Good evening, everyone. On Thursday night at Lambeau Field, the Green Bay Packers will look to get another win to save the season. This time, they will take on the Tennessee Titans. A bonus is that the Packers will be having their all-white uniforms on for the first time since 2019. Given that the Packers have won each game at Lambeau with that uniform on, I am sure that they’ll have the same luck on Thursday night. I’m here to give you my thoughts on what the Packers need to do to get to 5-6 on the season. Without further delay, let’s get started.
On offense, the key for the Packers is to have a balanced attack, with a slight emphasis on utilizing Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon. Those two running backs averaging a combined 30-35 touches and Aaron Rodgers only having 20-25 passing attempts was a recipe for offensive success against Dallas. Even with a possibility of Randall Cobb coming back, the offense needs to follow what worked on Sunday. It all depends on how well the offensive line plays. The linemen, including David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins (who hopefully play), need to block the defenders and create the holes for Jones and Dillon to run through. In the passing game, they need to keep Aaron Rodgers upright for the whole game. As long as Rodgers has time to throw, he should be able to find guys like Christian Watson, Robert Tonyan, Allen Lazard, Josiah Deguara, and the running backs. Rodgers needs to be accurate with his throws while the receivers need to catch each pass (other than throwaways). I hope that the Packers are again able to capitalize on any deep shot TDs like they did against the Cowboys. It will be tough against a Titans defense that, while dealing with injuries, have kept teams from blowing them out. I’m sure that Matt LaFleur and Aaron Rodgers will lead the offense to plenty of points with very few three and outs. As long as they convert their third downs and have no turnovers, I have no doubt that they can dominate the time of possession battle and get those points (preferably TDs instead of field goals). A fast start with a couple of touchdowns can help the defense play better throughout the game.
Speaking of the defense, they need to focus on limiting the impact of one guy. That man is Titans RB Derrick Henry, who is a great running back that can run all over defenses when given the blocks. The defensive front, which includes Kenny Clark, Preston Smith, Jarran Reed, and Kingsley Enegbare, needs to play hard, get past the blockers, and tackle Henry for minimum gain. Any defender trying to tackle Henry need to wrap him up and not throw a “chicken wing” shoulder at him. Otherwise, Henry can stiff arm or truck any player in his way. Henry is the best player on Tennessee’s offense. If the defense is able to keep him in check, then the Titans may have to rely on Ryan Tannehill (or Malik Willis). Both Tannehill and Willis are able to scramble, and the Packers need to keep either of them in the pocket. Hopefully the defense assigns someone to spy the quarterback to make sure that he doesn’t get a big gain on a scramble. Keeping the running game in check can help the pass rush focus on pressuring the quarterback and force him to throw errant passes that can be intercepted by anyone. The defensive backs, including Jaire Alexander, Rasul Douglas, Rudy Ford, and Adrian Amos, need to cover the Titans receivers well to not give the QB any easy targets. Most importantly, the Packers defense needs to be aggressive and keep the Titans from converting too many third and fourth downs. If the Titans are able to get in the red zone, the Packers need to keep them from scoring too many touchdowns and force them to either 3 or 0 points. If there are any turnover opportunities, including fumbles and picks, then the Packers need to capitalize on them. Hopefully Joe Barry’s unit can give up less than 28 points on Thursday night.
On Special Teams, the Packers need to limit the amount of mistakes to a minimum. On punt returns, the Packers should have less problems now that Amari Rodgers is not on the team anymore. I wish him the best of luck to him in his future, but he had bad fumbles and muffed punts in Green Bay. Keisean Nixon needs to secure the hall on fair catches and when he is running with the ball. Nixon needs to also make good decisions with the ball on kick returns when given the chance. On the other side, the Packers’ return coverage unit needs to make sure that the Titans don’t have any huge returns that can shift the momentum in their favor. The easiest way to avoid this is for the kickoffs to be out of the end zone for a touchback and for punts by Pat O’Donnell to be deep and out of bounds in Tennessee territory. For both punts and field goals to be successful each time, Jack Coco needs to snap the ball accurately and the line needs to keep the kicks from getting blocked. On field goal attempts, Pat O’Donnell needs to secure the hold for Mason Crosby. I’m confident that Crosby can make each kick, especially in crunch time. I have no doubt that Rich Bisaccia’s unit will play hard and hope to avoid any major mistakes or penalties.
Overall, I’m looking forward to watching the Packers on Thursday night. I have plenty of faith that they will use the momentum from the win on Sunday to climb their way back towards a playoff spot. Right now, they need to go 1-0 each week. As always, I pray that no one gets hurt on either team during the game, even on a short week. I’ll be here on Friday or Saturday for the recap of the game, and then a little later on my Lambeau trip report. Hope you have a good rest of your week, everyone. Go Pack Go!
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