Packers: Five players key to victory in Week 13 vs. Eagles
By Jesse Fry
4. Christian Kirksey
After the 2019 season it was clear the Packers needed an upgrade at middle linebacker. Blake Martinez was solid, but game-changing plays were lacking.
Green Bay let Martinez walk and found his replacement in the free agent market. Christian Kirksey was brought in by Brian Gutekunst with the hopes that Kirksey’s familiarity with Mike Pettine’s system coupled with his athletic ability would provide a boost for the Packers in the middle of their defense.
That hasn’t happened.
It has been much of the same for the Packers with the middle of the field being hammered on in the run game and game-changing plays still lacking.
To be fair, injuries have played a large part of that. It started in training camp when rookie Kamal Martin went down with a knee injury that kept him out for a few weeks, and carried over in to the season when Kirksey was lost to a shoulder injury landing him on short-term injured reserve. Since then, Krys Barnes missed time due to COVID as Kirksey tries to get his feet back under him.
On Sunday, the Packers will need Kirksey to be the guy they hoped he would be. Carson Wentz and Jalen Hurts are big mobile quarterbacks who aren’t afraid to tuck and run. If the play breaks down, both of them are threats to make a big play with their feet so having a reliable guy in the middle is a must when playing this team.
The Eagles also have two big athletic tight ends who create matchup nightmares. Zach Ertz is likely to return in this game after a stint on IR and Dallas Goedert is proving why he was so highly touted coming out of college after a slow start in his return from injury.
In addition, the Eagles have an all-purpose back, Miles Sanders, who can run and catch the ball in the mold of Aaron Jones. Limiting those players’ impact could be the difference in this game and Kirksey could bear most of that responsibility.