CLEVELAND Consecutive lopsided victories against two of the NFLs sorriest teams might not mean much to the outside world. But inside the Green Bay Packers locker room at Cleveland Browns Stadium Sunday following their 31-3 romp, there was evidence this team is growing in confidence and togetherness.

No one will be handing out gold stars because the Packers outscored the Detroit Lions and Browns 57-3 over the past two weeks, or that they outgained them by a ridiculous 895 to 288 margin in total yards.

Its understood the Packers are supposed to roll over bad teams. However, what matters most is that after suffering through some early-season problems, the Packers are starting to believe in themselves.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers noticed early against the Browns that his teammates were rallying around each other.

There was excitement, there was dancing, there was celebrating, said Rodgers. There were guys looking out for each other.

When Rodgers got his helmet ripped off on the Packers opening offensive series and was punched in the face by Browns linebacker David Bowens, it didnt take long for some of his teammates to react.

Anytime somebody attacks your quarterback like that, it doesnt go over well with any of us, said Packers center Scott Wells.

It was the Packers who were punching the Browns in the face the rest of the afternoon. They rallied around Rodgers in a unified front.

The linemen came over and said Weve got your back, said Rodgers in explaining what happened after Bowens cheap shot. Stuff like that, I think that means a lot. That means a lot to me. That means a lot to our team. Were a tight knit group. I felt like we kind of played with excitement and joy, all the things we should play with, and got back to playing our brand of football this week.

Their kind of football included rushing for a season high 202 yards and featured no sacks of Rodgers, who posted a sparkling 155.4 passer rating. Those are impressive numbers, considering the Packers were playing without starting offensive linemen Chad Clifton and Jason Spitz.

Were a good football team, said Packers coach Mike McCarthy. That's one thing I know. I've always felt that way.

There were some doubts about that after the Packers lost to the NFC North-leading Minnesota Vikings three weeks ago and eventually fell 2 games off the division pace. Rodgers was getting sacked at a record pace, the run game was stagnant and the defense was experiencing growing pains in the new 3-4 scheme.

Easy wins against Detroit and Cleveland are by no means a guarantee the Packers have turned the corner. But it puts them in a much better frame of mind heading into their rematch against the Vikings next week at Lambeau Field.

I think the last two games we just came out and took care of business and played the way we were supposed to play against teams we were supposed to beat, said cornerback Charles Woodson.

What that means is the Packers can climb into first place by winning the rematch against the Vikings and following it up with a road win at Tampa Bay.

That would be a remarkable transformation from where the Packers found themselves on Oct. 5 after losing to the Vikings.

I think we knew we were a good team, said Woodson. But we just left a lot out there on the field. We didnt do what we were capable of doing in that game. This coming week weve got to let it all hang out. So I feel good about it.

It took nearly two months, but the Packers are finally starting to feel good about themselves.