Grant had the holdout early in camp and then the hamstring injury. That hurt them. He is so much more physical than you would think. He's not a runner who goes down on initial contact. He carries defenders pretty good.

When you commit to run the ball from the opening possession, it definitely helps your quarterback and your receivers. It helps your offensive line and Green Bay's line was criticized over the past couple of weeks. You look at the Minnesota loss, Rodgers got mauled. You look at the Tennessee game, Rodgers had opportunities but he didn't convert in the red zone, plus he had an interception down there. He had another turnover, too.

There are three teams now atop the North, but the Packers will look at the Tennessee and Minnesota games as two games they could have won.

Bucs step up against Vikings

Just look at what Tampa Bay did against Minnesota Sunday. The Bucs ran the ball 33 times. They didn't run it for a lot of yards, but what it did was keep Minnesota's defensive front honest. Because of that running game, Jeff Garcia was able to check down and move around in the pocket and buy some time to keep the offense going. He passed for 255 yards in a 19-13 game. You don't see that very often.

I also thought Adrian Peterson was unbelievable. He's really an incredible player. He had 19 carries for 85 yards. Now, any other back facing that defense and those odds today, well their total might have been 19 for 25 yards. I don't know how many plays he picked up five, six yards after it looked like they had him stuffed in the backfield.

The Bucs only had 15 sacks all season, but they had five today. The Bucs had 21 first downs and they held Minnesota to 210 yards. Everything that Jon Gruden called was smart. They controlled the game with seven minutes in time of possession.

As Warner goes, so go the Cards

The one thing that does concern me about Arizona is its lack of a running game. It surprises me, considering Russ Grimm is their offensive line coach. I do like Tim Hightower and he has brought an element to that offense. But what happens when the Cardinals face another game like the Jets' loss earlier in the season? Remember, they got whipped in that game. I figure, for whatever reasons, there will be games when the protection breaks down or when Kurt Warner is off target. Or, the matchups aren't working.

Arizona's defense is much improved. Moving Antrel Rolle to free safety gave the Cardinals so much more range at that position. I think they are going to be in a position to be able to walk away with the division and probably get whatever players they need to get well for the playoffs down the stretch — and if Warner can stay on his feet, they have a chance. But, remember, Warner can be brittle. He hasn't been knocked around a lot this season.

I do look at Warner as an MVP candidate right now. What he has done is pretty extraordinary. I lot of people are also mentioning Kerry Collins for MVP, but I really don't see that. Just because you play quarterback on a team that is unbeaten doesn't mean you're their best player. OK, the last two weeks Collins has come up big in the passing game. But they have a lot of good players.