GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Packers RB Ryan Grant took four words to say more about this year's team than he possibly could have in 400. And the rest of the league should take note: Green Bay is not done improving.
On Sunday, the Packers rushed for 136 yards, and held Oakland to a single meaningful touchdown. Grant was asked about the run game and defense, areas presented as trouble spots with a caveat from the reporter that it might be nitpicking. As Grant was digesting that last part, he stopped the reporter, and told him it was just fine to pick nits.
"The bar is high," he said.
It was interesting to me -- and maybe only me -- because it signified the Packers embracing their surroundings, which promise to become more circus-like the closer they get to New Year's Day. It was almost the opposite of players asking, "Do you know how tough it is to win in this league?" And it was important to hear as players started to publicly (albeit slyly) lobby to pursue 16-0, a part of their plan because the standard has been set so high that the things they're shooting for wound up in the vicinity.
"It's definitely something that's in the back of our minds," safety Charlie Peprah told me in an empty Lambeau Field locker room after the Raiders beatdown. "Why not shoot for greatness? Why not be legendary? But we're gonna take this thing one game at a time. As cliché as that sounds, that's been the formula, and it's been working for us and we're gonna continue to do that. But it would be sweet if we went 16-0, can't lie to you."
An even surer sign that it's a goal of the Packers?
The 2007 Patriots, the only team to get to the playoffs perfect since the league went to a 16-game regular season in 1978, have come up as a teaching tool. First, that club's Super Bowl loss is seen as a reminder that the goal isn't to go 16-0. And second, with that in mind, the example shows that a December loss wouldn't be the end of the world. That kind of disappointment only comes in postseason.
"Who talks about that team that went 16-0 and they lost in the Super Bowl? You don't really hear much about them like you should," Peprah continued. "That was an amazing thing to do, to go 16-0. But I don't think anybody talks about them. When you lose, it doesn't matter, so we can go 18-0 -- that's what they went, right? - or go 16-0 in the regular season and lose that first one in the playoffs, and it doesn't mean anything."
Peprah did toe the company line, in the end, saying the roster management end of things is "for (coaches) to decide." But he added, "It's football, we can't play scared. If that was it, we'd pull [Aaron Rodgers] every time we got up 20."
Green Bay, of course, did get a reminder on Sunday of what can happen, when Greg Jennings' left knee collapsed under the weight of Oakland corner Stanford Routt, who tracked him down from behind. Jennings limped to the sideline and eventually was carted off with a towel over his head.
In the end, the Packers dodged a bullet. Jennings' injury is an MCL sprain, which isn't anything to sneeze at, but he should be able to return in early January at the latest. And while Peprah said he was worried for his friend, his thought added more steam to that train headed for 16-0.
"This team is so deep, we've got people we can plug in and keep it going," Peprah said. "Our prayers are with him, but fortunately, we've got people that can step up and pull their weight."
And it seems the Packers, to a man, want it to be all hands on deck until New Year's Day, when something very special could be at stake.
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