Good evening, everyone. Merry Christmas Eve to everyone who celebrate it. On Christmas Day, the Green Bay Packers will be taking on the Cleveland Browns at Lambeau Field. With the NFC North clinched last week, the next goal for Green Bay is to secure home field advantage in the playoffs. A win over Cleveland will get them close to that goal. I am here to give you my thoughts on what the Packers need to do to improve to 12-3 on the season. Without further delay, let’s get started.
On offense, the key for the Packers on Saturday is to stay balanced. With Marquez Valdes-Scantling potentially not playing due to COVID and Randall Cobb still rehabbing from core surgery, I have a feeling that Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon will be getting a lot of touches against the Browns defense. I am sure that those touches will not just be on the ground, but in the passing game as well. As always, the offensive line plays an important part in making sure that Jones and Dillon get plenty of yards on the ground. It is up to the backs to follow the holes created by the linemen (who include Yosh Nijman, Jon Runyan, Jr, Lucas Patrick, Royce Newman, and Dennis Kelly). I have no doubt that the backs will be productive on Saturday. If the Packers can run the ball well, then it can keep the defense honest and give Aaron Rodgers more time to find an open receiver. On Saturday, Rodgers can break Brett Favre’s franchise mark of 442 career touchdown passes with just one TD pass. I predict that the first passing TD will go to Davante Adams, who I hope has a great game on Saturday. With MVS and Cobb out, Allen Lazard, Equanimeous St. Brown, Josiah Deguara, Juwann Winfree , and Marcedes Lewis will have to contribute in addition to Adams. It will be up to the offensive line to protect Rodgers from the Browns pass rush, which might have Myles Garrett depending on if he comes back from an injury. If Rodgers is kept upright, then he’ll be able to throw accurately to his receivers, who need to run their routes and catch each ball from him (other than throwaways). Most importantly, the Packers need to sustain long drives that should end in a touchdown each time (especially in the red zone). Converting third downs, avoiding penalties and not committing turnovers can help the Packers offense accomplish this goal. I have total confidence in Matt LaFleur and his staff, even though they have to fix some issues (among them being using timeouts when they don’t need to). As long as they keep the mistakes to a minimum, I think the Packers can score at least 35 points on the Browns.
On defense, it all starts with stopping the Browns running game, which is led by Nick Chubb. It helps that Kenny Clark is back from COVID protocols. He, along with the rest of the defensive front (including Rashan Gary, Preston Smith, Tyler Lancaster, TJ Slaton, De’Vondre Campbell, and Dean Lowry) needs to make sure that Chubb and any other ball carrier get minimum yards on each play. It would be nice if the ball carrier is tackled for negative yards. If the running game is kept in check, then the pass rush can get after Baker Mayfield and frustrate him all game long. Even if he doesn’t get sacked on every play, Mayfield should get pressured enough to throw passes easy for the picking by the likes of Eric Stokes, Rasul Douglas, Chandon Sullivan, Adrian Amos, and Darnell Savage. Those defensive backs need to cover the receivers (including Jarvis Landry) very well on Saturday and not allow any easy catches, even to a tight end. Stopping the Browns on third downs and forcing them to turn the ball over in any fashion can help the Packers defense achieve their goal of not allowing long drives. Whether it’s an interception or a strip sack, any turnover can help the Packers put more points on the board either on offense or if the defensive player gets a touchdown on the play. I am confident in Joe Barry and his coaching staff, even though they gave up 30 points last week. It’s up to the players to do their job.
On Special Teams, all the Packers need to do is to keep the astronomical mistakes to an absolute zero. Any mistake of this magnitude, including allowing a long kick return, letting a field goal get blocked, messing up a short kickoff by letting the ball bounce off a player’s hands, or (the worst) not recovering an onside kick to seal a victory, can mess up the Packers’ chances of winning on Christmas Day. On field goal attempts, everything has to go perfect, from the snap by Steven Wirtel to the hold by Corey Bojorquez to the line protecting the kick. I have full faith in Mason Crosby, even though he has had some troubles this year. Wirtel also needs to snap the ball well on punt attempts, if there are any to begin with. If he is called upon, Bojorquez needs to flip the field on each punt and not give the opposing team great field position. Whoever is returning kickoffs and punts needs to make sure that he doesn’t fumble the ball or mess up the fair catch. On the other side, the coverage unit needs to tackle the returner before he goes all the way for a touchdown. The easiest way to avoid any long return is for every kick to go into the end zone or out of bounds (no kickoffs out of bounds, please). If the Packers are able to avoid any crazy mistakes, then everything should be fine for Green Bay.
Overall, I think that the Packers can win against the Browns by a comfortable margin as long as they keep the mistakes to a minimum. Regardless of the outcome, I pray that nobody gets injured on either team, especially on Christmas Day. I’ll be back with my postgame thoughts on the game soon. Have a merry Christmas, everyone. Go Pack Go!
Comments