Pack Preps for Peterson and Playoffs

It’s a ‘Must Win’ Game Against Vikings

The playoffs for the Packers essentially begin this weekend. Much like their charmed season of 2010 the Pack faces a mountain roughly 2/3 of the way through the 2013-14 campaign. At 5-5 Green Bay is a close 2^nd in the hotly contested NFC North race. The Lions fell to the Steelers last week and the Steel City became Packer Nation’s favorite village outside of Wisconsin as Ben Roethlisberger engineered a 93 yard drive at the ends of the game to knock off the Lions and keep Green Bay – and their playoff hopes – alive.

Much has been written about Aaron Rodgers’ injury… too much perhaps.  Replacing one of the top 3 QB’s in the game is not remotely possible. The Next Man Up has become, in the words of OLB Clay Matthews “Not just the next man up but the next man after him up too. These injuries have become almost comical in a way.”

But no one in Green Bay is appreciating the joke.

For a 3^rd straight game rookie Scott Tolzien will lead the Pack out into the expected frigid air of

Lambeau on Sunday against their long time hated rivals from Minnesota. The Vikings are the only team in the North to be out of contention. While Green Bay is struggling behind a 3^rd string rookie QB the Vikes are struggling to find a QB. They began the year with Christian Ponder who fell out of favor and was replaced by Matt Cassel who was bumped back after former Buc Josh Freeman was signed.

If the Packers are struggling at the QB potion the Vikings are struggling to even find a QB. Ponder has regressed in his sophomore season and has been woefully inaccurate. Cassel came in and was gone faster than a Minneapolis snow flurry. Freeman? His performance on the Vikings Monday Night game against the Giants is a forgettable, regrettable, laughable and horrible showing, one of the worst in the long history of Monday Night Football.

The Packers top gun is out in Rodgers. The Vikings are equally feeling the sting of injuries as the their Big Dawg Adrian Peterson is nursing ills of his own. Will he play? Make book on it. Peterson will be on the field against the Packers on Sunday. The weather is expected to be a balmy 30 odd degrees with a cold wind, possible snow flurries and in general a typical lovely day in Green Bay.

The weather will impact what the QB’s can and cannot do. Tolzien has shown a big arm with surprising accuracy. “I’ve never had a quarterback make all his big throws in a game” said GB Head Coach Mike McCarthy. “Every time we called a big shot he made the throws. I’ve never seen a QB hit his deep targets every time like that.” That is a mouthful coming from a man who has seen the likes of Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers up close. Tolzien does have McCarthy’s confidence but “…He’s (Tolzien) got to cut down on the turnovers” said McCarthy.

Tolzien cannot turn the ball over for the Packers to be successful. The pick 6 he threw last week was

made by a spectacular play by Jason Pierre-Paul but it deflated the Pack just when the defense rose to make a stand. Missed in the play was the fact that both Eddie Lacy and Andrew Quarless were wide open on the left side with Jarrett Boykin out in front and a whole lot of field in front of him. Pierre-Paul’s play may have just saved the G-Men’s season while it severely crimped the Packers’ season.

Now Tolzien will have to somehow save the Packers’ season. This is without question a ‘Must-Win’ game and the Pack is in the midst of their make-or-break part of the season. In consecutive games Green Bay faces the Vikings and then the Lions on a short week on Thanksgiving Day. Forget the Wild Card shot – that ship has sailed. Green Bay is in the position of controlling their own destiny once again. Win out and the playoffs are a lock. It is as simple as that.

Right now the Packers are 2-1 in the division having lost to the Bears when Rodgers went out. Winning out puts them in the NFC North’s top spot regardless of what Detroit and Chicago do. It all begins this week. A loss to Minnesota would be beyond devastating. It may be a blow from which the Packers cannot recover. Green Bay has to muster everything they have and put it into this week and to hell with the rest of the season. There is no rest of the season without bringing the intensity needed for this week. That is a mantra McCarthy will pound into the heads of his players. Forget Detroit next week fellas – we don’t win on Sunday and Detroit can do whatever the hell they want and we can’t stop ‘em.

That is how simple it has become. The next 2 games go a long way to determining the fate of the Pack this year. In ’10 the Packers faced the same mountain so there is some historical significance to this game as well as a reminder it can be done. The injuries have piled up no doubt. As new faces come in the Next Man Up has a job to do. Tolzien will have to cut down the picks period. He can make the big throws – we’ve all seen it by now. And he is a long term keeper.

So why did Tolzien slip through the draft without a call? His mechanics are less than desirable for an NFL QB. His tendency to sling the ball sidearm on a flat trajectory has no doubt been the subject of much film review with Offensive Coordinator Tom Clements, a former QB from Notre Dame. Clements is a young rising star in the coaching ranks and will end up running the show somewhere in the league. If anyone knows about mechanics it is the QB staff in Green Bay. Rodgers has been helping the new kid out as much as he can. Now the question becomes can Tolzien improve in a 3 week span?

One thing the weather will likely do is to turn this game into a matchup of running backs. In years past Peterson was the trump card to anyone else’s running back. Finally the Pack can counter with a bon fide RB of their own. Eddie Lacy has become the bell cow for McCarthy and has helped to provide the balance needed for the offense to soar, albeit with Rodgers and not Tolzien. Peterson and Lacy will be expected to load their respective teams onto their broad shoulders and carry them as far as they can.

Peterson is still the Man in Minnesota. A banged up Adrian Peterson is better than almost anyone else’s #1 RB. With the temperatures expected to dip and a lousy forecast on the horizon this will be an old-time, smash mouth NFC North contest. The uniforms will get dirty and whoever can win the running game, the time of possession battle and field position will be in the best position to win. Peterson will play, and he’ll get 25 – 30 carries in the process.

As for Ponder he’ll be limited with targets. Greg Jennings has an Achilles injury and is listed as ‘doubtful’. Given where the game is being played Jennings will want to take the field. How well he’ll be received in Lambeau in his first game back since jumping ship and blowing his mouth off in the offseason about Green Bay, the management and “12” (Aaron Rodgers) is an altogether different matter. While the intensity of vitriol may not rise to a Brett Farve-ian level there will be some that may not appreciate what6 their former favorite son had to say about their current favorite son. If there is any silver lining in this game it is in Ponder’s less than ideal accuracy.

The Packers defense has been under the microscope during the recent 3 game slide. When the Pack

rose to 5 – 2 it was no coincidence that the DB’s had cut down dramatically on the big plays surrendered. During this 3 game losing streak those big plays given up have come back to haunt the Pack. The Bears used the height advantage of the receivers to win the first one. Nick Foles padded his stats at the expense of the Packers’ corners and Eli Manning shook off his season long funk to look like, well… Eli Manning again last week. The injuries have crippled the Packers corners this year. Sam Shields has elevated to a #1 shutdown corner and is playing the best ball of his career. His absence with a hamstring problem creates a huge hole in the coverage. Casey Hayward has played but 1 game this year with hamstring of his own. Rookie Micah Hyde has tweaked a groin in practice this week and surprise surprise – he’s ailing now as well.

Now throw in Johnny Jolly and Ryan Pickett on the line in the banged up department. Stopping Peterson will begin by winning the battle up front. The Vikings will ride Peterson as far as he can carry them. Mike Daniels has been getting better and playing stronger in every passing week. Mike Neal has also contributed and been a force, but he, too, Is hurting with an unspecified abdominal injury. Nick Perry isn’t back yet and Clay Matthews is still adjusting to the cast protecting his surgically repaired thumb.

This is not a time to feel sorry for themselves. Green Bay doesn’t have that luxury. After smoking the Vikings earlier this year Minny would nothing more than to close up shop for the Packers. Rookie LT David Bahktiari has been so far beyond expectation that he is no longer being looked at as a wide eyed, overmatched rookie but an integral part of the Packers Offensive Line. He not only held Jared Allen in check last time he kept the Vikings defensive leader off the stat sheet completely, When Allen exits a game with 0 sacks, 0 pressures, 0 tackles and 0 hurries someone has done his job very well.

Bahktiari needs to repeat his performance. It is also essential for RT Don Barclay to get back on the

field in the comparative watching Marshall Newhouse try to plug the leaks is almost painful. Newhouse was last year’s LT by default and now when he comes in his deficiencies become more evident. Newhouse has very slow feet and has consistently been beaten on the outside. He lacks the lateral movement to keep pace with the more fleet of foot and has been outmuscled along the way.

For Green Bay to have a shot Lacy is the key. The Giants loaded up against Lacy last week and kept the Pack’s young buck in check. James Starks may see more of the field as his change of pace touches has yielded some positive results. Tolzien will get a few shots – he has shown he can handle the challenge. The challenge now is to keep the ball out of Minnesota’s hands.

This one will not be an aerial battle. This one is going to be fought in the trenches where it gets real dirty and the yards don’t come cheap. The Packers have far more than their pride at stake here, and that’s about all Minnesota has going for them. Points will be at a premium and Mason Crosby’s big boot of 57 yards last week will put McCarthy’s mind at ease and it may come down to whoever can impose their will and win in the 4^th quarter.

Dress rehearsal is over. It’s time to start the long march to the playoffs.

 

 GREEN BAY    19  


 Minnesota     17