LET THE GAMES BEGIN
Pack and Vikings Look to Rebound
Now it’s
down to brass tacks. Then NFL wanted more interdivisional rivalry type games at
the end of the season to pique fan interest as the race to the playoffs heats
up. The Green Bay Packers face the home stretch with 4 of their last 5 games in
the brutal NFC North. The Pack already is up 2 – 0 in the division and can
still dictate the terms of their post season in this stretch in spite of the
blowout absorbed at the hands of the Giants by a score of 38 -10.
Yes, the Giants.
The G-Men saw the Packers come in eager for battle and saw them exit with barely
a whimper. It has been so long since Green Bay absorbed a defeat such as this
you’d have to go back into the early stages of Mike McCarthy’s tenure to find it. McCarthy was not pleased with his play calling, the outcome, and
how the Packers were whipped. New York dominated Green Bay in the way the good teams
have found to attack the Packers by controlling the offensive line.
The teams
that have had success against the Packers have used a ‘4 against 5’ approach to
have success. The Lions, Giants, Colts, 49ers and Seahawks all were able to
have their front 4 beat the Packers offensive line to get to Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers has been sacked
37 times, second in the NFL to only the pitiful Arizona Cardinals. The Giants
and 49ers in particular boast some of the best defensive line players in the
game, and when a team can not only pressure but get to Rodgers with only 4 rushers it leaves 7 back in coverage negating
the advantage the Packers have with their receiving corps.
And when a team
can bottle up the Packers running game with their defensive line and
linebackers it neutralizes Rodgers effectiveness
and forces Green Bay into a trap of playing into coverage. All year McCarthy has preached a balance between
the run and pass for the purpose of keeping the D honest. Carries, not yards
has been the mantra. If a team completely abandons the run then they can load
up on the Packers passing game.
Much has
been made of the Giants ‘cover two’ defense and how this new-fangled defense
has confounded the Packers. The cover-two is not something new at all.
Originally conceived by back in the 70’s by Steeler Defensive Coordinator Bud Carson the ‘cover two’ is a pass
defense that commits only 4 rushers while leaving the linebackers free to play
the middle and also plug the run if it happens. A passing team, like Green Bay,
needs its running game to force the D to put an extra defender into run schemes
and getting the 8th man into run stoppage. The advantage swings to
the passing team when a defending team is left to guessing what the offense is doing.
The Packers were very successful last year in exploiting the 8th man
in the box.
But the good
teams all saw the same footage. They saw how a moribund Kansas City team come
in and dared – dared! - the Packers to run and dropped all of its defenders
into pass coverage. It worked. By taking away the passing lanes with up to 7
men in coverage it forced Green bay into a game plan they do not execute particularly
well, running the ball. Make no mistake – the packers are a passing team. And
when other teams saw the tapes of how the Chiefs beat the Pack, the Giants for
one, it set in motion the domino effect of how to attack and bring down the
Pack.
This has
become the new formula for beating Green Bay. And the Packers offensive line
has not been up to the task of holding their blocks and winning the small
battles. Now the Packers have the double sided sword of facing the Minnesota Vikings
and Jared Allen on defense and Adrian Peterson on offense. This game
could not be boiled down any simpler. To win the Packers have to finds a way to
keep Allen out of the pocket and try
to contain Peterson. It’s that
simple.
Clearly the
greatest area of concern is the offensive line. Rodgers has been hurried, hit and harassed to the point of embarrassment.
As teams now abandon even the pretense of respecting the Packers running game
they have loaded up against the pass. The teams with the greatest success against
Green bay have been the teams with stout pass rushers like the Niners and Giants.
The Lions kept the game respectable on D but did not have the offensive
firepower to match Green Bay.
Now the
Vikes take their turn. Another team smarting from a smack down the Vikings come
in after being thrashed by the Bears on Monday night. A surprising 6 -5 start has renewed hope in Minnesota
and few, if any, saw the renaissance coming. All World RB Adrian Peterson completely blew his knee out last year and the
conventional wisdom was he was done for at least a year. That would be for an
ordinary back, and Peterson is
anything but ordinary. There isn’t a part on Peterson’s body that isn’t better than any part on any other normal
human being. Peterson is a true
freak of nature in that not only did he completely destroy his ACL he rehabbed
and came back in less than a year and is playing even better than he did before
he went down. Better… the thought of a better Adrian Peterson is frightening to any defensive coordinator.
Once again Peterson is leading the NFL in rushing
with 1,236 yards on 213 carries for an eye-popping 5.8 yards/carry with 7 TDs. Peterson
has been responsible for more than 1/3 of the Vikings total offensive production
this year. Now with WR Percy Harvin
out of the game this week with an ankle injury the focus of the Packers D is
squarely on Peterson and containing him and limiting the damage he can do. The
word is ‘contain’ – not stop. You don’t stop an Adrian Peterson. He is that other-worldly talent that is going to
get his yards no matter what. The key for Green Bay is to control the gaps and
make it difficult for Peterson to
find clear running lanes. That’s only the tip of the iceberg. Peterson is brute force strong and has
shown that arm tackles will not work against him. If the Packer defenders, the
linebackers in particular, can wrap Peterson
up they may be able to wear him down. The Vikings are almost as one dimensional
as the Packers- as Peterson goes so
go the Vikings, just as Rodgers goes
so go the Packers.
Limiting
Peterson’s big play damage is one side. If the Packers can put up enough points
they will force the Vikings into playing a way in which they are not as successful
by passing. 2nd year QB Christian
Ponder has looked very good at times, but has also struggled, especially
when Harvin isn’t around to bail him
out. New TE Kyle Rudolph made former
Brett Favre fave Visante Schiancoe expendable and has
become a Ponder target. For the Vikings
to be successful they need Peterson’s pounding
inside. The result is a defense that commits more men to trying to bring him
down while clearing the airwaves for Ponder.
On the flip
side the Packers offensive line was thrashed last week. The Giants employ
arguably the best front four in the NFL and they were on display all day. Allen is a well-documented sack master and LT Marshall Newhouse has his hands
full. The entire offensive line needs to step up. The good teams in the NFL
find ways to make lemonade out of lemons. And the Packers offensive line sucked
lemons last week. The greatest improvement on the Vikings has been the play of
their secondary. No longer can teams throw at will; the DFB’s have been
resurgent this year led by Antoine Winfield
and feature Mistral Raymond,
Harrison Smith and even the oft-troubled third year pro Chris Cook has been a huge upgrade from
last year’s dismal play. On area that Eli
Manning and New York exploited was the size mismatch of 6’5” Hakeem Nicks against 5’11” Davon House, who the Giants knew was
wearing a restrictive shoulder brace
Their young skills will be tested. Greg Jennings may finally see the field again after missing the
majority of the year with an abdominal injury that required surgery. To say Jennings will be a welcome sight is an
understatement. The rest of the injury news is nowhere near as positive. RB Cedric Benson was tagged with the
new IR tag as a designee to return, but his foot injury will require surgery
and he’s done for the year. It hurts doubly as the Packers cannot use the tag
for any other player. Clay Matthews
will miss his 3rd straight game with a hamstring and last year’s #1 draft
pick LT Derrick Sherrod has been IR’d
as his broken leg has not responded as hoped.
With a 1 game lead on the Vikes and 1 game behind Chicago
the Packers know they have no margin for error. This game is big and will go a
long way to determining the winner of the NFC North. Both teams need to
rebound. Green Bay has a bigger bounce and
Rodgers has a big day in Jennings’
return.
GREEN
return.
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