Packer Perspective: Nobody wants to meet the Packers in the postseason
After winning a sixth straight, nobody wants to meet the Green Bay Packers in the postseason.
Since claiming his team could run the table, Aaron Rodgers has played like a man possessed. Or maybe just an MVP, an award he could win for the third time after a near-perfect end to the season.
Rodgers’ interception-less streak increased to seven games following a 300-yard, four-touchdown display at Detroit on New Year’s Day. His dominance not only helped the Packers dig themselves out of a 4-6 shaped hole, but they now march into the postseason as the league’s hottest team.
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Green Bay entered the postseason as a wild-card with the same record a season ago, but this feels different. Last year’s team stumbled into the playoffs on the back of two defeats, one a 38-8 shellacking at Arizona, a week before Minnesota snatched away the Packers’ NFC North crown at Lambeau. That team carried no momentum in January, and while a brave effort put them within overtime of the NFC Championship Game, they were destined to fall short.
You want momentum? How about six wins on the bounce? How about an offense averaging 30.8 points and 378.8 yards over the past month-and-a-half?
And it’s not as though Rodgers has been shredding poor defenses. He torched Minnesota’s third-ranked pass defense with 347 yards and four touchdowns. He effortlessly dropped three touchdowns on a Seattle unit eighth against the pass. You get the idea.
The way Rodgers and Green Bay’s offense has elevated its play at critical moments over this stretch indicates this is a team prepared for the postseason. Any hopes of a Detroit comeback on Sunday night were blunted as the Packers methodically picked apart Teryl Austin’s defense on an 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that not only opened up a 14-point lead, but melted 4:52 off the clock.
Green Bay has been enduring playoff-style football for six weeks, and Sunday’s ruthless performance showed how far they’ve come.
Red hot and ready to make a run, nobody wants to meet these Packers.
Secondary concerns could derail title bid
If anything is going to crash the Packers’ championship hopes to a halt, it won’t be the play on offense. Green Bay’s clean(ish) bill of health in the secondary proved to be short lived, injuries mounting in Detroit.
Quinten Rollins suffered a scary neck injury that required an overnight stay in a Detroit hospital, but ESPN’s Rob Demovsky reported good news that Rollins had returned to Green Bay. It’s positive to hear he’s in good health, but his availability for Sunday’s game would appear in serious doubt. We may not see him again this season.
Damarious Randall and Makinton Dorleant both suffered knee injuries, leaving the Packers worryingly thin ahead of a matchup with Odell Beckham Jr.
The play of the Packers secondary has to be a major concern, and the situation worsened with three corners going down in Detroit.
Packers must shut down Giants run game
Success on defense this Sunday starts on the ground. Dom Capers will want as many bodies in the secondary to cover New York’s host of pass-catching weapons. In Week 5 the Packers, like many others have against the Giants, invited the run by providing safety help in coverage.
It worked that evening, the Packers holding the Giants to just 43 yards rushing. With Capers sending more bodies into coverage, New York’s talented passing attack was held to just 199 yards and a single touchdown.
Next: What we learned from Packers' win at Lions
New York finished the regular season No. 29 in rushing offense, averaging just 88.3 yards on the ground. The Packers must ensure is stays that way.