Review~ Commanders 23, Packers 21: The Packers continue to ignore the run game, they keep losing due to not having a rhythm and the defense getting put into bad positions with little rest – resulting in a loss. Does this sound about right?

Green Bay ran 47 plays (that’s way too low), and only had 12 rush attempts. The wild thing is that’s usually the balance of a team that fell down big, early, and had to pass to get back into the game. Nope…the Packers held the lead until 11:49 left in the 3rd quarter. Also, the Packers’ o-line can’t be held to blame as they allowed 0 sacks on 35 dropbacks, but Green Bay only held the ball for 22:53 out of 60 minutes. That simply won’t get it done. Not this team. This team needs to win the time of possession, the turnover battle, and need 1 to 3 clutch passes from their Hall of Fame QB to win. If that sounds like a lot, well, that’s what essentially EVERY team needs in order to win in the NFL.

With each passing week, especially during this 3-game losing streak, it seems as though while the Packers have an incredible amount of talent, they also seem to be learning how to play together and having to figure out how to win – which is typical of a young team – which is frustrating, because they’re not.

Hope? Sure, Green Bay could be fighting through some learning curves on offense with the shuffling of the offensive line, young/new receivers, however that’s all the more reason to stick to the run game…hell, even over commit to the run, would be a good problem The other item? This may be the most parody the NFL has seen in quite some time. While it seems there are a few teams that can hoist the Lombardi Trophy at this point, there still are quite a few teams that wouldn’t shock me should they “figure it out,” *cough cough* Tampa Bay *cough cough.*

Matchup ^yikes~

	GB D	(rank)	vs.	Buf O	(rank)
Rush	139.6	27		117.8	16
Pass	168.9	1		323.0	1
Total	308.4	8		440.8	1
Pts	20.9	14		29.3	2
	GB O			Buf D
Rush	110.3	18		76.2	1
Pass	221.3	17		205.3	11
Total	331.6	20		281.5	1
Pts	18.3	23		13.5	1
T/O
Takeaways	5	T-29th		13	T-3rd
Giveaways	9	T-16th		10	T-21st
Diff.	(4)	T-26th		3	T-6th

There’s only 1 Strength vs. Strength in this game, and that’s the Bill’s passing attack, led by QB Josh Allen (#17) which ranks 1st in the NFL entering Week 8, and the Packers’ pass defense, also ranking 1st entering Week 8. The issue will become – like it’s been all season – should the Packers not stick to the rushing attack, their defense will be on the field longer and have to defend the 16th ranked rushing offense. The main issue there is, Jared Allen is incredible running the football himself. He could drop back to pass and if everyone is covered, take off and convert 3rd and longs to firsts…

If Green Bay has any hope of winning this game, especially without Allen Lazard, they’ll need to stick to the run game, get quite a bit more pre-snap motion and playing off it, and win the turnover battle. At the end of the game, should the Packers have a higher time of possession, >50% rush v pass ratio, and have a positive turnover margin, they should win. Until they show they’re capable of doing that for 60 minutes, it’s insane to think they will

Packers 20
Bills 34 (-11)

Season: 3-4
Overall: 84-46

Review: Jets 27; Packers 10~ following up from last week’s article title “Run. The. Ball.” The Packers, well, they um…did not run the ball. In the 69 total plays run by Green Bay, Aaron Jones + A.J. Dillon combined for 26 touches (38%). That simply won’t get it done, evidenced by the loss to the Jets.

The defense did great, until it didn’t. On the first 8 possessions by New York, the Packers relinquished 3 points, over 76 yards, on 31 plays. That’s incredible. Unfortunately, Green Bay’s offense mustered the same production vs. the Jets’ defense, which ranked 19th in scoring defense coming in. The Jets found a way to break through and blocked their own punt and scored off it, Green Bay did nothing with theirs. Felt like a January game at Lambeau…The main issue is the offensive line couldn’t block Quinnen Williams and the Jets copied the Giants’ plan of double-teaming Kenny Clark and chipping Rashan Gary and won the line of scrimmage, which typically dictates the outcome of the game.

Preview: (3-3) Packers @ (2-4) Commanders~ Washington finds itself in the toughest division in the NFL, the NFC East. Not only are they in last place, but the 3 other teams are 6-0 Phi, 5-1 NYG, and 4-2 Dal. The Commanders are without their starting quarterback, Carson Wentz, whom had finger surgery and is out at least the next 4 games. The backup, Taylor Heinicke has quite a bit of experience and had a fairly good showing in his playoff start in the 2020 Playoffs vs. the eventual champion, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Including that postseason loss, Heinicke is 7-10 as a starter with a career QB rating of 83.6. Not terrible, considering Rodgers’ QB rating this season is 94.2, that’s a competitive player. He’s also an athlete that isn’t afraid to try to win the game, which puts additional pressure on the opposing team’s defense…and offense.

Matchup~

	GB D	(rank)	vs.	Was O	(rank)
Rush	135.2	27		95.5	24
Pass	164.0	1		224.8	17
Total	299.2	5		320.3	24
Pts	20.5	15		17.0	29th
	GB O			Was D
Rush	122.3	13		131.7	25
Pass	225.8	16		221.5	16
Total	348.2	15		352.2	18
Pts	17.8	24		22.5	18
T/O
Takeaways	4	T-28th		3	T-31st
Giveaways	8	T-14th		8	T-14th
Diff.	(4)	27th		(5)	T-28th

While the Packers are the best against the pass, they’re awful vs. the run, which may have to do with why teams don’t pass and still succeed vs. them after 60 minutes. Washington doesn’t run all that well, but they do have capable backs to produce. The 2 to watch are: Antonio Gibson (#24); Brian Robinson Jr. (#8). You’ll hear a lot about Robinson as he returned from being shot this summer, but he’s a good runner and one should fully expect him to get quite a bit of touches vs. this Packers’ defense. This could be a sloppy game too as both teams give the ball away, and struggle at taking it away from their opponents. This will likely be a tight matchup with the Commanders beating teams like the Jaguars and Bears, where the Packers have beaten the Bears, Buccaneers, and Patriots.

How can anyone pick the Packers to beat anybody as of right now. Green Bay should have to prove they can win before anyone thinks they can, at this point.

Packers 20 (-4.5)
Commanders 24

Season: 2-4
Overall: 83-46

Review: Packers 27; Patriots 24 (OT)~ when looking at the game stats, Green Bay dominated in almost every statistic, except turnovers. Looking back, aside from Rodgers’ rare gaffe before halftime. The Packers ran 71 total plays for 443 yards and won the time of possession 36:49 to New England’s 33:11. The dynamic duo of Jones & Dillon combined for 37 touches (52%) and 199 yards (45%) of production, and once again one of the 2 backs was producing far more per touch than the other, but the incorporation of both is paramount for the offense’s production/effectiveness.

For as bad as Rodgers was in the 1st half, he was just that good in the second half. He commanded the offense to 20 points in the 2nd half + overtime. In those 6 possessions (not counting the last play at the end of regulation), the Packers scored 2 touchdowns (should’ve been 3 if Doubs holds onto that one in the end zone), two field goals and two punts. All in all, pretty good vs. a solid defense, and having no momentum.

Speaking of good defense, the Packers gave up only 271 yards while playing a 3rd-string QB, did enough to make New England play “safe” and only gave up one big play – which should’ve never happened with the play clock expiring well before the snap. Rashan Gary came up huge, albeit nullified on the Rodgers’ pick-6 on the ensuing drive – Gary had a strip sack on a 1st & 10 from the GB 22 with 1:04 left, that saved at least 3 points, and possibly 7 and could’ve been a huge swing had Rodgers not thrown the interception.

On the biggest stand of the game, the defense was tasked with the forcing a 3 & out in overtime after the offense failed to get a first down on their possession of OT. Green Bay gave up 5 yards and kept New England out of field goal range, setting up Rodgers with a “Next score wins” situation, and the Packers produced their best drive of the season – in my opinion – and closed the game out.

While Packer fans should have high expectations, this team is constructed to win games in any manner, and this is a prime example of that. Just keep winning, keep games close with running the ball and playing good defense, then trust your quarterback will be able to make a big time throw, when needed.

Preview~ on paper, this is a huge matchup. Both teams are 3-1 with this having a high-potential of tiebreaking scenarios for playoff seeding. If the Giants are going to continue to be the surprise of the NFL, as there are always surprise teams in the NFL annually. The Packers lost to Minnesota in week 1 this year, so keeping pace is paramount for the divisional race, and the Giants are 1 game behind Philadelphia (the NFL’s last remaining unbeaten), so they want to keep pace too.

Matchup~ both teams can run the ball, neither can stop it. Expect a ton of ground game as each team is built around pounding the rock. Also, each team is solid vs. the pass, while that may be because their opponents don’t pass because of their effectiveness of running the ball. For example, the Giants have faced an average of the 28th passing offense and the Packers have faced the 20th.

	NYG Off	(rank)	vs.	GB Def.	(rank)
Rush	192.5	1		126.8	22
Pass	139.5	31		168.0	3
Total	332.0	22		294.8	5
Pts	19.0	19		17.3	7
	NYG Def.			GB Off.
Rush	141.0	28		145.0	7
Pass	191.3	8		232.5	16
Total	332.3	15		377.5	6
Pts	17.8	9		18.8	21
T/O
Takeaways	6	T-12th		4	T-22nd
Giveaways	5	T-10th		7	T-22nd
Diff.	1	T-8th		(3)	T-28th

As you can see, these are fairly evenly matched teams, at least based on statistics through 4 weeks of the season. However, the big difference has been competition. The Packers have faced far better foes than New York. The Giants are almost carbon copies of the Chicago Bears, and they just played each other, last week. There were 2 bad teams that New York was able to pull it out, then again, Daniel Jones outplaying Justin Fields isn’t a big ask.

Don’t be surprised if this is a similar game to last week’s overtime thriller. This game is likely to be close and will come down to turnovers and 1-2 big plays. If Green Bay can finally win the turnover battle (the Packers haven’t all season), they may actually blow a team out. However, that’s a huge part of the game and with all the inexperience the Packers put on the field, it’s part of the growing pains.

Giants 16
Packers 24 (-8.0)

Season: 2-2
Overall: 83-44

Review: Packers 14; Buccaneers 12 ~ this ended up being just a solid win. The first 2 drives were what you want to see from your veteran QB and offense, getting off to a perfect start. That being said…

Since the Aaron Jones fumble (above), the Packers had 8 drives (9 if you include the 1-play kneel down), totaling 32 plays amassing 90 total yards and obviously, 0 points. Seven of those 8 drives resulted in punts, and another was a bad interception. Rodgers needs to close a game like this, out, somehow.

The running back duo of Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon were held down. Combining for just 85 total yards on 29 combined touches (2.93 yards/touch). Dillon seemed to have some of the better runs, but still keep it up. With them being held down, enter rookie wideout, and training camp Hall of Famer, Romeo Doubs.

Romeo Doubs was open and often, garnering 8 targets, catching all of them for 73 yards and a score. There’s a chance he could produce for the entire season, especially if Lazard can get on the field, which should open up single coverage for Doubs whom seems to get open and has solid hands, thus far.

Kudos the the defense for stepping up, limiting Tampa Bay to just 12 points, and an absolute clutch defensive play on the game-tying 2-point conversion. They also held the Bucs to just 285 yards on 59 plays and forcing 2 turnovers, which is crucial when playing against the best QB of all time. All in all a great team win, but Green Bay must score more than 14 points should these teams face each other in January…but you knew that.

Preview~ The Packers come in fairly healthy, the only question marks are CB Jaire Alexander and LT Yosh Njiman. Jaire is nursing a groin, which is worrisome as he’s a quick-twitch athlete and the groin is an injury that can linger, forever. As for Njiman, he had an illness and seems like he should be ready to go – even if David Bakhtiari is ready to go, again, he struggled a little and still needs to get into game shape. Counting on him for an entire game may be too much to ask, and I’m also not sure if he’s nearly as good as he once was…either way, those seem to be the only 2 potential injuries and as of Sunday morning, they’re both listed as QUESTIONABLE.

As for the Patriots, most noticeably, they’re missing starting QB Mac Jones. Before you think it’s an auto-win, their backup QB is Brian Hoyer. He’s going to make his 40th career start, going 16-23 in his previous 39 starts. He’s a solid backup and is capable of running the Pats offense and winning some games.

Matchup~

	GB Def.	(rank)	vs.	NE Off.	(rank)
Rush	113.3	19th		115.7	13th
Pass	189.3	7th		249.0	12th
Total	302.7	6th		364.7	10th
Pts	15.0	6th		16.7	25th
	GB Off.			NE Def.
Rush	127.0	9th		114.7	20th
Pass	228.7	19th		200.0	8th
Total	355.7	13th		314.7	10th
Pts	16.0	27th		23.7	22nd
T/O
Takeaways	3	T-18th		4	T-12th
Giveaways	5	T-19th		8	31st
Diff.	(2)	T-24th		(4)	T-29th

These teams are virtually the same. Solid defenses, offenses built around their run game, and try to win a close one. The difference is who they’ve played so far. The Packers have played 2 solid teams and one bad/awful team, where the Pats have played 2 very good teams and 1 unkown team. This could be, yet another, measuring stick-type game for both squads. It’s setting up to be another defensive struggle and low-scoring affair. It may be tough for the Packers to cover the 9.5 points, but could if the defense shuts down New England for 60 minutes. Let’s see if Rodgers and LaFleur can get Jones and/or Dillon going again this afternoon, like they were able to in the week 2 matchup vs. Chicago.

Patriots 17 (+9.5)
Packers 21

Season: 1-2
Overall: 82-44