With tight end Andrew Quarless out for the season, the Packers will soon have an opening on either their 53-man roster or practice squad. The Packers could fill that opening with one of five street free agents they worked out on Monday. One of those worked out was former Packers center Chris White. "Among the five was former Packers C Chris White, who has seen action with Houston and Seattle as well," writes Bob McGinn at JSOnline. "White can play guard, but the Packers always saw him as a center. He was signed by the Packers as a rookie free agent in 2005." The other four were linebacker Amara Kamar, defensive end Shawn Lemon, tackle Herb Taylor and guard Jake Vermiglio.

It's time for the other tight ends on the roster to elevate their play with Andrew Quarless out for the season, according to offensive coordinator Joe Philbin. "Tom (Crabtree's) going to have to step up. D.J. (Williams) or Ryan Taylor, those kind of guys, we're just going to have to keep getting contributions from the other tight ends," Philbin is quoted as saying by Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

More on Andrew Quarless and what his injury means to the Packers comes from the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Packer Report, ESPNMilwaukee.com, PackersNews.com, AllGreenBayPackers.com and Fox Sports Wisconsin.

Head coach Mike McCarthy relayed the story of how the Packers learned they became NFC North champions, which was clinched when the Detroit Lions lost to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday night. An announcement was made on the team plane. “Well, we didn't celebrate,” McCarthy is quoted as saying at ESPNMilwaukee.com. “I don't think anybody blinked, to be honest with you. I don't know if they were tired, or they already knew, just with the internet and so forth on the plane. But I think pretty much everybody knew about it by the time we landed. It's just the first goal. It's the first mile marker that we set out to hit on this journey, and now we're on to the next one." The players received NFC North champions gear in their locker.

More on the division championship appears in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and at JSOnline.

Don't expect the Packers defense to improve appreciably  the rest of the season. That's the word from Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "Just as the '10 Packers had established their identity, it appears the '11 defense has established its own," writes Silverstein. "It seems unlikely that this far into the season, a unit that has been relatively healthy all year is going to see any dramatic improvement." If the Packers could just give up fewer big plays, everyone could probably live with that.

More on the Packers defense comes from the Packers official website.

The Packers' strategy on the game-winning, fourth-quarter drive against the New York Giants is examined by Rob Demovsky of the Press-Gazette. "Given how they operate the drill in practice, it shouldn’t have come as a big surprise that (Mike) McCarthy and special teams coach Shawn Slocum decided to have their dynamic rookie kick returner Randall Cobb take a knee in the late stages of Sunday’s game at the New York Giants when they kicked off with 58 seconds remaining in a tie game," writes Demovsky. "Despite the potential for a big return from Cobb, who had a 108-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in Week 1, the decision reiterated what — or more appropriately who — the Packers are all about." The Packers wanted all 58 seconds available to them.

More on the Packers' exciting game-winning drive comes from the Associated Press, NFL.com and ESPNMilwaukee.com.

The decision to use a valuable player like wide receiver Jordy Nelson on special teams gets attention from Jason Wilde. “So, you have to have your starters play on special teams," Mike McCarthy is quoted as saying. "We don't play ours as much as other people do, so there's always a fine line. The conversation goes on during the course of the week, how are you going to rep guys, you don't want to stress certain positions out, certain players out, because it is, it's a long year and there's still a lot of football to play in front of us. But based on Jordy's particular responsibility, and what he's doing on special teams, I'm comfortable."

Blog posts from ESPNMilwaukee.com include pieces on Clay Matthews, dropped passes and Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell.

Analysis of the Packers-Giants game comes from Bob McGinn of the Journal Sentinel (subscription required), Cliff Christl and Eric Baranczyk of the Press-Gazette and Packer Report (sub required).

Information on Randall Cobb and punt returns comes via Tom Silverstein at JSOnline.

Charles Woodson should play on Sunday, reports the Associated Press.

Blog posts on Darren McFadden and Herm Edwards are at PackersNews.com.

Quotes from assistant coaches are at JSOnline.

Information from the head coach is at Packer Report.

More on the Packers stock sale is at Fox Sports.

The Packers are holding a Toys for Tots collection at this weekend's game.

Pictures from a Packers Thanksgiving food drive comes from Elite Sports and PR.

Brian Carriveau is a writer for Cheesehead TV. To contact Brian, email [email protected].