Mark Craig's NFC North Intelligence

November 30, 2013 at 11:00PM
Green Bay Packers' Derek Sherrod rides a bike to NFL football training camp Friday, July 26, 2013, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash) ORG XMIT: WIMG1
Green Bay Packers' Derek Sherrod rides a bike to NFL football training camp Friday, July 26, 2013, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash) ORG XMIT: WIMG1 (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

northern intelligence

There isn't much good news to come out of a 40-10 loss that drops a team to 0-4-1 over the past five games. But the Packers did finally get Derek Sherrod into a game at right tackle during the Thanksgiving thumping at Detroit. You might remember the name. Sherrod was the Packers' first-round draft pick in 2011. But he broke his right leg in December of his rookie season. He missed all of 2012 and the first 10 games this season. He played on special teams against the Vikings and then saw action on offense when a knee injury to center Evan Dietrich-Smith caused the Packers to shuffle their line against the Lions.

• • •

Bears return man Devin Hester set Chicago's single-game kickoff return yardage record with 249 in the Week 2 win over the Vikings. He has reached many other milestones this season, including becoming the fifth player in NFL history with at least 3,000 punt return yards (3,144) and 5,000 kickoff return yards (5,005). The others are Brian Mitchell, Allen Rossum, David Meggett and Eric Metcalf.

• • •

Packers guard Josh Sitton probably picked the wrong time to call the Lions "scumbags" and "dirt bags." Without Aaron Rodgers to back him up, the Packers gave up seven sacks and were outgained 561-126 in yards during the 40-10 loss at Detroit. After the game, Sitton didn't back down, saying, "I'm not taking it back." Although it seemed to motivate the Lions, defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh shrugged it off when asked if Sitton's comments had any impact on the game. "For me, personally, no," he said. "It's just words."

about the writer

about the writer

Mark Craig

Sports reporter

Mark Craig has covered the NFL nearly every year since Brett Favre was a rookie back in 1991. A sports writer since 1987, he is covering his 30th NFL season out of 37 years with the Canton (Ohio) Repository (1987-99) and the Star Tribune (1999-present).

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