The game had been over for just a few moments, and the players were still struggling out of their shoulder pads when the murmuring finally reached full pitch. For weeks the Green Bay Packers had existed in a blissful bubble, insulated by their good nature and their distant locale from the ceaseless questions, the ballooning expectations and the mounting fatigue of a chase for football’s most elusive goal. They have been dominant this season but not domineering, oddly under the radar for a defending champion on the path to something even greater.

But after the Packers’ victory over the Giants last Sunday, there was no avoiding the target that has bedeviled two other teams in the past five years and which now awaits the Packers in the final month of the regular season. As coach Mike McCarthy and quarterback Aaron Rodgers quickly moved to head off the looming story line — “I’m not going to talk about 16-0 or anything,” Rodgers said unbidden after the Giants game — Rodney Harrison watched from a New York television studio, letting his mind wander back to 2007, often marveling at the differences that may favor the Packers’ chances of completing what the New England Patriots could not.

“Because of Spygate, everyone hated the Patriots,” Harrison, now an analyst for NBC’s “Football Night in America,” said in an interview. “We were like the villains. Everyone wanted us to lose. The Packers, on the other hand, are a fairy-tale story. They’re a bunch of good guys, we want them to win, it doesn’t bother us as much. We had even more intense pressure because everybody hated us. Any time you’re the first team to do something, you carry all that pressure. The Packers, even if they do it, they’re the second team to ever go 16-0. There’s no pressure on them because we already attained that goal.”

Maybe so. At 12-0, already the NFC North champions and with a quarterback who is having an extraordinary season, the Packers have the same luster that burnished the Patriots in 2007 and the Indianapolis Colts in 2009 when they pursued undefeated seasons.

Those teams may have inadvertently done a favor for the Packers, who host Oakland on Sunday. They were almost perfect, the Patriots losing their relentless pursuit of flawlessness with a defeat by the Giants in the Super Bowl and the Colts forsaking it by resting many of their best players with two games left in the regular season.

Because they employed wildly different strategies — and absorbed the second-guessing that accompanied each — without achieving their ultimate goal, no blueprint for success has been established that would box in the Packers. They will be free to carve their own path, perhaps informed by bits and pieces from each of the two most recent contenders, but they will do it freed of the spotlight that fell harshly on the Patriots.

Harrison said he thought the lockout created a distraction that limited the hype that usually attends a Super Bowl champion. When training camps finally began, the Eagles stole the headlines. Since then, Tim Tebow has been the biggest story, overshadowing a Packers team with few flamboyant personalities, a perfect formula for a low-key drive to something extraordinary.

The Packers’ attempt to construct the first undefeated season that ends with a Super Bowl championship since the 1972 Miami Dolphins (the NFL played two fewer regular-season games then) has carried none of the controversy, and little of the darkened narrative, of the Patriots’ run. That season opened with cheating accusations and continued with klieg-lighted stars like Tom Brady and Randy Moss and a hooded coach who was regularly accused of running up the score. Attracted by a whiff of scandal and the air of inevitability — the Patriots won by an average of 19.7 points, a touchdown more than the Packers’ margin of 13.2 — the national news media began covering every Patriots game once they reached 8-0.

Story continues below

In Miami, members of the 1972 Dolphins, and their coach, Don Shula, indicated that Spygate, the Patriots’ covert filming of Jets defensive signals in 2007, would diminish a perfect season by New England. In a recent Florida radio interview, the former Dolphins running back Mercury Morris said that he did not like the Patriots’ style in 2007, but that if the Packers completed a perfect season he would view them as a credit to the sport.

Even last week, Shula acknowledged that he and others viewed the Packers’ pursuit differently.

“Why do you think that is?” Shula said in a telephone interview. “Spygate was important.”

About the Packers, Shula said: “I’ve felt that if it happens, I’ll be the first guy to pick up the phone and congratulate the coach. I think our players will acknowledge and congratulate their players. Until it happens, we’re happy we’re the only ones.”

Harrison was a captain of the Patriots in 2007, one of a small group of veteran players who told Bill Belichick not to take them out of two late-season but meaningless games. With the benefit of hindsight, Harrison cautioned the Packers.

“When you’re trying to be perfect, trying to play the perfect game, you put a lot of pressure on yourself,” he said. “It drains you, mentally and physically. A lot of players played a lot of plays that year. I was tired. I was mentally and physically exhausted.”

McCarthy has indicated he has a plan. He will be ready to discuss it after the Packers clinch the top seed in the playoffs. Harrison believes they will try for a perfect season; Tony Dungy thinks they will achieve it. With the San Francisco 49ers two games behind the Packers in the conference standings, the Packers could get another break — they might be able to forestall a decision a bit longer.

Dungy, the coach who took the 2005 Colts to 13-0 before losing, always thought the perfect situation for a team was to be chased as long as possible, so that winning was necessary for something more than just the pursuit of an undefeated record. Dungy, now an NBC analyst, said he started thinking about an undefeated season after about the 10th victory, and he embraced the Colts’ organizational decision to rest players, rather than risk injury.

Next Page »

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP)—Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy made sure his
undefeated team didn’t ease its way back into football following the bye week.

McCarthy had a surprise waiting for his players Monday when they returned
from their six days off: an in-pads practice outside in seasonably cool mid-40s
temperatures.

With a challenging schedule ahead during the second half of the season,
McCarthy wanted to make it clear the NFL’s lone remaining unbeaten team can’t
afford to rest on its first-half accomplishments, even if the Packers are viewed
by many as the clear-cut best team in the league right now.

“It’s nice when people say nice things about your football team. It
definitely beats the alternative,” McCarthy said after the team’s 90-minute
practice. “But as we talked about as a team today, we’re getting ready to hit
the halfway point in our season. We like where we are, but we’re really focused
on getting better. We have more to offer as a football team.

“We feel strongly, with a lot of confidence, that if we go out week in and
week out and play our best football that things will take care of itself. We’re
just really focused on making sure that when Sunday rolls around, that we go out
and give our best performance to get to 8-0.”

McCarthy chose to use this as the one week in which he is allowed to put his
team in pads for practice twice, in accordance with the new collective
bargaining agreement between the NFL and NFL Players Association. During the
regular season, coaches are allowed a total of 14 padded practices, and 11 of
those sessions must be held in the first 11 weeks of the season.

“It sends a message to your ballclub, letting us know that ‘vacation is
over now. It’s time to get back to work,”’ wide receiver James Jones(notes) said of
the padded practice.

McCarthy said the practice focused on “fundamentals,” and that he had
scheduled the team to be in pads on Monday before the season began. Still, it
came as a surprise to his players, who weren’t aware of his plans until Monday
morning’s team meeting.

“Everybody thought we were going to be in shells,” tight end Jermichael
Finley(notes) admitted. “Then we heard that full pads, and it changed everybody’s
mindset. No doubt (McCarthy) is trying to send a message. He didn’t want anybody
coming in, being lazy, flat-footed. He put those pads on us ASAP and woke us up
at the beginning of the week.

“Teams usually play slow coming off the bye. We don’t want to be in that
category. We don’t want to start off slow. We got the extra day (of practice) in
today and got the extra work in.”

While the Packers are riding a franchise-record 13-game winning streak
(dating back to last season and including the playoffs) and are 11-4 in their
last 15 post-bye games—including 4-1 under McCarthy—the schedule doesn’t get
any easier.

San Diego will be the first team the Packers will face that owns a winning
record entering the game. The Packers’ first seven opponent are currently a
combined 20-32.

“It’s going to take all of us to go out there and put together a complete
game, which we haven’t done all season,” Jones said. “We know we left a lot of
plays go out there (in the first seven games). A lot of penalties, a lot of
mental mistakes, a lot of things that we know we have to clean up.”

NOTES: The only three players who did not practice were linebacker Clay
Matthews(notes) (quadriceps), left tackle Chad Clifton(notes) (hamstring) and defensive end
Mike Neal(notes) (knee). … The team promoted rookie running back Brandon Saine(notes) from
the practice squad to the 53-man roster to take the spot of running back Alex
Green(notes), who was placed on season-ending injured reserve with a torn anterior
cruciate ligament in his knee suffered Oct. 23 at Minnesota. S Anthony Levine(notes)
and C/G Paul Fenaroli(notes) were also added to practice squad, replacing Saine and Cam
Newton’s(notes) older brother Cecil Newton(notes), who was released.

Oct. 14, 2011 10:41 p.m. |

Green Bay – Under the tutelage of assistant coaches Mike Trgovac and Kevin Greene, the Green Bay Packers almost never jump offsides.

Based on STATS data, the Packers’ defense has had merely two offsides penalties in the last season and a half, the fewest in the National Football League.

“That’s crazy,” defensive end Ryan Pickett said Friday. “Wow. We do drills all the time about staying on.”

Sometimes the referee announces offsides as encroachment or a neutral-zone violation. Either way, the last defensive lineman to jump in the regular season was Pickett in Week 6 of the 2009 season.

Somewhat sheepishly, defensive end C.J. Wilson recalled that the D-line had an offsides penalty in the Super Bowl run. It was on him during garbage time of the blowout victory against Atlanta.

“Not giving anything to the offense cheap is important,” said Greene, who coaches the group of outside linebackers that has had merely three offsides since he took over in 2009.

Clay Matthews had one in 2009, none last year and another last month. The third by an outside linebacker came against Frank Zombo in 2010.

“It’s amazing how many guys give that up to get sacks,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “Go look at the sack leaders. It’s revealing, very revealing.”

The Packers drew four offsides flags (only accepted penalties were counted) in 2009, giving them six over the last 2½ seasons. Kansas City leads during that span with five.

On the other hand, Tennessee has had 56 offsides penalties since 2009, followed by Detroit (45), Oakland (43) and Arizona (42). All of those teams have been 4-3 defenses, whereas the Packers and Kansas City employ the 3-4.

Because the Packers are in nickel 75% to 80% of the time, their outside linebackers are on the line functioning almost as rush linebackers. From there, their job is to watch the ball and try to time their get-off to the snap by the center.

“I got more than enough other stuff to coach other than spending 20 minutes saying, ‘OK, this is how to stay onside,’ ” Greene said. “I mean, c’mon, let’s be real. They’re pros, man. I’ve just got to trust they’ll stay onside.”

Before the arrival of Dom Capers in 2009, the Packers had been a 4-3 defense since 1995 under coordinators Fritz Shurmur, Emmitt Thomas, Ed Donatell, Bob Slowik, Jim Bates and Bob Sanders.

From 2000-’08, the Packers’ defensive linemen alone had 67 offsides penalties in the regular season, or 7.4 per season.

Memories of Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila loping across prematurely remain vivid. In his 8½ seasons, he had 26 penalties for offsides.

Another culprit was defensive lineman Cletidus Hunt, who counting playoffs was offsides 13 times from 1999-2004. Far more controlled were Aaron Kampman, five from 2002-’09; Corey Williams, five from 2004-’07; and Cullen Jenkins, two from 2004-’10.

Since Trgovac took over in ’09, B.J. Raji remarkably hasn’t had a single offsides. Jarius Wynn and Howard Green haven’t had any, either, and Pickett has only three in 5½ seasons.

“He coaches the hell out of that,” McCarthy said, referring to Trgovac. “He’s the best I’ve ever seen about disciplining the upfront guys.”

Trgovac, a D-line coach for most of his 28 years in coaching, played middle guard in a slant 5-2 defense at Michigan in the late 1970s under Bo Schembechler.

“You know Bo, he was gruff on everything,” said Trgovac. “He would rip you.”

So unlike his mentor, Trgovac seldom raises his voice. Ask Green, who in his tour of the NFL has seen his share of line coaches. It’s not what Trgovac teaches, according to Green, but how he teaches it.

“It’s the way you get your point across to your guys,” Green said. “That makes the difference.”

The defensive linemen in Green Bay find it easier to stay onsides because of what they’re asked to do in the 3-4. In a read-and-react system, several players said they watch the blocker across from them, not the ball.

“I think it’s a big thing for Dom,” said Trgovac. “We’re not like some teams that are just flying off the ball.

“Sometimes when you’re coaching a different scheme you could accept a penalty once every other game. If we’re in one of our ‘Okie’ (3-4) defenses and one of our guys jumps, that’s undisciplined football. We don’t really accept that.”

For the most part, the job requirements change in nickel, especially in passing situations. That’s when the Packers’ D-linemen have more chances to watch the ball, time the snap count and get after the passer.

On third down and 5 yards or fewer, Trgovac gives his players a hand signal to remind them not to commit what he calls “really dumb, stupid” penalties that give the opponent an automatic first down.

Trgovac, several of his players and Zombo all said having the chance to work against quarterback Aaron Rodgers for months on end was a significant factor why the Packers are almost never offsides.

“Aaron’s probably got the best hard count in football,” said Pickett. “So you get in a game, it’s pretty easy.”

DEFENSIVE OFFSIDES 2010-’11

Fewest

2	Green Bay
4	Kansas City
4	New England

Most

34	Tennessee
33	Detroit
28	Oakland

Using bicycles borrowed from fans to ride from Lambeau Field to the Packers’ practice facilities is a tradition that dates back to Vince Lombardi‘s coaching days.

The Packers resumed the tradition, which began because Lombardi wanted the players to be closer to the fans, on Tuesday. There’s no doubt Lombardi’s wish is still being honored today, as the fans continue to walk next to the players with their bicycles.

Click here to see the Packers bonding with fans >>

Check out the Packers’ bicycling in the video below.

Updated Aug 30, 2011 4:19 PM ET

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP)

The Green Bay Packers have had one of the most charming traditions in the NFL for the past 50 years.

Every training camp, the players pick children out of the crowd and ride their bicycles from the Lambeau Field locker room to the community-owed team’s practice facility across the street. At the end of practice they make the ride back to the locker room.

Vince Lombardi was the first coach to ask his players to do it, hoping it built the relationship with the fans. An NFL spokeswoman knows of no other team that does anything similar.

Most of the players get a kick out of it: They get a break after practice, biking along while an eager fan carries their shoulder pads and helmet.