A familiar site from Green Bay’s humiliating 34-20 loss at the paws of the Detroit Lions…a 4th consecutive loss to the Lions. Detroit racked up 401 total yards on 73 plays, for an astonishing 5.5 yards/play. 211 of those 401 yards (53%) came on the ground. Something that needs to be corrected now, and moving forward if the Green Bay Packers want to ever think about contending for a title in the next 3 years.

Detroit dominated in the trenches, on both sides of the ball. As mentioned above, rushing for over 200 yards is almost a guaranteed victory statistic, their defense sacked Jordan Love 5 times for 43 yards. That’s essentially 2 full drives worth and an entire field position flip’s worth of issues. There was not one facet of the game where the Packers were the better team – not one. That being said, the optimist in me will say that Jordan Love never looked flustered, didn’t give up, and didn’t get on his teammates, and kept fighting. While that should be the bare minimum any athlete gives (let alone a professional athlete), it needs to be stated because more often than not the give-up tolerance in these players today is far lower than in year’s passed.

Dan Campbell has Detroit on the right track. They opened the season in Arrowhead at the defending champs, and won. They’re an OT home loss to Seattle away from being undefeated and near the ranks with the 49ers and Eagles for the cream of the crop in the NFC…maybe the entire NFL. The Lions are about 1.5 years ahead of the Packers, as both franchises seem to be on the right track and are doing things the right way — building for the future through youth.

Sin City- I believe the Packers arrived yesterday, and hopefully there wasn’t a Sunday Funday experience, as this is another great opportunity for this young Packers team to improve. These teams are about as evenly matched (on paper) as can be. The Raiders are 1-3, opening the season with a close win in Denver to the awful Broncos, then have since lost three in a row. Former Packers Pro Bowl wideout, Davante Adams, has recently voices his frustrations with the Raiders. However, if he’s searching for whom to blame, a mirror would suffice. If he’s a full go tonight, it’ll be great to watch him go man-on-man (hopefully Joe Barry doesn’t play zone) with the league’s best corner, Jaire Alexander – who’s looking to make his return tonight.

Green Bay will have no better opportunity to improve it’s rush defense rank than it will tonight. Monday Night Football will feature the two worst rush offenses in the NFL. While both teams feature great backfields – even though Aaron Jones isn’t playing, it’s something amiss as to why the Packers avg. fewer than 75 yards on the ground per game and Las Vegas can’t even average 70! Both defenses should be gearing up to stop the pass as the ground games should keep themselves in check, in theory.

	GB Off.	(rank)	vs.	LV Def.		(rank)
Rush	74.5	31st		134.3	25th
Pass	206.3	18th		202.6	12th
Total	280.8	29th		337.0	16th
Pts	25.0	10th		25.3	25th
	GB Def.			LV Off.
Rush	155.3	31st		65.3	32nd
Pass	197.3	10th		216.5	14th
Total	352.5	21st		281.8	28th
Pts	24.0	23rd		15.5	30th
T/O	GB			LV
Takeaways	4	T-22nd		1	32nd
Giveaways	3	T-5th		10	T-28th
Diff.	1	T-14th		(9)	T-31st

Where the Packers can scratch out a victory will be the distinct advantage in turnover differential. Green Bay does a great job of holding onto the ball…only having Jordan Love’s 3 interceptions against them all year, whereas Las Vegas is abysmal in both departments of taking the ball away and holding onto it.

Another indicator as to how evenly matched these teams are is time of possession. The Raiders are 23rd in the NFL averaging 27:39 time of possession per game, while Green Bay is ranks 29th averaging 26:54. If Aaron Jones is 100% (unlike last week), look for Matt LaFleur to run early and often to dictate the trench-play as well as wear down that front of Las Vegas by the 4th quarter. Even if the run game isn’t working, it does wear the pass rush and sets up play action, if you’re committed to it.

Lastly, the Raiders have 3 outstanding players. Everyone has heard of Davante Adams. Most are familiar with Josh Jacobs, just from fantasy alone. The Packers need to keep Jacobs in check and if he’s a full GO, holding him to <100 yards would be a huge step in the right direction. The 3rd player, may be their best, Defensive End Maxx Crosby (#98). This guy is a beast, and can disrupt a game much like Aiden Hutchinson of the Lions. Crosby can generate pressure much alike Rashan Gary, and after the “performance” of the Packers’ OL last week………………………………

I’m going to go with the homer pick, because why not?

Packers 31 (+2)
Raiders 26

Season: 2-2
Overall: 89-54