| Nicole Haase. 29th October, 2008 - 7:08 pm
 While the Packers enjoyed their bye week and fourteen days off, the Titans will be playing on just five days of rest this weekend after Monday night’s battle with the Colts.
Having proved to the league that their undefeated record is not a fluke, the Titans had the boon of not having to travel at all but the disadvantage of expending a whole lot of energy in their last game.
The Packers should enter Sunday’s matchup at full-strength for the first time all season. In fact, they face the unknown problem of having too many healthy guys and having to decide who gets playing time.
Despite a slow start, the Packers had finally found momentum, and the players that were at first just stop-gaps settled into some semblance of a team in Week Seven. While rest was needed for the highly-injured squad, the bye week also served to put a halt to Green Bay’s head of steam.
The coaching staff now has to decide if they should stick with the team that pulled it together against Indianapolis and Seattle or possibly interrupt the flow by inserting previously-injured starters into a squad that had just started to gel.
Clearly the Packers are looking to field the best team possible, but fans will be hoping that they don’t come out of the bye week sluggish.
Fortunately, the Packers are historically successful after their bye week. Coach Mike McCarthy is 15-6 after a week off in his time with the Packers, and the team has won nine of their last twelve games in the week after their bye. Last season was one of the more memorable week-after wins, when Green Bay defeated Denver on the first play of overtime on an 82-yard touchdown pass from Brett Favre to Greg Jennings.
The win against the Broncos last year was at the front-end of a six-game winning streak, and the Packers finished the season on an 8-2 run following their bye. This season’s team will look to continue their winning ways in the second half.
Standing in their way is a Titans’ team that is the last remaining unbeaten in the NFL.
Tennessee brings the same physical dominance that has been Green Bay’s kryptonite this season. Their ability to dominate at the line, pressure the quarterback, and run the ball will remind many of the games against Tampa Bay and Atlanta from earlier in the season.
While the Packers’ defensive line should be able to hold up to pressure better than in past games, Tennessee’s LenDale White leads the league with ten touchdowns and should give Green Bay more problems than Atlanta’s Michael Turner did in Week Five.
An issue for Green Bay’s defense has been their inability to pressure and tackle the quarterback. That won’t get any easier this week. The Titans’ offensive line has kept Kerry Collins sack-free in their last five games.
In his past few games against the Packers, Collins has had to take to the air, setting career highs for passing attempts. This time around, the Packers are much stronger in the secondary than on the line, and the combination of White and rookie running back Chris Johnson will likely try to run the ball up and down the field. Compounding Tennessee’s rushing attack this weekend will be Green Bay’s average of 145 rushing yards allowed per game this season.
It would be shocking if the Titans don’t notice that opponents fare far better on first down against the Packers when they run the ball. The Green Bay defense is holding opposing quarterbacks to a 47.8 passer rating on first down but are allowing 5.19 yards per rush.
On the other side of the ball, the numbers of Aaron Rodgers over the past few weeks have been impressive on their own but become more so when knowing he achieved them while gutting out a pretty serious shoulder injury. He is the NFL's top-rated passer on third down. In that situation, he’s 45-for-68 with 583 yards and a quarterback rating of 120.3.
Alhough Tennessee is expected to focus on the ground game, it is likely that the Packers will feature a pass-happy offense this week. Green Bay’s defense may specialize in interceptions, but the opposite is true for Rodgers. He’s thrown just four picks in 221 passing attempts this season, and the running game that has struggled to get moving should find itself stifled against a strong Titans’ line. |
