Packers: The X-Factors for Green Bay in NFC Championship Game
The Green Bay Packers enter the NFC Championship Game as 7.5-point underdogs. If the Packers want to pull off the upset and head to the Super Bowl, they will need players other than their stars to step up.
Week 12 seems like a lifetime ago. They traveled west and got pounded by the San Francisco 49ers 37-8 in a game that looks worse than it really was. Don’t get me wrong, it was an ugly game, especially for the offense. The defense actually held its own at the beginning of the game, but when you get down 10-0 early and the offense can’t sustain a drive, things get a lot harder for the defense.
If the Packers cut down on even a few mistakes, like the fumble on the first drive that led to a quick 49ers score, or they convert on fourth-and-1 when they were down 10-0 in the second quarter, then I feel that would have been a much different game. The Packers may not have won, but I don’t think it would have been more than a 10-point game.
With all that in the past, the Packers have a chance to get some revenge and punch their ticket to Miami. If they are going to beat the number one seed in the NFC, they’ll need some players to step up and make big plays.
Tyler Ervin
Kick returner/running back Tyler Ervin has had an impact on this team since he arrived in Week 14. He immediately upgraded the Packers’ return unit from absolutely pathetic to decent. He hasn’t taken one back for a score yet, but he’s busted a few long returns that this Packers team has desperately needed.
When you have someone returning kicks that can do that, the offense will only benefit from it. He will be able to get the Packers’ offense into a better starting field position than they had the last meeting.
He has also been getting involved in the offense as well. When he has the ball in his hands, he can make things happen. Matt LaFleur has been getting Ervin the ball on some jet sweeps and end-around plays. If he can break a couple of runs whether it’s in the offense or on special teams, that will give the 49ers another threat to worry about.
Allen Lazard
Davante Adams is on a tear right now. He has seven total touchdowns in his last seven games. He also has 620 yards on 48 receptions. Well, San Francisco’s pass defense is considerably better than Seattle’s, especially when Richard Sherman is on Adams.
Enter Allen Lazard. He has been the most reliable number two receiver for Aaron Rodgers. He missed the second half of the Seattle game after injuring his ankle, but he has been Rodgers’ most reliable second option this year. Geronimo Allison has been very inconsistent, dropping passes and fumbling the ball often, and Marquez Valdez-Scantling has essentially disappeared.
If Sherman shadows Adams, the Packers will need someone else to step up in the passing game, and that someone is Lazard. We’ve seen Lazard can be effective and come up big in important moments of games, like his catch in Week 17 in Detroit that went for the game-tying touchdown late in the fourth quarter. If Lazard can step up and be a factor in this game, I think this offense will be able to keep pace with the 49ers.
B.J. Goodson
At the end of training camp, the Packers had a big hole at the linebacker spot opposite Blake Martinez. It was thought that second-year player Oren Burks would get his shot this year to start and hopefully be a big part of the defense, but then he got injured in the preseason, derailing any plans of that.
Then GM Brian Gutekunst traded for Giants linebacker, B.J. Goodson. Goodson is a decent linebacker who is more effective in stopping the run than defending the pass. The Packers will need Goodson to play one of his best games of the season this Sunday.
If the Packers are down in the second half, the 49ers will likely focus on running the ball, something they did very effectively against Minnesota last week. The 49ers got up and then pounded the ball down Minnesota’s throats, a defense that is generally pretty stout against the run, and effectively ended the game by keeping the Vikings defense on the field and wearing them out.
Goodson will be an important part of this defense should they get down. We saw what happened to the defense last week in the second half. They couldn’t get off the field because Russell Wilson was having another great Russell Wilson-like game. The offense didn’t help much either, not getting a whole lot going and putting the defense right back on the field.
Luckily, Jimmy Garoppolo isn’t nearly as elusive as Wilson, so they will need to focus on their running game to run the clock. If Goodson and company can shut down the 49ers run game, that would go a long way in containing this Kyle Shanahan-led offense.