My Ryan Grant Blog

Packers rookie linebacker Frank Zombo made his first start Monday against the Bears.

That's a little bigger stage than, say Kelly/Shorts Stadium or Spartan Stadium.

Zombo, who grew up in Sterling Heights and played defensive end at Central Michigan, started in place of Brad Jones (knee). The coaching staff decided to go with Zombo over veteran Brady Poppinga.

"He's a tough kid and has earned every opportunity he's been given here," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said of Zombo. "He came here as a free agent and went through training camp with a significant ankle injury that he didn't miss a whole lot of time with.

"Every time we put him in a situation, whether it was practice or preseason, he just kept producing."

Zombo, an undrafted free agent, was one of the biggest surprises in training camp, leading the team in tackles (18) and sacks (two).

On Monday, Zombo had four tackles and sacked Jay Cutler once during a 20-17 loss.

"I though he got off to a good start, solid start," McCarthy said. "We asked a lot of him as far as the amount of time that he played in his first opportunity.

"Frank has a lot of good football in front of him. Tough kid, hard working and I'm proud of what he's accomplished so far. But he's just getting started."

Antonio Brown , a former teammate of Zombo's at Central Michigan, made a statement of his own when he returned the opening kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown as the Steelers beat the Titans, 19-11, last weekend.

Brown, a receiver and returner at Central, he is mainly a return specialist (34.8 yards on kickoffs, 21.0 on punts) for the Steelers.

Former Hillsdale standout and Raiders third-round pick Jared Veldheer has had an interesting start to his career.

Veldheer was drafted as a left tackle and practiced there all of camp. But he was switched to center, beating incumbent Samson Satele for the starting spot.

But the move didn't go as well as planned, and Veldheer was replaced in the opener. He has since moved back to left tackle and is splitting reps with Mario Henderson .

"Believe me, I'm the first guy to say I'd like to put the same five guys out there," Raiders coach Tom Cable told the San Jose Mercury News. "Sometimes you have to be flexible."

Neither Henderson nor Veldheer has distanced himself as the clear-cut No. 1 option.

"We're able to keep (Henderson and Veldheer) fresh and roll them in there and see if we can get one to kind of rise, if you will," Cable said.

5 -- Individual 400-yard passing games this season, the most after three weeks in history

18 -- Teams with a 2-1 record or better, most after three weeks in history

75.2 -- Percent of teams that started 3-0 and made the playoffs since 1990

NFL rookies from Michigan:

Joique Bell,RB, Wayne State: Undrafted. Signed by the Eagles off Bills practice squad; guaranteed three game checks on active roster

Antonio Brown, WR/R, Central Michigan: Drafted by Steelers in sixth round; returned opening kickoff for TD vs. the Titans in Week 2

Stevie Brown, S, Michigan: Undrafted. Signed by Raiders; playing mostly special teams, has three tackles

Robert Callaway, DT, Saginaw Valley State: Undrafted. Signed to Lions practice squad. Big, physical player who will learn a lot from Kyle Vanden Bosch and Co.

Josh Gordy,CB, Central Michigan: Undrafted. Signed to Packers' practice squad, spent most of exhibition season with Jaguars

Brandon Graham, OLB, Michigan: Drafted in first round by Eagles; recorded first career sack vs. Lions in Week 2

Dan LeFevour, QB, Central Michigan: Drafted in sixth round by Bears, then cut. Has caught on as the No. 3 with Bengals

Greg Mathews, WR, Michigan: Undrafted. Signed to Bears' practice squad; gad three catches for 38 yards in exhibition season

Nick McDonald, G,Grand Valley State: Undrafted. Former GLIAC lineman of year plays a reserve role for Packers.

Zoltan Mesko, P, Michigan: Drafted in fifth round by Patriots; averaging 43.1 yards with long of 56

Brett Swenson, K, Michigan State: Undrafted. Signed by Colts. Never really threatened Adam Vinatieri's job; on injured reserve with leg injury

Jared Veldheer, T, Hillsdale: Drafted by Raiders in third round; Splitting time at left tackle after a disastrous start at center

Blair White, WR, Michigan State: Undrafted. Signed with Colts; had three catches for 27 yards and TD vs. Broncos last week

Frank Zombo, OLB, Central Michigan: Undrafted. Signed with Packers. Started first game vs. Bears on Monday; had one sack

• 1. New Orleans (1): Had game vs. Falcons won in overtime; missing short FG doesn't knock them down.

• 2. Pittsburgh (NR): Who thought they'd be 3-0 without Big Ben? Allowed league-low 33 points.

• 3. Baltimore (2): It'll get scary if the offense can put up a consistent showing like it did vs. Browns.

• 4. Green Bay (3): Still the best team in the NFC North despite loss to Bears; they'll learn from 18 penalties.

• 5. New England (4): The offense, behind QB Brady, is back to scoring at will (league-high 90 points).

• 28. Detroit (25): Looked like same old Lions vs. Vikings. Do they have a shot to beat the Rams in 2 weeks?

• 29. San Francisco (NR): Heads starting to roll with firing of offensive coordinator Raye this week.

• 30. Carolina (28): Rookie QB Clausen obviously didn't give them the lift they were hoping for.

• 31. Cleveland (32): Wallace is the starting quarterback ... Is there anything else to say?

• 32. Buffalo (30): Played the Patriots tough; still worst collection of players on offense.

Last week's rankings in parentheses