Aaron Rodgers

Cowboys@Packers 8:15 p.m. [chs. 11, 4] If Aaron Rodgers (right) can lead Green Bay over Dallas, Packers fans might be ready to believe team management knew what it was doing when it let that other quarterback leave. The question is: Will NBC's John Madden be able to handle a Packers game without Brett Favre?

1 Are you ready ...: Not one but two NFL games tonight, back-to-back. The Aaron Rodgers (left) era in Green Bay kicks off at home against the Minnesota Vikings. [ESPN, 7 p.m.] 2 ... for some football?: Followed by the Denver Broncos at the Oakland Raiders. Rookie Darren McFadden tries to ignite the Raiders' offense. [ESPN, 10:15 p.m.] 3 Meet the press: John Harbaugh holds his first day-after news conference at 3:45 p.m. We'll have coverage shortly after it's over at baltimoresun.

Trading for Brett Favre is absolutely the wrong move for the Ravens. They don't need another iconic figure who is bigger than the team. They don't need another former Most Valuable Player whose best games are only on ESPN Classic. They don't need this legendary headache. Can Favre still play? Sure he can, even though he'll be 39 in October. He can still escape the pass rush, although he's not nearly as nimble as he once was. He can still throw the deep ball and the laser pass, but remember, he threw 62 interceptions the past three seasons.

The Ravens took the field wearing all black and it sure seemed like we were all in store for a funeral. Instead, for four quarters, everyone at M&T Bank Stadium was left wistfully thinking about what could have been. I'm not talking about the 2005 season. We paid our respects to the '05 season more than a month ago. The Ravens would need a 26-game schedule and be capable of replicating last night's performance every single week to get a whiff of the playoffs. By what could have been, I'm referring to Kyle Boller, who sure looked like an NFL player in last night's 48-3 gnashing of the Green Bay Packers.

For NFL teams and their fans, the draft is a giddy mix of promise and optimism, drama and angst. But for arguably the biggest stakeholders -- the players waiting to be chosen -- the anticipation and anxiety are especially heightened as a young lifetime's worth of sweat and sacrifice finally has a price tag attached to it. The big winners, such as quarterback Alex Smith, taken No. 1 by the San Francisco 49ers, and running back Ronnie Brown, selected No....

Time's up for Mike Nolan and the San Francisco 49ers. No more private workouts or tape reviews. No more splitting hairs or quarterbacks. What started three months ago as an exercise in rehabilitation for the 49ers reaches critical mass today when Nolan, the team's new coach and decision maker, reveals a draft strategy with the No. 1 pick that could be debated for years to come. Alex Smith, Aaron Rodgers or punt? The decision will set in motion the reclamation job Nolan has begun in San Francisco as well as the 70th NFL draft in New York.

For reasons both economic and practical, it will be a buyer's market when the NFL draft unfolds April 23. Indeed, it figures to be easier to trade up into the top 10 picks of the first round than to slide out of them. In a draft that is short on impact players, several teams already have expressed a willingness to vacate the high-rent district. The San Francisco 49ers are prepared to begin negotiations with four players but have invited offers for their No. 1 pick. The Miami Dolphins have been shopping No. 2 for weeks.