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Green Bay --

The Star Tribune team is gathered at Lambeau Field to cover the latest edition of the Vikings-Packers rivalry. Please follow along on social media or at StarTribune.com to read Ben Goessling, Andrew Krammer, Mark Craig, Chip Scoggins and myself and to see great photography from our staff.

Here's what I'll be watching for today:

  1. The Vikings dominated Atlanta in Week 1 by running the ball. The Packers excelled in Week 1 by confusing Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky. The Bears, though, didn't remain committed to the running game, so we don't know how their fast, lean defensive front will match up with the Vikings' power running, and how well the Vikings' interior line will perform. Watch Packers nosetackle Kenny Clark and whether he's able to either make plays or occupy multiple Vikings blockers. Vikings rookie center Garrett Bradbury generally fared well in Week 1, but this will be the first time he's faced an NFL team that has a full slate of NFL plays to game-plan for him.
  2. Geronimo Allison vs. Jayron Kearse. If the Vikings do indeed play Jayron Kearse in the slot (and you never know), he'll match up with Allison, who went without a catch in Week 1. You'd think that Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers would want to get Allison moving in the right direction and Allison should have a quickness advantage over Kearse, who usually plays safety.
  3. I'm interested to see how often - or if at all - fullback C.J. Ham and rookie tight end Irv Smith touch the ball. Eventually, the Vikings will want Smith to become a big part of the offense, and will want Ham to give opposing defenses another player to worry about. Here's my piece this week on Ham: http://www.startribune.com/duluth-s-c-j-ham-and-green-bay-s-cheese-two-main-courses-in-sunday-s-feast/560157502/
  4. I came to Minnesota be the Star Tribune's Vikings beat writer in 1990 and have covered a lot of games in Lambeau. To me, there is no other Minnesota-based rivalry anywhere near as compelling as this one. And the highlight of this rivalry is and perhaps always will be the Brett Favre years - his rise to stardom and willingness to switch teams. He is on the field at Lambeau this morning. No word on whether he'll switch jerseys in the fourth quarter.
  5. Rodgers has another offensive-minded head coach, in Matt LaFleur. But talking with Packers writers, it's hard to tell whether Rodgers is dictated the offense or having it dictated to him. So the drama continues - watch Rodgers' body language and interactions with his coaches. This is Rodgers' franchise, for better or worse.
  6. For all of his obvious challenges, Kirk Cousins generally generates yardage and he performed brilliantly last year at Lambeau. With Green Bay having little idea what the Vikings' offense really looks like, could this be another big game for him?

You can find my podcasts at TalkNorth.com