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. – The Tampa Bay Buccaneers weren’t just out to give the Green Bay Packers a scare in the middle of their perfect season.

   Raheem Morris and his team really thought they had a chance to hand the reigning Super Bowl champions their first loss of the season. And until Aaron Rodgers’ deep pass ended up in the arms of wide receiver Jordy Nelson for a game-clinching 40-yard touchdown, it looked like the Buccaneers had a chance.

   Josh Freeman threw for 342 yards with two touchdowns and a pair of interceptions, LeGarrette Blount bounced off tacklers all day on his way to a 107-yard rushing performance and the Buccaneers’ late rally came up just short in a 35-26 loss to the Packers on Sunday.

   “I felt great about the whole game,” Morris said. “Our guys did a nice job competing. We came out and played the way we wanted to play. We played aggressive. We played hard and tried to get a win. Try to steal one from the champs.”

   The Buccaneers (4-6) have lost four straight, but this wasn’t anything like being blown out at home by Houston last week.

   “I thought we were going to come back and win it,” wide receiver Mike Williams said. “It just happened we fell short today.”

   Defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth didn’t want to hear about moral victories.

   “There is no moral victory,” Haynesworth said. “Moral victory is for teams that are not that good and go out and play OK against another team. This team is good and we have a lot of talent.”

   With a 10-0 record going into a Thanksgiving Day game at Detroit, the Packers remain perfect, even if their quarterback walked away expecting much more from himself. Rodgers threw for 299 yards with three touchdowns, including a pair to Nelson, but wasn’t happy with the way he played.

   “I’m just frustrated,” Rodgers said. “I didn’t throw the ball very well. I’m not trying to be ridiculously humble right now, I’m just frustrated. The ball wasn’t coming out the way I wanted it to today.”

   Some of the credit goes to an aggressive Tampa Bay defense that Rodgers said played more man-to-man coverage than the Packers are used to seeing.

   “We weren’t going to be played scared regardless of how good they are,” cornerback Ronde Barber said. “They put their pads on the same way we do. They got a lot of good players, so do we. We are in it to win. There is no sitting back and letting it happen. We were going to go get them. We tried, gave ourselves a great opportunity. Get one more third stop on their touchdown, I think we win this game. It was the one stop we didn’t get.”

   Tampa Bay was penalized nine times for 55 yards, but Morris wasn’t using it as an excuse.

   “Penalties are what they are, they are judgment calls and the judgment went against us a lot of times,” Morris said. “It is what it is.”

   The Buccaneers trailed by only four and seemed to have some momentum when they tried a surprise onside kick before halftime. After a replay review gave the ball to Green Bay at Tampa Bay’s 38, Rodgers drove for a 5-yard touchdown to Nelson that gave the Packers a 21-10 lead.

   Tampa Bay then had a touchdown taken off the board in the third quarter when Kellen Winslow was called for offensive pass interference. The Buccaneers settled for a 32-yard field goal by Connor Barth.

   “I really felt we made enough to plays to beat those guys,” Winslow said. “It is hard to win when you put the game in the refs’ hands.”

   The Buccaneers’ defense got a stop, and Freeman directed an eight-play, 91-yard scoring drive that ended with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Mike Williams. Tampa Bay tried to tie it with a 2-point conversion, but Winslow — who had a pair of big gains on the drive — dropped a catchable ball in the end zone.

   Packers running back James Starks did the majority of the work in an eight-play, 85-yard scoring drive that ended with a 2-yard touchdown run by Kuhn.

   But the Buccaneers got another chance when Rodgers threw an interception to Elbert Mack — only Rodgers’ fourth pick this season — and Freeman threw a 37-yard pass to Arrelious Benn to set up first-and-goal at the 2.

   Freeman then threw a touchdown to Dezmon Briscoe and the Buccaneers kicked the extra point to cut the Packers’ lead to 28-26 with 4:25 left.

   Tampa Bay tried another onside kick, but the Packers recovered and Rodgers found Nelson to put the game away.

   Morris knew he might get second-guessed for the onside kicks but wasn’t apologizing.

   “We wanted to get the ball and win,” Morris said. “We are not going to apologize for being aggressive. When you play the Green Bay Packers, you’ve got to play aggressive, you’ve got to go out and make plays. (You’ve) got to steal possessions.”

   (Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

   APTV 11-20-11 1954EST

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — From not getting a big-time college scholarship out of high school to his agonizing wait on draft day, Aaron Rodgers always has drawn motivation from those who overlooked or discounted him.

That no-respect mantra might be a stretch now for the Super Bowl MVP, a leader of the NFL’s only undefeated team and on track to break some single-season records for quarterbacks. Going into Green Bay’s game Sunday at San Diego, no conversation about the NFL’s best quarterbacks is complete without mentioning Rodgers and taking a close look at his game.

But as the accolades roll in, Rodgers still remembers those who didn’t think he could do it.

“I still have a great memory,” Rodgers said Wednesday. “The goals I set for myself change, I think, every year a little bit. I try and improve on the previous year and learn from the mistakes I made. But when I got drafted, I had a chip on my shoulder, and I’ve still got it there. So there’s a lot of motivation left in that chip.”

Rodgers, of course, was anything but a hot prospect coming out of high school, playing a season at Butte College near his hometown of Chico, Calif., before getting his chance at California. Rodgers played his way into a top NFL prospect from there — then had to wait for the Packers to take him at No. 24 overall in the 2005 draft.

His extended stay in the bench finally ended in 2008, when the team made the then-painful decision to trade Brett Favre to the New York Jets. Packers fans treated Rogers with skepticism, and he was even booed during a preseason scrimmage.

Rodgers has repaid the faith of Packers general manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy ever since, leading Green Bay to a title last season. And Rodgers has been dominant in the Packers’ first seven games this season, throwing for 2,372 yards with 20 touchdowns and three interceptions.

He has completed 71.5 percent of his passes and has a quarterback rating of 125.7, putting him ahead of Drew Brees’ single-season completion percentage mark of 70.62 percent in 2009 and Peyton Manning’s single-season quarterback rating mark of 121.1 set in 2004.

Now Rodgers and his receivers are being featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week, and Rodgers is hearing all about it from his offensive line.

“Josh Sitton and some of the linemen were a little upset that we couldn’t get those guys in,” Rodgers. “I told them the frame was a little bit small for that. But I’m glad that they put seven of us on there, and there’s a lot more guys who are contributors on this team. But it’s good for those guys to be recognized, and it’s fun to share the spotlight.”

Guard T.J. Lang joked that Rodgers’ offensive line never had a shot at such glory.

“O-linemen never get any love,” Lang said.

Rodgers’ line has done just fine, though, providing enough protection despite losing veteran guard Daryn Colledge to free agency in the offseason, then losing longtime left tackle Chad Clifton to a hamstring injury in the Oct. 9 victory at Atlanta.

Rodgers’ protection and talented wide receivers are helping him put up numbers worth of MVP consideration, although he isn’t willing to entertain that thought right now.

“It’s Week 9,” Rodgers said. “We’re going into Week 9. I think we’re a long way from any of those awards or anything. We always talk about, if we take care of the team goals, then the individual goals kind of follow.”

That said, Rodgers thinks he and the rest of the offense can play even better.

“I think so,” Rodgers said. “This offseason, one of my goals was to decrease the space between a good game and a poor game. I’m looking forward to doing that and improving on that. I just feel like for 60 minutes, we all can play a little bit more consistently.”

McCarthy believes his quarterback is capable of more.

“Aaron’s working to improve every single day, and it’s reflected in the quarterback individual drills that (quarterbacks coach) Tom Clements does week in and week out,” McCarthy said. “But he is playing at an extremely high level. The numbers speak for themselves, but this week will be a challenge for us in San Diego.”

——

Connect with AP Sports Writer Chris Jenkins: www.twitter.com/ByChrisJenkins

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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 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 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 (quadriceps), left tackle Chad Clifton (hamstring) and defensive end Mike Neal (knee). … The team promoted rookie running back Brandon Saine from the practice squad to the 53-man roster to take the spot of running back Alex Green, 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 and C/G Paul Fenaroli were also added to practice squad, replacing Saine and Cam Newton’s older brother Cecil Newton, who was released.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The Minnesota Vikings are 1-5 on the season and hosting the defending champion, undefeated Green Bay Packers. Things aren’t looking great, but they are giving rookie quarterback Christian Ponder the start and are hoping for good things from him – something to build on. Be sure to head on over to the Daily Norseman for more on the game and the team in general.

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Don’t expect Charles Woodson and the Green Bay Packers‘ defense to beat themselves up for letting the winless St. Louis Rams pile up yards.

Woodson worries first about points and wins — and the Packers were just about perfect on both counts Sunday.

Despite giving up 424 yards of offense, Green Bay‘s defense shut St. Louis out of the end zone in a 24-3 victory that kept the Packers perfect at 6-0.

“Does anybody want to give up a lot of yards? No. But the goal is to win,” Woodson said. “We held them to three points today, kept them out of the end zone, which is a goal of ours. There’s places where we can get better, we feel like we’ll get better, and we’ll enjoy this win today.”

With Sunday’s loss by NFC North rival Detroit, the Packers are the last unbeaten team left in the NFL this season.

But the Packers’ defense hasn’t been flawless.

Green Bay has been tough in the red zone and made plenty of big plays. But the Packers are having a hard time stopping teams between the 20s. It happened again Sunday.

Sam Bradford was 28 of 44 for 321 yards with an interception for the Rams (0-5). Bradford said moving the ball but failing to score was becoming an unsettling trend for St. Louis.

“It is something that we struggle with all year,” Bradford said. “There have been several games that we have been able to move the ball up and down and we get to the red zone, we have silly mistakes that don’t allow us to put the ball in the end zone. In this league, if you want to win, you got to score touchdowns.”

Bradford’s ankle was sore after the game, but he said he wasn’t hurt badly.

Rams running back Steven Jackson had 18 carries for 96 yards.

“For whatever reason, we get into the red zone, we keep shooting ourselves in the foot,” Jackson said.

The Packers held the Rams to 3 for 13 on third down and 1 for 4 when they went for it on fourth — more indications that the Packers’ defense tightens up when it needs to.

“You give some things, but you buckle down in the times when you’re supposed to and get yourself off the field,” Woodson said. “I think we had a couple of fourth downs today where we got off the field. Those are the type of things that we’re going to have to do during the season. When games are tougher than they are today, you’re going to have to make plays and get off the field in crucial situations. And today we did.”

Bradford said the Rams have to find ways to avoid getting backed into third-and-long situations.

“It is not easy to pick first downs up when you get yourself into that situation,” Bradford said. “When you do it with penalties, it becomes very frustrating. We got to figure out a way, whether it is my communications skills or whether it is guys just tuning in, we’ve got to figure out a way on first and second down not put ourselves in such a bad situation.”

The Packers’ offense took control in the second quarter, as Aaron Rodgers threw touchdowns to James Jones, Jordy Nelson and Donald Driver. But Green Bay’s offense hit a lull and didn’t score in the second half.

“It’s a feeling of minor disappointment, I think, in that locker room,” Rodgers said. “We just, in the second half, offensively just struggled. The second quarter was great, we put up a lot of points. I think it’s encouraging at the same time. It’s tough to win in this league, we’re 6-0, and have a lot of room for improvement.”

Packers coach Mike McCarthy had a mixed reaction to the victory. He bristled at questions about the offense being shut out in the second half, saying, “the last time I checked, when you win by three touchdowns, that’s a pretty significant win.”

But McCarthy also said the team isn’t anywhere near where it wants to be.

“You have to be running on all cylinders, and we’re not there yet,” McCarthy said. “So fortunately, we’re 6-0. We’ll continue to work to get there.”

Notes: Wide receiver Mike Sims-Walker and linebacker Ben Leber were inactive for St. Louis. Neither was listed on the team’s injury report this week. “We weren’t trying to send any messages,” Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo said. “We just put our the guys out there that we thought would help us win the game.” … It was the Packers’ last home game for nearly a month. … Packers cornerback Sam Shields sustained a head injury after he picked off a Bradford pass in the end zone and was hit hard. McCarthy said Shields was still being evaluated after the game.

By HOWARD FENDRICH
AP Pro Football Writer

With Aaron Rodgers’ MVP-caliber play leading the way, the Green Bay Packers are 5-0 for the seventh time in franchise history. Each of the previous six, the Packers went on to win an NFL title.

That is, admittedly, a statistic that offers little insight for how this season will turn out: After all, none of Green Bay’s current players even was born by 1965, the team’s most recent such start. Still, with the way they’ve performed so far this season, the reigning Super Bowl champions sure do seem capable of big things.

“5-0 feels great,” cornerback Charles Woodson said, “but we’re looking at greatness.”

Does that mean a second consecutive Lombardi Trophy?

A 16-0 regular season?

While it’s waaaaaaay too early to be talking about either, the Packers couldn’t be blamed for at least entertaining thoughts of both.

They’re on an 11-game winning streak, including the end of the 2010 regular season and the postseason. They’ve already beaten two other teams considered among the NFC’s elite entering this season: the New Orleans Saints in Week 1, and the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday night. Some supposedly good teams in the conference are struggling, particularly the Philadelphia Eagles. Other NFC clubs with good records – the Detroit Lions, San Francisco 49ers and Washington Redskins – have no recent important-game experience.

Plus, the Packers didn’t lose a ton of talent in the offseason – defensive end Cullen Jenkins and guard Daryn Colledge were the most notable departures – while they got to “add” players who missed the Super Bowl run because of injury and might very well be hungry to be a real part of that kind of success. Two key examples: tight end Jermichael Finley and running back Ryan Grant.

After putting more than a dozen guys on injured reserve last season, then having Woodson and receiver Donald Driver get hurt during the Super Bowl itself, the Packers know a thing or two about getting by when players are sidelined, such as Pro Bowl safety Nick Collins (done for this season) and starting offensive tackles Chad Clifton and Bryan Bulaga (out with leg injuries).

And, of course, they have an elite-as-can-be QB in Rodgers.

“They certainly possess all the elements necessary to be able to repeat,” said Joe Theismann, the former quarterback whose Redskins won the 1983 Super Bowl and nearly repeated but lost to the Raiders in the NFL championship game a year later. “The big question that looms is the health of their offensive line, but they can figure out ways to win when all the pieces aren’t in place. That is one reason why I think they do have an opportunity to repeat. And No. 2, there isn’t anybody in football at the end of last year and the beginning of this year that’s played better football than Aaron Rodgers.”

Theismann also pointed to another factor in Green Bay’s favor: the lockout.

Because of the odd offseason, he reasons, the Packers didn’t face the usual scrutiny, distractions and roster-raiding that NFL champs sometimes succumb to.

“What normally would be months where they would get all of the attention didn’t happen. They didn’t get guys getting all bigheaded, thinking, ‘We’re really good. Hey, we’re the champions.’ … And you didn’t have a lot of holdouts. You can bring your team back intact,” Theismann said in a telephone interview Monday. “The lockout, as much as anything, created this (atmosphere of), ‘OK, you’re the world champions, but there are a lot of other things to talk about.’”

It would be pretty stunning if Green Bay doesn’t head into what could be the toughest test left on its schedule – a Nov. 6 game at the San Diego Chargers – with a 7-0 record. After all, the Packers’ next two games are against a couple of teams who are a combined 1-8: the St. Louis Rams (0-4) and the Minnesota Vikings (1-4).

“I know there’s that old adage: ‘On any given Sunday.’ But those shouldn’t be one of those given Sundays,” Theismann said. “The Packers just have much more talent.”

And Green Bay’s bye comes before facing San Diego, so there will be an extra week to rest and prepare.

Otherwise, the most significant upcoming game on Green Bay’s schedule appears to be against – believe it or not – the Lions on Thanksgiving Day.

“We have a different team than years past,” Rodgers said after the 25-14 victory at Atlanta. “We expect to win when we take the field.”

They’re averaging nearly 35 points, and their playmaking defense not only is producing turnovers but also making key adjustments. Against Atlanta, for example, the Packers began applying extra pass-rushing pressure while relying on their cornerbacks to handle more man-to-man coverage.

“They’re playing as good as any team in the National Football League right now,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said. “It starts with their quarterback play.”

Sure does.

Rogers completed 26 of 39 passes for 396 yards and two TDs against Atlanta, connecting with 12 receivers. He’s produced a passer rating above 100 every game this season, and his overall 122.9 mark leads the NFL.

“He’s doing some amazing things,” Atlanta cornerback Dunta Robinson said. “His team – they believe in him and they’re following him.”

On Sunday night alone, the Packers overcame these sorts of obstacles:

- trailing 14-0, and on the road, no less;

- playing the last 2½ quarters without either starting offensive tackle;

- the midweek turbulence of former Packers star Brett Favre’s comments to an Atlanta radio station about Rodgers, and whether the Packers should have won a Super Bowl sooner with their current QB.

And yet, as Rodgers would say of facing Sunday’s deficit, “There was no panic.”

The way things are going for his team at the moment, why should there be?

___

AP National Writer Paul Newberry in Atlanta, and AP Sports Writer Chris Jenkins in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

___

Get in touch with Howard Fendrich at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich or hfendrich(at)ap.org

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

With Aaron Rodgers’ MVP-calibre play leading the way, the Green Bay Packers are 5-0 for the seventh time in franchise history. Each of the previous six, the Packers went on to win an NFL title.

That is, admittedly, a statistic that offers little insight for how this season will turn out: After all, none of Green Bay’s current players even was born by 1965, the team’s most recent such start. Still, with the way they’ve performed so far this season, the reigning Super Bowl champions sure do seem capable of big things.

“5-0 feels great,” cornerback Charles Woodson said, “but we’re looking at greatness.”

Does that mean a second consecutive Lombardi Trophy?

A 16-0 regular season?

While it’s waaaaaaay too early to be talking about either, the Packers couldn’t be blamed for at least entertaining thoughts of both.

They’re on an 11-game winning streak, including the end of the 2010 regular season and the post-season. They’ve already beaten two other teams considered among the NFC’s elite entering this season: the New Orleans Saints in Week 1, and the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday night. Some supposedly good teams in the conference are struggling, particularly the Philadelphia Eagles. Other NFC clubs with good records — the Detroit Lions, San Francisco 49ers and Washington Redskins — have no recent important-game experience.

Plus, the Packers didn’t lose a ton of talent in the off-season — defensive end Cullen Jenkins and guard Daryn Colledge were the most notable departures — while they got to “add” players who missed the Super Bowl run because of injury and might very well be hungry to be a real part of that kind of success. Two key examples: tight end Jermichael Finley and running back Ryan Grant.

After putting more than a dozen guys on injured reserve last season, then having Woodson and receiver Donald Driver get hurt during the Super Bowl itself, the Packers know a thing or two about getting by when players are sidelined, such as Pro Bowl safety Nick Collins (done for this season) and starting offensive tackles Chad Clifton and Bryan Bulaga (out with leg injuries).

And, of course, they have an elite-as-can-be QB in Rodgers.

“They certainly possess all the elements necessary to be able to repeat,” said Joe Theismann, the former CFL quarterback whose Redskins won the 1983 Super Bowl and nearly repeated but lost to the Raiders in the NFL championship game a year later. “The big question that looms is the health of their offensive line, but they can figure out ways to win when all the pieces aren’t in place. That is one reason why I think they do have an opportunity to repeat. And No. 2, there isn’t anybody in football at the end of last year and the beginning of this year that’s played better football than Aaron Rodgers.”

Theismann also pointed to another factor in Green Bay’s favour: the lockout.

Because of the odd off-season, he reasons, the Packers didn’t face the usual scrutiny, distractions and roster-raiding that NFL champs sometimes succumb to.

“What normally would be months where they would get all of the attention didn’t happen. They didn’t get guys getting all big-headed, thinking, ‘We’re really good. Hey, we’re the champions.’ … And you didn’t have a lot of holdouts. You can bring your team back intact,” Theismann said in a telephone interview Monday. “The lockout, as much as anything, created this (atmosphere of), ‘OK, you’re the world champions, but there are a lot of other things to talk about.’”

It would be pretty stunning if Green Bay doesn’t head into what could be the toughest test left on its schedule — a Nov. 6 game at the San Diego Chargers — with a 7-0 record. After all, the Packers’ next two games are against a couple of teams who are a combined 1-8: the St. Louis Rams (0-4) and the Minnesota Vikings (1-4).

“I know there’s that old adage: ‘On any given Sunday.’ But those shouldn’t be one of those given Sundays,” Theismann said. “The Packers just have much more talent.”

And Green Bay’s bye comes before facing San Diego, so there will be an extra week to rest and prepare.

Otherwise, the most significant upcoming game on Green Bay’s schedule appears to be against — believe it or not — the Lions on Thanksgiving Day.

“We have a different team than years past,” Rodgers said after the 25-14 victory at Atlanta. “We expect to win when we take the field.”

They’re averaging nearly 35 points, and their playmaking defence not only is producing turnovers but also making key adjustments. Against Atlanta, for example, the Packers began applying extra pass-rushing pressure while relying on their cornerbacks to handle more man-to-man coverage.

“They’re playing as good as any team in the National Football League right now,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said. “It starts with their quarterback play.”

Sure does.

Rogers completed 26 of 39 passes for 396 yards and two TDs against Atlanta, connecting with 12 receivers. He’s produced a passer rating above 100 every game this season, and his overall 122.9 mark leads the NFL.

“He’s doing some amazing things,” Atlanta cornerback Dunta Robinson said. “His team — they believe in him and they’re following him.”

On Sunday night alone, the Packers overcame these sorts of obstacles:

— trailing 14-0, and on the road, no less;

— playing the last 2 1/2 quarters without either starting offensive tackle;

— the midweek turbulence of former Packers star Brett Favre’s comments to an Atlanta radio station about Rodgers, and whether the Packers should have won a Super Bowl sooner with their current QB.

And yet, as Rodgers would say of facing Sunday’s deficit, “There was no panic.”

The way things are going for his team at the moment, why should there be?

___

AP National Writer Paul Newberry in Atlanta, and AP Sports Writer Chris Jenkins in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

“I feel fine,” said Grant, who left Soldier Field in an ambulance as a precaution following his 17-carry, 92-yard performance in the Packers’ 27-17 victory over the Chicago Bears last Sunday. “I guess that doesn’t mean anything.”

After missing the team’s run to the Super Bowl with a season-ending ankle injury in the 2010 opener at Philadelphia, Grant was the Packers’ starting running back in name only during the first two games this year. In those two games combined, second-year back James Starks – the savior of the running game late last season – played 82 snaps to Grant’s 32; while Starks gained 142 yards on 21 carries, Grant carried 15 times for 65 yards.

Against the Bears, Grant got an opportunity and ran with it. He had six runs of double-digit yards and two more 9-yarders, shining on plays designed for his one-cut-and-go running style. Starks carried 11 times for 5 net yards and lost a fumble.

“It’s definitely frustrating,” Grant said. “I think it’s even harder because of me sitting out so many games last year. I don’t want to miss a game at all. But I kind of have no say in this. It is what it is.”

With 11 minutes left in the game, Grant took a helmet in the back from Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, and in obvious pain he went to the sideline, where he collapsed to his knees. But when the Packers offense went back on the field four minutes later, there was Grant, who wound up carrying the ball three more times. When he got back to the locker room, he went to the bathroom and saw blood in his urine.

“I’m like, ‘Oh, that can’t be good,’” Grant said.

After the hospital trip, Grant wound up coming home to Green Bay separate from his teammates. By Wednesday, coach Mike McCarthy was talking as if Grant is a longshot to play against the Broncos.

“What happens a lot of times when you have injuries and then players are trying to get ready to play, they’re of the opinion they’ll be ready to go by Sunday,” McCarthy said. “Our medical staff is not of the same opinion.”

McCarthy said Grant will have until Friday to show that he’s healthy enough to play, but he quickly added that Grant “will be pressed to make this game.”

McCarthy has said all along that he would go with the hot hand at running back, and in order to get those carries, Grant needs to be on the field.

“Ryan Grant is an attempt runner. That’s what he is. He’s a bull. You’ve got to give him the ball; he gets better as the game moves forward,” McCarthy said. “I don’t think the defensive players probably enjoy tackling him a lot because it’s a blow-for-blow type running style. . He had a heck of a day and played through some pain.”

And given how much Starks struggled against the Bears, Grant recognizes there is an opening for him to reinforce in the coaches’ minds that he deserves more playing time.

“Coaches know that it’s not about what you did in the past; it’s about what you do in the present,” he said. “So how I played (against Chicago), if I started out that way against Denver, that’d dictate how the game goes. Especially how our run game is with (McCarthy). His confidence in the run games builds if we start fast as a team running the ball. … Trust me, if I can go, if they allow me to go, I’m going to go.”

Notes: Grant and right tackle Bryan Bulaga (knee) both sat out practice for the second consecutive day. They will be evaluated again on Friday. . Outside linebacker Clay Matthews (quadriceps) and cornerback Pat Lee (back) returned to work on a limited basis. . Linebacker Jamari Lattimore was added to the injury report with a shoulder injury. . Injured defensive end Mike Neal, out since Aug. 16 with a knee injury, said he’s hoping to return before the team’s Oct. 30 bye week.

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