Morning Buzz: Keeping up with NFC North
Welcome to your Morning Buzz, rounding up news and views regarding the Green Bay Packers from around the web and here at PackersNews.com. Grab a cup of coffee and get caught up on everything you need to know on this Sunday morning of Packers bye week.
First up, do not miss Ryan Wood’s overview of the Packers’ run defense through the first three games of the season. It’s been clear that Green Bay is playing well against the run, but Wood shows us they aren’t just playing well. They are playing out of their minds.
Tom Silverstein looks at Ron Zook, the Packers' special teams and the role luck plays in having a successful special-teams unit.
Silverstein also has his usual Sunday spin around the NFL, complete with great stats and notes from around the league. There’s a ton of information in here that is perfect for a Sunday spent sitting on the sofa watching NFL football.
Speaking of NFL Sunday, no NFL week is complete without some up-to-date power rankings. Find out where the Packers stack up against the rest of the league.
ESPN’s Jason Wilde caught up with Blake Martinez, who is hoping the gash on his nose heals up over the bye week.
With the Packers off today, fans may be interested in watching the Detroit Lions taking on the Chicago Bears. The Bears haven’t beaten the Lions since Lovie Smith’s final game as coach in 2012. Perhaps worse, the Bears haven’t won at Soldier Field at all since last October.
The good news for the Bears is that wide receiver Alshon Jeffery is expected to play Sunday.
The Lions had a few injury concerns of their own coming into this game, but it looks like the offense will be near full strength.
The Minnesota Vikings take on the Packers’ next opponent, the New York Giants, on Monday Night Football.
Pro Football Focus has a great look at why the Vikings' defense has been so successful this year.
Is the Minnesota Vikings’ defense on the verge of something special, and can it carry the team to postseason success?
Right now the Vikings defense is playing at an incredibly high level. They lead the league in yards per play surrendered, at just 4.4, and have conceded just 13.3 points per game—despite an offense that hasn’t always held up its end of the bargain, and facing 33 more snaps this season than either of the two teams with a better points-per-game figure.
Only the Philadelphia Eagles have a better point-per-play mark than the Vikings through three games, and Minnesota just forced the reigning NFL MVP to have his worst game since Week 7 of last year.
NFL Network reported earlier this morning that Dez Bryant has what is known as a bone bruise in his injured knee and that the Cowboys wide receiver faces no long-term risk. In fact, it appears Bryant has a chance of playing when Dallas travels to Green Bay in a few weeks.
Speaking of the Cowboys, remember the character known as The Wolf in Pulp Fiction? The one who was called to make problems go away? It seems Jerry Jones has his own version of The Wolf and his name is David Wells. This piece from Kent Babb at the Washington Post is absolutely fascinating.