Not even the most optimistic Packer fan could say they foresaw the team’s success in 2007. The team exceeded expectations throughout the season, winning the NFC North championship and advancing to the NFC Championship game for the first time since 1997. Although the season ended in disappointment just short of the Super Bowl, there is no question 2007 will go down in Packer history as a major success. Here is a position-by-position breakdown of how that success was achieved.

OFFENSE

Quarterbacks: A (Last Year: B)

After two years of hearing the talking heads on television drone on and on about how Brett Favre’s game was slipping and how he was somehow holding the Packers back by not retiring, Favre silenced them all by having a spectacular season that, if not for Tom Brady’s historic season in New England, might have earned him his fourth league MVP award.

Given the capable and healthy group of receivers he was sorely missing over the past two years, Favre had his fifth career 4,000-yard season, and a career-high – yes, a career-high, at age 38, after all these years – completion percentage of 66.5 percent. So efficient was Favre and the passing game that it barely mattered that the Packers were incapable of running the football for the entire first half of the season. It seemed as though Favre was breaking a career record every other week, and won the game in the process.

Unfortunately, just like the team’s magical 2003 playoff run, this season will be remembered as ending with an ugly Favre interception in overtime of a playoff game. But that was one of the very few exceptions in what was otherwise an outstanding season. There’s no physical reason why Favre shouldn’t be back in 2008, leading what should again be one of the league’s most potent offenses. But in the event that this was Favre’s last season, Aaron Rodgers looked impressive in his one bit of extended action at Dallas.

Runningbacks: C (Last Year: B-)

There should almost be two separate grades for this position, possibly three. Korey Hall and John Kuhn toiled somewhat under the radar but gave solid B-level play at fullback throughout the season. That was about the only part of the Packer running game that remained consistent throughout the season, as the halfbacks were combining on an F before Ryan Grant’s improbable rise to the starting job. Grant probably deserves an A- or B+ for his second half of the season, but the struggles of Brandon Jackson, Vernand Morency, and DeShawn Wynn earlier in the year cannot be overlooked. Though Jackson redeemed himself and showed some potential with a big game against Detroit in Week 17, it’s clear this is a unit lacking depth behind Grant.

Wide Receivers: A (Last Year: B)

Once Greg Jennings got healthy and Koren Robinson returned from his suspension, this unit was the deepest in the league, creating matchup problems for every defense it faced, especially when all five receivers were on the field at the same time. Hardly a week went by without a commentator calling Donald Driver the most underrated receiver in the league – and deservedly so. Driver earned his Pro Bowl invitation with 82 catches for 1,048 yards, seemingly doing everything but scoring touchdowns this year. Jennings took care of that by finding the end zone 12 times, good for fourth-best in the league. Rookie James Jones showed a lot of potential as a rookie, and Ruvell Martin continued to develop as well. For all the fuss about the Packers not pursuing Randy Moss in the offseason, it turned out to be the right move: Green Bay had as solid a receiving corps as could be asked for, but without any of the ego issues that Moss would have brought.

Tight Ends: B+ (Last Year: F)

This column gave an F to the Packers’ tight ends a year ago, going so far as to say that it was possible that none of the three players from last year’s roster would return in 2007. The Packers surprisingly chose to keep two of the three, and even more surprisingly, were rewarded with one of their most productive years from the tight end position in quite some time.

After a disappointing 2006 in which he dropped numerous balls, Donald Lee developed into the tight end he showed flashes of in 2005. Lee had an outstanding year, racking up the most receiving yards by a Packer tight end since Mark Chmura in 1995, and turning a position that was a huge liability a year ago into one of the strengths of the offense. Meanwhile, Bubba Franks struggled at times before getting injured, but when healthy his blocking was better than Lee’s. Lee and Franks won’t be conjuring up images of Chmura and Keith Jackson any time soon, but they got the job done this year as well as could have been asked.

Offensive Line: B- (Last Year: C)

One of the toughest groups on the team to figure out, the Packer offensive line at times looked dominant, and at others appeared completely inept, particularly when run-blocking. They generally were able to protect Favre when pass-blocking, but often were unable to create any holes for the team’s young backs. Mark Tauscher and Chad Clifton had good years at the tackles – and Tauscher’s performance one-on-one against Seattle’s Patrick Kerney in the divisional playoff game was one of the great individual efforts of the season – but the interior of the offensive line was a weakness. Center Scott Wells had a solid enough year, and all but eliminated the frequent exchange problems he had with Favre last season, but the rotating lineup of guards often didn’t get the job done. Not helping matters was the season-ending calf injury suffered by guard Junius Coston in the final game of the regular season, as his presence was sorely missed in the Giants game.

That said, most of the pieces are in place for this unit. If they can find one more quality guard either through the draft or free agency – perhaps Alan Faneca from Pittsburgh – the line could go from being merely average this year to being a strength of next year’s team.

It’s been a great week in Altoona sports.

The girls’ tennis team qualified four of its seven flights for Individual State, and the entire team will be going to Madison the following week for Team State. Congratulations on a great season so far and best of luck at State!

Also having a big week was the volleyball team, who with their win last night in Osseo are Western Cloverbelt champions for the first time in 14 years. After losing their conference opener, they not only did not lose another match in conference play this season, they never lost an individual game. Best of luck to them as well as they begin postseason play soon.

Finally, though the result on the field that night was not what was hoped for, it’s always great to see Fuzzy Thurston return to his hometown. He may not have lived in Altoona for the last 50-plus years, but he is very much a Railroader at heart and someone this community can be proud to call its own.

Moving from one Packer legend to another, congratulations to Brett Favre on breaking Dan Marino’s record with his 421st career touchdown pass in Sunday’s 23-16 win over Minnesota. It would have been sweet no matter where it was thrown, but if it couldn’t be at Lambeau Field, I can think of no better place than the Metrodome. After years of struggling in Minneapolis, Favre has now won four of his last five games there. The Packers are still only 6-10 in Minnesota over Favre’s career, but that number is a whole lot more respectable than 2-9 was. Also credit the Metrodome crowd for their classy display of sportsmanship after the record-setting pass.

Speaking of Favre’s records, the Packers’ quarterback remains three interceptions shy of breaking George Blanda’s interception record. While plenty of people are pointing to this as an example of Favre’s gunslinger mentality catching up to him, what they’re not telling you is that Blanda threw less than half the number of passes Favre has. Blanda’s 277 interceptions came in only 4,007 pass attempts, while Favre now has attempted a league-record 8,393 passes. In other words, despite the publicity Favre gets for being “interception-prone”, Blanda was actually more than twice as likely to throw a pick on any given pass attempt. Besides, the only thing that will keep Rex Grossman from eventually surpassing both Favre and Blanda is the fact he’ll never be a starter long enough to do it.

The main reason Blanda was able to play so long was that he was also a kicker in addition to being a quarterback. These days, it’s rare to see a kicker or punter play any other position on the field, but two punters showed impressive ability this weekend. Packers punter Jon Ryan did his best Barry Sanders impression in dodging several would-be tacklers on a fake punt on Sunday, while UW-Eau Claire punter Mitch Schaeuble moved to quarterback and completed 17 of 27 passes for 348 yards and two touchdowns in leading the Blugolds to a 21-20 win at UW-Oshkosh on Saturday.

Despite incredible seasons by first baseman Prince Fielder and third baseman Ryan Braun, the Milwaukee Brewers fell two games short in their hunt for their first playoff berth in 25 years. But they did finish with their first winning record since the days of Paul Molitor and Robin Yount – 1992 to be exact – and given the team’s amount of young talent, this could be just the beginning. Fielder is a favorite for the NL Most Valuable Player award at just 23 years of age, while Braun, also 23, has a good chance to be the NL Rookie of the Year. With a pair of 25-year-olds, Rickie Weeks and J.J. Hardy, rounding out the infield, and 25-year-old Corey Hart’s combination of speed and power in the outfield, there’s no reason this lineup shouldn’t continue to improve over the next couple years. Add in a pair of young pitchers, 21-year-old phenom Yovani Gallardo and 23-year-old Carlos Villanueva, and you’ve got to like Milwaukee’s chances in the years to come. If only Ben Sheets could stay healthy…