7/23/2019 Green & Gold 1218 http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-gold-1218 1/16 WOLF RIVER MEDIA WEEK 15 — PACKERS vs. RAIDERS ALSO INSIDE: • Power Rankings • Seymour Column • Rosters • Schedule • Standings DECEMBER 18, 2015 PACKERS OFFENSE READY FOR CHALLENGE Woodson gets chance to face Rodgers SEE PAGE 2 PHOTO BY JIM LEUENBERGER
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WOLF RIVER MEDIA 2 Friday, December 18, 2015 GREEN & GOLD EXPRESS
Game VitalsGREEN BAY PACKERS (9-4)
VS. OAKLAND RAIDERS (6-7)
WHEN: 3:05 p.m. Sunday
WHERE: O.co Coliseum
TV: FOX
RADIO: 620 WTMJ, 92.3 WJMQ-
FM, 101.1 WIXX-FM.
Locker Room“I think they’re definitelya talented offense. He has
good weapons aroundhim.”
MIKE MCCARTHY, Packers
head coach, on the Oakland
offense and quarterback
Derek Carr
•••
•••
The SeriesPackers vs. Raiders:
All-time, regular season: 6-5
All-time, at Oakland: 2-2
Streaks: The Packers have won
each of the la st six regular-season
meetings.
Last meeting, regular season:
Dec. 11, 2011, at Lambeau Field;
Packers won, 46-16.
•••
ScheduleDate Opponent Time TV
Sept. 13 at Chicago Win 31-23
Sept. 20 Seattle Win 27-17
Sept. 28 Kansas City Win 38-28
Oct. 4 at San Francisco Win 17-3
Oct. 11 St. Louis Win 24-10
Oct. 18 San Diego Win 27-20
Oct. 25 BYE
Nov. 1 at Denver Loss 29-10
Nov. 8 at Carolina Loss 37-29
Nov. 15 Detroit Loss 18-16
Nov. 22 at Minnesota Win 30-13
Nov. 26 Chicago Loss 17-13
Dec. 3 at Detroit Win 27-23
Dec. 13 Dallas 3:25 p.m. Win 28-7Dec. 20 at Oakland 3:05 p.m. FOX
Dec. 27 at Arizona 3:25 p.m. FOX
Jan. 3 Minnesota 12 p.m. FOX
Packers ready to clinch playoff berth Woodson, Mackmaking playsfor OaklandBy Paul ImigFor Green & Gold Express
There will be a lot onthe line for the Green BayPackers when they travelto Oakland to face theRaiders on Sunday after-noon.
The Packers can clincha playoff spot with a win.Being in the postseason isfar from Green Bay’s onlygoal, but it’s step one inthe process. Once that’saccomplished, players andcoaches can turn their at-tention to step two — win-ning another NFC Northtitle. Then, all eyes beginlooking toward getting tothe Super Bowl.
But, rst things rst,and that’s the playoff berththat Green Bay can guar-antee itself by the end ofthe weekend.
There are also a cou-ple of personal backsto-ries that make Sunday’smatchup even more in-triguing. Leading that listis Aaron Rodgers lookingdowneld for an open re-ceiver and seeing formerteammate Charles Wood-
son wearing the silver andblack.When Woodson signed
with the Packers as a freeagent in 2006, Rodgers
was just entering his sec-ond NFL season and BrettFavre was still the manin Green Bay. Five yearslater, it was Rodgers andWoodson who helped leadthe Packers to a SuperBowl XLVI victory.
“It’s hard not to watch
Charles Woodson,” Rodg-ers said this week whenasked to analyze Oakland’s
defense. “He’s a formerPacker, a great friend. He
was a great leader for usat a time when we neededthat type of leadership,and he took us to a specialplace.
“He’s playing greatfootball. It’s impressive tosee.”
Nearly 18 full calendar years have passed sincethe Raiders made Wood-son the No. 4 overall pickin the 1998 draft.
After 38 interceptionsin a Packers uniform,
Woodson was releasedby general manager TedThompson following the
2012 season. That’s whenWoodson rejoined the onlyother team he ever playedfor in the NFL, the Raid-ers.
The uniform changedfor Woodson, but the pro-
duction hasn’t changed.Woodson had four inter-ceptions last season. This
year, at age 39, he has veinterceptions — which hasWoodson tied for the third-most in the NFL in 2015.
“There have been acouple of guys over thehistory of this league who
have been able to play at
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Oakland Raiders free safety Charles Woodson has played a role in 10 turnovers this season, but the Packers’ offense has limited takeaways in its con-
Not only do the Pantherscontinue to win, but they’vescored 79 points in their lasttwo games and are coming offa win in which they held divi-sion-rival New Orleans score-less.
The Bengals lost by 13points at home to Pittsburgh.The bigger story, though, isthat starting QB Andy Daltonbroke his thumb and mightnot be ready to return in timefor the postseason.
7. Green Bay Packers (Re-cord: 9-4; Previous Rank: 7)
Mike McCarthy is back
calling plays and Eddie Lacyis back to running over de-fenders. But there are still
weaknesses offensively thatneed to be figured out if thePackers are going to make aserious Super Bowl run.
Four wins in a row, nowtwo consecutive losses forHouston. Still, the Texans aretied for the division lead.
15. Philadelphia Eagles(Record: 6-7; PreviousRank: 21)
The Eagles are the hottestteam in the lowly NFC East.They followed up their win
over New England by beatingthe Bills.
16. Washington Red-skins (Record: 6-7; PreviousRank: 15)
Washington gave itself afighting chance to win theNFC East by going into Chi-cago this past weekend and
winning.17. New York Giants (Re-
cord: 6-7; Previous Rank: 16)Like Washington, the Gi-
ants stayed in the divisionrace by going on the road (toMiami) and winning.
18. Oakland Raiders (Re-cord: 6-7; Previous Rank: 22)The Raiders had lost four
of their previous five games,but they’re coming off a huge
victory at Denver. Now, Oak-land is set to host the Packers.
19. Tampa Bay Bucca-neers (Record: 6-7; PreviousRank: 17)
The young Buccaneerscouldn’t capitalize on theirpositive momentum, losing athome to the Saints.
20. Atlanta Falcons (Re-cord: 6-7; Previous Rank: 18)
It’s hard to believe the Fal-cons were once an undefeatedteam. Atlanta has now lostseven of its last eight games,including a beatdown at thehands of Carolina (38-0).
21. Chicago Bears (Re-cord: 5-8; Previous Rank: 19)
How did the Bears follow-up their Thanksgiving night
win over Green Bay? By los-ing at home to the 49ers andthen losing at home to Wash-ington.
22. St. Louis Rams (Re-cord: 5-8; Previous Rank: 25)
The Rams’ offense actuallyscored some points (21, to beexact) to lead them to victoryover Detroit.
23. Detroit Lions (Record:4-9; Previous Rank: 20)
The Lions lost on a HailMary to Green Bay, and theyfollowed that with a loss at St.
Louis this past weekend.24. Miami Dolphins (Re-cord: 5-8; Previous Rank: 24)
The Dolphins lost at hometo the Giants, to the surpriseof no one in Miami.
25. New Orleans Saints(Record: 5-8; PreviousRank: 26)
The Saints hung tough withCarolina a week earlier, andnow they went into TampaBay and won.
The Browns won a game with Johnny Manziel at quar-terback. But let’s see Cleve-
land put together one morequality game before movingthem out of the gutter.
WOLF RIVER MEDIA 3FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2015GREEN & GOLD EXPRESS
this type of level this late in their career,”
Rodgers said. “It’s really impressive tosee. No one keeps himself in the kind ofshape that he does.”
Wide receiver James Jones was draft-ed by Green Bay one year after the teamhad acquired Woodson. The two of thembattled each other in practice for six
years, and after one season apart, Jones was signed by the Raiders prior to the2014 season.
Sufce it to say, Jones has seen a lot ofWoodson over the years.
“Denitely a guy we have to accountfor,” Jones said. “It’ll be good to go against
‘Wood’ a little bit.”Jones’ three-year contract from Oak-
land was cut short after just one season.It had been a nice homecoming story forJones, who’s from the nearby San Josearea in California. But it didn’t last long.
If Woodson is extra motivated for Sun-day’s game because of being released byGreen Bay, Jones won’t be experiencingsimilar feelings based on his departurefrom the Raiders.
“I go in every game trying to get a mil-lion yards,” Jones said. “I just want toplay well. It’s the same way I go into everygame.”
This will be the second game back forMike McCarthy as the offensive play-call-er. After handing over that part of his jobresponsibility to Tom Clements prior tothe 2015 season, McCarthy made the wisedecision to take back the play sheets on afull-time basis. That led to an improved of-fensive attack in the Packers’ Week 14 winover Dallas, featuring 35 combined car-ries from Eddie Lacy and James Starks.
Not only will McCarthy and Rodgershave to be wary of Woodson’s veteran
presence, they have to contend with thenearly unstoppable pass-rush attack ofoutside linebacker Khalil Mack. Mackracked up ve sacks all by himself last
weekend against Denver. Over the pastthree games, Mack has nine sacks.
Overall, though, the Raiders’ defensehas struggled this season. It is ranked25th in yards allowed per game and 23rdin points allowed per game.
Putting up 30-plus points in Oakland would not only be another positive sig n forthe Packers offense, it also should ensurethem of a victory and a guarantee that
Green Bay is part of this season’s playoffpicture.
WOLF RIVER MEDIA 4 Friday, December 18, 2015 GREEN & GOLD EXPRESS
Keys to the Game: Packers vs. Raiders
By Green & Gold Express Staff
The Green Bay Packers (9-4) are 31/2-point favorites for Sunday’s game at theOakland Raiders (6-7) at O.co Coliseum.Here’s the breakdown.
When the Packers have the ballThese are two inconsistent units. In
last week’s win vs. Dallas, the Packers’ of-fense had back-to-back touchdown drivesin the second quarter and back-to-backtouchdown drives to put the game away inthe fourth quarter. In between, however, itpunted on ve consecutive possessions thatgained 60 yards.
The Raiders’ defense, on the other hand,turned in a dominant performance in a 15-12
win at Denver last week. In its prior sevengames, however, it yielded 29, 20, 38, 30, 18,21 and 34 points.
The unit is led by safety Charles Wood-son, who is 39, and outside linebacker KhalilMack, who is 24. Woodson, the fourth pick ofthe 1998 draft, is having a remarkable sea-son with ve interceptions and four fumblerecoveries. That’s nine turnovers; the Cow-boys have eight as a team. Mack, the No.5 pick of the 2014 draft, piled up ve sacks
against the Broncos and has nine in his lastthree games.“You just have to turn on the last game.
That jumps off the screen at you, for sure,”Packers coach Mike McCarthy said ofMack. “Just playing him in the preseasonlast year, I was very impressed with him inlive action. Any time you have a chance toevaluate a player live on the eld, that, tome, is where you really get the best evalua-tion, and I was very impressed with him onthe eld last year. Extremely athletic, greatmotor. Just a very good, instinctive footballplayer.”
The Packers are coming off of their bestrunning game in more than a decade with230 yards against the Cowboys. Duplicatingthat feat will be no small task against Oak-land. Defensive tackles Dan Williams and
Justin Ellis provide 665 pounds of heft upfront. Defensive ends Mario Edwards andMack are tough customers, as well. Wherethey’re vulnerable are the other linebackerslots, with former Super Bowl MVP Mal-colm Smith on the outside and Curtis Loftonin the middle.
Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers will attack a big, physica l secondary thatgave the Broncos fits last week. David
Amerson (6-1), who was cla imed off waiv-ers from Washington earlier this season,and T.J. Carrie (6-0) are the starting cor-nerbacks. D.J. Hayden, Oakland’s first-round pick in 2013, has fallen out of favor,
with Neiko Thorpe (6-1) being the third
corner last week.
When the Raiders have the ballOakland’s offense is inconsistent, as well. After scoring 106 points in a three-game span vs. the Chargers, Jets andSteelers, the Raiders have scored 86points the past five weeks.
Quarterback Derek Carr, a second-round pick in 2014, appears to be a keeper.
As a rookie, only three quarterbacks had apasser rating worse than Carr’s 76.5. Thisseason, Carr ranks 10th at 96.5.
Carr has thrown 28 touchdowns vs. nineinterceptions, thanks in part to a dramati-cally upgraded receiver corps. The Raid-
ers jettisoned James Jones, who landedin Green Bay, in favor of veteran MichaelCrabtree and first-round pick Amari Coo-per. Crabtree has caught 70 passes for 779
yards and seven touchdowns, and Cooperleads the rookie class by a wide margin
with 62 recept ions for 920 yards . Seth Rob-erts has 27 catches as the third receiver.The Raiders like their tight ends. MychalRivera, who can’t block, has 27 catches.Rookie Clive Walford, a third-round pick,has eight of his 21 catches the last twogames. Lee Smith is a nonfactor in the
passing game but an excellent blocker.Some teams liked running back Latavi-us Murray, at 6-foot-3, as a receiver before
the 2013 draft. The Raiders kept him in thebackfield, and his 878 rushing yards ac-count for about three-fourths of the teamtotal. He has broken 3.0 yards per carryonce in the last four games. He’ll attack aPackers’ run defense that had been play-ing well until giving up three long runs vs.Dallas.
Special teamsOakland’s Marquette King is one of the
top situational weapons in the league. Heranks second with 31 punts placed insidethe 20-yard line. Only 37.5 percent of hispunts have been returned. At kicker, thishasn’t been Sebastian Janikowski’s best
year. He is 16 of 21 on field goals. FormerPackers and Lions returner Jeremy Ross
was added recently and handled punt andkickoff returns. He returned one of eachfor touchdowns with Detroit in 2013.
CoachingMcCarthy has led the Packers to six
consecutive playoff berths. With a win onSunday, he’ll stretch that streak to seven.Only the Patriots have qualified for theplayoffs in seven consecutive seasons.In his first season as Oakland’s coach,
Jack Del Rio has the Raiders at 6-7. Theyhaven’t finished with a winning recordsince reaching the Super Bowl in 2002.
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Packers Notebook
By Green & Gold Express Staff
Woodson aging well
Charles Woodson has aged like a fine wine, which is appropriate for the man be-hind TwentyFour Wines.
At 39, Woodson is the oldest defensiveplayer in the NFL. Remarkably, he leadsthe entire league with 10 turnover plays —five interceptions, four fumble recoveriesand one forced fumble.
How has Woodson, who was deemednot good enough by the Packers whenthey released him after the 2012 season,done it?
“It’s recognizing what the team is set
up to do,” Woodson said. “I’ve always beenpretty good at looking at formations andgetting a good feel for what the other teamis trying to do. Part of it’s instincts andthen part of it’s going out there and hav-ing confdence to make a play and going toget the ball. I’ve always done that very well.That’s one thing I don’t think I’ll ever lose.”
During seven seasons with GreenBay, Woodson intercepted 38 passes andforced 15 fumbles. On Sunday, the Pack-ers will have to contend with Woodson’stakeaway skills. Last week, the Packerstied the franchise record with their eighth
turnover-free game of the season, so this will be the batt le within the battle.
“Everywhere the ball is, you see 24,”said Packers receiver James Jones, whoplayed with Woodson in Green Bay and inOakland. “He’s a special player, man. Justthe way he prepares himself. He couldplay until he’s probably 50 because he un-derstands the game so well and diagnosesstuff so fast. Even if he’s 50 years old, he’sgoing to be around the ball making playsbecause he understands the game so well.Definitely a guy that we have to be ac-counting for.”
Woodson wary of Pack attack In 2011, Woodson watched the Pack-
ers score the second-most points in NFLhistory. This year’s Packers offense isn’tnearly as powerful, as it checks in at No.12 with 24.4 points per game.
“I think they started out pretty hot earlyon in the season,” Woodson said. “Thingshave kind of quieted down a little bit, butit’s just one of those things where at anytime they can explode. We just have to doa good job now of limiting big plays fromtheir team. Eddie Lacy is coming backand he’s had a couple of great weeks. He’s
helping that team move forward, so wehave to contain that running game. And,
you know, it’s always about A-Rod. We justhave to limit him from doing his thing.”
Oh, baby, that’s high praiseThe Raiders haven’t made the playoffs
since 2002. Finally, they’re pointed in theright direction because they have a build-ing block at quarterback with second-yearplayer Derek Carr.
Jones calls him “Baby A-Rod,” stem-ming from their work together during pre-
vious of fseasons.“My wide receiver coach that coached
me in college (at San Jose State) coached
at Fresno State,” Jones said. “The firsttime I saw him throw, it’s just natural. It’sthe flick of the wrist. He has all the toolsit takes to be a special player. The way hethrows it, man, I call him Baby A-Rod be-cause it’s just no effort at all into it. Flickof the wrist and he can make every throw.”
The next step on defense After giving up just a touchdown in the
victory over Dallas, Packers linebackerClay Matthews said the defense had achance to be dominant. To get there, it’s
going to have to tighten the grip on therunning game. Green Bay ranks 27th with4.4 yards allowed per carry, a number cer-tainly not helped by Dallas piling up 111rushing yards on three explosive runs.
“It’s the biggest challenge right now,”defensive coordinator Dom Capers said.“Those long runs should’ve been maybe6- to 8-yard runs, but you don’t want themgoing for 45 or 50. We’ve got to find a wayto get that fixed, and we will.”
Great gunner Jeff Janis might not be seeing much ac-
tion at receiver, but he’s made a tremen-dous impact as a gunner on the punt team.Janis was involved in the tackle on allthree of the Cowboys’ punt returns. Eachof those tackles resulted in a 2-yard loss.
“He continues to get better and getbetter,” special teams coordinator RonZook said. “He timed it up. I was a littleconcerned on a couple of them becauseI saw the ball, I saw him and you try to
judge him coming. He’s starting to feel hisstrength and his speed. I’ll tell you some-thing: He’s going to be tested this week.They do a great job on the gunners, just
The sacks that hadeluded Khalil Mack in astrong season for the Oak-land Raiders are no longermissing.
They’re coming inbunches instead.
Mack had a franchise re-cord-tying five sacks in last
week’s upset win in Denverin a dominant performanceto cap an impressive three-game stretch that has dis-played all of Mack’s abili-ties.
The strength to over-power tackles who out-
weigh him by more than50 pounds, the speed to getaround those lumberingblockers and the develop-ing repertoire of movesthat help him get to thequarterback have madeMack one of the most
feared defenders in just hissecond year in the league.
“Hard work pays off,”Mack said Wednesday.“You go out and you workon your craft every day andevery week, so when yousee it working on the statsheet, it’s pretty cool tosee.”
With nine sacks in the
past three games, Mackhas moved into the NFLlead with 14 on the seasonand is two shy of tying Der-rick Burgess’ franchiserecord set in 2005. Thisrecent barrage has comeafter fellow pass rusher Al-don Smith was suspended,
which should have helpedoffenses focus on Mack.
But with the more re-fined pass rushing movesto add to his impressivephysical traits and the free-dom to line up in different
spots, Mack has become amenace to opposing teamsafter recording just foursacks last year as a rookie.
“He’s just really under-standing what he can do,”teammate Charles Wood-son said. “He can go outthere and he has the abil-ity to get around guys orgo through them. He’s re-ally just figuring out he cando that pretty much at his
will. That’s bad for oppos-ing offensive lines.”While he provided con-
stant pressure and wasstout against the run as arookie, the lack of sacksbothered Mack and chang-ing that was a major focusfor this season.
Now he is the total pack-age. To go along with allthe sacks, Mack also has 52quarterback knockdownsand hurries, according toSTATS, tied for third mostin the league. He also
ranks in the top 20 in runtackles behind the line ofscrimmage, showing theall-around versatility thathas made him a buildingblock for the improvingRaiders (6-7).
Mack leads J.J. Watt by0.5 sacks on the season.
“He’s spending moretime going forward this
year. I think that helps,”coach Jack Del Rio said.
“I think he’s had moretime just refining the skilllevel necessary to rush thequarterback at the highestlevel.”
Mack took over thegame in Denver in the sec-ond half, taking advantageof mismatches againsttackles Michael Schofieldand Ryan Harris. It start-ed when he brought downBrock Osweiler for a 10-
yard loss to force a punt onDenver’s first possessionof the third quarter.
He added a strip sack fora safety later in the thirdquarter and then threemore sacks in the fourthquarter to thwart Denver’scomeback attempt. Heeven added a tackle behindthe line in the run game toshow that he is more thana one-dimensional passrusher.
“I’m big on the NFLDraft, so I’ve always
watched the NFL Draftand I remember when hecame out, I was watchinghim and different thingslike that,” Denver line-backer Brandon Marshallsaid. “I remember think-ing, ‘OK, this guy can dosomething.’ But, I was
watching on the sidelineand thinking, ‘Man, thisguy is an animal.’ He defi-nitely had a game, I wouldsay that, a career game forsure.”
Despite playing college
ball at Buffalo, Mack im-pressed enough to go fifthoverall in the 2014 draft.But he wasn’t the first passrusher taken, going fourspots after the more her-alded Jadeveon Clowney
went first overall to Hous-ton.
But Mack had moresacks in one half last weekthan Clowney has in hisentire career and figures
to get plenty more the waythings have gone of late.
“The way he can getaround the corner and bendand get low to the ground— those sort of things — itkind of reminds you of Der-rick Thomas,” Woodsonsaid. “I remember playingDerrick Thomas my firstgame in the NFL againstthe Chiefs and he had sixsacks against us. Khalilkind of reminded me ofthat.”
WOLF RIVER MEDIA 6 Friday, December 18, 2015 GREEN & GOLD EXPRESS
Mack on roll for Raiders defense5-sack night makes him NFL’s leaderThe Associated Press
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Packers rolling through December with purposeThe NFL postseason
picture is slowly cominginto focus, and thanks totheir win last week overDallas coupled with Min-nesota’s loss, the GreenBay Packers have fullcontrol of their destiny inthe NFC North.
There are no surethings left on the schedulefor the Packers, particu-larly in light of their offen-sive inconsistencies, butit would be helpful if someof the supposed patsiesaround the league startedplaying like it.
The Packers’ threeremaining regular seasondates are road games atOakland and Arizona andthe home finale againstMinnesota. The showdownin Phoenix figured to be achallenge all along, but it
wasn’t long ago that this
week’s Oak land matchuplooked like a fairly sure
thing. After the Raider s
knocked off Denver last week, though, it i s clearthat this Sunday will notbe a cakewalk. The Raid-ers kept the Broncos outof the end zone in their15-12 win, and outside line-backer Khalil Mack was amonster, sacking Denver’sBrock Osweiler five times.
Mack has 14 sacks for the
6-7 Raiders. Keeping himoff of quarterback AaronRodgers’ back will be pri-ority No. 1 this Sunday forthe Packers.
While it’s said that it’sbetter to be lucky thangood, it is preferred to beboth. At 9-4, atop the divi-sion and with some of thebugs ironed out on bothsides of the ball, the Pack-ers have been very fortu-nate in one regard thatteams like Indianapolisand Cincinnati have not.
Rodgers may be work-ing through one of his lessmemorable seasons sta-tistically, but he has comesuited up and ready to playfor all 13 games.
The Colts lost QB An-drew Luck to injury, and
with him most reasonableexpectations of postsea-
son success. Last week, it
was the Bengals’ quarter-back Andy Dalton goingout with a broken thumb,thereby putting a majordent in that club’s SuperBowl aspirations. Cincin-nati started the season 8-0and had been thought tobe a serious threat to chal-lenge New England for the
AFC crown.Without Dalton, the
Bengals got whipped byPittsburgh, and havinglost their last two look likea team trending in the
wrong direction.Rodgers’ good health to
this point has been a silverlining in the Packers’ roll-er coaster ride of a season.With him in the lineup thePack can surmount any ofthe postseason field; with-out him, most likely not.
Speaking of the post-
season field, don’t look
now, but here come theSeattle Seahawks. Four-and-five and reeling afew weeks back, the neonrainbows have won fourstraight and seem to havetheir ship righted. Quar-terback Russell Wilsonis making his case forMVP, having thrown fivetouchdown passes in twoof the last three games.Seattle, better known forits immovable-object de-fense, has scored at least29 points in its last fivegames.
Only the hardest-coreoptimist would dismiss the13-0 Carolina Panthers,
who appear to be the realdeal, and in a little morethan a week the Packers
will get a frst-hand gaugeof where they stack up withthe Arizona Cardinals.
All told, some epic
battles figure to go down when the playoffs getunder way.
With the regular sea-son barreling down theclubhouse turn, Packerslinebacker Julius Peppersmade a fitting state-of-the-union observation of theteam’s position with threegames left.
“Of course we can con-tend for the Super Bowl,”
he said after the win overthe Cowboys. “We can winit. Everything’s in front ofus now.”