Perfect time for East teams to rest

Three teams in the SEC Eastern Division should be thanking those in charge of scheduling this year.

Saturday, Florida (4-3, 1-3), Georgia (5-2, 4-1) and No. 14 South Carolina (6-1, 4-1) are all off, and their bye weeks couldn’t come at a better time.

Major injuries may have altered the direction of Florida and South Carolina’s seasons, while Georgia is looking to get mentally right before the home stretch. With the easiest second-half stretch of any East team, Georgia might have the best chance to win out going forward.

[+] Enlarge AP Photo/Brett FlashnickSteve Spurrier says some other Gamecocks will have to step up in order to replace Marcus Lattimore.South Carolina, who is without star running back Marcus Lattimore for the remainder of the year, still has games at Tennessee, Arkansas and hosts Florida.

For Florida, the bye comes before its annual meeting in Jacksonville, Fla., with Georgia. The Gators then host Vanderbilt before taking on South Carolina. Florida is hoping quarterback John Brantley can come back as soon as next Saturday, but coach Will Muschamp isn’t sure if that will happen.

So, this bye week will be extremely critical for all three of these teams.

“We gotta learn how to block a little bit better, throw and catch,” South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier.

It’s also the time to find a quality attack to help soften the blow of losing Lattimore. This extra time should be used to coach up new starter Brandon Wilds and get receiver Bruce Ellington more reps in the Wildcat. Wilds went from possible redshirt to starter and while he isn’t near the player Lattimore is, Spurrier said he’s been impressed by his work ethic and athleticism.

Wilds can’t be consumed with trying to be Lattimore. He isn't and can’t be Lattimore. This is the time for him to concentrate on doing what he does best and improve upon that.

Getting Ellington more prepared in the backfield should help, too. Spurrier said the concern with running so much Wildcat is teams will load the box to disrupt it, but with Ellington, who was a high school quarterback, he’s a throwing threat. He’s attempted three passes thus far, but making him a more active thrower could benefit the Gamecocks’ offense.

“We’ll try to replace Marcus the best way we can,” Spurrier said. “Hopefully, some of the other offensive players can step up a bit more.”

Expect a more active Connor Shaw in the pocket as well.

Georgia is actually getting healthier with linebacker Alec Ogletree set to return for the Florida game, and the possibility of receiver Malcolm Mitchell (hamstring) coming back, too.

Georgia can also focus on cleaning up some of its fundamental issues, coach Mark Richt said. The first part of the bye was light and used to tighten up technique, whole Florida preparation begins Thursday.

“I would say by Monday we’ll have 90 percent of the plan in,” Richt said.

What could disrupt that plan is not knowing Florida’s starting quarterback. Florida could throw three quarterbacks out in Jacksonville. Richt said he’s seen enough film of each to know what they can do, but not knowing the starter is a concern.

“It’s hard to get a plan for three guys and it sure would be nice to know who’s going to play,” Richt said, “but I doubt we’ll know that until the last moment.”

And the Gators? They are two games out of first and are on a three-game slide. Not having Brantley has hurt, but Florida is banged up on both sides of the ball. Florida might need the bye more than any team.

“We just need to take care of Florida and as we work into the weekend here, start on Georgia,” Muschamp said.

That means getting young quarterbacks Jacoby Brissett and Jeff Driskel better prepared, resting injured players and finding new ways to jump start an inept offense.

Florida stumbled into the bye, but now is the time for this coaching staff to sit back and figure out what is truly working and what isn’t. Right now, a lot isn’t, so making adjustments across the board is a must.

Muschamp doesn’t talk much about the future, but he said his players know where they stand and how important a win fresh out of the bye is.

“It’s pretty obvious that we need some help at this point,” Muschamp said. “They understand where they are and what’s at stake in the situation to get to Atlanta.”

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Packers 6-0, Fending Off Talk About Perfect Season

Given the way the reigning Super Bowl champions are playing, and an apparent lack of strong challengers in the NFC, it's not hard to imagine the Packers making a run at a perfect season.

It's only mid-October, but the topic already is coming up.

After Sunday's 24-3 victory over the Rams, Packers players said it's far too early to even think about going undefeated — but Charles Woodson wouldn't rule it out, either. The veteran cornerback says the Packers certainly are good enough to win every time they take the field.

"Absolutely," Woodson said. "We have a very, very good team. We feel like every time we step on that field, we'll be better than our opponent. Can we? Yeah, sure. But we've got to take it one game at a time. Next week will be a tough test against a division opponent. So we have to focus on that, focus on the next game each and every week, and I think we'll be fine."

When Packers coach Mike McCarthy talks about "chasing perfection," he's referring to play-to-play fundamentals. While others might talk about a perfect season, McCarthy just wants his team to get better going into Sunday's game at Minnesota.

"This isn't 'coachspeak' — there's some things we need to improve on," McCarthy said. "We need to tackle better. We need to just do the (timing) as far as the fits with the running backs with the run blocking unit. It's not exactly the way it's supposed to look right now. There's some things we're doing extremely well, and we'll continue to build off it. That's why we're winning football games. But there's a number of fundamental things that we need to improve on."

McCarthy may have suggested a mantra for his team during his postgame news conference Sunday, perhaps intended to keep the focus on Minnesota.

"We're seven days from being 7-0, and that's our message," McCarthy said.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers predicted that McCarthy wouldn't entertain thoughts of anything beyond Sunday's game.

"Didn't Mike say, 'We have seven days to 7-0?'" Rodgers said. "Beware, that's his code, his theme for this week."

Linebacker Clay Matthews clearly picked up on the message.

"It's way too early to talk about 16-0," Matthews said. "We've got seven days to go 7-0, and that's what we're focused on. When you start getting ahead of yourself in this game is when you start fumbling and tripping up."

The 1972 Miami Dolphins are the only team in the modern era to go undefeated through an entire regular season and playoffs, going 14-0 in the regular season, then winning a pair of playoff games and the Super Bowl.

The 2007 New England Patriots went 16-0 in the regular season, then won two playoff games, but lost to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl. The Indianapolis Colts made a run at perfection in 2009, winning their first 14 games.

For Green Bay, it's the seventh 6-0 start in franchise history and the first since 1965. Including the playoffs, the Packers have won 12 straight games, which matches the longest streak in team history set in 1961-62.

Still, the Packers' play has been far from perfect.

Their defense is tough in the red zone and makes big plays, but is getting sliced up between the 20s, even by the winless Rams. They're explosive on offense but have had lulls in production. There's an overall feeling that the Packers haven't yet played to their potential.

"Fortunately for us, we have a team where we can overcome those things," wide receiver Greg Jennings said. "Not a slap in the face to those guys (the Rams), but if we're playing a much higher-caliber team, you never know what that does to you as far as the outcome of the game. That's no disrespect to those guys, but they're obviously struggling. We can't do that."

At this point, some of the most challenging games left on the schedule appear to be a Nov. 6 game at San Diego, Tampa Bay at home on Nov. 20, at Detroit on Thanksgiving and at the New York Giants on Dec. 4.

As the Packers surely would point out, every week presents a challenge and nothing can be taken for granted.

"That's the mindset you have to have," cornerback Tramon Williams said. "We don't talk about it in here because we won't talk about that until the 16th game, if we're undefeated at that point. We're 6-0 now and the only thing we're going to be focused on is 7-0 this week."

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Connect with AP Sports Writer Chris Jenkins: www.twitter.com/ByChrisJenkins

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Chiefs Just Three Plays From a Perfect Game Last Week In Seattle

A blocked punt. A blocked field goal. A blown assignment on an 87 yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.

OK, maybe not perfect, but pretty close.

It’s been rare that we’ve seen that kind of break down in the special teams. Maybe you have to credit the Seahawks.

The 87 yard touchdown is more of a concern, one that I’m sure they’ve talked about this week.

This was as complete a game as we’ve seen from this team in a very long time. Take away those 87 yards on that pass play and the Seahawks end up with 195 yards passing to go along with their 20 yards rushing.

The defense was dominating. The running game was fantastic, even by the high standard they’ve already set.

I’m hoping by now it has become less fashionable to criticize Matt Cassel. One of the few stats he is not one of highest ranked quarterbacks at this points in total yards passing.

That’s what “top quarterbacks” are based on. Unless of course you know something about football.

Dwayne Bowe has turned into one of the top wide receivers in the NFL. That came out of nowhere. Two months ago the guy couldn’t hold a ball thrown into his hands.

One of the most telling plays, to me, was a third a ten late in the game. Bowe went about 12 yards, curled back and Cassel delivered the ball low, right where he should. Bowe caught the ball, first down.

It is these type of plays that the Chiefs have not been making. Normally, that route would have been run eight yards and curled for a 6 yard gain. If not, Bowe would have dropped it, or it would have been too low.

If they can do that on a consistent basis, they will be very difficult to beat, home or away.

They have a tough road in front of them. We will know they have turned the corner if they can go into San Diego and win.

Regardless, in many ways they have turned that corner that we have been waiting for.

I have been excited about the way the Chiefs have been building their organization. With ten wins in three years, and a 7-4 record this year, it’s hard not to be.

Winning the Super Bowl is the goal for every team, every year. We all know, however, that’s not really the case. The Lions, Bills, Panthers and Chiefs, to name a few, probably had few expectations of actually reaching that goal this season.

If the Chiefs make the playoffs they will be a very dangerous team. I say that because in order to do that, they will have to win some big games between now and the end of the season.

If they fail to make the playoffs, this will be an off season with great optimism for next year.

Each week, this team grows, matures and improves. That does not mean we should be shocked at setbacks and bad losses. The loss to the Broncos should never happen. The loss to the Raiders is understandable, but avoidable.

This week, just take care of business. Then worry about next week.

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