The Morning After: Green Bay

On the surface, the Browns' 26-24 win over the Packers at Lambeau Field is shocking. Once you pry a little deeper, the outcome of the game is a little more plausible (and the seven-point line the bookmakers gave the Packers seems a bit more ridiculous).

1.Brett Favre isn't Brett Favre anymore.
I don't want to hear fans and ex-jock media commentators continuing to gush about what a gamer this guy is, and how the Packers will always have a chance to win if he's on the field. Favre is still as tough as they come, but he's also old, and his career is wrapping up.
Favre almost pulled the Packers to a win, but a circa-1998 Brett Favre would have buried the Browns, even without his top receiver.
Favre engineered the Packers to a first-drive touchdown, but then drives stalled, Gary Baxter hauled in a second-quarter end zone interception, and the Packers' offense fell silent until the fourth quarter, when Favre took the Packers to two touchdowns and a field goal in the final 11:40.

2. Trent Dilfer looked sharp.
Maybe I was too hard on this guy last week. This week, the man I pronounced as hopelessly past his prime a week ago looked every bit as good as in his Tampa Bay and Baltimore days. He passed for 336 yards and (most importantly) no turnovers.
At Lambeau Field, a place where Dilfer was 0-10 in his career heading into Sunday, he was the better of the two quarterbacks on the field.

3. The big plays all went Cleveland's way.
Seam routes were very friendly to the Browns all day. Braylon Edwards took a 10-yard chuck from Dilfer and outran the Packer secondary for the remaining 70 yards, netting his first NFL touchdown. Tight end Steve Heiden did much the same on a 62-yard score that turned out to be the winner.

4. Both running games were declawed.
Ahman Green posed a threat to eat up the Browns this week, especially if Favre couldn't get the passing game going. Well, Favre really didn't find a groove until the fourth quarter, and Green still managed just 16 rushes for 54 yards. Green's performance did a nice job of leveling out the playing field with Reuben Droughns, who managed a meager 50 yards on 20 carries.

5. Cleveland's defense smoke-and-mirrored their way to a decent game.
Green Bay had more first downs ( 27 to 19) more overall yards (452 to 391) and more rushing yards (116 to 55), but if you watched the game and were asked which defense had the better game, your answer would, at the very least, be a draw. Some of Cleveland's success on defense had to do with miscommunication between Favre and his young receiving corps, but, like Dilfer, the Browns' defense did a good job of minimizing mistakes.

Up next: at Indianapolis, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET.