East Rutherford, N.J. - Amidst all the raves about how well a couple of the new guys filled in and some of the established guys carried the load, Green Bay Packers safety Charlie Peprah did, with little fanfare, what he's supposed to do.

He played like a starter.

Peprah took over the job Week 5 after rookie Morgan Burnett tore a ligament in his knee and took his lumps against Washington. But since then he's been a solid performer who will be hard for former starter Atari Bigby to knock out of the lineup when he comes off the physically unable to perform list.

"I'm just focusing on going out there and contributing," Peprah said after making four tackles and breaking up two passes in a 9-0 shutout of the New York Jets Sunday at New Meadowlands Stadium. "I just want to be a guy they can count on and be consistent.

"Whatever they ask, that's what I'm going to do. When I'm out there I try to have fun."

The 5-11, 203-pound Peprah started the game playing up near the line of scrimmage to help defend against the Jets' rushing game, but at the end he was making plays deep in the secondary that allowed the Packers to hang on for the victory.

The two biggest plays Peprah made came in the fourth quarter with the Jets fighting to make a comeback. Both times, Peprah came up big, dislodging the ball from receivers after it looked like they had made the catch.

The most important one was on fourth and 8 at the Green Bay 35 when quarterback Mark Sanchez thought he had receiver Jerricho Cotchery open down the seam. Cotchery had the ball in his arms, but Peprah came from behind and made him cough it up with a hit in the back.

"I was just playing the ball," Peprah said. "He (Sanchez) had time to move around. I had my depth and broke deep to short and tried to get the pick."

Cotchery gave all the credit to Peprah for the play.

"When I went up and caught the ball and brought it in, he put his helmet right on the ball and plucked it right out," Cotchery said. "I said to myself, 'You've got to be kidding me.' Play after play, they did a great job playing the ball."

The drop zone: [ul]Wide receiver James Jones can't seem to put together back-to-back good performances.

A week after catching four passes for 107 yards against Minnesota, Jones did not catch a single pass on the five throws targeted to him. The worse play he had was a clear drop on a beautiful deep pass quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw to him down the right sideline.

Jones has cornerback Antonio Cromartie beat, but he simply dropped the ball.

"You know how momentum can swing in a game," offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said. "One or two big plays do you a favor, guys gain some confidence and all of a sudden that big play spawns another big play. We didn't seem to quite get over the hump with that."
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The entertainer: [ul]Defensive end Cullen Jenkins was cleared to play Saturday after making it through a Friday practice with no adverse affect to his strained calf muscle.

So, everyone expected him to be in uniform.

What they didn't expect was him to roll into the locker room before the game dressed as "Mr. T", including a full Mohawk haircut, long feathery ear rings and enough bling around his neck to weigh down a smaller man.

"I was the only one that dressed up (for Halloween)," Jenkins said. "I guess people on our team just weren't in the spirit."

Actually, they were. Not only did they welcome Jenkins back onto the field, where he played a full dose of plays, they enjoyed his comic routine.

"I'm glad he did that because we talked about that for awhile, we felt like we weren't having as much fun as we do as a team and I think that did a lot for us," Peprah said. "He's a guy in the locker room that keeps spirits high. He's a great locker room guy to have on the team. Funny dude."

Jenkins finished with just one tackle, but he knocked down a pass and kept a steady rush on Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez. He did it with a reduced wrap on his left hand, which he broke in the season opener and required a padded club.

"It was huge," Jenkins said. "There were times coming off the edge, I can get that hand back in and I'm getting a little push with it and I can control the placement of it. We still have to strengthen up the wrist and everything, and get it going."
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Big man in the house: [ul]According to an ESPN New York report, the reason the Jets released defensive lineman Howard Green was because he had ballooned up to 375 pounds.

Green said this week he was 360, but it's very possible he weighed a lot more. The Packers didn't care what the scale said Wednesday when they were awarded him off waivers from the Jets because they were so desperate for defensive line help.

As it turned out, Green was more than just a body. He played about 25 snaps and was in on two tackles while helping the defense hold Jets running backs to a long run of 8 yards. It was a nice day for a guy who thought he would be on the street this week.

"I thought Howard Green did a nice job stepping in today," coach Mike McCarthy said. "That's a very good running team."

Green's best play came on an end around that he read in which he put a hit on receiver Jerricho Cotchery, causing a fumble and eventual 8-yard loss. He shot through the line to get to the ball.

"I was just doing my job and my job at that time was to slant inside and get into my gap and I noticed nobody really blocked me," Green said. "I think (tackle Damien) Woody may have shoved me and given me a push, that was it.

"I knew something had to be funny about it. My instincts told me to just stop and see what was going on and here he comes with the ball."[/ul]

The big set-up: [ul]All day long outside linebacker Clay Matthews was trying to get around the 340-pound Woody, but with the Packers only rushing three much of the day, he just didn't have a lot of success.

That is, until a third down play on the Jets' final series.

Matthews put a spin move on Woody and left him the dust, allowing him to sack his former USC teammate, quarterback Mark Sanchez.

"It was tough," Matthews said. "You're trying to work your guy and figure him out. He's a big guy and has been around this league for awhile. He knows what he's doing.

" I felt like I had him beat on a couple of speed rushes early on, he caught on to that and started setting quick, so I was setting him up for a quick spin move and what better time to have it happen then on third down there."[/ul]