Early Bird Breakdown Week 9 – Colts @ Packers

Early Bird Breakdown Week 9 –  Colts @ Packers

Hello and welcome back to Early Bird Breakdown for week nine of the regular season for the Packers. Before diving into the game, let’s look at the recap from last week.

The Recap:

Last week Green Bay lost 33-32 to the Atlanta Falcons. Going into the game, the injured Packers secondary had the daunting task of stopping the league’s now top quarterback in yards, Matt Ryan. Against a poor Falcon defense the Packers looked pretty good and the game went to the wire as the Falcons scored a go ahead touchdown with only 31 seconds left in the game.

The Breakdown:

Packers’ Offense vs Colts’ Defense:

The Packers face an incredibly poor defense again this week and Rodgers and company should be able to score in bunches. The Colts have the league’s fourth worst offense overall and the third worst pass defense, which will give the Packers the openings to look good. The Packers’ offensive line will have another game to shine strongly as the Colts have not generated a pass rush on anyone this season. Combine that with awful secondary play, and Davante Adams, Jordy Nelson, and Randall Cobb could all have good days.

While Eddie Lacy has officially been put on injured reserved and is done for the season, the Packers cut recent pickup Knile Davis, and backup James Starks is out, the Packers should still be able to run the ball. It will not be used as much, but combining Ty Montgomery and fullback Aaron Ripkowski should be able to hold their own and keep the defense honest.

Packers’ Defense vs Colts’ Offense:

The Packers defense will be on easy street compared to last week. Compared to the league’s now number one offense, the Colts rank 13th overall and Andrew Luck has been suffering a beating since last season due to horrible offensive line play. This has lead to multiple opportunities for interceptions, and while Quinton Rollins and Damarious Randall remain injured, there will be ample opportunities for the corners of Green Bay. However, the Colts do have some explosive wide receivers, namely burner T.Y. Hilton and the now-healthy Donte Moncrief. Containing these two will be difficult, harder than guys like Mohammed Sanu who was running wide open last week. However, while the Falcons line is not particularly good, the Colts offensive line is atrocious, so the Packers will not have to have good coverage for more than a few seconds per play.

The key for the defense will be generating pressure against a weak offensive line. Mike Daniels and Clay Matthews both should have no trouble blowing through the lesser talent they are lining up against. As long as the defense is getting to Luck, the ball should be either held for a sack or tossed up for a jump ball. The Packers will need to get the ball when the opportunity presents itself.

The Weather:

The warm fall continues with an expected kickoff around 65 degrees and sunny.

The Breakdown:

The Packers offense can shoot itself in the foot from time to time and the defense is without its top three corners once again, but the Packers shouldn’t have too many issues with the Colts. Offensively, the Colts have some weapons to use against Green Bay, but they do not have the offensive line to buy quarterback Andrew Luck the time needed to get them the ball. On the flip side, the Colts have no way to slow down the Packers’ offense. I expect a strong game overall from Green Bay, with the Packers winning 34-24.