Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Packer Plus
Now 8-2, Packers return to NFC’s top seed
A quick recap of the Green Bay Packers’ 17-0 win Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks:
Big picture
The Packers did themselves a world of good Sunday in the race for the NFC’s top seed. While they were improving to 8-2 by taking care of the Seahawks, Arizona (8-2) was being upset by Carolina and Tampa Bay (6-3) was stumbling against Washington. Dallas (7-2) and the Los Angeles Rams (7-3) also are in the hunt. The Packers hold a tie-breaker edge over the Cardinals after a 24-21 victory Oct. 28.
Turning point
Who would’ve guessed that the measly three points the Packers mustered in the first half on a 27-yard Mason Crosby field goal (after he earlier missed from 42) would be all Green Bay would need to overcome Russell Wilson and the Seahawks? The Packers put the game away early in the fourth quarter when AJ Dillon bulled his way into the end zone for a 10-0 lead that proved insurmountable.
Game ball
Give a game ball to the entire defense for handing the Seahawks their first shutout loss with Wilson as their starting quarterback.
5 Takeaways 1. Possibility of deep threat fizzles
It helped that the Packers already had faced two quarterbacks who can buy time with their legs the last two weeks in Patrick Mahomes and Kyler Murray, but what the Packers couldn’t lose sight of was Russell Wilson’s willingness to throw deep. According to NexGen Stats, he consistently ranked near the top in the rate he aired it out, including No. 2 this year at 15%. Whether
it’s in or out of the pocket, he was going to look to get the ball downfield. The Packers ranked tied for 21st in 40-yard completions allowed, but some of the teams who had allowed fewer had played only eight games, and overall the Packers ranked seventh in allowing just 10.7 yards per catch. So, it figured be a good matchup. As it turned out, Wilson may have been struggling with either his repaired finger or just rust, but he failed to connect on deep passes and couldn’t generate any consistent offense.
2. Finding the best matchups against Seahawks receivers
A week ago, the Packers were going to rotate Eric Stokes, Kevin King and Rasul Douglas at the outside corner positions until Stokes hurt his knee in pregame warmups. Stokes returned, so how would the Packers use the three to cover Seattle’s dangerous duo of DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett? Assuming they would play a lot of zone, would they let the Seahawks decide the matchups with where they line up their receivers?
Do they put speed (Stokes), strength (Douglas) or experience (King) on Metcalf ? How do they handle Lockett? They mixed and matched on their coverages to absolute perfection. Metcalf was held to three catches for 26 yards and was ejected late in the game for unsportsman-like conduct. Lockett also was frustrated all evening with only two catches for 23 yards. Kevin King and Adrian Amos made interceptions and Rasul Douglas made one big play after another
3. Seattle’s defense still improving
The Seahawks went four straight games giving up more than 450 yards and 27 points, going 1-3 during that span. Over the last three games, they’d been better, holding Pittsburgh to 20, New Orleans to 10 and Jacksonville to 7. The 18 points per game they had allowed since Week 4 was fourth best in the NFL and their third-down conversion rate was the lowest. The big problem with the Seahawks’ defense was it had just eight takeaways, including three interceptions, and ranked 30th in sack percentage. They beefed up their pass rush and their secondary with free agents such as DE Kerry Hyder, DT Robert Nkemdiche, LB Carlos Dunlap, S Jamal Adams and CB Sydney Jones and were expecting more the second half of the season. On Sunday, the Seahawks gave an impressive defensive performance that kept Seattle in the game. Safety Jamal Adams pestered Aaron Rodgers with blitzes and intercepted an ill-advised Rodgers pass in the end zone.
4. Rookie punt returner Amari Rodgers gets a second chance
The Packers hadn’t forced teams to punt an extraordinary amount of times (29), so rookie Amari Rodgers had received limited opportunities. But when teams had punted, Rodgers had ranged from OK to a disaster. He easily could have been benched for muffing two punts last week, one of which led to a field goal, but special teams coach Maurice Drayton insists there’s something there, despite him averaging just 6.4 yards per return. And he still believed in him. Against Seattle, there was a sense of adventure in the air when Rodgers would field one of the Seahawks’ six punts, but he handled them cleanly, returning four of them for 29 yards and justifying Drayton’s faith in him.
5. Seahawks find the confines of Lambeau Field quite unfriendly
Just as the Packers have found it rough in Seattle, the Seahawks have found Lambeau Field to be a bottomless pit. Entering Sunday, the Packers had won nine straight home games against Seattle, including three playoff games, the last a 28-23 divisional round decision in coach Matt LaFleur’s first season. The last time the Seahawks won here was in 1999 in coach Mike Holmgren’s first season with the Seahawks. The Packers were 17-2 at home under LaFleur and they were coming off a stretch in which they’d played four road games in five weeks. On Sunday, the Seahawks’ Lambeau misery continued and the Packers got to bask in the adulation of the home crowd.