We finally made it! It is game day! And it’s about time, considering the bitter taste that was left in the mouth of everybody at 1265 Lombardi Avenue and Green Bay Packers fans world wide. A taste that lingered for over eight months. Now, the Packers have the opportunity to replace that bitter taste with sweet, sweet victory in Minneapolis against the Minnesota Vikings later today.
The Packers ended last season on a five game losing streak, including a terrible loss to the Chicago Bears in the wild card round. Green Bay has, hopefully, turned the page to this season and is ready to move on. This Packers team is not the same team that it was back in January. Many changes has taken place since then. But that’s the NFL for ya! It’s not like the Vikings haven’t gone through a ton of changes as well.
So, with all of that being said, let’s get into this final preview of the Packers at Vikings game!
Will the Packers Offensive Attack Be Different?
Since Jordan Love has taken over for the Green Bay Packers as its starting quarterback, Matt LaFleur has placed an emphasis on being a run first team. Over the offseason, that mentalility seemingly changed. It has been talked about in ad nauseam how Matt LaFleur is ready to let Love cook. But, this may not necessarily be by design but because of the loss of Josh Jacobs.
Jacobs earlier this offseason ran into some legal troubles that will cost him some games and possibly a lot more. Right now, Jacobs is on the Commisioner’s Exempt List, but will inevitably be suspended possibly up to six games. This for sure means that he will not be playing later today. It’ll be a running attack by committee with Marshawn Lloyd getting most of the reps as the starting running back.
So, due to the loss of Jacobs, this offensive attack could be more pass heavy than it has been in the past.
Offensive Line Changes
There are a lot of changes on the offensive line as well, and it remains to be seen if those changes will be good. ZBak (Zach Bako-Bewele) is still working his way back from injury but sounds like he will be good to go to play in this one. He was limited in practice all week. The same could be said about Aaron Banks, who has been oft-injured. The Packers could be in for a world of hurt against a Brian Flores-led defense if those two can’t go.
Plus, this will be Jordan Morgan’s (who is also dealing with a knee injury) first time as the starting left tackle. Jacob Monk is predicted to be the starter at right guard. The offensive line is one to watch in this one and can be a decider in whether the Packers can win.
Offensive Weapons
Green Bay may have lost Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks, but it could be one of those additions by subtraction kind of things. With those two gone, it really focuses the offense on the top three wide receivers in Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, and Matthew Golden. Not to mention newly extended tight end Tucker Kraft coming back from injury.
Love has many possible go-to-guys! Love could very well cook if he can find time against the Vikings presumably weak secondary.
Will the Packers Defense Be Okay Without Micah Parsons?
Micah Parsons is starting the PUP (physically unable to play) list, meaning he will miss the first four weeks of the season at minimum. Although, he can practice after two weeks. So, no Micah for today’s game and beyond. What will that mean for the pass rush? Probably not good. I can say that at minimum. The Packers five game losing streak started after Micah Parsons went down against the Broncos last year, ultimately due to the lack of a pass rush.
Pass rush will continue to be important against this Minnesota Vikings team who have elite wide receivers in Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. The Vikings also added a dangerous receiver in Jauan Jennings. The Packers pass defense was top notch last season when paired with a pass rush. So, if the Packers can’t get new Vikings’ quarterback Kyler Murray under pressure, it could very long day. It’ll be interesting to see how the Packers utilize their top pick in this past year’s NFL draft, cornerback, Brandon Cisse.
Finally… Special Teams
Will the Packers Special teams be better under Cam Achord?
If the preseason is any indication, then yes. But… the players who mostly got time on special teams were players who aren’t on the team anymore. Don’t let that take away from how good the punt and kickoff return coverage looked. It was so much better. Of course the biggest part of the special teams are the specialists. I’m talking punter, kicker, and long snapper. We have no questions about Daniel Whelan. He has all the ability to become a pro bowl punter.
The other two have question marks by their names.
Matt Orzech, the team’s long snapper, really missed all of training camp and therefore missed valuable reps with Daniel Whelan and new kicker Trey Smack. I thought Cal Adomitis should have kept the job after doing so well at it during training camp. The Packers disagreed. We will see if that was a mistake.
And then there was rookie kicker Trey Smack. In training camp practice, Smack was all over the place. It looked rough. But then, in preseason games, he didn’t miss a single kick. And they all weren’t givies either. He nailed a 58-yarder, another 58-yarder that ultimately didn’t count, and a 59-yard field goal. He really looked great! But can he do it when it really matters.
We’ll find out later today!
Regardless of what happens,
Go Pack Go!
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Damon is a diehard, fully-immersed cheesehead who currently lives in southern Missouri. He teaches at a local high school and has a family YouTube channel about all things Packers. You can follow him on twitter at @packersfamily and on YouTube at The Packers Family.
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