New Orleans has (in passing yards per game) the number one pass offense in the NFL. They are led by QB Drew Brees who is one of the best. WR Marques Colston and RB Reggie Bush were probably drafted in every fantasy league, and TE Jeremy Shockey probably was too. Yet their leading receiver this season is WR Lance Moore. I was amazed to find out that he hadn't been picked up in my fantasy league until November 12th. He even does a mean Rooney slide. Watch it here.

So where did he come from?

"Moore scratched and clawed his way through the NFL ranks as he began his career on the team's practice squad in 2005 with Jim Haslett still at the helm. He impressed Sean Payton enough for the then-new coach to keep Moore around for the practice squad. Moore made his way to the gameday roster four times but only caught one pass in 2006.

His impressive training camp in 2007 stamped his spot on the roster. He hauled in 32 passes for 302 yards and two scores last season...

McCarthy said Moore's numbers force coaches to pay attention and game plan for the Saints pass catcher.

"We prepare for everybody that's productive on film," McCarthy said. "That never changes and I think that's the beauty of the Saints offense. They do a very good job of utilizing their personnel and their progressions and their approach of how they go after your defense. We anticipate that will be the case on Monday night.""

They have to keep their eye on him. I was trying to find someone similar to Moore that the Packers have already faced this season, and the best I could come up with was Minnesota's WR Bobby Wade. Moore's listed at 5'9" and 190 lbs. which is about the same as Wade. And Wade is not some nobody. With 38 catches so far in 2008, he has more receptions than anyone else on Minnesota's roster. In two games against the Packers, Wade had 3 catches for 24 yards (all coming in the game at Minnesota). But, obviously, Bress is a much better QB than Gus Frerotte.

When I read that former Packer CB Bob Jeter had died, I admit I wasn't familiar with him. He played on the great Lombardi teams of the 1960s. He was a star player in 1966 and 1967 when the Packers won the first two Super Bowls. He had a great career as a cornerback for the Packers, but as you can see from his career stats, his career got off to a slow start. He was a college running back from Iowa, went to the CFL for two years, and then came back to play for the Packers. "Speed made Jeter a decent receiver and a tremendous cornerback."

From John Maxymuk's book, Packers by the Numbers:

"Vince Lombardi made the same mistake with Jeter that he did earlier with another Big Ten halfback who he didn't think fit the Packers' running style-Herb Adderley. He tried to make wide receivers out of both of them...Bob Jeter, though, spent two seasons as a reserve receiver before finally being shifted to cornerback...In the next two years he would team with Adderley to shut down the top receivers of many teams...Cowboys quarterback Don Meredith would say of Jeter that, "In the past, left cornerback Herb Adderley was so good that the opponents picked on Jeter. But now they can't. Jeter has more speed than Adderley and is better at moving up on the end run."

Below is a FanPost written by Brandon of Acme Packing Company. Go ahead and ask him any Packer related question that comes to mind like say, "Which Aaron would you rather have on your team? Rodgers or Brooks?" Also, be sure to check out my FanPost at APC and help me answer some questions or stop by just for some good natured razzing.

Hey, I'm Brandon from Acme Packing Company, the SB Nation blog for fans of the Green Bay Packers. I'm here to take and answer any questions you might have about the Packers.

Unfortunately my knowledge of the Saints v.2008 is very limited because I haven't watched any of their games this season. I wrote this post earlier in the week, and it's pretty much the extent of my knowledge about them. So I don't have the answer to any matchup type questions.

But I can answer any Packer related questions (e.g. Is QB Aaron Rodgers for real? Yep.)

The Packers are coming into Monday night on a major high after crushing division rival Chicago 37-3. It was the first time Chicago lost in Green Bay since 2003. But they're 0-2 against the NFC South this season. They lost a close one at home to Atlanta 27-24 in week 5 and their worst loss of the season was their 30-21 loss at Tampa in week 4.

Seriously this one is important.

RB Ryan Grant cannot lose the NFL ground player of the week award to either Williams or Parker. Both of them did it again lousy defenses; Parker against San Diego and Williams against Detroit. How can you award anyone for having a great game against Detroit's defense? You are supposed to have a great game against Detroit's defense! Grant, on the other hand, shredded one of the best run defenses in the NFL.

The Packers' defense has scored seven TDs this season. Don't get used to it. It's not a skill. The ball is just bouncing their way.

They've ranked the Packers as the 5th best team in the league. Aaron felt some explaination was in order because that puts them ahead of 11 teams with better records:

"The Packers have lost three games by a field goal or less, and their largest loss is 11 points...

The Packers have outscored opponents by 65 points with +7 turnover margin...

Despite five losses, the Packers have only one game with DVOA below zero: their Week 4 loss to Tampa Bay."

The good news was at the bottom of Aaron's article; the Packers have the 7th easiest schedule the rest of the way.

Although it wasn't a great weekend for QBs, they ranked Rodgers as the 3rd best QB last weekend.

It's very important this season, in a tight race for the NFC North title, that the Packers win all their division games. Two more remain against Chicago and Detroit. In a worse case scenario, if the Packers win at Chicago and beat Detroit at Lambeau, plus manage to win one of the other remaining four games, then they would finish 8-8 with a 5-1 record in the division. That's not a great season, but it might be good enough to win the division this year.

The 37-3 crushing of Chicago in week 11 did remind me of when the Packers crushed the Vikings last year in week 10 by a score of 34-0. The two wins were very similar. They were both similar dominant performances. The Packers didn't rely on any big turnovers to run up the score. They just outplayed them on offense and defense in almost every way. Was this a sign the Packers took a step forward and were ready to run the table?

Unfortunately not. After the Packers crushed Minnesota, they played seven more games and went 5-2. They actually had a better record (7-1) before that win than they did after it (5-2). Plus they had two very disappointing losses at Dallas and at Chicago. They played great, but it was just one game and not necessarily a sign of great things to come.

Man it looks like it has been one tough season down in New Orleans. The number one thing I was curious about was the status of RB Deuce McAllister, DE Charles Grant, and DE Will Smith, who are appealing their four game suspensions on Tuesday with the league office for using the diuretic Bumetanide. I don't know how they get out of that one. McAllister is having a good season, but his likely replacement is RB Pierre Thomas and he's just as good. Losing Grant and Smith would really hurt their pass rush, but Grant's already out for the season so his absense is a sure thing. But this is just another chapter in a long string of bad news in 2008 for the Saints:

• This team has been gutted by injuries. I counted 11 guys on I.R. Unfortunately former Packer CB Mike McKenzie is on I.R. too, so no chance to abuse him in coverage. I scanned their roster and realized that QB Mark Brunell is still playing in the NFL. And they've got QB Joey Harrington? They've got all the veteran backup QBs! No wonder the Packers had to settle for two rookie QBs behind QB Aaron Rodgers.
  
• Although the Saints are 3-1 at home this season, they haven't played in New Orleans since October 12th because their last "home" game was in London. Due to all the injuries, "since that game, the 53-man roster has undergone nearly a 17 percent turnover."
• The Saints big move this season, the trade for TE Jeremy Shockey, has been a complete disaster.
• The NFC South has turned into one of the most competitive divisions in the NFL. Although the Saints are 5-5, they are three games behind Carolina for the division lead, and depending on the tie-breakers, there are four to seven teams ahead of them for the final wild card spot. It wouldn't kill the Packers if they lost on Monday, but it would put the Saints' season on life support.
• Where would this team be without QB Drew Brees? It seems like he's holding them together, but I also noticed it has been feast-or-famine for him all season. In 10 games this season, his passer rating has been above 110 in 4 games, and below 70 in 5. He does seem to play much better in the Superdome. The only time his passer rating has been below 116 at home was in their loss to Minnesota.

Where did this Packer team come from? This was not the same team that was outplayed last week in Minnesota. Unfortunately this game looks like a fluke. The Packers are better then their record would indicate, but they don't stomp their opponent 37-3 every week (obviously). The real shock is that this is a complete turn around from last week's loss at Minnesota.

Except for the turnovers, and QB Gus Frerotte had some killer turnovers, the Packers turned it all around in one week. Teams don't turn it all around that dramatically in one week. The truth is somewhere in between; the Packers aren't as bad as the team that lost in Minnesota, but not as good as the one that crushed the Bears.

• RB Ryan Grant and the offensive line. It was a pretty simple plan; offensive tackle block defensive end, offensive guard block defensive tackle, fullback take out linebacker, open a running lane for Grant, he makes at least one defender miss on the tackle while he runs for a big gain, and repeat. They've been trying it all season, and they've been getting better every week for the last few weeks since Grant's hamstring injury has fully healed, but this was the first time they've completely dominated a run defense. Some credit is due to RB Brandon Jackson, who had been quietly averaging 5 yards/carry this season, got his first extended rushing duties in several weeks, and again averaged 5 yards/carry. And Chicago's run defense was not just some run defense. Football Outsiders had them ranked as the 2nd best coming into this game. They had allowing just under 75 yards/game. After the Packers ran for 200 yards against them, they've allowed 87.4 yards/game.
• Defense. A typical drive for Chicago started somewhere between their 20-30 yard line. They couldn't go deep because their wide receivers couldn't beat the Packers' cornerbacks or safeties deep. They were able to run the ball a little, RB Matt Forte averaged over 4 yards/carry, but he had nothing over 10 yards. They could complete short crossing routes to Forte or TE Greg Olsen, but that didn't produce any big plays either. They had to work their way down the field on every drive. And when they found themselves in a 3rd down situation, the defense stepped up and Chicago was only 3 for 12 on 3rd down. No one player deserves credit for the defensive performance, everyone seemed to do their job, which was why Chicago's offense looked so inept.
• QB Aaron Rodgers. He made one mistake. Early in the 2nd quarter, WR Donald Driver broke deep down the middle, but LB Brian Urlacher was providing the short coverage. Rodgers underthrew the ball and it went right to Urlacher. It was too bad, Driver was open and could have had a long TD reception if Rodgers could have gotten some more air under the ball. Other than that one mistake, Rodgers was near perfect, completing 76% of his passes, no other turnovers, two TD passes, no sacks, and a QB rating of 105.8.
  

The Packers have had trouble against Chicago's defense in recent seasons. Chicago has been able to drop their linebackers deep to take away the slant routes which allowed their cornerbacks and safeties to take away the deep sidelines and middle. All that the Packers could do in some games was throw dump off passes or try and find the very small hole in the zones.

In this game, Chicago's linebackers, except for the one INT described above by Urlacher, just weren't a factor. Rodgers took what he was given and completed passes to nine different receivers. Sometimes he found WR Greg Jennings or Driver on a slant, but he was content to dump it off to TE Donald Lee, who ended the game with the most receptions (6) and none for more than 8 yards. Balanced out with a strong running game, and some poor Chicago tackling, the offense clicked and put up big numbers.

It's only one game, too bad you aren't allowed to rollover some of those scores, but it has to give the entire team a big confidence boost. The run defense is still a problem, although LB A.J. Hawk looked great in his first game at middle linebacker. He was rarely blocked out and seemed to be involved in nearly every play. The pass defense has been fantastic all season, and the pass offense is there for nearly every game. Now the run offense is clicking too. The key for the Packers is to build an early lead. Then the opposing team must throw against the fantastic pass defense instead of running against the suspect run defense.

Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers
Sunday, November 16th, 2008
Noon CST, FOX
This is an open thread for the game.

Inactives from NFL.com:

Bears: QB Caleb Hanie (3rd), CB Marcus Hamilton, RB Kevin Jones, T Fred Miller, DT Matt Toeaina, WR Earl Bennett, NT Anthony Adams, DE Ervin Baldwin.

Analysis: RB Adrian Peterson will back up RB Matt Forte with Jones inactive. WR Brandon Lloyd is active and will see his first action in several weeks.

Packers: QB Brian Brohm (3rd), CB Pat Lee , RB DeShawn Wynn, LB Nick Barnett, T Breno Giacomini, G Allen Barbre, WR Ruvell Martin, DE Jeremy Thompson.

Analysis: QB Aaron Rodgers and CB Charles Woodson are active and will start, as expected. The absence of Barnett is good news for the value of Bears RB Matt Forte this week.

RB Adrian Peterson, the Chicago one, had a 100 yard game last season against the Packers, so he'll get a chance to run up some yards against them instead of RB Kevin Jones. It's hard to imagine WR Brandon Lloyd will make much of a difference because Lloyd's been awful during his career and the Packers' secondary has been outstanding this season, but Lloyd was having a very good 2008 season before he was hurt.

The Packers are going with only two RBs again this week since Wynn is inactive. Thompson has a groin injury and is out for the game, but he was awful last week at Minnesota (although he probably was awful because he was hurt). It's not clear exactly who is going to replace Barnett in the middle, but all signs point to LB A.J. Hawk with LB Brandon Chillar stepping into Hawk's outside linebacker spot, but the Packers have been intentionally vague about how their defense will play line up on Sunday. WR Ruvell Martin is inactive so don't expect to see any five WR sets.

Chicago hasn't lost at Lambeau since 2003, and Lovie Smith has never lost at Lambeau as a head coach, so it's obviously a big monkey on the Packers' back. Football Outsiders says the Packers are the 7th best team in the NFL (seriously) and it's all because the NFL is "kinda good" this season:

"Right now, 16 different teams are either 6-3 or 5-4. That's half the league! With so many teams hovering around "kinda good," only three teams are better than 6-3, and only three teams are 4-5. By comparison, last year at this point nine different teams were 4-5...

Below the top three, things begin to diverge from conventional wisdom. The Packers may only be 4-5, but they rank seventh in DVOA, basically tied with the 7-2 Panthers. (They lost to the Vikings, and moved up three spots anyway because the system thinks they outplayed Minnesota by a small amount.)"

I guess that shows how important the quarterback is to their system. The Packers were outplayed by every Viking not named Gus Frerotte, and Frerotte played so badly that he almost made up for all the good work from his teammates.

While the Packers are clearly the best 4-5 team in the NFL, Chicago is one of the best 5-4 teams:

I really want to focus on the special teams rankings because when the Packers got crushed last season in Chicago 35-7 it was because of special teams. P Jon Ryan dropped one snap and had two other punts blocked. That was a unique game because of the freezing cold weather, but it still was a blowout because the special teams were awful. This season, Chicago's special teams are below average and one reason is that KR Devin Hester is not the same guy he was in 2006 and 2007. 

Looking at QB Kyle Orton, he appears to be having a season similar to Tennessee's QB Kerry Collins. Orton is better, but, just like Collins, he's playing it safe and not turning the ball over. Orton has 8 turnovers (fumbles and INTs) in 8 games, but 4 of them happened in the game vs. Philadelphia. He's had no turnovers in 5 of the 8 games he's started. Collins didn't have a great game against the Packers, so I don't expect Orton will be great either. But just like Collins, he won't turn the ball over either.

RB Matt Forte isn't having a great season, but he's been playing as well or better than three backs who killed the Packers this season (Marion Barber, Michael Turner, and Earnest Graham) so he should have a 100 yard game if Chicago can take the lead or keep it close.

Chicago's run defense is outstanding, so RB Ryan Grant should not be a huge factor in the game.

Chicago's pass defense is struggling. They compare to teams like Atlanta and Indianapolis, and QB Aaron Rodgers played well against both of those teams.

In all four of the Packers' wins, they built leads of over 10 points and managed to hang on for the win. Only Detroit managed to retake the lead, and the Packers had to come from behind to beat them. But not every team is as bad as Detroit. To win this game, the Packers have to get an early lead from their pass offense or their special teams and make Chicago throw the ball into the teeth of the Packers' outstanding pass defense.