I'd like to say that the Packers reached back and found that little something extra to win on Sunday, but it wasn't like that at all. I'd like to say that the team sucked it up to finally find a way to win the close game, but that's not exactly what happened on Sunday. I'd like to say that the head coach gathered them altogether and coughed up a spine-tingling inspirational speech that had them anxious to win for the Gipper, but that wasn't what happened either.

Sunday, when the Packers won their first game of the season at home against the Saints, it was because the Green Bay Packers came out of the locker room ready to play and soundly beat the Saints in almost every facet of the game. The Packers looked like years past when they were King of the Mountain. They nothing stand in the way to a victory. On Sunday, when Green Bay destroyed the Saints, everything that they had been doing wrong all year, suddenly went right. They played nearly flawless football. In the previous weeks, they played tough enough to win but kept shooting themselves in the foot. Sunday, the gun wasn't loaded.

But Favre was.

Favre threw for 215 yards and three touchdowns, and more importantly, zero interceptions in three quarters of play. His passing was crisp, and on target. He read the defense, hit his targets perfectly and carved New Orleans' secondary up.

As a matter of fact, the entire offense was loaded and running smoothly against the Saints. The run game, with Najeh Davenport starting in place of injured Ahman Green, worked well enough without other injured key players, to take the pressure off the Favre and the passing game that allowed the Packers to put up fifty-two points. Hey, the last time the Packers scored fifty or more points was back when Lynn Dickey was quarterback! And this was their widest margin of victory since 1966.

And the defense wasn't to be outdone by the offense. They chewed up the Saints' offense all afternoon. Turnovers finally became a weapon for the Packers as Al Harris had a pair of interceptions, one he returned for a touchdown. As a matter of fact, the Packers scored 31 points off of, count them, five New Orleans' turnovers. And let's not forget that the defense scored two touchdowns off of those turnovers themselves. Nick Barnett ran back an interception 95 yards for a TD. Green Bay's defense finished with three interceptions, four sacks and two fumble recoveries.

But the win shouldn't come as a huge surprise. Not if you get past the fact that the Packers were 0-4 going into Sunday's game. That is to say, Green Bay hasn't won a game yet this year, however they've been playing tough football just the same. But up to now, they just couldn't find the right combination to finish off their opponents. They lost their last three games by a total of six points. So everybody knew that if they could just get things to gel, they'd get their first win. And Sunday they finally accomplished that. And they were able to finish off their opponent by not letting them up off the floor once they were down.

To most, Sunday's win reminded them that it's never completely over with this organization. Of course, I not telling you to run out and start buying Super XL Bowl tickets, but things seemed to be finally coming together for the Packers. What happens the rest of the year is still a big question. But let's just savor this victory for a while, work through the bye-week and then come out with a whole new attitude.

Of course, the Devil's Advocate reminds us that this win, if it's all that comes of this resurgence, could rob the Packers of the first pick in the draft.... Just a thought.

And one other thing, did this win come too easily? I'm not sure if that can really happen, but with such a shellacking, did anybody learn anything that will help them as they head to Minnesota after the bye?

One thing for sure, this win should make everything look differently for the remainder of the year. This team has suddenly put the pieces together and accomplished something that has, up to now, eluded them. And this could be the beginning of who knows what sort of year but it could definitely be the turning point of the season. The young players finally tasted their first victory and that should be a huge factor in building the needed confidence to continue winning.

And now the Packers are 1-4 just like they were last year after five games. So don't be surprised, if this game is any indication they've got things going in the right direction, that the Packers turn their season around. Remember nobody else in the division is showing much life at this point, either. I know it's an old cliché but anything can happen and just as they were last year, the Packers don't seem to be out of it just yet.

Until next time...Keep Driving Forward.