Packers Week 3 Preview
I did not necessarily have 100% certainty at any point since the schedule was made that the Packers would come out of Minnesota with a victory. That said, a multitude of different things went wrong (Aaron Rodgers was awful, Damarious Randall was awful, Mike McCarthy made a few poor decisions, schemes were bad, injuries, Sam Bradford was no longer Sam "Badford") and we still lost by only three. With that said, many things went right as well (great run defense, four sacks, Jordy scored again) but they weren't enough to outweigh what went wrong. The Packers now need a win, although they don't badly need one, to avoid going 0-2 in the division and falling not only further behind Minnesota, but behind Detroit as well. Why is that guaranteed that we fall behind Detroit, you ask? Because that is the matchup for the home opener at Lambeau Field.
The Packers have a lot of defensive injuries going into the game against Detroit, and at this point in the season, the offense of Detroit is to be more feared. RB Ameer Abdullah is lost for the season with a foot injury, so the Packers should have no trouble containing the run again, but what concerns me is the pass defense. The trio of Marvin Jones, Golden Tate and Eric Ebron (plus Theo Riddick from the backfield) is better than whatever the Vikings threw out there, and our "top" corner Damarious Randall allowed Stefon Diggs to do whatever he wanted. Tate has had a slow start to the season, but if Sam Shields can't play again, that could change in a hurry. It does not help that DB Micah Hyde and safeties Morgan Burnett and Chris Banjo are all questionable, as I am not ready by any means to trust Marwin Evans and/or Kentrell Brice. Oh, and Clay Matthews is questionable as well, but I believe he is questionable with the injury that caused him to miss a brief moment of the game, then go back in. But, there is a high chance that at least one safety will be out, along with Sam Shields, so I am nervous about the pass defense again.
On offense, the Packers have just been beating themselves to this point. They don't use the middle of the field as often as they used to, and their best method of offense is trying to get a defensive pass interference or offsides penalty. I get it, you want to use everything you can to your advantage, but for the love of Favre start doing the simple things again that you did back in 2010, 2011, and 2012 like quick slants and cross routes. Stop trying to force Jordy Nelson, or even worse Davante Adams, to make back shoulder catches when fully covered. Start having urgency on offense, doing the hurry up and not letting the defense rest and therefore bring the house. It might just be me, but whenever the Packers do a drive when in the hurry-up the whole way, they at least get a field goal out of it. Might want to start doing that again.
The Lions' defense is not as good as they were last season at this point, but they are still a solid unit. As banged up as the Packers are in the secondary, you could say the same with outside linebackers, as DeAndre Levy, Kyle Van Noy and Antwione Williams are all questionable. To make matters even more favorable for the Green Bay offense, All-Pro DE Ezekiel (Ziggy) Ansah is doubtful, so the pass rush essentially becomes DE Devin Taylor and DT Haloti Ngata. In other words, five sacks is inexcusable this week for the offensive line. In the secondary, S Glover Quin and CB Darius Slay are above average at their positions, but this secondary is not as good as Minnesota's either so throwing the ball should not be an issue (unless we make it difficult on ourselves again).
All in all, the Packers finally return to Lambeau and maybe that is all this offense needs to get on track. The Packers will have over a month at home to work out some of the bugs in the offense, get healthy, and hopefully get back on track. Getting back on track should start Sunday with the key injuries to the Lions and the Packers feeling like they have something to prove, so I believe it should be about a 10 point victory. I'll say we get back over the 30 point threshold, with a 31-21 victory.
