Green Bay Packers 4th in NFC North Team Page	Select Team AFC EAST Buffalo Bills Miami Dolphins New England Patriots New York Jets AFC NORTH Baltimore Ravens Cincinnati Bengals Cleveland Browns Pittsburgh Steelers AFC SOUTH Houston Texans Indianapolis Colts Jacksonville Jaguars Tennessee Titans AFC WEST Denver Broncos Kansas City Chiefs Oakland Raiders San Diego Chargers NFC EAST Dallas Cowboys New York Giants Philadelphia Eagles Washington Redskins NFC NORTH Chicago Bears Detroit Lions Green Bay Packers Minnesota Vikings NFC SOUTH Atlanta Falcons Carolina Panthers New Orleans Saints Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFC WEST Arizona Cardinals St. Louis Rams San Francisco 49ers Seattle Seahawks

The Pack must minimize third-and-longs, when Favre has tended to gamble too much. Heinz Kluetmeier/SI

2006 Schedule Date Opponent Date Opponent Sept. 10 CHICAGO Nov. 12 at Minnesota Sept. 17 NEW ORLEANS Nov. 19 NEW ENGLAND Sept. 24 at Detroit Nov. 27 at Seattle (M) Oct. 2 at Philadelphia (M) Dec. 3 N.Y. JETS Oct. 8 ST. LOUIS Dec. 10 at San Francisco Oct. 15 Bye Dec. 17 DETROIT Oct. 22 at Miami Dec. 21 MINNESOTA (T) Oct. 29 ARIZONA Dec. 31 at Chicago Nov. 5 at Buffalo (M) Monday (T) Thursday Breakout Player Nick Barnett, LINEBACKER The Packers credited the fourth-year middle linebacker with a team-record 194 tackles in 2005. Typical of the quick, smallish (6'2", 232) linebackers who control some of the NFL's most effective D's with pursuit and sure tackling, Barnett has missed just one game in three years. Flanked by talented rookie A.J. Hawk (and possibly another rookie, Abdul Hodge from Iowa), Barnett, the team's first-round draft pick out of Oregon State in 2003, should ascend to the elite level at his position after two years as a Pro Bowl alternate.

Brett Favre takes one more shot, but glory will be elusive unless the line, the back and the wideouts all come through

THE BELIEF Brett Favre will reprise the climactic movie scene in The Natural, playing a football version of Roy Hobbs in Packers jersey number 4. Ahman Green will be fully recovered from quadriceps surgery that cut short his 2005 season and will rush for at least 1,300 yards. Rookie linebacker A.J. Hawk, the fifth pick in the draft, and free-agent corner Charles Woodson will make a respectable defense better. New coach Mike McCarthy's sunny disposition will help expunge the memory of last year's dismal 4-12 campaign, Green Bay's first losing season since 1991.

THE REALITY There is plenty of juice left in Favre's Hall of Fame right wing. "Believe me, guys still have to get their hands up in front of their faces coming out of their breaks," says Donald Driver, the Packers' leading receiver in three of the last four years. How much is left in Favre's heart, gut and soon-to-be-37-year-old legs is another issue. McCarthy and his staff are in a ticklish position, building their first season around an old quarterback who will be gone before they are. During off-season workouts that focused on second-year quarterback Aaron Rodgers, new offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski told McCarthy, "We're getting ready for A.F. -- After Favre."

In the present, Favre is coming off a year in which he had a career-high 29 interceptions and a career-low 70.9 quarterback rating. Then he came to training camp and implausibly called this team the most talented in his tenure. More correctly, it's a team of question marks. Green didn't start hitting until midway through camp. He and Favre will work behind a retooled line that includes rookie guards Tony Moll (fifth round, Nevada) and Jason Spitz (third, Louisville).

Nevertheless, the running game has to keep the Packers out of third-and-long, the situations in which Favre, these days, is inclined to gamble. The trouble is that the receivers are scarcely more diverse than a year ago. Wideout Javon Walker, who caught 89 balls in 2004 but blew out his right ACL in the '05 opener, was traded to Denver. The reliable Driver returns, and the next-best receiver could be rookie Greg Jennings, a second-round pick from Western Michigan.

The defense ranked seventh in the NFL last year, but the Packers were minus-24 in turnovers. McCarthy's new coordinator, Bob Sanders, has not changed Jim Bates's matchup-zone system. "For the most part, we know what we can do and we know what's expected of us," says end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila.

Much is expected of Woodson (seven years, $39 million, a three-time All-Pro from Oakland) and Hawk (six years, $37.5 million, out of Ohio State). The 6'1", 245-pound Hawk has to develop quickly into the dynamic playmaker he was in college, where he specialized in sideline-to-sideline pursuit and swift coverage drops. "We think he can get on the edge and rush the passer, too," says McCarthy, increasing the load on his rookie. Hawk welcomes the heat. "They have high expectations," he says. "I have high expectations too."

Yet the Packers' season could be defined by their ability to avoid a severe drop in morale, like the one that led to embarrassing defeats in the second half of '05. "As a coach, I can say we're over going 4-12," says McCarthy. "But I'm not naive; we need to start fast, or all those negative emotions will come right back." -- Tim Layden

Issue date: September 4, 2006