Seeing the injury reports the last few weeks, it seems like our receiving corps has collectively had many “limited participants” for a lot of our practices. Can you give color as to what their preparation looks like on those days? And do you think being out of practice rhythm has anything to do with the uptick in drops the last two weeks?

It’s certainly possible, but only the players and coaches really know, and they aren’t going to make excuses anyway. Every team deals with it. “Limited participant” is as vague as it sounds. It can mean a player did only individual drills and no 11-on-11, or some 11-on-11 but not as much as a normal practice, or a couple select drills but nothing else. Your guess is as good as mine.

Good morning, Mike. The offensive line has seen a lot of rotation this season. What’s the most underrated part of maintaining continuity up front, and which lineman has exceeded expectations the most?

The most underrated part is referenced above, being able to practice, fully, together, every day and every week. That can be hard to come by. As far as exceeding expectations, I’ve got to hand it to Sean Rhyan. He’s been asked to play both guard spots, part-time and/or full-time, and now he’s switched to center out of necessity. If he holds it down the rest of the way he could be playing himself into a second contract in Green Bay. I’ll also give a shout-out to Zach Tom, who has fought through a tough injury situation for the second straight year and, to his credit, isn’t talked about much.

Derek from South Point, OH

I teach high school, and one of our students is a huge Colts fan. He argued Jonathan Taylor deserves the MVP. I tried telling him whether or not this is true, it’s a QB award. I owe him pizza if I’m wrong. I don’t feel there’s a clear winner at this stage. Who is on your current short list?

Josh Allen for sure, and you can’t ignore what Drake Maye and Matthew Stafford are doing. I think Taylor absolutely deserves consideration, but as you said, it’s a QB award, and since 2005-06, when Shaun Alexander and LaDainian Tomlinson won it back-to-back, only one non-QB has won it (Minnesota RB Adrian Peterson in 2012). Taylor is more likely to win the Offensive Player of the Year award, as Saquon Barkley and Christian McCaffrey did the last two seasons.

Recently re-watched the 1979 game against New England from Monday Night Football. Big upset win was joyous! So many things I noticed vs. the modern product: No info overload on the screen, no visible first-down line, most offensive linemen used right-handed stance even on the left side, almost 100% base personnel (no 3 WRs, no nickel D), Bart Starr not wearing a headset … good times, great memories!

I was thinking the other day about how big a deal MNF was when I was a kid. It was a huge television event as the only NFL game each week in primetime, and Howard Cosell made sure the game had an aura. Now there’s Sunday nights, Monday nights, Thursday nights, Saturday nights in December … it’s just another game.

Matt from San Luis Obispo, CA

It was mentioned in the Wednesday chat that defensive players could counter offensive players pushing the pile by going in low and pulling the pile down on top of them. That is precisely what players started doing in rugby to stop mauls (not malls), and the ruling body outlawed it, because it was too dangerous. Mike’s face gets bluer.

On the bottom of that pile it would turn all kinds of colors, I’m afraid.

I agree the Packers need to improve last year’s record against our divisional foes. However, are the fans losing site of the other two games: Baltimore and Denver? Baltimore will be better than their record if Lamar Jackson plays and we have to play the red-hot Broncos at Mile-High altitude. If we lose a divisional game in the next three weeks will these games become must-win?

C’mon, Dave. You know better. I’m not even going to say it.

What part of the season do you love the most?

This part. It’s prove-who-you-are time. Happy Friday.