Green Bay Packers: All Eyes on Stanford Spark Plug

Much has changed in the 12 weeks since the Green Bay Packers and Atlanta Falcons first locked horns in the regular season, as both sides have fought through and conquered injuries and/or roster deficiencies that generated feelings of doubt—and even doom—regarding their prospects of making it all the way to Houston as the NFC representative in Super Bowl LI.

One of Green Bay’s roadblocks that threw their fan base—and coaching staff—for a loop was Eddie Lacy’s season-ending ankle injury that deprived the offense of their 235-pound (?) three-down plow horse that gave the team an identity, or better yet, a physical dimension that defenses had to always account for.

In the weeks that followed Lacy’s last appearance versus the Cowboys in Week 6, Mike McCarthy shuffled through a number of options to compensate for his loss, including Knile Davis, Don Jackson and even occasionally lining up receivers Davante Adams and Randall Cobb in the backfield.

After weeks of trial and error it became abundantly clear that Ty Montgomery was the best and only option to spearhead a ground attack in search of stability with the help of fullback Aaron Ripkowski to serve as the short-yardage battering ram.

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The uncertain status of wide receivers Adams, Jordy Nelson and Geronimo Allison heading into tomorrow’s NFC Championship puts Green Bay in the precarious position of possibly having to rely heavily on the seldom-used tandem of Jeff Janis and Trevor Davis that have one target between them over the course of December and January.

While the young duo are certified blazers in terms of straight-line speed, neither is polished enough to consistently run the types of isolation routes receivers are expected to execute in McCarthy’s system.

All of which leads to Montgomery needing to shoulder a sizable load as a runner and receiver against a Falcons’ defense that has conceded a league-high 107 catches to the running backs along with a second-best 866 yards to the position in the regular season.

McCarthy’s distribution of snaps among his skill-position players on passing downs last week indicate that Montgomery may indeed be on the receiving end of double-digit targets considering he ran 30 routes versus the Cowboys.

No. 88’s suddenness out of his breaks and ability to change gears should allow him to see the ball going his way on delayed screens, shallow crosses, wheel routes and even an occasional shovel pass.

Montgomery’s underrated attribute that makes him a prime threat on underneath patterns and as a pure ball carrier on hand-offs is his tackle-breaking prowess that has earned him the distinction of being toughest running back to take down, according to Pro Football Focus (PFF), which assigned him a league-leading 116.4 elusiveness rating in the regular season.

In fact, the 216-pound back’s 5.1 yards after contact broke an all-time single-season record set by one-time Falcon Michael Turner during his San Diego Chargers days in 2006.

So while the majority of media pundits and Twitter analysts have been spent the entire week extolling the virtues of Atlanta’s two-headed monster of Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman—who undoubtedly are dynamic game breakers—not enough has been said about Montgomery versus a 15th-ranked, middle-of-the-road Falcons’ run defense.

An potent running game featuring Montgomery may be the best formula to solve a Dirty-Bird defense that may be overly consumed with taking a page from the Cowboys in dialing up creative blitzes to fluster Aaron Rodgers.

Delayed screens, draw plays and a couple of well-timed end-arounds can all prove effective against an aggressive defense that might fall into the trap of overpursuing.

Anticipate Green Bay’s multifaceted second-year jack rabbit to lead the team in touches and continue to thrive as that mobile chess piece that will keep the opposition guessing all afternoon.

Next: How the Packers can beat the Falcons in NFC Championship

A Packers’ victory could very much hinge on the fortunes of a very busy Montgomery.