Brett Favre's Best Games as a Green Bay Packer | Ticket King

Last Thursday, the Packers retired Brett Favre's number at halftime, while the current team suffered a 17-13 loss at home to the Chicago Bears. We thought we would take some time out from the norm, and reflect on some of Brett Favre's best moments as a Packers quarterback. These are in no particular order.

His first game- On September 20, 1992, Favre entered the game replacing an injured Don Majkowski and completed his first pass, of all people, to himself, following a deflection. Favre led the Packers 92 yards for the game winning score and 35 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Kitrick Taylor with just 13 seconds left to give the Packers a 23-17 win.

The moment Brett Favre became “Brett Favre”- On January 8^th 1994, the Packers were playing in their first playoff game in over 10 years. With one minute left, the Packers snapped that ball from the 40 yard line, Favre rolled out to his left, and fired a rocket back across the field into the endzone to an open Sterling Sharpe to give the Packers a 28-24 victory, and their first playoff win since Super Bowl II. This is considered to be the moment Brett Favre became Brett Favre.

Super Bowl 31 - It wasn't his greatest day ever, but it may have certainly been his most important. For the game, Favre was just 14 of 26 for 246 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the Packers 35-1 win over the Patriots. Obviously, for a man who won three MVP awards, he had seen much better days. He also ran for a touchdown using an old pylon tactic taught to him by his father as a child.

Favre's signature game- On October 14 2001, the Packers played host to the defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens, and their vaunted defense, known as “Baltimore's Brick Wall”. Well, in the game of his life, Favre tore down that brick wall, going 27 of 34 for 337 yards and three touchdowns leading the Packers to a 31-23 win.

Playing with a heavy heart- On Dec. 23, 2003. Favre took the field mere hours after the death of his father. Favre ended up having one of the best games of his career, throwing for 399 yards and four touchdowns in the Packers 41-7 win over the Oakland Raiders on Monday Night Football.

Packers Versus Bears Thanksgiving Game Preview | Ticket King Green Bay

On Sunday, the Packers staved off their self-destruction, at least for one week, defeating the Minnesota Vikings 30-13 in Minnesota. The win could prove to be a huge boost for the Packers, who entered the game losers of three straight, and three ugly losses at that. Or it could turn out to be nothing more than a temporary break from a possible second half meltdown of historic proportions. The Bears meanwhile, lost at home to the Denver Broncos 17-15, a game in which Brock Osweiler, the Broncos second round draft choice in 2012, who our in house analyst T.J. Bryce believed at the time, and still does, will turn out to be the second best quarterback drafted in 2012, made his first career start. Osweiler seemed to flow smoothly in Gary Kubiak's offense, performing better than Peyton Manning had all season. The Bears will try to rebound from the loss tonight on Green Bay.

Can Eddie Lacy have another strong game and build momentum? Entering Sunday's game in Minnesota, Lacy was having a nightmare 2015 season, rushing for just 308 yards and two touchdowns through the first eight games of the season. Lacy had his best game of 2015, carrying the ball 22 times for 100 yards, and had a strong finish to the game, helping the Packers pick up tough first downs to melt the clock late. If the Packers are going to win tonight, they need another strong game from Lacy.

When will Aaron Rodgers get back on track? You may have heard it mentioned, you may have even noticed it yourself- the Packers offense, which usually performs with lethal-precision over the years, has been way off the last number of weeks, leaving Rodgers frustrated. That frustration continued into last Sunday, when Rodgers had trouble finding open receivers all game. The Packers had to settle for five field goals at times in which they could have easily had six and that just won't cut it come January.

Can a receiver besides James Jones start making plays? So far in 2015, the Packers best receiver has been James Jones, who they signed off the street in September to take Jordy Nelson's place on the depth chart. Randall Cobb is dropping passes left and right. Devonte Adams has been invisible to this point in 2015. Somebody, Cobb, Adams, Jeff Janis, Richard Rodgers, anybody, needs to step up and start making some plays.

Can the pass rush keep this up? What helped the Packers more than anything else Sunday in Minnesota was the pass rush on defense. Datone Jones played his best game as a pro. Both Jones and rising star Mike Daniels had Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater running for his life all game. Another strong game from these two would go a long way.

Can Clay Matthews keep taking his play to levels we've never seen before? Packers All-Pro linebacker Clay Matthews has mastered two different positions, and that's a HARD thing to do, which is why Mr. Bryce has him at the top of his defensive player of the year ballot at the moment With the emergence of a pass rush without him, Matthews has been able to focus on tackling running backs in recent weeks. On Sunday, Matthews refused to let Adrian Peterson, the league's leading rusher, go anywhere, as the Packers defense held Peterson to just 45 yards on 13 carries. Matthews will need to have the same impact against Matt Forte.

We expect the Packers to win this game, but not by much, and that is how the Packers are going to have to win games until the offense finds a pulse again. Final Score: 20-13 Packers. 

Who's Hot and Who's Not in the NFL Right Now | Ticket King Green Bay

We are nine weeks into the season, so we decided it would be a good idea to take a look at the NFL teams in playoff contention right now, and have our in house analyst T.J. Bryce separate them into the classic contender/pretender format. 

New England Patriots- I believed at the start of the season the Patriots would be effected by the off season Tom Brady sideshow. Instead, it has been the exact opposite. Everything that happened to Brady has motivated the Patriots like never before. They are 9-0, and are looking almost impossible to beat. Status: Contender

Cincinnati Bengals- If someone were to force me to fill out an NFL – MVP, and told me I had to vote right now, Andy Dalton is the NFL's MVP at the moment. He has been that good. The Bengals are firing on all cylinders right now in every aspect of the game and are number one in my power rankings at the moment. Status: Contender

Green Bay Packers- Three weeks ago, this was one of the best teams in the league. After three straight losses they are in a free fall, and have dropped way down the power rankings list. We have never seen these modern era Packers self-destruct quite like this, and this team is clearly in denial if they don't think it is time to panic. Status: Pretender 

Minnesota Vikings- I did not think this Vikings team would be this 7-2 right now. But let's look at the facts. The truth is, they have been barely, BARELY, squeaking out wins against below-average or worse teams. They are improving though, as shown by their 30-14 win over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday and strong finish to the game. Still, I don't think this team is for real, but they will win this division easily due to the self-destruction happening across the boarder. Status: Pretender

Carolina Panthers- We thought the Panthers would be pretty good. We did not think they would be this good. Cameron Newton is having his best season to date and is a serious MVP candidate. On top of that the defense in Carolina is for real. Still, the nearly blown leads against Indianapolis and Green Bay are to be noted, but not to be made a big deal out of. Status: Contender

Arizona Cardinals- The Cardinals are off to a 7-2 start, and are putting up some impressive wins. Carson Palmer is having a great season, and if so many other quarterbacks weren't have better seasons, he would be a back-door MVP candidate. These Cardinals are for real, and have a showdown coming next Sunday against the Bengals on Sunday Night Football. Status: Contender.

Denver Broncos- The Broncos started the season 7-0, in spite of Peyton Manning's play. A foot injury is now going to sideline Manning for at least a week or two, and one must wonder if Manning's 5-20, 35 yard, no touchdown, four interception performance against the Chiefs on Sunday will be the last time he ever puts on an NFL uniform. The Broncos have lost two straight, and will now unofficially(due to Manning being out because of “injury”) turn to Brock Osweiler, their second round draft choice in 2012. This could possibly be Drew Bledose/Tony Romo all over again, when in 2006, Bledsoe's age and declining play led to him being benched in favor of the young Tony Romo. Status: Pretender

Atlanta Falcons- The Falcons started the season 4-0 and as hot as any team in the league. However the Falcons have looked bad five weeks in a row, going just 2-3 in that stretch, and barely winning those two games against bad teams. One must wonder if the Falcons are going to continue to fade as the season goes along. I expect them to. Status: Pretender.

Pittsburgh Steelers- Ben Roethlisberger is beat up, banged up, hobbling along on one leg, has missed a large portion of the season so far, and the Pittsburgh Steelers are 6-3. As he gets healthier look out, this may very well become the team to beat down stretch. Status: Contender

Packers Versus Lions Preview | Ticket King Green Bay

The Green Bay Packers are coming off back to back losses for the first time since 2010. Eddie Lacy is having a nightmare 2015 season, and this offense is a mess right now. Last Sunday against Carolina, the Packers failed to pick up a first down for a period of time that lasted for over 20 minutes in the first half. Both of these losses were on the road, and the Packers return home this week to play the Lions.

How will James Starks do, and can Eddie Lacy be productive at all? As stated above, Eddie Lacy is having a nightmare 2015 season. We are halfway through the season and Lacy has just 308 yards rushing. Well, his nightmare season just got worse this week. Lacy has officially been benched. James Starks is now number one on the depth chart. That doesn't mean Lacy won't play, it just means Starks will open the game as the starter. Starks is a good solid running back, and we think he will play well. As far as Lacy is concerned, the Packers have said his weight is not an issue. Well that is their official statement on the matter. Unofficially, Lacy is really overweight, even for his standards, and it is effecting his play.

Can Aaron Rodgers shake off this bad stretch of play and return to form? Aaron Rodgers is not used to this little production personally, at all. After having two nightmare games in a row, Rodgers starting out  bad in Carolina last week. He picked it up in the second half, although some of that can be attributed to inflated stats that are often picked up in comeback situations like that. We can say this, the Packers are not paying Aaron Rodgers to throw for 150 yards and a touchdown or two every game., they could get that from Ryan Fitzpatrick for 10 times less cost than they are paying Rodgers.

Can someone please get vertical in the passing game? This is a problem that masked itself the first six weeks of the season. However, over the last couple of weeks, this problem has really been brought into light. As we all know, Jordy Nelson tore his ACL in the preseason. As a result, the Packers offense lost it's vertical passing ability. At this moment, opponents are literally daring Aaron Rodgers to go vertical which is kind of funny, because up until Nelson's torn ACL, daring Aaron Rodgers to go vertical was a quick way to lose your job. Now, it is the defense of choice against the Packers. A potential solution could be to finally put Jeff Janis into the lineup and let him play. At 6'3”, 220 pounds, and a 4.42 40 time, Janis has measurables that don't grow on trees and could put him into play as dangerous deep threat, if they would just play him.

We usually do this in question format, but for this last part, we will simply say please don't blame the defense for these losses. Right now, this is all on the offense. Yes, the Packers defense did get run over in the second and third quarters last week, but that was after they were worn out, from being on the field so much. When the offense can't get a first down for over a 20-minute stretch of game time, the defense will get tired. So please, don't blame the defense, this isn't their fault, this falls squarely at the feet of the offense.

If this were another game against a good team on the road, we would say the Packers are headed for another loss. But this isn't a good team on the road, this is against the Lions at Lambeau Field. Final Score: 34-20 Packers. 

Blake Shelton Summerfest 2016 Tickets | Ticket King Green Bay

Summerfest 2016 has two headline acts booked for the Marcus Amphitheater.  The latest concert announcement came this week.  Blake Shelton will perform on July 1. Tickets for his show are available now. Shelton will tour to support his 2014 album titled "Reloaded: 20 #1 Hits." He's been going strong since 2001.

Shelton found more fans of his music when he agreed to join the celebrities on the hit television show "The Voice." He had amassed a huge fan base as his songs hit number one in the early part of the 2000's. Now, those who may not look to country music as a source for enjoyment found his style to be very likable. Blake's popularity had long been established before the rumors of his dating Gwen Stefani came up in the press. 

Between 2001 and 2009, Blake had six number one hit songs on the country charts.  From 2010 to now, he doubled that number, and currently has 14 number one hits in this decade. Shelton is not one of your run of the mill "Bro Country" singers. Sure, he sings songs that follow a well worn formula in country music, but he's managed to avoid the "flavor of the day" type songs that we have all come to know. See Blake Shelton in the summer of 2016. 

 

2015 NFL Trade Deadline Looms | Ticket King Green Bay

The 2015 NFL trade deadline is this week. Now, unlike the trade deadlines in the other three major sports (hockey, baseball, and basketball,) the NFL's is by far the least exciting. Why? Because in the NFL, a team cannot just “plug and play” a player that they just acquired. In all those other sports, a traded player can be performing for their new team immediately. For example, the Milwaukee Brewers trade for a third basemen that day, and three hours later that third basemen is in a Brewers uniform, playing third base, and goes 3-5 for that night in his Brewers debut. That is not how it works in the NFL. It is very hard to come in, in early November, learn a playbook in three days, and step on the field the following Sunday. When a team trades for a player, they must have a specific plan for that player. Still, some teams do make moves, and there are few out there that could be interesting. Here are some players that could be moved.

Vernon Davis /TE/ San Francisco 49ers -  A few days ago, when we started writing this, Davis was still on the trading block. He is officially off the trading block as of Monday. That day, the 49ers traded Vernon Davis and a seventh round draft choice to the Broncos for a 2016 sixth round draft choice and a 2017 sixth round draft choice.

Calvin Johnson /WR/ Detroit Lions - There was a time, not too long ago, when Calvin Johnson was one of the most feared players in the league and a nightmare to cover. It looks like all of those hits are starting to catch up to him. Still, he is a great player. The Lions are 1-6, and could be looking to move several players ahead of the deadline.

Anquan Boldin /WR/ San Francisco 49ers - Another 49er who could be moved, Boldin deserves to finish out his career with a chance to go for one more championship. In his new role on a different team, Boldin could be a very good fourth receiver.

Robert Griffin /QB/ Washington Redskins - The most talked about football player in recent memory, Griffin has gone from the role of Washington Redskins franchise player to scout team safety, which is where our in house analyst T.J. Bryce thinks he should have been playing all along- safety. Not sure how effective a fresh start in a new place will help him at this point, but he will still generate some interest.

Brandon Pettigrew /TE/ Detroit Lions- This is yet another Lions veteran who could be moved, Pettigrew can be very productive in the right offense. We’re not sure where though.