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Green Bay Packers
Donald Driver is the third NFL player to win "Dancing With the Stars." Is he better than Hines Ward or Emmitt Smith?
- xXMenofSteelXx: "Ward and Driver should have a showdown to see who's the real champ."
- jennifer96627: "we may have to have a dance off to deside the Ward/Driver debate. it will be very close one because both packers and steelers have large fan bases. both men are hard to separate because they both are that good."
- giahead33: "Ward danced way better than Driver!! "
- mikefan321: "Not a surprise. Elite athletes are well, great athletes. They're able to manipulate and train their bodies effectively, they're in superior shape, they're used to having to learn and practice new techniques and movements, they're used to the discipline of spending long hours training and building and honing skills consistently, they're usually perfectionists and overachievers by nature."
- thaisport_sf: "Best finals in a long while. Either Donald or Kathrine could have won it but I gave Donald the nod because his freestyle was just that awesome. "
- Bucs_Gators: "10 NFL players on DWTS. 3 have won 3 have finished 2nd. Ocho Cinco finished 4th Kurt Warner finished 5th. I wonder why NFL players do so well on that show."
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Are the Giants on a playoff run?
The Giants had the league's No. 32 rushing offense this season but piled up 172 yards last week.
Vote: Five questions for Giants at Packers
Do you trust Eli Manning?
Eli Manning threw 16 interceptions in the regular season and has had a pick-prone career. The Packers rely on turnovers to cover the league's worst pass defense.
Who has better targets?
It's tough to know who is Manning's No. 1 target, but is the combination of Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks better than Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson?
Will not-so-frozen tundra matter?
The field itself won't be frozen in Green Bay, but will cold temperatures hurt one offense more than the other?
Ray Rice or Arian Foster?
Ray Rice edged Arian Foster in rushing yards, 1,364-1,224, but Foster led in yards per game.
Vote: Five questions for Texans at Ravens
Is T.J. Yates the QB for the job?
A week ago, 49 percent of SN thought Jake Delhomme gave the Texans the best chance to win. Did T.J. Yates convert skeptics?
Does what happened in October matter?
That's Matt Schaub getting hit in a Week 6 loss against the Ravens. Schaub won't be out there this week, but does that result still matter?
Last home game for two legends?
It won't be if the Ravens and Broncos both win, but that scenario aside, will Ray Lewis or Ed Reed return next season?
Last team standing?
SportsNation is picking the Patriots (65%), Ravens (75%), Packers (67%) and Saints (66%) to advance to the conference finals.
How would you rank the remaining NFL playoff teams?
The Broncos showed their resiliency with a hard-fought, overtime win against the Steelers behind Tim Tebow's season-high 316 passing yards. Meanwhile, the Texans won their first playoff game in franchise history riding on the shoulders of wide receiver Andre Johnson and rookie quarterback T.J. Yates.
Over in the NFC, the Saints put up 45 points on the Lions as Drew Brees threw for 466 yards, placing him second only to Bernie Kosar for most passing yards in a playoff game. The Giants dominated the Falcons through the air and on the ground while Big Blue's defense held Atlanta's offense scoreless.
With the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds back in action, which team do you think is the favorite to win the Super Bowl?
Cast your vote now! You must submit at least FIVE for your votes to count!
NFL divisional playoff teams
49ers
49ers
Regular season: 13-3
Broncos
Broncos
Regular season: 8-8
Wild-card: defeated Pittsburgh 29-23 OT
Giants
Giants
Regular season: 9-7
Wild-card: defeated Altlanta 24-2
Packers
Packers
Regular season: 15-1
Patriots
Patriots
Regular season: 13-3
Ravens
Ravens
Regular season: 12-4
Saints
Saints
Regular season: 13-3
Wild-card: defeated Detroit 45-28
Texans
Texans
Regular season: 9-6
Wild-card: defeated Bengals 31-10
Will sitting out cost Aaron Rodgers?
Aaron Rodgers watched as Packers No. 2 QB Matt Flynn threw for 480 yards and six TDs against the Lions in Week 17. Does resting for the playoffs hurt his case for MVP?
Was it wise to rest Rodgers?
The eternal debate of rest vs. rust rages on. The Packers already had a bye week coming, so was making Rodgers inactive the right move?
Whom do you want moving forward?
We'll get to your MVP vote in a minute, but that's a measure of past performance. If you're looking to the future, as in the playoffs, whom do you want?
Is Matt Flynn worthy of MVP money?
Flynn hits free agency at the right time. Kevin Kolb and Ryan Fitzpatrick got around $60 million with roughly $20 million guaranteed in recent deals. Is Flynn worth something similar?
Record awareness?
Drew Brees beat Dan Marino's record of 5,084 passing yards in a single season, but be honest: How many people knew the exact amount of that record?
Best stat?
Brees' quality as a quarterback is undeniable, but it's interesting to contrast his high completion percentage with his relatively high interception rate.
Best of the elite?
Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers also have a shot to break Marino's record, although Brady (187 yards to go) will have a much easier time of it than will Rodgers (441 yards to go).
Different priorities?
The Colts' season had been one long losing streak, but Thursday night's comeback against the Texans has given them two wins in a row. Might they not be as committed to drafting Andrew Luck as the rest of the NFL?
Play to win?
The Colts face off against the Jaguars next week, and a win could knock them out of the top spot in the draft. Should they make less than a fully committed effort to beat Jacksonville?
More surprising?
This week saw two unexpected events: the Packers' undefeated season going down the tubes and the Colts actually winning two games in a row.
Did Chiefs win or did Packers lose?
A run at perfection came to an end for the Packers in a 19-14 loss against the Chiefs, but which team was more responsible for the outcome?
Is this how it's done against Packers?
The Chiefs rushed 39 times and kept the ball for 36 minutes on offense, and their defense sacked Aaron Rodgers four times.
How much history went by the wayside?
The Packers are still heavy favorites for home-field advantage this season, but does the end of a 19-game winning streak, including a Super Bowl, end talk of history?
Is Rodgers the most valuable passer?
SN's pick for MVP entering the weekend, Rodgers compiled a modest 80.7 passer rating. Meanwhile, Drew Brees is still on pace to break the single-season yardage record.
The best job interview of all time?
On the other side of the field, Romeo Crennel is 1-0 in his second stint as an NFL head coach. But given the opponent, is that enough to earn him more than an interim job?
Remember when the NFL really wanted to cut down on the number of kickoff returns this season? Yeeeeaahhh ... about that ... it doesn't really seem to be working. We're not sure about the total number of returns compared to last year, but returners are almost making a point of taking kickoffs out of the end zone, even if they're all the way at the back. Randall Cobb already tied the longest return ever on Thursday, and players like Ted Ginn and Percy Harvin both have returns of more than 100 yards already. Did the NFL's efforts fail?
- "A lot has to happen downfield for Ginn to break those things and so it was an entire special teams effort." -- SN commenter BCook122
- "Percy Harvin nearly gave me a heart attack! " -- SN commenter bolt_struck
Start of a trend?
We could be seeing more and more returners take kicks out of the end zone this season. Or it could just be a single-game fluke, and there could be fewer and fewer returners taking a chance.
Anecdotal evidence?
We haven't seen any advanced stats yet suggesting that receivers are taking more risks, but it sure seems that way. Do you agree, or are our eyes deceiving us?
Which returner?
Randall Cobb tied a return record, but both Ted Ginn and Percy Harvin have more established résumés. Considered purely as returners, it might be a difficult choice between the three of them.
Gosh, if only every game this season was as good as last night's matchup between the Saints and Packers, we might never leave the house. The NFL's season opener didn't disappoint, with long kick returns, great plays, and even a last-second play-calling controversy! So, so awesome. It wasn't even particularly sloppy, which was a huge worry because of the shortened training camp schedule. Hopefully this weekend's matchups will live up to it.
- "Why would NO try running right up the gut on the 1 inch line. And on quite a few runs, I noticed that Mark Ingram doesn't have good vision. If he just bounced it outside it could have been a different outcome..." -- SN commenter slogrind808
- "This game was a blessing for both teams, moreso the Pack cause they won, but you give film to both these teams of two of the best offenses in the league, they're both going to improve considerably. " -- SN commenter bezeg
Was it the right call?
A run up the gut on the last play of the game near the goal line isn't entirely unreasonable, but the Packers seemed to sniff the play out early on.
Are returners taking more risks?
There was a large expectation that moving the kickoff up to the 35-yard line would reduce the number of runbacks, but for guys like Devin Hester, last night may have been a sign of hope.
Could Cobb be great?
Randall Cobb had a pretty good first game last night -- he caught a touchdown pass and returned a kickoff 108 yards for a touchdown. Not bad, huh?
The first game of the NFL season kicks off in a little more than 24 hours, and we'd be lying if we said we weren't at least a little excited. Pro football can be a messy affair at times -- see the entire labor battle during the offseason -- but it's a glorious sport at its heart. Most every team's fan base has something to look forward to this weekend, although Colts fans may be dreading a future without Peyton Manning after the news that he'll miss at least his first game with a neck injury.
- Rank: Is Peyton Manning still in the MVP race? | Which are football's best teams?
- Vote: Which teams are the favorite to win each division?
Best game?
There are a lot of good matchups in Week 1 of the NFL's 2011 regular season. Steelers-Ravens, for example, could be a preview of a future AFC playoff game.
Colts without Manning?
Peyton Manning is out for an undetermined amount of time. This could be a prime opportunity for other teams to break Indianapolis' stranglehold on the AFC South.
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