The Packers fought through a rainstorm, a storm of injuries, and a storm of their own offensive ineptitude to steal a win last Sunday against a feisty Jets squad. There has been a lot of debate about what fans and the team should actually take from that win. While plenty of questions remain, the Falcons may not serve as the best opponent to get any real answers from.
The Falcons have not been a good team. They haven’t been good on offense, they haven’t been good on defense. This is a game that Green Bay should run away with. Anything short of a convincing win will just be another week of doubt about whether this team has any shot at making some noise come playoff time.
Green Bay lost Jayden Reed for a yet undetermined amount of time, and Zach Bako-Bewele for the season (and possibly longer). Things are dark right now. The Packers have to come out in their home opener and win convincingly. So what do they need from each of their three units to pull this off?
MLF, For The Love of God Stop Trying To Establish The Run
Look, I get it. Teams love to play a two high shell and the best antidote for that is a good run game. A few small problems with that though. Your offensive line can’t run block. Your running backs aren’t good enough. What you do have is a line that managed to clean up it’s pass blocking decently enough against a good Jets front.
The Falcons do not have the Jets front. They certainly don’t have the Vikings front. Use this opportunity to get the short pass game going. That can be your run game. You have a great QB. You have solid pass catchers and a great tight end. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Throw the ball early, and keep throwing it.
While we’re on the topic, enough with the Donovan Jennings experiment. Practices are open, preseason games are broadcast. Nothing on the field has shown Jennings to be a better option than Jager Burton. If the line to start the game on Saturday isn’t Morgan-Burton-Rhyan-Monk-Belton, we riot. Also, this might’ve been the most important thing Burton could’ve done to see the field more:
Jonathan Gannon, I Owe You An Apology (So Far)
I’ll be honest, I was not a fan of this hire when it was announced. I thought Gannon’s best seasons as a coordinator came from a loaded Philly defense. The results in Arizona were not encouraging. Then he comes to a Packers team that could not hit the QB without Micah Parsons and couldn’t stop the run if their lives depended on it. I expected the offense to have to carry the defense. Then the season started:
I’m honestly stunned. Gannon has somehow managed to create a real pass rush despite having one of the most inexperienced lines in the league. He has Lukas Van Ness playing at a pro bowl level through the first two games, and doing it against some really good offensive lineman.
He’s done all of this and in a few weeks will get one of the best pass rushers in the league back on the roster.
There are of course caveats here. The Vikings game is hard to pull from given the injury to Murray and the absurd sequencing of nonsense penalties. The Jets game was against Geno Smith and there was a monsoon involved.
Still, if you told me before the season that the defense would be the bright spot after two games, there’d be only one thing that could surprise me more.
Packers Special Teams Just Keep Being Great
By DVOA, the Packers are currently fielding the 7th best special teams unit in the league. 7th. Special Teams is a big part of how Green Bay was able to pull of the comeback in New York.
Additionally, Trey Smack has been perfect on FG attempts making 5/5, including the game winner on Sunday.
I don’t have much to add to this other than if this keeps up all season, build the Cam Achord statue right away.
Final Prediction
It’s been a bumpy start to the season, and it’s a short week. That being said the Packers don’t lose at home to open the season. They have the better offense, the better defense, and better special teams. There’s no reason they shouldn’t win this game.
Packers 30 – Falcons 17
