How is everyone doing tonight? Warm, I hope. It is pretty darn cold here. Walking from the parking lot to the stadium, my hands nearly froze off. It's not as windy inside the stadium, but it's darn windy outside of it.

Well, he used to use it to fuel him. But he's been getting criticized all year and it hasn't mattered, so I don't know how he's going to react. But the Packers are up against it tonight. If they don't win, their season may be over.

His presence is related to his play. He's not a great rah-rah guy. He leads by tackling quarterbacks and hitting running backs. He has to get to doing that right away. If he can draw some double teams, that would help, too.

It was not a mistake to keep him over Hayward. He's a better player. The Packers had a lot invested in him. It's hindsight to say the concussion thing would cost him an entire season. As far as I know he's back in Florida.

It helps. Trade that for Lang and Ryan, I guess. But you're talking about the best player on defense, so that matters a lot. And as badly as the tight end position has been, anything from Cook will be a bonus. But those two guys alone are not getting the Packers over the hump. Rodgers has to have a huge game.

Ask me around 10:45 p.m.

It doesn't look that bad compared to outside the stadium. It was bad out there. The flags on the goal posts are swirling but it's kind of hard to tell how bad it's
going to be on the field.

Every player is up for analysis, it's part of the game. There's certain things that are out of bounds and there are certain things that are borderline. A reporter has to make a decision whether the personal stuff a player doesn't want out there are affecting his game and whether it's news. It's not always crystal clear. But Rodgers benefits from a lot of positive coverage. He has to accept the negative stuff, too.

It's not about how healthy they are, it's about what kind of football condition they're in. They're not going to be at their best tonight. They're not going to be as sudden as they'll in two weeks. They'll probably get tired faster. But as James Starks showed last week, they can still have an impact.

I think they'll start out with Starks and see how that goes. But I do think they need to get Montgomery into the game plan more, whether as a running back or receiver. He's good with the ball in his hands. They have to figure out how to get him going.

I haven't even seen him since he got hurt, so I haven't had a chance to ask him how he's doing. I would guess it's a couple more weeks just because he hasn't even been rehabbing out at practice. When he comes back, I would expect Linsley would remain at center provided he's still playing well. They're just about equal and so when one gets the start, it's hard to unseat him.

He's never behind me at Lambeau Field. Only on the road. He has a private box in Green Bay. On the road, most general managers sit in the press box. He has a complete poker face. He sometimes looks ashen when things aren't going well, but he's not very animated unlike Ron Wolf, who used to curse the officials all the time.

The guy had three days to learn the offense. He doesn't know the protections well, he doesn't know the line adjustments. It could be a disaster.

They're going to try to run the ball I'm sure. Starks had a hot hand last week and they'll try to establish him and then go to play-action. I wouldn't say they don't have a receiving threat now that Cook is back. He's no savior, but he offers a threat.

I think you're viewing me with Journal Sentinel-colored glasses on. I've had some bad blogs and I'm the first to admit. But I go back, watch the tape and make my corrections. Then I have a cup of coffee and get ready for the next week. I soak my hands in Palmolive, wash off my keyboard and use the restroom regularly. Then it's go time.