Good evening, everyone. On Sunday afternoon, the Green Bay Packers will be taking on the Washington Football Team (yes, that’s the actual name of the team) at Lambeau Field. The Packers are riding a 5-game winning streak, with the most recent win against the Chicago Bears last week (the “I Still Own You!” game). Before the Packers can start a tough stretch of games, including away games at unbeaten Arizona and at Kansas City, Green Bay needs to focus on beating Washington. In addition, the Packers are also looking for their first win in their new throwback uniforms. I am here to give you my thoughts on what they need to do on all sides of the ball to improve their streak to 6 wins. Without further delay, let’s get started.
On offense, it all starts with running the football. Against a defensive front for Washington that includes a great pass rusher in Chase Young, the offensive line needs to do a great job in terms of creating the holes for Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon to run through. Speaking of the offensive line, David Bakhtiari returned to practice this past Wednesday. I don’t think he’ll be playing on Sunday, but I am sure he will get back on the field soon. Whoever is on the O-Line, they need to make those holes possible for the RBs. The RBs, in turn, need to follow those holes and either evade or truck the WFT defenders on their way to plenty of yards. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jones and Dillon combine for at least 150 yards on the ground (as long as everyone does their job). Running the ball efficiently can keep Washington’s defense honest and make them fall for run fakes on play-action plays. In passing situations, the O-Line needs to make sure that Aaron Rodgers stays upright all game long. If the linemen are able to do this, then Rodgers should have plenty of time to throw accurately to his receivers (who include Davante Adams, Randall Cobb, Allen Lazard, Robert Tonyan, Allen Lazard, and the running backs). The receivers, in turn, need to precisely run their routes catch each pass that is thrown by Rodgers (other than throwaways). I am sure that Matt LaFleur will come up with a few trick plays that will confuse the Washington defense, including jet sweeps and end arounds. As always, the most important thing that the offense needs to do is to convert third downs and sustain long drives (while not committing turnovers in the process). When they get in the “Gold Zone”, the Packers need to score touchdowns on each trip instead of settling for field goals. If everyone does their job well on offense, then the Packers should be able to at least put up 35 points on Washington’s defense.
On defense, it all starts with keeping Washington‘s run game in check. The defensive front, which includes Kenny Clark, Rashan Gary, and (hopefully) Preston Smith, needs to make sure the ball carrier is tackled for minimum gain. That defensive front also got a new player in Whitney Mercilus, who came from the Houston Texans. I am not sure if he will play on Sunday, but I hope that he contributes a lot in Green Bay. In both run and pass plays, there can’t be a situation where Washington gets a chunk play from a few missed tackles. If the run game is kept in check by the defense, then the pass rush can get after QB Taylor Heinicke. Like some previous QBs that the Packers faced this year, including Justin Fields, Heinicke can scramble if he has some room. Therefore, the key for the defense is to keep him in the pocket and pressure him to throw errant passes that could be picked off easily. For Eric Stokes, Adrian Amos, Rasul Douglas, and the rest of the defensive backs (most likely without Darnell Savage, who is still in concussion protocol), they need to make sure that each receiver for Washington, including Terry McLaurin, is covered well. There can’t be too many situations where Heinicke finds a wide open receiver due to a blown coverage. As long as the pass rush gets to him often, Heinicke shouldn’t have any of those opportunities. What’s most important for the Packers defense is to keep Washington’s offense from converting too many third and (even) fourth downs. Preventing these conversions can help the Packers defense by giving them rest while the offense does their thing. This week is hopefully the first time that the Packers prevent the opposing team from scoring a touchdown in the red zone. It would definitely be a bonus if the defense gets a few turnovers against Washington. Any takeaway should give the Packers offense more chances to score points. Even with the injuries so far this season, I am impressed with how the defense has performed under Joe Barry (besides Week 1, anyway). As long as everyone does their job well on defense (plus the offense doing their thing), the Packers should have a comfortable lead all game long.
On Special Teams, the Packers need to make sure that nothing crazy happens. The return coverage unit needs to tackle the returner before he goes for a long run. One thing that can prevent a potential long return is by making sure that each kickoff goes into the end zone for a touchback. Another way, at least in the punting side, is for Corey Bojorquez to have a field-flipping punt that is downed by Green Bay or fair caught by the returner. On the other side, Kylin Hill and Amari Rodgers need to make the most out of any opportunity for a long return. During any long return, the blockers need to create the holes for the returner to run through without committing a holding or illegal block penalty. In other situations, the best thing that the returners can do is to either fair catch the ball or let it go to the end zone. When he is called upon, Mason Crosby needs to make every field goal and extra point kick. If there is a punting situation, Corey Bojorquez needs to punt each ball very far. In either field goal or punt situations, the snap needs to be accurately done by Hunter Bradley and the line needs to prevent any blocked kick opportunities. Hopefully the Packers are able to get a blocked kick on Sunday. As long as mistakes are avoided, the Packers should be fine on Special Teams.
Overall, this game should be won by the Packers by a comfortable margin. The Packers can’t overlook Washington at all on Sunday. There is no reason for this to become a trap game for Green Bay. As long as everyone does their job on all sides of the ball, I think that the Packers will win this game. Regardless of the outcome, I pray that no players on either team suffer a major injury. I’ll be back with my postgame thoughts on Monday or Tuesday. Have a good night, everyone. Go Pack Go!
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