How To Beat The Green Bay Packers
by Bruce Raffel on Dec 4, 2009 10:07 AM EST
84 comments
As part of our weekly stories, this week we turn to trying to figure out which Packers team will show up to protect the Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field in Green Bay on Monday Night Football. Will it be the one that has one three in a row, including an impressive almost-shutout of the Dallas Cowboys (17-7) or the one that barely beat the 49ers and lost in Tampa Bay?
I can pretty much guess which one both the Ravens and Packers' fans hope to see in what will be the first night game in December in Packers history this Monday. Last I heard, temperatures are expected to be in the teens with a chance of snow. The weather will certainly play to Green Bay's favor, as they are a lot more used to those conditions than the Ravens are, and the worse it is, the bigger the Packers' advantage, which is already big enough, considering the game is on prime time TV and the Packers, along with the Ravens are both still thick in the middle of the playoff hunt.
Both teams are fighting for Wild Card berths, with the Packers three games behind the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC North and the Ravens the same distance behind the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC North. So then how do the Ravens go onto the hallowed grounds of Lambeau and roll out of there with a win to go 3-0 on national TV this year?
Simply put, this game appears to break down to just one of the group battles that we talk about so often on The Beatdown. Usually we go right to the battle in the trenches on both sides of the ball. I usually say it all starts and stops with the big guys inside and if we control the offensive and defensive lines then we will win the ballgame. This week, we can get even more specific than that. The Packers either win or lose their games based on their ability to protect their prolific passer, Aaron Rodgers in the pocket. He has been sacked and hit more often than any other NFL quarterback and when he is pressured and harassed, he is nowhere near effective then when he is comfortable sitting back there waiting for his great group of wide receivers and tight ends break into the open. When untouched, he will torch the secondary and the Ravens DB's can ill afford him that luxury. We have not been very good at all at covering for any length of time and with so many solid targets, time is absolutely at the essence of what the Ravens need to do in order to win.
Therefore, it all is pointing at Baltimore's ability to get a pass rush on Rodgers enough to force him to release the ball sooner than he intends to or hold onto the ball too long that will lead to either sacks, hits and ultimately, interceptions to shorten the field for our offense to score. Better yet, rather than sack Rodgers, make him throw into coverage (translated: Ed Reed) so that we come away with a sweet defensive TD for a change of pace and to unlevel the playing field.
I have a lot of confidence the Ravens will be able to move the ball against Green Bay's #1 rated defense. Ray Rice should make their linebackers miss and if they choose to put Charles Woodson on Rice, then Derrick Mason will make their other DB's pay with key completions off the rocket arm of Joe Flacco. Mark Clayton seems to make the difficult catches (even if he also drops the easier ones!) and the Ravens have proven in the past that they can move the ball and score on anyone. If the Ravens can get off to a good start with points early in the game, they can put the pressure on the Packers to play catch up. If the game plays the other way around, it could be difficult for the Ravens to play from behind and that could get ugly.
However, if the Ravens go back to the formula that had them beat the San Diego Chargers, Denver Broncos, Pittsburgh Steelers and almost catch and beat the Minnesota Vikings, then they can certainly hang, compete and even defeat the Green Bay Packers. That means going back to the old fashioned gameplan of giving the ball to our running backs and let them wear down the defense with the pounding form our big FB and the darting around by our elusive RB. Then throw when they least expect it and are forced into tougher coverages as they creep up to stop the run game.
Solid Special Teams play on both sides of the ball and not allow the big play from the Packers high flying offense (or at least not too many of them!). Play like a Raven (did last season and the beginning of this one!). Pressure the QB, pressure the QB and after that, pressure the QB.
Is that clear enough?
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When Chuck Norris dives into water he doesn't get wet, The water gets Chuck Norris.
Chuck Norris has counted to infinity....... Twice.
When God said let there be light, Chuck Norris said," Say Please."
Chuck Norris can sneeze with his eyes open.
There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.
by Baltimore Warrior on Dec 4, 2009 10:38 AM EST reply actions
QB pressure is paramount...
As indicated by Bruce if there is one thing that the Ravens MUST do, it’s get after Rodgers. He cannot be allowed to sit back comfortably in the pocket and torch our depleted secondary. To be completely honest, I think the only weapon Green Bay has is their passing game. Does anyone really expect them to run the ball with any efficiency? With that said, if Mattison revisits the same scheme (zone blitz) that had success in the past, and we actually get off the ball (I’m looking at you Gregg) then we should be able to chase Rodgers all freezing night. And in regards to the weather, yes the Packers are probably used to it, but it’s not like the Ravens haven’t played some chilly home games in December either. Most notably the heart breaker to New England 2 years ago when the wind chill temp was in the teens if I’m not mistaken. On offense I think play action will work in our favor if we’re able to establish Mac and Rice consistently. I don’t want to see anything cute, just pound the rock and catch them napping with a deep ball every now and again.
Our "only" weapon?
Yes, we’re a passing team that uses the pass to set-up the run and, frankly, we probably only run to keep defenses honest and to set-up play-action. That said, our passing game can be pretty dominant.We’ve got some real good WRs, an emerging tight end in Finley, and our RBs are even learning how to catch screen passes. Not to mention the fact that Rodgers is quickly becoming an elite QB. If he has time to pass (which I acknowledge is a big if), he’ll carve up your secondary.
On the other side of the ball, we are #4 in rushing yards allowed per attempt and per game, and that includes games against Benson, Steven Jackson, Gore, and Adrian Peterson twice. We should be able to contain (not shut down) Rice and make Flacco beat us. Unless your third WR has a career game, I don’t see him doing that, as Woodson can shut down Mason and our other corner Williams can cover Clayton. But again, if your third WR has some talent, he might have a field day as our nickelback, Jarret Bush, is utterly terrible.
Once again
Yes, your offense seems almost unstoppable and your defense is #1, but we Ravens fans keep looking at the level of competition your stats have come against and just don’t feel the fear that obviously you Packer fans think we should. Likewise you’re not scared of us, but then again, all we do is hit hard for 60 minutes and make everyone pay to earn their wins in the games we’ve lost (perhaps we play hard for 59 minutes, as that might be the difference between our 6-5 record vs. a 9-2 one).
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Dec 6, 2009 10:54 AM EST up reply actions
I hear the played a weak schedule thing but our offense hasn’t struggled in ANY of our games this year.
We’ve put up 23 and 26 against the Vikes, who arguably have the best defense in the league. 24 against the Bengals, who have proven to have a very good defense, especially against the pass. 30 against the 49ers, who statistically, have what is a top 10 defense.
And against the weak teams we’ve played we’ve put up 26, 36, 31, 28, 34. And 21, against what was a solid Bears defense when they had Urlacher and Tinsoimoa.
What has gotten us into trouble is our defense and special teams. The defense was mainly because of 2 things. The first, and most important thing is that Capers (d coordinator) was calling our games very conservative. And the second was our starting SS was out. Capers has dialed up the blitzes, and the last 3 weeks we’ve been very successful on defense. The special teams was horrible, and is still pretty bad but not quite to the degree that they once were.
ACDC84 really is pretty spot on. If Rodgers is able to get time, he will likely carve up your secondary. And it’s not because we think your secondary is weak, it’s because Rodgers is that good and so are our WR’s. Now I recognize him having time is an if, but you guys haven’t been great rushing the passer as of late so I don’t think it’s out of the question to think we can block for him.
On defense, it’s going to be hard to stop you guys. Flacco is a good young QB. He throws a great deep ball, and has really improved his accuracy. Mason is one of the best route runners in the league, and Clayton is certainly no slouch. And I haven’t even mentioned Rice yet who is your best player. I don’t think we’ll shut your defense down, but I am confident that we’ll be able to get 3 or 4 stops, which is usually all our offense needs.
We’ve pretty much been through everything with our 2 teams, and all that’s left now is the actual game. And luckily for us, it’s only 1 day away!
by packallday555 on Dec 6, 2009 2:09 PM EST up reply actions
Pass rush!
If the Packers are that good why aren’t they in first place? For once I would love to see an opposing QB actually nervous about our rush. By the way I am thrilled Paul Kruger made the big play last week and I have been cheering for him since day one in these blogs. Look for 2 sacks from Kruger this week. All he needed was that confidence. Get in Rodgers face! Every week I look at our pathetic pass rush and wonder if we just played the best offensive line in football. Seems no one has trouble blocking us. Pittsburgh had 5 sacks in the second half last week and lets see we had…um…none? Scared QBs make mistakes. Ones with all day to pass don’t. This is the main problem this team has had all season. With a major pass rush the DB’s will even look better. Look for a few big plays from Lardarius Webb!
If the Packers are that good why aren’t they in first place?
Because we have what is likely a bottom 5 o-line in the league, and when you beat teams with your passing game having a poor o-line usually doesn’t work out too well.
Another reason is because we had to play the Vikes 2x, and the matchup of the best d-line in the league vs. the worst o-line in the league wasn’t pretty.
by packallday555 on Dec 4, 2009 12:25 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah
His addition has really opened up things for the Vikes so much. Teams kind of have to pick their poison now against. Where before it was kind of a no brainer…force Jackson to pass the ball.
by packallday555 on Dec 4, 2009 8:42 PM EST up reply actions
This article is a case of easier said than done.
The Packers having no running game??? Ryan Grant has more yards than your best runner and is headed for 1300 yards plus. How is that no running game?
The Packers had a ton of injuries in their O-line earlier in the year…now that situation has been rectified. We could have easily won two more games. But what really matters is who is playing well going into the playoffs and the Packers have gotten it together now. Minnesota has played well so far…they beat Baltimore right?
Packers will absolutely smoke the Ravens….it won’t be close folks. You can go to bed early Monday night when it is over by halftime.
by PackersSuperbowl2010 on Dec 4, 2009 11:38 AM EST reply actions
Did you actually read my comments?
I said run with efficiency. Yes Ryan Grant is having a good season so far. He’s just killing Ray Rice, what with his 890 yards compared to Rice’s 821. And if you ignore the fact that Rice’s avg of 4.9 yards a carry are better than Grant’s 4.3 than yes, it’s like the grand canyon separates the two based on performance alone. All joking aside, Green Bay and Baltimore have high ranking rush defenses (4th and 6th respectfully) but one thing Baltimore has always been able to do is stop the rush. That is fact. Yes, they’ve given up 2 100+ yard rushers this season. Those are also the only two they’ve given up in the last 40+ games. They have the ability to make Green Bay a one dimensional team, and IF they can do this as they have so often in the past then it puts more pressure on Rodgers.
And Minnesota has played well so far....
They’ve absolutely destroyed the Packers.
Did you watch either of the games?
Your right about Grant, he is having a pretty good year statistically but he has been inconsistent for us. Making us one dimensional won’t be as big as some of you guys think because our coach does this too us pretty much every weak. The biggest thing will be your ability to get pressure on Rodgers. Our o-line has been better as of late with the returns of Clifton and Tauscher but their still below-average to average. If you can get pressure on Rodgers, we will have to go to our maximum protection sets, which greatly hinders our ability to call the kind of game on offense we would like too.
On defense my biggest worry is Ray Rice. He is emerging as a top 5 Rb in the league, and breaks tackles which doesn’t bode well for our defense. I’m really interested to see what we do with Woodson. I expect to see him on Rice every once in a while, and then be on Mason the rest of the time. We’re supposed to have our best LB in coverage back this game from injury but I don’t think he’ll be able to handle Rice out of the back field.
Our D coordinator, Capers has tried to neutralize Rb’s who are effective out of the backfield by bringing lots of blitzes, which force the Rb to stay back to block. This can be risky though, because if Rice is able to throw a block and slip out afterwards he could potentially take one all the way on a little dump off.
I think both these teams are pretty even and I’m pretty interested to see how our game turns out. I think something that goes hand in hand when talking about the Ravens is how phyiscal they are. It’ll be interesting to see how we handle this. I don’t think our defense will struggle, as they’ve been pretty physical all year but I’m not sure how our line will do against Price and Ngata.
All in all, I think it’ll be a relatively close game and will come down to how our o-line performs, as many of our games have.
by packallday555 on Dec 4, 2009 12:20 PM EST up reply actions
I completely agree that it will be a close, hard nosed fight to the end. The Ravens have a penchant for committing awful penalties at the absolute worst time so if they continue that trend then they’re going to have a long night. Both of these teams are in the thick of the WC hunt and neither will want to give an inch. Plus, it’s MNF so they’ll both be playing with a lot of pride. One thing I believe that is on the Ravens side is their sense of urgency. They played with it against Pittsburgh because they had to. To be fair, if the Packers lose this one and drop to 7-5 they still have a reasonable shot at the playoffs. But if the Ravens drop to 6-6…well, I would say cue the fat lady.
Yeah
Was just going to say that as well. I think the Packers and Ravens are 1 and 2 in penatly yards per game.
by packallday555 on Dec 4, 2009 8:43 PM EST up reply actions
All fair and sensible comments
by Packer fans here on The Beatdown. They seem to know their team’s strengths and weaknesses as well as we know ours. It will all come down to who executes their strenghts and exploits the other’s weaknesses better. Looks like we’ve got two pretty even teams here and it could easily go either way.
aka 'Rexx'
Wow
“Packers will absolutely smoke the Ravens….it won’t be close folks. You can go to bed early Monday night when it is over by halftime.”
Hearing this just makes me lose all respect for your opinion and makes you lose all credibility. if you honestly beleive that then you should just stop watching football altogether
Lol
Ryan Grant has more yards than your best runner and is headed for 1300 yards plus.
He has 69 more yards than Rice with 42 more carries. Rice is averaging 4.9 per rush, Grant 4.1. Grant may be heading for 1300 yards, but so is Ray Rice. Oh yea, is Grant going to have 75+ receptions for another 1000 plus yards? Doubt it.
And your O-Line is not good enough to open holes on our defense. Grant will be lucky to get 75 yards. Be real now man.
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
While this is probably true, our o-line is much better at running blocking then pass blocking. As for whether or not they’ll be able to open up some holes on Monday is kind of a toss up. They were able to open up holes against what was the #1 rush defense in the league in the 49ers but then the next week wasn’t able to open up holes against the lowly Lions.
by packallday555 on Dec 4, 2009 8:46 PM EST up reply actions
hahaha at packers superbowl 2010
Ryan Grant has 209carries for 890 yards and Ray Rice has 167carries for 821 yards so you do the math of whos having the better year im not even going to mention the receiving yards plus the cupcake schedule you guys play EVERY YEAR but talk is cheap so monday night we’ll see!!!
You clearly didn't see the niners game
The Packers controlled that entire game. They allowed the niners to get close once, then they put the game away with a long game-ending drive. You’re implying that the niners are a bad team. That’s not true, they’re a 500 team coming off a dominant win over the Jaguars.
Oooohhh, a .500 team,...
Wow, I guess that makes them a good team? No, they’re an AVERAGE team who can’t win tough games (see GB, Minn,. etc.). The Jags have been horrible on the road also.
aka 'Rexx'
Yeah, frankly it does make them a good team
What does a good team do? They get easy wins over average teams (49ers, Bears), they dominate bad teams (Lions, Browns, Rams), they beat other good teams (Dallas) and they hang with the really good teams (Bengals, Vikings). They also get upset every once in a while (Tampa Bay). So yeah, beating the 49ers the way the Packers did does make them good. “Ooooohhh, theybeat a .500 team” if they beat the Ravens? Because if they beat the Ravens then the Ravens and the niners will have the same record.
by Donald Driver on Dec 6, 2009 2:53 PM EST up reply actions
cheap talk is what we do!
no fear factor with the Pack. ravens will win simply because there is no real history of losing to them. we’ll be confident and that’s all this team needs.
No real history? Isn't history.........history?
It’s not much…but it’s out there: Green Bay has a 2-1 edge in its all-time series with Baltimore, taking down the Ravens at Lambeau Field in 1998 (28-10) and 2001 (31-23) before suffering a 48-3 rout at M&T Bank Stadium in 2005. A Baltimore-based team has not won in Green Bay since 1968, when the Colts achieved the feat. Guess it won’t be a simple win……….
lets start the game with a late ray lewis helmet popping it on driver to set the tone. worth 15 in the first quarter.
if we get into the playoffs rays late hit on chad in game 1 will be of great benefit.
raven, check this quote out from Ray. It is exactly how you write them up. 2-3 word sentences.
"We are who we are. Mark came back. The defense is back. We kept moving. We are moving. Six games. One down – a win, five to go. That’s what our mindset is. Lambeau, the Packers, Monday night, we can’t wait."
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
haha
the cool thing is when you say this quote is from ray now everyone has to ask “which one?”
Na, Ray Rice uses complete sentence
Ray Lewis uses fragments of sentences. Can’t you tell the difference by now?!?
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
Yeah but even Ray Rice
uses cliche after cliche and isn’t great w/ his responses. Needs more seasoning as a star to learn what and how to say it. Me thinks he is going to watch his “proud papa!”
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Dec 5, 2009 10:10 AM EST up reply actions
Did you hear Flacco
before the Colts game they were interviewing him and he imitated Ray and it was rather impressive. “Week by week. One week at a time.” There was another sentence, but I don’t remember. Anyway, Flacco said he had no idea what Ray meant, but it must be important so he wrote it down. It was the funniest interview I have ever seen Joe do- and he really did sound like Ray!
by FlaccoFanatic on Dec 7, 2009 2:34 PM EST up reply actions
I could see Ray-Ray as our Defensive coordinater a couple years after he retires.
He would fit like a glove. ( No O.J. based comments.(Raven.Malor))
When Chuck Norris dives into water he doesn't get wet, The water gets Chuck Norris.
Chuck Norris has counted to infinity....... Twice.
When God said let there be light, Chuck Norris said," Say Please."
Chuck Norris can sneeze with his eyes open.
There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.
by Baltimore Warrior on Dec 4, 2009 4:27 PM EST up reply actions
iceberg, wow. right here. in front of me. i can taste it. we need help. it’s not about me, it’s about this ship and all the talented people on board. bottom line.
What do you think happens when the UPS guy shows up at Ray’s house with a package and asks Ray to sign on the bottom line?
Does Ray get upset?
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
lol
how about ray on the first lunar landing:
WOW. Simply blessed. I need to get to the moon. The world’s goin through it. Bam! Eagle’s landed. Right here in front of me. I can taste the dust. Seriously, it’s not about me. It’s about a step for mankind.
When I landed on the moon, I could not hear. a. sound! Damn. when we leaving? I need to get back. I need to get to Tampa. This gravity. Messes up my dance moves. Any grass on here? Grass. Lick it. Taste good.
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
We need a Ray Lewis Christmas special. Ray by the fire in a Mr. Huckstable sweater reading stories to Ray Rice (who sits at his feet in the glow of the fire pushing a train around). Ward plays the Scrooge and blind sides them both out of nowhere crushing Rice’s train. Lewis than explains Christmas to Ward and they sing Whoville songs into the night.
Rice can wear a pair of those footie-PJ's with the zip out
bottom for the butt. Ray wears the big old collared sweater with the long elf hat and round glasses on the tip of his nose.
aka 'Rexx'
It is Baltimore Beatdown
What else would you expect?
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
People from Baltimore getting beatdown maybe?
When Chuck Norris dives into water he doesn't get wet, The water gets Chuck Norris.
Chuck Norris has counted to infinity....... Twice.
When God said let there be light, Chuck Norris said," Say Please."
Chuck Norris can sneeze with his eyes open.
There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.
by Baltimore Warrior on Dec 4, 2009 7:13 PM EST up reply actions
It's funny because rice's face and hieght look like a todler when you put them together
And I can see him perfectly see him wearing crap-flap footy pajamas. LOL
When Chuck Norris dives into water he doesn't get wet, The water gets Chuck Norris.
Chuck Norris has counted to infinity....... Twice.
When God said let there be light, Chuck Norris said," Say Please."
Chuck Norris can sneeze with his eyes open.
There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.
by Baltimore Warrior on Dec 4, 2009 7:12 PM EST up reply actions
The ravens have already beaten better teams than the packers this season and lambeau field isnt as loud as heinz field , they are not strangers to playing in tough stadiums on the road. since it seems al the ravens tough games are always on the road thanks league office while the steelers get the packers and the vikings at home while we have to play them on the road.
Wonder if the Ravens will practice outside today (Sat.)
It’s snowing and might be a good test to see how they do in these conditions before heading up to Wisconsin.
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Dec 5, 2009 10:11 AM EST up reply actions
Packersnews puts the Baltimoresun to shame
I was reading a few of the Packer articles in “Behind enemy lines” on the Sun and was really impressed with their level of coverage. Also, for the most part, I found the packers fans to be honest, down to earth, and realistic (I think fans like PackersSuperbowl2010 are atypical for their fan base).
Back to the articles, their reporters actaully interview coaches and scouts of teams that have played the Ravens to give their fans a better understanding of the team they are about to face. I was impressed.
I think this is going to be a very entertaining, close game. As a Raven fan, my predictions are often clouded, but I really do think we win this one becuase of our renewed focus on the heavy unbalanced line attack, along with Willis and Le’Ron!
by 60minuteassassin on Dec 5, 2009 9:42 AM EST reply actions
Wow, so are you saying ....?
There is a better newspaper out there than the Baltimore Sun!? Wonders never cease to amaze me!
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Dec 5, 2009 10:13 AM EST up reply actions
I live in their media area
I don’t share your opinion about their fans. They definitely aren’t generally honest. Whatever goofy tale is fed them gets repeated forever and the team PR machine uses that to bleed stories into the media, sometimes fake but distorted nevertheless. Coach “McPositive” is either evasive or regurgitates the same cliches over and over. The GM is a robot who says nothing, usually literally.
I recall one of the Packersnews writers, Rob Demovsky, was challenged about his version of a story and his response was that it was what the PR staff told him and he just assumed it was true and didn’t care about other versions.
Its all one big PR machine and the goal is revenue.
its the same as every organization
they just dont ever want to give something away, cause if we can get the info, so can any other team. I mean have you ever watch harbaugh’s pressers, he repeats the same things every week, just like every coach. Thats why when a coach goes off the beaten path, they become memorable, noteworthy news stories.
They're like that even in the off-season
It is an odd circumstance. There isn’t much sports or entertainment wise anywhere near there. Packers rule the roost.
about the packer fans
I hear you Salty, but all fans bases have their faults, and I guess I would still say that they are better than most. Look, when you have to put up with Steeler fans, Eagle fans, and Skins fans (to name a few), the cheeseheads seem pretty harmless.
by 60minuteassassin on Dec 6, 2009 8:51 AM EST up reply actions
Thoughts from a Packer fan...
I’m not going to come on here and talk any crap to you guys. I think this is going to be a close game that could go either way.
But you’re right in your thoughts on how to win the game. If your D can make A-Rod uncomfortable in the pocket all day, then you’ll probably win the game. If not, the Packers will. We’ve been a lot better at protecting him the last few games (something like two sacks in the last three games but that includes two teams inept at rushing the passer – The Lions and Niners). This game should be a better judge of where our line is really at…
packer pacifing
i’m alittle sick of hearing how great packers are, when in fact they beat 1 team over 500. that team ,the cowboys who knows what your gonna get week 2 week. #1 defense is easy when you play the bottom half of the league. vikings handled them easily twice. 44 sacks are horrible ,but they played powerhouses like detroit and tampa. dom capers is a good coach and they have talent ,give them another year though. i’m by no means saying ravens are better, but they had tougher schedule and played tougher teams who were coming off byes or long weeks,such as packers. league hates ravens
So after this game there still won’t be any reason to call the Packers good, because beating a crappy team like Baltimore doesn’t mean alot either.
Maybe the Most Valuable Packer
But not Most Valuable Player.
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
Haha no
Either Brees or Favre is. But Rodgers has been very good, especially when you factor in how bad our o-line has been for him this year. Too only have thrown 5 INTs despite being sacked 44 times, with 30 of those 44 sacks coming in under less then 3 seconds is pretty impressive.
by packallday555 on Dec 6, 2009 2:16 PM EST up reply actions
This is kind of a misconception. After the Bucs game, 28 of his 37 sacks came in less then 3 seconds. Our coach also realized all the deep passes he was calling nearly every play weren’t going to work.
by packallday555 on Dec 7, 2009 6:47 PM EST up reply actions
I disagree that the pass rush is the biggest key to beating the packers.
If anything, the packers’ special teams will determine the outcome. They have been the worst unit in the league and are probably the only reason the packers’ defense isn’t top 5 in the league in points allowed. Teams are constantly starting with great field position.
And flushing rodgers out of the pocket may not be in the Ravens best interest as he has the highest qb ratingint the league outside the pocket. He has shown that he can throw under pressure. The key for the Ravens will be to capitalize on special teams and stop the run.
It just depends on how bad our special teams is tonight. Your spot on about how much they’ve effected on our defense, and in particular our scoring defense. Usually we give up 1 big play on special teams a week. But there have been weeks where we’ve been absolutely horrid, and basically allowed damn near every return to be a long one. For example, in our second meeting at Lambeau with the Vikes, their average starting field positon was at their own 49.
If we have one of those kind of nights on special teams, then it will be hard for us to win. But your pass rush definitely will matter. Particulary, whether or not your able to get to Rodgers with only 3-4 guys. Like you said Rodgers is the highest rated Qb outside of the pocket, as well as the highest rated and most effecient Qb on 3rd downs. The pressure you’re able to generate against him will likely be the determining factor of the game. If your able to get pressure our offense schemes will be thrown out of wack, and will result in us leaving 7 back to back, and only sending out 3 Wr’s. Which, as you’d expect is something we have struggled trying to do.
by packallday555 on Dec 7, 2009 6:57 PM EST up reply actions
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