Packers vs. Steelers: Q&A with Nice Pick Cowher

(84) runs the ball past Detroit Lions cornerback

(23). Jason Bridge-USA TODAY Sports photograph

2) Antonio Brown is having a Pro Bowl season. What has he meant to this team? What can the Packers do to keep him from impacting the game?

Brown has blossomed this fall and looks primed to make the first Pro Bowl of his career as a wide receiver. He is having one of the finest statistical seasons in team history, and he has emerged as Ben Roethlisberger’s go-to threat.

If you give Brown free releases or play him too far off of the line, then he is extremely dangerous. His route-running and speed make him hard to defend when he is unencumbered, and giving him space to work in the screen game is also a gamble for any defense. If the Packers wish to keep him in check, then they had better jam the smaller-framed pass-catcher at the line of scrimmage to frustrate him.

Green Bay’s defense had better be careful though if they divert extra attention to Brown. Roethlisberger has Emmanuel Sanders, Jerricho Cotchery and Heath Miller at his disposal, and he will not be afraid to target them.