| Don Banks: Packers in good position to buck trend of failed Super Bowl repeats and Tom Verducci: Game's shifting strategies leaves Beane, sage of Moneyball, behind |
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GREEN BAY, Wis. -- This is the time of the year in the NFL when the defending Super Bowl champions always get a little smoke blown up their you-know-whats. They're back at work again, and everybody loves them. All day long they're told how great they are by the fans and the media alike, they're treated like conquering heroes, and they hear the word "repeat'' uttered at least 30 times a day in various contexts.It's a trap, of course, and the goal is always to ignore all that, refusing to buy into any sense of accomplishment or complacency. But it's not easy, and that trip through the proverbial minefield is just one of the reasons the last Super Bowl champion to repeat were the Patriots (2003, 2004). In fact, no defending champion has even won a playoff game the following season since the 2005 Patriots beat Jacksonville in the wild-card round before losing at Denver in the divisional round. [Read the full article] HOUSTON (AP) -- Houston Texans All-Pro receiver Andre Johnson has left morning practice with a dislocated left index finger.Johnson was running a slant route in an individual drill Tuesday and leaped to catch a pass, with rookie cornerback Roc Carmichael defending. Johnson couldn't make the catch and came down shaking his left hand. He took off his glove and walked to the sideline, where a trainer examined him.General manager Rick Smith walked over to Johnson before the five-time Pro Bowl selection left the field on a cart.Coach Gary Kubiak did not know the severity of Johnson's injury after the morning practice. But he was hopeful that Johnson would be ready for the afternoon workout.Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.HOUSTON (AP) -- Houston Texans All-Pro receiver Andre Johnson has left morning practice with a dislocated left index finger. [Read the full article] So I just watched Source Code, which I liked quite a bit more than I expected. Based on my Movie Plus-Minus — which, damn, I still need to patent* — I’d give it a plus-1.5 star rating, which is very good (I expected a 1.5- or 2-star movie, and it was probably a 3 or 3.5 out of 5 stars).Not to give away anything that you don’t already get in the trailer — in Source Code this super-secret government agency is trying to catch a bad guy, and because of some vague scientific breakthrough that is only ridiculous if you think about it, they can send Jake Gyllenhaal back to the scene of a previous bombing for eight minutes. And they can keep sending him back, over and over again, eight minutes every time, though something quizzically called the “Source Code.” For some reason, he doesn’t just watch the past — like Harry Potter when he goes into the Pensieve — but he can actually change things. [Read the full article] 
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