Packers-Vikings: Three things to watch and a prediction

Stopping Peterson

Last week, the Green Bay Packers’ pass defense was under the spotlight in Jacksonville. The secondary held up very well against Blake Bortles and his talented receivers in Allen Robinson, Allen Hurns and Marqise Lee.

This week, it’s the run defense that will be under scrutiny as they try to contain Adrian Peterson. Sam Bradford will start, but the Vikings offense will still center around running the ball.

Last week, Mike Daniels and Letroy Guion played nearly every snap on defense. Expect that to continue for the next few games, at least until Mike Pennell returns from suspension after Week 4.

Dom Capers doesn’t appear to be ready to trust young players Kenny Clark, Dean Lowry or Christian Ringo with significant playing time.

It’s disappointing that Clark, especially, has not contributed more. That leaves the onus on Daniels and Guion to play a lot and to play well.

At the second level, Nick Perry and Clay Matthews should do a fine job holding up the outside.

The inside linebackers, however, are a bit of a cause for concern. Blake Martinez and Joe Thomas’ strengths are both pass coverage rather than run defense. They’ll need to play smart and physical to keep Peterson relatively in check.

Peterson can run for 100 yards, and the Packers can still win. What is essential, though, is that the young players on defense play with smart angles, tackle well, and maintain their assignments so as to prevent long, backbreaking runs.

Down the Middle

We heard in the offseason that the Packers wanted to attack the middle of the field more in 2016, and Jared Cook was supposed to be the man that made that happen. But in Week 1, Aaron Rodgers consistently threw to the sidelines rather than the middle of the field.

It’s up to Mike McCarthy to make sure the offense uses the entire field. Expect to see Cook used more this week on seams and in routes over the middle.

Randall Cobb will probably play a good number of snaps in the backfield, which opens up possibilities for arrow routes against slower linebackers. In addition, Jordy Nelson may some in the slot again this week after lining up there a couple times against the Jaguars.

Last week was a good win for the Packers, but not too encouraging for the offense overall. They still relied too much on Rodgers scrambling, and there weren’t enough throws delivered on schedule at the top of his dropback.

Hopefully McCarthy has addressed these issues, and the offense will take a step forward tonight.

Young Corners

Though the run defense will bear the brunt of the load against Adrian Peterson, the loss of Sam Shields makes the situation at cornerback worth watching, as well. The allocation of snaps this week will provide a good indication of what to expect until Shields returns.

Damarious Randall is firmly the team’s No. 1 cornerback right now. He’ll probably play the majority of the game on the outside, with Ladarius Gunter manning the other spot and Quentin Rollins inside. Rollins and Randall are interchangeable, but Gunter should stay exclusively on the boundary.

Josh Hawkins is missing a golden opportunity to contribute due to a hamstring injury. That means that Micah Hyde is essentially the team’s only option should Gunter struggle.

Will Gunter be able to hold up for the entire game on the perimeter?

The Vikings don’t have an explosive passing game, but they would be foolish not to test him.

Dom Capers will likely want to keep Morgan Burnett close to the line of scrimmage to help lock down Adrian Peterson, but he can only do that if he trusts his corners in coverage. If Gunter or Rollins struggle, there will be a domino effect that makes the entire defense much weaker.

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Prediction: Packers 24, Vikings 17

If Teddy Bridgewater was playing, the Vikings would likely be my pick. I still don’t have full confidence in the Green Bay offense.

But I think the defense will carry the game for the Packers here, making Sam Bradford’s first start a real challenge. If young defenders such as Martinez, Gunter and Rollins hold up, the Packers should hand Minnesota a loss in their first game at U.S. Bank Stadium.