Green Bay Packers: Fantasy football profile Week 11
By Kenn Korb
Green Bay Defense
Week 10 Statistics: 47 Points Allowed, 2 Sacks; -2.00 fantasy points
This defense has become god-awful.
Part of that undoubtedly is due to injuries (no Sam Shields or Damarious Randall for awhile now, plus an injured Micah Hyde playing in the secondary; no Clay Matthews to rush from the edge for multiple weeks), but the terrible showing this past week was due to far more than that.
It started early with Demarco Murray’s 70 yard TD run; at least three guys were caught biting hard on a misdirection. Nobody was prepared for the TD throw by Murray to Delanie Walker either, letting him behind everyone for the score. Tons of different instances where players for Tennessee were open behind the coverage for major gains. Oh and about half of the team’s penalties were foolish emotional reactions, most done by veteran stalwarts of the group (Letroy Guion, Mike Daniels, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix were among them).
This week could end up about as bad.
The Titans supposedly didn’t have a great receiving corps and still garnered over 300 yards in the air between them; Washington boasts a much more notable unit, and could see similar success. If DeSean Jackson plays (he’s questionable), he could tear up the maligned secondary of the Packers for some deep catches. Jordan Reed and Vernon Davis provide Washington with a lethal 2-TE combination and could put in work against the coverage-deficient middle of Green Bay’s defense (which is also going to be missing Jake Ryan at ILB).
Jamison Crowder continues to show himself to be a good third option and should win in the slot often. Pierre Garcon (always overlooked) could show up pretty well here too. Even the formerly dead-on-arrival rushing attack for Washington has come to life despite not having names casual fans would know about lining up back there (#9 in Rush Offense DVOA).
To succeed, the defense will have to start by taking away the rushing threat (which I think they can do) and then hoping that forcing Washington into being one-dimensional will give them some chances to force mistakes. I don’t expect they can do that second part regardless of how they fare against the first part however, so this score could get out of hand yet again on the Packers.
Next: Ranking potential replacements for Mike McCarthy
Whether the Packers win or lose here, I don’t see the Green Bay defense doing much to help their cause.
Week 11 Prediction: