from making any further comment.”

Hobart-Lawrence police chief Randy Bani told the Green Bay Press-Gazette the incident took place about 2:30 a.m. and the woman involved called authorities about 6:10 a.m. The woman was treated at a local hospital, and Walden was arrested and booked around 8 a.m., Bani told the Press-Gazette.

The 26-year-old Walden joined the Packers midway through last season and played in 12 games (five starts) in the regular season and playoffs. He had started all 11 games this season and played in Thursday’s victory over the Lions. The team flew back from Detroit after the game and players were home by Thursday evening.

Bani said before the woman called police, she was treated for a cut and bump on her head, along with an injured right hand, at St. Vincent Hospital in Green Bay.

“The officer felt that were was enough information that was given by the victim that the male was arrested,” Bani said.

Walden is the first Packers player arrested since ex-Packers cornerback Brandon Underwood was arrested June 16 after an incident with his wife following the team’s Super Bowl ring ceremony. Underwood was also arrested in a June 2010 incident in Lake Delton, Wis., after two women alleged he sexually assaulted them.

Underwood was released by the team in September and was suspended for two games by the league, but has yet to sign with another club.

Last week, defensive end Johnny Jolly was sentenced to six years in prison after violating the terms of a plea bargain with his third arrest on drug charges in three years. Jolly remains suspended indefinitely by the league.

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Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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ALLEN PARK — A lot of NFL fans are wondering what has happened to Green Bay’s defense this season.

In 2010, the Packers were ranked second in the league in scoring offense, allowing an average of 15 points per game. This year, they’re giving up 21.2. Last year, they allowed the fifth-fewest total yards in the league with 309.1 per game. That figure has ballooned by more than 80 yards per game this season.

Clearly, Detroit’s opponent in Thursday’s Thanksgiving Day game won’t be able to contain the Lions’ high-powered offense, which just put up seven touchdowns in a 49-35 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, right?

Well, it’s a little more complicated than that, but Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford breaks it down simply.

“They’re up by three touchdowns sometimes and teams are having to throw it,” he explained. “They’re doing a great job of getting a lead early, and teams are having to throw the ball a bunch of times.

“If you’re going to throw the ball as many times as you have to to try to get back in the game against their offense, you’re going to (give up) some yards. But they also lead the NFL in interceptions. So it’s give and take. They’re aggressive – that works for them equally, I guess.”

While statistics for Green Bay’s run defense are relatively close between this season and last season, there’s a huge discrepancy in the pass defense.

Teams threw the ball 32.9 times per game for an average of 194.5 yards in 2010. Offenses are flying high with 39.1 passes per game for an average of 289.3 yards in 2011.

But as Stafford pointed out, the Packers are scoring far more this season than last – 11.3 points more every game, to be precise. Their average margin of victory has exploded from 9.2 points last year to 14.3 points this year.

That’s probably striking enough to bear repeating: 10 games into the season, the Packers are beating their opponents by more than two touchdowns per game. It may not be at the level of the 19.7 points per game by which the New England Patriots beat their opponents during their undefeated regular season of 2007, but it’s nothing to shake a stick at.

Cornerbacks Charles Woodson and Tramon Williams, as well as safeties Charlie Peprah and Morgan Burnett have combined for 16 of the Packers’ league-leading 19 interceptions – which will which will dust last year’s total of 24, by the way, should the defense maintain the pace.

Of the quartet’s 16 interceptions, three were pick-sixes.

So you’ll have to forgive Stafford if he’s not exactly looking past a third of the Packers that is overshadowed by their offense.

“They’re just very aggressive,” Stafford said of the defense. “In the secondary, they have a lot of confidence in themselves, as they should. It’s one of the best, if not the best, secondaries in the NFL. Those guys are looking to make picks and turn the ball over – get the ball over to their offense. They’re just extremely talented guys, and aggressive, as well.”