Packers at 49ers: Two X-Factors
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Looking beyond the obvious names such as Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams, here are two X-factors – one on each side of the ball – with the Green Bay Packers playing at the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night.
Packers Offense: OT Billy Turner
Whether he stays at right tackle or moves to left tackle to replace Elgton Jenkins, the veteran offensive lineman will face a huge challenge. If he moves to left tackle, the matchup will be with Nick Bosa. If he stays at right tackle, the matchup will be against Arik Armstead on base downs and Dee Ford on passing plays.
Regardless of where he lines up, Turner will be facing a first-round pick capable of wrecking a game.
“I see a lot of studs,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said.
Bosa, the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2019 when he had nine sacks and 80 pressures, has three sacks and eight pressures this season. Armstead had 10 sacks in 2019 and ranks second in the NFL with 15 pressures this season. Ford had 10 sacks in 2016, 13 sacks in 2018 and one sack and seven pressures this season. Using PFF’s pressure count, those three have 30 pressures. Led by Rashan Gary’s seven, all of Green Bay’s edge rushers combined have 12.
“He can wreck a game,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “He’s an elite rusher. You can really feel his ability. He can get off the football. I think he’s really violent, obviously, in the pass game and disruptive, but also in the run game. It’s not only a credit to the player, but it’s a credit to their scheme, just how they stress their get-off off the football, their D-line coach Kris Kocurek, I’ve got a lot of respect for him. He does a great job and they’ve got great players and it really compliments itself really well.”
Packers Defense: CB Jaire Alexander
Typically, we try to stay away from the obvious names in the weekly X-factors piece. But there’s a reason why we’re going with Alexander. First and foremost, as one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL, he’s Green Bay’s stopper. Secondly, San Francisco’s passing offense is heavily weighted toward receiver Deebo Samuel.
The 49ers have completed 40 passes for 508 yards. With 15 receptions for a league-leading 288 yards, Samuel represents 37.5 percent of the completions and 56.7 percent of the yards. For reference, Davante Adams has “only” 38.8 percent of Green Bay’s passing yards. Samuel also leads NFL receivers with 157 yards after the catch, according to PFF. All of the 49ers’ other receivers have combined for seven receptions for 52 yards. It will be interesting to see if defensive coordinator Joe Barry has Alexander shadow Samuel all over the field.
And if that is the decision, it will be interesting to see if 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan gives a bigger chunk of the playing time to last year’s first-round pick, Brandon Aiyuk. As a rookie, he led the team with 60 receptions, 748 yards and five touchdowns. This year, he’s caught only one pass for 6 yards. If Barry is going to stick with King in the slot, that would be a difficult matchup if Aiyuk goes into the slot and Samuel aligns outside.
“Oh man, he's a great wide receiver,” Packers rookie cornerback Eric Stokes said. “You know for a fact once he gets the ball in his hand, you’ve got to treat him like a running back. No arm tackles, none of that stuff. He's not going down with just one person. You’ve got to make sure that you have a plan with tackling him. You can’t be afraid to come up and hit him. You can't do none of that stuff because he's looking for contact. He's a very aggressive wide receiver and San Fran [is going]to continue to give him the ball and continue to show how special he is.”
