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Preview: Packers Stats So Far Begs the Question 'Who Cut the Cheese'?

What's a Redskins/Packers preview without a picture of Vince Lombardi in Redskins gear??
What's a Redskins/Packers preview without a picture of Vince Lombardi in Redskins gear??

I just got off a phone interview talking Green Bay Packers with the Pulse Network, so let's preview this thing here. So far the 3-1 Green Bay Packers have played: @Eagles (27-20 Win), Bills (34-7 Win), @Bears (20-17 Loss), and the Lions (28-26 squeaker Win). As Ken mentioned in his post, there really hasn't been a dominant team throughout the first four weeks. The Colts, Saints, and Pats have all stumbled through their early schedule. The Packers, heavy Super Bowl favorites, have eeked through their wins, but have done so with injuries and poor discipline.  What are some weaknesses that stand out Mike Shanahan surely notices?

  • Starting Strong Safety Morgan Burnett is out for the year. They're still deciding who will step in though they do have some veterans.
  •  LT Chad Clifton's knees have been failing and 1st round draft Bryan Bryan Bulaga has seen some action (Hello, Orakpo). Thank God he did not sign with us.
  • The Packers' Special Teams have been atrocious.
      -   Bears Game: Gave up a punt return for a TD, had a FG blocked, kickoff out of bounds, 35-yard muffed punt that was returned 28 yards, and 2 ST penalties.
    -     Lions Game: 2 fumbles lost by kickoff returner Jordy Nelson and a botched punt by Tim Masthay, who dropped the snap and then kicked it 21 yards out of bounds.
  • Packers Defense is giving up a 31st ranked 5.2 rushing yards a carry.
  • Packers are ranked 19th in total offense (321.2 yards a game). Your Washington Redskins are ranked 17th (328.2).
  • Redskins rushing game is much better than the Packers. Packers average 3.9 yards a carry to the Redskins 4.3...and the Packers have yet to rush the ball once over 20 yards. (Obviously, this hurts with Portis out since he is our leading rusher on yards per carry).
  • Nick Barnett, who plays Rocky's role in LB for the Packers, injured his wrist and played in a cast vs Lions. His backup, Brandon Chillar, injured his shoulder seriously, which is important since he is one of their better pass coverage LBs.
  • Packers TD/INT ratio is 8-5, Redskins is 3-2. Carlos, get the pine tar out.
  • Packers rank 7th highest with 29 penalties
  • Redskins turnover ratio is +3 to the Packers -1.

The Redskins DLine will have to play hard. Aaron Rodgers is not getting sacked as much as he used to (only 5 times so far), but at the same time, the Packers only have 1 pass over 40+ yards this year (Skins have four). Where Green Bay shines is Rodgers completes 68.9% of his passes. The Lions have one of the best defensive lines in football and were able to sack him only two times. Will the Redskins predominantly play their normal preventive Cover-2, or will they bring the house with Landry and the corners more frequently?  We all know what Aaron Rodgers is capable of, so the Redskins cannot let him stand back there like they did Vick/Kolb (especially since the Redskins did not get a lot of pressure rushing 3 and 4 last week). Either way, this game, which we all thought pre-season was a slam dunk loss, shows a lot of opportunities for the Redskins to exploit.

On our taping of Redskins Lunchbox last night, Ken was overly worried about how the Redskins will cover Jermichael Finley. Yes, he is a beast at 6'5", but the Redskins for the most part completely shut down Jason Witten (who's 6'6"), Owen Daniels, and Brent Celek