WOLF RIVER MEDIA 7FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2015GREEN & GOLD EXPRESS

How to improve your standing by doing abso-lutely nothing, and other notes from a bye week.

The idle Green Bay Packers’ defense got a lift into the No.1 spot for points allowed this past week, leapfrogging the New York Jets, who had the league’s stingiest defense until New England laid 30 points on them in last week’s seven-point loss.

This week’s showdown between the 6-0 Packers and the 6-0 Denver Bron-cos is rightly being hailed as a showdown between Hall of Fame quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers.

But the reality is that defense – and maybe a nice 60-yard field goal into the accommodating mountain air – will decide

this one. Denver’s defense is comparable to the Pack-ers’, and the home field advantage in a nationally televised game can be daunting.

If you’re looking for trends, the signs are encouraging that the Packers will leave the Mile High city with their perfect mark intact.

For starters, there is this: Throughout Mike Mc-

Carthy’s reign the Pack-ers are 8-1 following a bye week. Last year’s 55-14 bludgeoning of Chicago after the bye week sent the Packers on their way to a five-game winning streak, included in which was the 26-21 win over eventual Super Bowl champion New England.

The Packers under McCarthy have come well prepared after the week off.

It will be just the second time that Rodgers and Manning have faced each other. In their only other meeting, in 2008, the Pack-ers defeated Manning’s Indianapolis Colts by 20 points.

Wide receiver James Jones is averaging more than 20 yards per recep-tion and has hauled in six

touchdown passes through the first six games. Jones has performed admirably in the absence of Jordy Nelson, and will continue to be heavily relied on as the Packers’ wide receiver crew mends.

One of the injured receivers due back is Davante Adams, who is listed as probable for the Denver game. It will be his first time playing since the win over Kansas City in the third week when he sustained an ankle injury. Ty Montgomery, meanwhile, is question-able to play Sunday with his injured left ankle still an issue. Waiting in the wings is Jeff Janis, whose two pass receptions this season have gone for 46 and 33 yards, giving him a per-reception average al-

most twice that of Jones’. Randall Cobb has caught a pass in 46 straight regular-season games.

It will be only the fourth time in league history that two undefeated teams with at least six wins have played against each other. As it turns out, Manning was involved in one of those. His 7-0 Colts met the 8-0 Patriots in 2007, and lost 24-20.

The Packers haven’t lost during Halloween week since the Limburger-scented, 4-12 season of 2005. They have won six games over that stretch, and in three of those past nine seasons their bye week has come during the week of Halloween.

Sunday marks the first of three final prime-time regular-season appear-

ances for the Packers, who will perform a Thanksgiv-ing night basting of the Bears the week before their Thursday night game against Detroit at Lam-beau Field on Dec. 3.

And so, after what seemed like an intermi-nable wait, the hour draws nigh for the marquee showdown. Green Bay and Denver – two perfect re-cords, two great defenses going about their smash-mouth business on the day after Halloween. May the Packers’ candy bags all be filled with Crunch bars, and all the Butterfingers go to the Broncos.

Veteran sportswriter Gary Sey-mour’s column appears weekly in the Leader. To contact him, send an email to sports@wolfrivermedia.com.

Pieces all in place for a Mile High rumble

Gary Seymour

Keep up on all your Packers news at www.shawanoleader.com