



GREEN BAY, Wis. – Back when he was Brett Favre's anxious understudy, in an effort to fire up his fellow scout-teamers, Aaron Rodgers busted out an over-the-top celebration on the practice field. Many of his fellow Packers cracked up – and The Belt was born.

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Rodgers, in an effort to rile what he hopes will be a rejuvenated Green Bay Packers defense, unveiled his latest and greatest triumphant gesture a few days ago, one he describes as a "nice white-guy dance." Striking a pose with his hands on his ears and gyrating his hips like an actor at an ill-fated "Magic Mike" audition, the reigning NFL MVP put the camp in training camp.

Rodgers wasn't simply playing for laughs. Given the disappointing way the Packers' 2011 season ended, with the reigning Super Bowl champs suffering a 37-20 divisional-round playoff upset at the hands of the New York Giants, there's an edge to this training camp that the star quarterback has done his best to nurture.

This is especially true for the men staring across the line from Rodgers. After finishing with the league's fifth-ranked defense in their Super Bowl season, the Pack plummeted to the bottom of the league's rankings last season, an embarrassing effort that veteran defensive back Charles Woodson sums up as "anemic."

That Green Bay somehow managed to flirt with an undefeated campaign and finish 15-1 was a testament to the brilliance of Rodgers and his offensive teammates. In the eyes of Woodson, the Packers' most decorated defender, the quarterback's regular-season brilliance (Rodgers' mind-boggling numbers included 45 touchdown passes, six interceptions, 4,643 yards and a single-season record 122.5 passer rating) created a sense of indomitability that cost the team when things counted most.

Against the Giants last January, after allowing a Hail Mary from Eli Manning to Hakeem Nicks that gave the Giants a 20-10 halftime lead, the Packers remained confident.





"Regardless of what happened in the first half, nobody thought we would lose that game," Woodson recalled Sunday as he sat in that same Lambeau Field locker room. "With what our offense had done that season, I think we had, especially defensively, a false sense of security about what they were gonna do.



"Maybe we should have panicked. But we didn't. We just felt like, 'Hey, at the end of the day, the offense will put up enough points, we'll win the game and move on.' That was probably to our detriment."

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