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What they're saying about the Packers

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 7, 2001

As dominant as the Green Bay Packers have been, their 3-0 start has to be tempered by a schedule that has yet to test them with a likely playoff contender.

That ends this week.

The Packers take their stunning 93-13 scoring margin to Tampa Bay, beginning their season's most challenging stretch. The team then plays host to defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore, at Minnesota, then home against Tampa Bay after a bye week.

The Packers have never won at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium. Their last victory at Tampa Bay was in 1997 at Houlihan's Stadium and they will face an NFC Central Division rival that's been to the playoffs in two of the past three years.

The Bucs are under added pressure this season, because with free-agent quarterback Brad Johnson on board they probably have to contend for the Super Bowl or risk getting coach Tony Dungy fired this off-season.

"This really is why you coach, why you play, to be in a game like this," Packers general manager and coach Mike Sherman said. "It's going to be a division game, a competitive game, matching our wits against theirs.

"And even going down there, a lot of people look at that as an obstacle, and to a certain degree it is. But that's the challenge and that's why we do this."

Pete Dougherty, Appleton Post-Crescent

When coach Mike Sherman started emphasizing a fast start to the season early in the Green Bay Packers' training camp, he had an ulterior motive.

In measuring the team's early portion of the schedule, one game stood out. He knew that going on the road to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the overwhelming favorite to win the NFC Central Division, would be a pivotal moment in the Packers' year.

If his team could build momentum in the early weeks of the season, he'd feel good about taking on a team the Packers haven't beaten on the road since 1997.

"I felt previous to the Tampa game that we had to feel pretty confident about how we performed on the road and how we felt about ourselves as a team at this present point," Sherman said a day after his team improved to 3-0 and extended its winning streak to seven games dating to last year.

"You can't deal with the future in the NFL, or the past. If you look at the present point, we're doing pretty good. Hopefully, we can sustain that feeling. I was anxious to get off to a good start prior to going down to Tampa."

In part because the Packers didn't have to go to New York to face a tough Giants team when Week 2 games were postponed, Sherman heads into Tampa with a team that hasn't been seriously tested. In its first three games, the Packers have outscored opponents, 93-13.

Nevertheless, they couldn't be in a better position to seize the moment.

If ever there were a time for the Packers to go on the road and deliver a message to the rest of the division, this is it. With a 11/2-game lead over the second-place Buccaneers and Chicago Bears (1-1), the Packers can establish themselves as the team to beat with a victory at Raymond James Stadium.

"We want to win the division," linebacker Bernardo Harris said.

Tom Silverstein, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Some folks think it's too early to make definitive statements about the Packers. On the contrary, it's the American way.

We rush to work. We rush to play. We rush to judgment, although in this case, the Packers already have played almost a fifth of their schedule. If this was baseball, they'd have played 30 games by now, and if all were against the Brewers they'd probably be undefeated in that sport, too.

Obviously, Green Bay's season is a long way from being over, but in places such as Dallas, Detroit and Washington, it's already over. If an 0-3 or 0-2 start means a team is awful, why can't a 3-0 start mean it has potential?

In the Packers' case, it does.

Green Bay's offense scored more points (15) in 6 minutes at Carolina than its defense has surrendered (13) all season. The Steelers' defense is next at 24 points, which is good until you realize they've played only two games. Who's to say?

The Packers have shown steady improvement. They dominated two bad teams at Lambeau Field, and they rallied for a blowout win against a mediocre team on the road.

It's possible fate spared them a Week 2 loss against the Giants. The NFL is a series of pass/fail exams, and the Packers may not have been entirely ready for that test. Then again, who's to say they don't go into the Meadowlands and kick butt?

Chris Havel, Green Bay Press Gazette

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