It seems the Packers have gained respect for Josh Freeman.

Tom Silverstein, of the Journal Sentinel, penned a story out of yesterday’s game about Freeman that included various Packers speaking well of the rookie. Those kind of comments are quite rare to dig out of a losing NFL locker room.

Joe found it quite interesting that Packers linebacker Nick Barnett said Freeman’s size makes him an immediate beneficiary of the Brady rule.

When it was over, Freeman was sacked just once.

“We had guys around him, we were doing some things,” Barnett said. “He kind of got out of the pocket and scrambled a little bit. He’s a tough guy. With the new rules you can’t knock his feet out, you have to tackle him a certain way.

“But we’ve got to make that play. . . . Personally, I think you can only take it so far running the ball as a quarterback, but this game he was able to execute and make it happen.”

Joe wants to give a belated pat on the back to the offensive line for their tremendous pass protection yesterday (minus Donald Penn putting his whole mitt on the face of that defensive end under his face mask).