Packers Morning Buzz: Time for true contenders to emerge

Welcome to your game-day Morning Buzz, rounding up news and views regarding the Green Bay Packers from around the web and here at PackersNews.com.

The Packers (1-1-1) look to bounce back from a flat performance in Washington when they host the Buffalo Bills (1-2) at noon Sunday.

We'll start with Pete Dougherty's column about how it's way too early to tell where the Packers stand after their first three games.

Pete writes:

This is just the way the NFL works week to week, especially early. We’re essentially just wrapping up the preseason. With a CBA that limits offseason practice and in-season pads work, and a league-wide aversion to getting key players hurt in games that don’t count, coaches need the first four weeks of the regular season to get to know their teams, and players need them to acclimate to real football.

“The way the rules are nowadays,” new Packers defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said this week, “it's a little bit more difficult to kind of be in midseason form this early when everything is new, when you're dealing with a new set of players, when you have a lot of guys – young guys – that are on their first contract.”

About the only thing you can say with much confidence three-plus weeks into the NFL schedule is that the Los Angeles Rams (4-0) look really good. That’s based on their turnaround season last year (11-5), the players they added in the spring  (Brandin Cooks, Marcus Peters and Ndamukong Suh, among others) to an already talented roster, their ascending quarterback (Jared Goff) and their bright young coach (Sean McVay). Hard not to be impressed watching their win over Minnesota on Thursday night.

Beyond that? The rest of the teams are barely beginning to reveal themselves.

Be sure to read the entire column here:

Tom Silverstein writes about the importance of safeties in Mike Pettine's system and how subpar play there is undermining the entire defense:

Tom offers his "5 things to watch" in the Packers-Bills game, and our Packers experts make their predictions:

The Packers placed defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson on season-ending injured reserve Saturday and promoted a cornerback:

Pettine's defense needs to force turnovers to be effective, and the Packers ranks near the bottom of the NFL in that area:

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers "looked good" in practice Thursday, but receiver Randall Cobb's status is uncertain:

Ryan and Pete present their takes on Packers-Bills here:

Packers running back Aaron Jones has quickly made a favorable impression on offensive coordinator Joe Philbin:

ICYMI, Tom and Jim discuss Rodgers' health status and preview the Packers-Bills game in their twice-weekly podcast:

Tom makes his weekly NFL picks both straight-up and against the spread:

Rodgers makes Bears fans disappear in a new commercial for Bose:

Packers running back Ty Montgomery is on the move, on and off the field:

Aaron Nagler sizes up the Packers-Bills tussle for CheeseheadTV:

Will the weather conditions make this a perfect opportunity to deploy Aaron Jones?

Retired NFL defensive end Stephen White offers some good perspectives on a bad rule:

Here's a particularly nasty injury suffered by the Vikings' long snapper:

Former Packers quarterback Brett Favre is pushing for legislation that would ban tackle football at the youth level:

Things could get ugly in more ways than one Sunday at Lambeau Field:

And finally, a Packers story that has nothing to do with football but is intriguing nonetheless: