Month: November 2024

Quick Flip(per) The Page

Posted on by nzurich9

Finally, a complete game from both sides of the ball, and the special teams. It was refreshing to see Green Bay take advantage of a depleted 9ers team. It’s tough to win in this league, and never apologize for winning. The Packers did what they were supposed to and jumped to a 17-0 lead and should’ve been 24-7 heading into half (Christian Watson’s dropped 49-yard TD). Green Bay should’ve scored on their first 4 possessions, with 3 of those being touchdowns. While San Francisco was missing all-world defender, Nick Bosa, Green Bay was able to move the ball at will. Those first 3 possessions tallied 34 plays, 187 yards, 17 points and 19:05 in time of possession. That’s incredible production.

The other point that’s not talked about were the points off turnovers. Green Bay forced 3 turnovers (should’ve been 4 or 5, with the dropped Quay INT and fumble on the kickoff with about 6:30 left in the 1st half) and scored touchdowns off each of them. Scoring 21 points off 3 turnovers almost guarantees a victory in any level of football, but especially in the NFL.

It was covered during the broadcast, but LaFleur stuck with the ground game, early and often. Green Bay had a rush:pass ratio of 42:25 (2 sacks) for a 62.7% rush. That’s lovely, as it opens up the entire playbook and allows anything to be called at any situation. Jacobs finished the game with 26 carries for 106 yards and the hat trick of 3 touchdowns. Love was very good as well, aside from two passes that should’ve been intercepted. Love finished the game 13/23 (56.5%), 163 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, 107.7 Rating. Had Watson held on to the TD pass to finish the first half, Love’s line would’ve looked far better: 14/23; 202 yards; 3 TDs; 0 INTs; 129.0 Rating.

Quay Walker

LB Quay Walker (#7) tackles Christian McCaffrey in the Packers’ 38-10 win at Lambeau Field on Sun., Nov. 24th. (photo credit: Evan Siegel; packers.com).

Answering the bell – Quay Walker put together his best game of the season. Walker finished with 7 tackles (6 solo) with 2 tackles for loss and a dropped INT. He was assertive and wasn’t thinking but rather just playing. His athletic ability coupled with his size is rare in the NFL for his position and should Green Bay get the Quay from the 9er game the rest of the way, this may be the most complete team in the NFL, aside from Detroit, who is beatable.

Current Standing

As you can see, the Packers currently sit as the 6th seed in the NFC Playoff Picture and are still 3rd in the division behind Detroit and Minnesota, each of whom they lost to. In order to win the division, the Packers will likely need to win out and get help from the opponents of Detroit and possibly Minnesota. First things first, Miami comes to town and they’re far better than their record and standing shows. The Dolphins are currently sitting as the 8th seed (first team out) in the AFC and need some help in order to earn a postseason berth.

The Miami Dolphins were a playoff team last year and have one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL with speedsters WR Tyreek Hill, WR Jaylen Waddle, and RB De’Von Achane. Each of these guys can take it the distance from anywhere on the field.

Miami ranks in the bottom 3rd in all offensive statistics, however that’s a mirage. Starting QB Tua Tua Tagovailoa has missed 4 games this season, however in games he’s played, they’re a different team. They show 19.5 points/game (24th) and 323.9 yards/game (19th) on the season, but with Tua they’ve put up 25.0 points/game (would be 9th) and 352 yards/game (would be 10th). That’s a much more balanced team as they’d be 9th and 10th in yards/points, respectively coupled with 6th and T-11th in yards and points on the defensive side of the ball, respectively. They resemble a team far closer to the Packers than what the stats say. This will be an extremely tough matchup as they went 1-3 in the four games Tua missed, but easily could’ve gone 2-2 or possibly 3-1, making their record 6-5 or even 7-4, which is more indicative to their true strength than they currently rank.

Both teams are dealing with the short week, but from the Packers’ perspective, Josh Jacobs carried 26 times and dealt with cramps during the game, expect to see a larger helping of Emanuel Wilson and Chris Brooks in the run game. Wilson has 66 rushes on the season while Brooks has 17, but it may be a blend of 50% Jacobs and the remaining share to be split between Wilson and Brooks.

The other challenge is the injury report. Green Bay is getting thin at linebacker and is likely without Jaire Alexander, meaning pass rush will be key again (as always) for limiting their star skill players. On the flip side, keeping those star players on the sideline is the best path to not allowing them to cause damage. The Packers come in ranked 3rd in rushing offense while Miami ranks 9th in rush defense. A funny thing is that the Dolphins’ defensive run game coordinator is former Packer defensive coordinator, Joe Barry. He’s done a great job with Miami as their defense is top-10 in each yardage category and just outside the top-10 in scoring. Winning the turnover battle along with time of possession will be key as both of these teams like to possess the ball.

Time of Possession ranks:

  • Miami ranks 7th averaging 31:28/game
  • Green Bay ranks 10th avg. 31:14/game

Prediction Time

How will this all play out? It’s likely to be a tight, low-scoring game as it often is on Thursday games when neither team has had a full week of rest. Both teams will look to control the ball, Miami with a ton of short/quick passes and Green Bay with the ground game and play action.

Season: 9-2
Overall: 101-68

Mining for the Gold Zone

Posted on by nzurich9

Review: Packers 20; Bears 19

First tings first, Green Bay came out with the win. The Box Score shows that Chicago played the better game, however the difference is Green Bay scored 3 touchdowns to Chicago’s two. Scoring touchdowns, and limiting touchdowns, are paramount in football. Aside from that, Chicago won in total yards, turnovers, and time of possession.  

The biggest takeaways from the game, Quay Walker needs to stop thinking and just play. There were countless snaps where he was either out of position or just didn’t attack. Especially on one of the 4th down conversions by Chicago where he had QB Caleb Williams dead-to-rights and just played “spy” allowing Caleb to convert the 4th down to a check down. That could’ve swung the complete momentum of the game and led to a comfortable win instead of what transpired.

Good Sign—the Packers cleaned up the penalties by only committing 3, and one of those wasn’t a penalty (15-yard personal foul, late hit) on Xavier McKinney. That kept Green Bay ahead of the sticks (or on schedule in terms of down and distance), and makes it easier to keep drives alive on offense as well as helps the defense get off the field.

Jordan Love finally looked 100% healthy, and it showed in terms of production against Chicago. Aside from the overthrow to Kraft that led to the interception, Love was on especially in clutch situations…he finished the game: 13/17; 261 yards; 1 TD; 1 INT; 113.0 Rating. He’s getting set to pop the top and hit stride as he did in the 2nd half of last season.

LB Brenton Cox (#57) sacks Bears’ QB Caleb Williams. (photo credit: Evan Siegel; packers.com)

To put a bow on it, with the trade of Preston Smith to Pittsburgh, the unproven guys were going to get additional reps and Brenton Cox, Jr. decided to make an immediate impact. Cox, a very athletic linebacker from the University of Florida, had a sack and an additional tackle for loss (TFL) against the Bears and that aggression helps the defense cause negative plays and turnovers.

Preview: (5-5) San Francisco 49ers @ (7-3) Green Bay Packers

Current Standings—Green Bay sits as the 6th seed in the NFC playoff picture while San Francisco is currently on the outside looking in as the 10th seed. The 49ers are 2 games behind the last seeded Washington Commanders and desperately need this win to keep them alive for postseason play. Keeping the 9ers out of the playoffs would be a huge advantage for Green Bay’s path to the Super Bowl – not only due to getting the monkey off their back, but San Fran is uber talented and experienced as they’ve been the class of the NFC for the past 5+ seasons.

Matchup Preview

On paper these teams are about as evenly matched as can be. The 9ers have found ways to lose close games while Green Bay has done quite well in that department. While scoring points and keeping point off the board from your opponents is king, San Fran is top-10 in each yardage category on both sides of the ball. That generally displays a team’s true production…however, the ability to score and win tight games shows the ability to come through in clutch situations, as Green Bay has done on far more occasions.

The red zone efficiency (TDs scored divided by the number of red zone trips) for each of these teams leaves quite a bit to be desired. San Francisco ranks 26th with a 48.78% red zone efficiency while Green Bay is a spot behind them at 27th (48.72%). Green Bay can improve this department is:

  1. Jordan Love’s health (which seems to be 100%)
  2. Keep feeding Josh Jacobs the ball

Ryan Wood, of jsonline.com, wrote a good article elaborating on this and why it’ll help the Packers convert more of their red zone trips into touchdowns vs. field goals. This past week at Soldier Field the Packers converted 3 of their 5 red zone trips into touchdowns. That easily could’ve been 4-of-5 had they kept handing the ball off to Jacobs. Instead, they stalled out and ended up going for it on a 4th & Goal from the 6 in the 4th quarter resulting in Love being denied at the goal line. The other failure was on Love’s overthrow to Kraft ending in his 11th interception of the season. Even settling for field goals (adding 6 points to the scoreboard) would’ve changed the dynamic of this game. Hell, had one of those drives resulted in a TD and the other a FG, that’s an additional 10 points and likely gets towards the “comfortable win” category for this game.

Stepping Up?

Rashan Gary (#52) sacks Caleb Williams late in the 4th quarter. (photo credit: Evan Siegel; packers.com)

It’s been covered and talked at nauseum about the lack of pressure and pass rush from the Packers this season. Without those takeaways, it almost reared its ugly head last week. However, Green Bay got 3 sacks against Chicago and 2 were on consecutive plays with almost a 3rd that would’ve ended the game without the field goal block. Green Bay will need this type of constant pass rush if they want to succeed in the playoffs against solid offensive lines. Rashan Gary is the focal point, and should be since he’s the high-profile (and highly paid) pass rusher on this team. We need Gary to produce like he did in that 2021 Divisional Round playoff game vs. San Francisco for the remainder of the season, as well as sophomore Lukas Van Ness to begin making plays and getting a constant push considering Kenny Clark is getting all the attention on the interior of the lines he sees.

Banged Up?

Both of these squads come into this Week 12 match up pretty banged up. However, San Francisco is at risk for missing far more quality starters than Green Bay. Superstar pass rusher, Nick Bosa, might miss this game (or won’t be close to 100% should he play) along with all-world LT Trent Williams. Brock Purdy is making headlines by shutting down practice on Thursday with right (throwing) shoulder soreness, which could put them in a precarious situation.

Green Bay will be without standout corner Jaire Alexander for the foreseeable future with a torn PCL, sustained against Jacksonville that kept him out of the Detroit game and only played 10 snaps in Chicago 2 weeks later. Again, the Packers’ pass rush must step up to help the below-average cover corners we now have.

What to Watch For?

San Francisco is missing, quite possibly, their 2 most important players: QB Brock Purdy; DE Nick Bosa. Purdy is about as safe and efficient a QB as there is in this league, and Bosa generates a pass rush as consistently as any pass rusher. By not having either of those guys, the Packers should be able to focus their attention on Christian McCaffrey and the short-passing game. Green Bay will be without their two best defenders, Jaire Alexander and Edgerrin Coopers. Look for LB Eric Wilson to make an impact, but guarding TE George Kittle (which is always a tough task) will be paramount along with winning the line of scrimmage.

Prediction Time

Should Purdy play as well as Nick Bosa, this is a desperate/hungry 9ers team that is almost in a must-win scenario coupled with a very clever Head Coach…it may be tight. Then again, Jordan Love may put one together and boat race these guys. Either way, I don’t see a scenario where Green Bay has a complete stinker of a game and gets handled.

Should Green Bay win the turnover battle and time of possession, there’s a chance this game could get out of hand for San Fran, which would be much-needed for Green Bay to have a “comfortable victory.” Look for Jordan Love to get into a rhythm early and often to hopefully free up some passing lanes which would allow for the run game to carry them through. The X-factor is always MLB Fred Warner, who many believe is the best Middle Linebacker in football. He could change a game, but if he has to guard against an effective pass AND run game, he’ll be nullified and Green Bay should be able to dictate what they do with the ball. Remember, converting Red Zone trips to touchdowns instead of Field Goals and turnovers is what separates the Very Good teams from the Great Teams.

Season: 8-2
Overall: 100-68

Hunting Season

Posted on by nzurich9

In the latest installment of the oldest rivalry in the NFL, Green Bay travels to Soldier Field in search of their first divisional win of the season. The Packers lead the all-time series between these two rivals, 107-95-6, winning the last 10 matchups. The Bears have lost three straight games since starting the season 4-2 while Green Bay is coming off their bye week having dropped a sloppily-played game to Detroit in Week 9. Should Green Bay want to contend for the division title and perhaps an outside shot at the #1 seed in the NFC playoffs, they’ll likely have to win the rest of their remaining games assuming Detroit will drop another two games outside of their next matchup in Week 14 on Thursday Night Football. This begins the long stretch towards The Tournament to contend for the Lombardi Trophy, and hopefully the Packers will emulate their strong 2nd half of the season from a year ago and start strong coming off the bye.

Matchup

Based on the rankings above, it’s apparent where Green Bay has the advantage…the run game. Chicago is 24th in the NFL in rush offense, as well as 24th in the league in rush defense. Those are some of Green Bay’s strong suits. The Packers are 3rd in rush offense in the NFL and 10th in defending the run, and have improved over the last few weeks in that department. Where Green Bay has struggled, as I wrote last week, is in securing the football and taking it away. The Packers need to get back to their way of taking the ball away and converting those to touchdowns. They do that, and they’re back to one of, if not the, strongest teams in the NFL. Chicago has done a solid job in each of those categories ranking T-7th in takeaways and 6th in giving it away. Should Chicago want to get back on track and upset Green Bay, they’ll likely have to lead the turnover department, as well as time of possession and penalties (and yardage) assessed. The gameplan seems obvious for the Packers – run the ball, early and often!

Bye Did Some Good?

The Packers got very healthy while off on their bye week, essentially getting everyone back other than TE Luke Musgrave. They did however, see a setback in rookie running back Marshawn Lloyd, who was cleared to practice and anticipated to play before suffering appendicitis on Friday at practice (a non-football injury).  The other notables returning to the field were stud corner Jaire Alexander, rookie sensation Evan Williams, and reliable snapper at center, Josh Myers. These additions alone may have been the difference in losing to Detroit 2 weeks ago, so to get them back is a huge step in the right direction for this team. Availability is the most important talent and can’t be understated it’s importance in December and January.

WR #13 Dontayvion Wicks drops a pass vs. Detroit at Lambeau Field on Nov. 3, 2024. (photo credit: Acme Packing Company).

Getting Dontayvion Wicks rolling again is essential for the Packers, and this week vs. a solid Chicago pass defense is as good a time as any. Wicks has shown to be one of the best receivers in the NFL in route-running by being able to get open as much as any player along with creating the greatest separation from his cover guy throughout the entire NFL. Getting him back in rhythm with Jordan Love will help each guy, not only their stats, but with putting games out of reach as they were able to do so in a few games late in the season in 2023. Tom Silverstein of jsonline.com had a solid article talking about the relationship between Love and Wicks and how they can regain their connection from 2023.

Who Are the Bears?

They’re still a poorly run organization, from the top down. It was clear from the onset of this offseason, at least to me, that this team didn’t really improve from last season. The defense essentially was kept the same, and while it’s “good” there are still some holes and the offense… As for the offense, the fan base (as always) talks as if they’re the Patriots with prime Tom Brady at the helm, still has glaring issues. Mainly the offensive line, which is still one of the worst in the NFL and it’s rearing its ugly head these last few weeks. During their 3-game losing streak, Chicago has given up 18 sacks (6/game) for 122 yards, has run 189 plays for only 690 yards (230 yards/game) and scored a combined 27 points (9 points/game). That’s abysmal, even for a “bad offense.”

While many say “Chicago is ruining Caleb Williams,” is there a chance he’s just not that good? Sure he won a Heisman Trophy and put up big numbers in college, but this is the NFL and collegiate production doesn’t necessarily translate to the man’s league. There are 3 quarterbacks I’d like to throw in the mix, with one of them being Caleb and let’s see if you can find the difference between them….

  • QB 1: 64%; 212.2 yards; 1.28TD; 0.74INT; 87.2RAT
  • QB 2: 60.3%; 175.6 yards; 1.05TD; 0.79INT; 82.8RAT
  • QB 3: 60.5%; 198.3 yards; 1.00TD; 0.56INT; 81.0RAT

Que The Office meme picture of Pam saying “They’re the same picture.” In order, these quarterbacks are Mitch Trubisky, Justin Fields, and Caleb Williams. Now before you say, “Yes, but once Mitch and Fields left, they improved!” Not really, since leaving here are the stats of each QB:

  • Mitch: 64.4%; 241.5 yards; 1.0TD; 1.25INT; 77.8RAT – avg. over 8 starts
  • Fields: 66.3%; 184.3 yards; 0.83TD; 0.17INT; 93.9RAT – avg. over 6 starts

While Fields has improved his numbers, those games were managed in a method of backup QB play, much like the Packers with Malik Willis. Ball control and stifling defense, for Pittsburgh. That’s essentially what these QBs are and seem to be. Caleb may improve (very likely given he’s a rookie with “generational talent), but there were a few people that thought he’s already at his ceiling…

Chicago has fired their Offensive Coordinator, Shane Waldron, after the latest atrocity Chicago refuses to fix the actual problem and slaps a Band-Aid on the open wound that requires major surgery…this could give the Bears a short-term boost, and put them in a spot that may give some false hope. While I could go down the path of Chicago beating Green Bay this week and winning a couple of more games for the remainder of the season is a GOOD thing for the Packers, I won’t as Chicago is likely to screw up the next 2-3 years anyway.

Prediction

Season: 7-2
Overall: 99-68

Byeing Time

Posted on by nzurich9

After re-watching the game, very apparent things become very transparent what will hold the Green Bay Packers back from coasting to a Super Bowl victory; the Green Bay Packers.

Green Bay was the better team in almost every facet of the game against Detroit (the league’s best team in my opinion), aside from execution – which is the most important. The massive number of mistakes are impossible to ignore:

  • Pick-6 (led to 7 points for Detroit)
  • 3 poor snaps (taking at least 3 points off the board for Green Bay)
  • 6 drops (two on crucial 3rd downs and another in the end zone, costing Green Bay at least 10 points)
  • Missed Field Goal, obviously wiping 3 points off the board for the Packers
  • Penalties – potentially wiping 7+ points off the board

Total all of those mistakes together and that’s a 30-point differential. Easy to play the what if game, but that directly turns a 10-point loss into a 20-point win. The Packers had no issue moving the ball up and down the field, totaling 411 yards to Detroit’s 261. The Packers had 7 drives end inside Detroit’s 40-yard line, resulting in only 14 points. Even if you kick field goals that’s 21 points and is a much different game just with that outcome.

Who Played Well?

Jordan Love drops unloads a pass vs. the Detroit Lions in Week 9 at Lambeau Field. (photo credit: Emma Pravecek; packers.com).

I’d argue Jordan Love looked extremely good, given the weather conditions, for a majority of the game. There were 2 poor throws (one poor decision, the other a straight miss) throughout the entire game. The pick-6 to Kirby Joesph was more of a good play by Joseph than it was a poor play by Love. Had the OL kept their blocks, they had a deep-crossing route wide open (Jayden Reed) for a 30+-yard gain, but tried to check down to Josh Jacobs due to the pressure and inability to escape. Aside from that, Love put the ball on the money throughout the game, and even if the Packers had just 2 or 3 drops, the results likely would’ve been much different. This bye week comes at a great time for Green Bay in hopes to clean up a lot of the pre-snap penalties and to get healthy, mainly Jordan Love’s groin/knee and Jaire Alexander’s hamstring.

Current Standings

As it stands now, the Packers are 3rd in their division, trailing behind Detroit and Minnesota – with Green Bay dropping each game against those rivals, at home nonetheless. The Packers will come out of the bye (hopefully) ready to take on the Bears at Soldier Field, with likely the #1 FOX crew calling the game. It begins the most important stretch of games for the Packers on the season. Currently holding the final playoff spot in the NFC (7th) with an opportunity to still catch Detroit should some things fall their way, Green Bay can only worry about improving upon themselves and stringing together consistent football for the remainder of the season.

Moving Forward

Mentioned above, the Packers have 8 remaining games, four of which will come against division opponents. Should Green Bay strive to win their division, let alone contend for the highly-coveted #1 seed in the NFC, they’ll likely have to finish the season 7-1 (very realistic) against similarly hungry teams remaining on their schedule. All of these are very winnable games, but the Bears will give their best shot (or at least their fans will), San Francisco is likely getting Christian McCaffery back, the Dolphins are now healthy and rolling, Seattle is vying to win their division, and the Vikings still have resemblance of a horseshoe stuck up their ass. It’ll be tough, but Green Bay is likely to be favored in all but 1 of their remaining games.

Should Green Bay finish 7-1, that would put them at 13-4, and if one of those wins comes against the Lions, or if the lone loss comes against Miami, that actually puts them in great shape to gain the #1 seed, however, that would mean Detroit has to drop 3-4 more games on their schedule, again, a big ask.

Trade Deadline

Newly acquired DE/EDGE, Preston Smith, practices for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The NFL trade deadline has come and gone, and while many fans wanted Green Bay to make a move, a major one, they chose not to. The Packers decided to move on from DE/Edge Rusher Preston Smith, who wanted to be traded as he wasn’t a fan of the new defense. Green Bay moving on from Smith frees up Lukas Van Ness, Kingsley Enagbare, and Arron Mosby to garner more snaps, and hopefully that generates a more consistent pass rush. We’ll see.

Again, there’s a lot to clean up, but even if Green Bay limits the drops and pre-snap penalties, they’re a favorite to hoist the Lombardi Trophy come February.

Keep in mind, this team is still the youngest in the league, and with that, you get mistakes…the good news, as the youngest team the liklihood

Keep in mind, this team is still the youngest in the league, and with that, you get mistakes…the good news, as the youngest team the likelihood of improving is higher than any other team. Especially given the amount of talent dispersed on this roster, that should be something to keep in the back of your mind as you watch them the remainder of the season.

Survived…

Posted on by nzurich9
(#56) ILB Edgerrin Cooper won Defensive Player of the Week. (photo credit: Evan Siegel; packers.com).

The Packers escaped Jacksonville with a win and their health. There were quite a few injuries in the game, most-notably QB Jordan Love, exiting with a groin injury. The one injury that may have had the most impact on the game was rookie Safety Evan Williams. Williams injured his hamstring, which is concerning because those seem to linger for quite some time. Once Williams exited, the Packers defense relinquished 20 points stemming from late 2nd quarter. The other rookie safety, Javon Bullard, struggled immensely in both coverage and tackling – which is odd considering he showed early on that he is a good coverage safety and an aggressive tackler. Should Williams continue to miss time, Bullard must produce and more importantly, the pass rush needs to find consistency.

As someone that beats the drum on scoring off turnovers, the Packers did a perfect job against the Jaguars – and that was, by far, the difference in the outcome of the game. The Packers committed 1 turnover, on a good play by the Jaguars corner, but the Packers followed that by intercepting (McKinney’s 6th) Trevor Lawrence on the ensuing drive. From there, the Packers scored touchdowns on each of their takeaways while Jacksonville committed a turnover on their ensuing drive from their lone takeaway. With Green Bay winning that battle 14-0, that was monumental for them to bring home the win.

Cover Boy

Standout rookie linebacker, Edgerrin Cooper, had a phenomenal game. Cooper logged 9 tackles, 1 sack where he forced a fumble that Green Bay immediately turned into a touchdown, and had a monumental pass breakup early in the 4th quarter on 3rd down to keep momentum for the Packers after Jordan Love had exited the game. Cooper keeps flashing and making plays the more snaps he garners.

Malik Willis has been the perfect backup QB. The unwritten expectation of backup quarterbacks is to win half the games you start. Well, Willis has started 2 games and played half of another, and Green Bay has come out victorious in all three appearances.  Should Willis start this coming Sunday and win, we’re getting towards uncharted territory for a backup that will continue to be a backup as Love is still very good (yes, better than Willis) and is paid, but there definitely will be a market for Willis this offseason – and most of the credit goes to Willis for putting in the work. With all of this, Matt LaFleur should be front-runner for Coach of the Year. Here’s a prime example of why he’s so good, a great breakdown by Dan Orlovsky.

The Packers are dealing with quite a few injuries with key players. Not great timing considering the Lions come to town and look as though they’re the best team in the NFL, having the largest point differential in the league and having put up over 40 points in three of their last 4 games. QB Jared Goff in those games has gone 70/83 (84.3%), 972 yards, 10 TD, 0 INT for a QB Rating of 155.1. That’s absurd, and have come against solid teams in Seattle, Dallas, Minnesota, and the #1 defense in Tennessee. This does not bode well for Green Bay who has done a solid job vs. stiff competition, but without takeaways, (minus the Houston game) has relinquished quite a bit of yards – Detroit has done the best job in the league with converting drives to points. The Packers must take the ball away and convert those turnovers into touchdowns should they want to compete, let alone win the game.

Those injuries mentioned above, obviously Jordan Love being the biggest, however the most impactful one may be rookie Safety, Evan Williams. It turns out when Williams is on the field he’s a difference-maker and is solid in both the run and pass game. Compounding the issue is top-tier cornerback, Jaire Alexander, is also hurt and may miss the game, and that spells disaster seeing as the Packers can’t seem to generate a pass rush with 4 down linemen.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep beating the drum, the best indicator of a team’s true strength is Point Differential. The Lions rank 1st in the NFL with +100, while Green Bay is solid at the 8th spot at +46. Detroit also does a great job at limiting turnovers ranking 4th (tied with Pittsburgh) and is right up there with Green Bay for taking the ball away. The Packers will (as always) need to win the turnover battle, points off turnovers, and likely time of possession to come out with a victory.

What’s At Stake?

With a victory, the Packers would catapult to the 2nd seed in the NFC playoff race (assuming Washington beats the Giants) behind the Commanders who would have the tiebreaker with a better record vs. NFC opponents. However, should Detroit win, it would give them a large lead in the best division in football (NFC North) by having a 1.5 (+.5) game lead in the division over both Minnesota and Green Bay. While there’s still plenty of football left to be played, this is close to a must-win game for Green Bay to keep pace with Detroit, Minnesota, and Washington for that highly-coveted top seed in the playoffs, which would bring the only BYE in the postseason.

Assuming everyone can play (Love, Tom, Myers, Alexander, and Williams) at a high-level, Green Bay is very close to matching player for player with Detroit, but has yet to put a complete game together. What can be said is Green Bay seems to refuse to put a complete game together, however they also refuse to lose. The Packers are more battle-tested, and should this game come down to one possession, they just may be able to pull this one out.

Prediction

Season: 6-2
Overall: 98-68