First Glance at the Green Bay Packers
The Carolina Panthers will travel to Green Bay this Sunday to take on the NFC North division-leading Packers. It's Tuesday, which means it's time to take a quick look ahead at the Packers and the challenges they present to the Panthers on both sides of the ball.
Packers Offense
This young Carolina Panthers defense is going to face arguably their toughest challenge yet this Sunday against the NFL's top-scoring offense - Green Bay. The Packers are averaging 31.5 points per game and are one of the most balanced offensive attacks in the league averaging 273.8 passing yards and 123.8 rushing yards per game.
Green Bay has a trio of receivers that possess matchup probelms for the Panthers in Davante Adams, Allen Lazard, and Marquez Valdez-Scantling. Carolina allowed Broncos' quarterback Drew Lock to complete 21 of 27 passes last week for 280 yards and four touchdowns. Just imagine the kind of day Aaron Rodgers can have, who has a better wide receiving corps than that of the Broncos. Adams in particular is a guy they are going to get the ball to a lot. In fact, Adams has recorded a receiving touchdown in each of the last eight games. Donte Jackson and Rasul Douglas will likely split time covering him and he's someone that the Panthers may want to consider double-teaming with a safety sitting over top.
As for the running game, Aaron Jones is without a doubt one of the best backs in the leagues but he hasn't had quite the year that many folks expect of him. So far this season, Jones has rushed for just 823 yards and has only gone over 100 yards in a single game twice. With that said, they still like to get him roughly 20 touches per game (15 rushes, 5 catches). Carolina's run defense has steadily improved over the last three weeks and taking Jones out of the equation would go a long way in trying to slow down this highly potent offense.
Packers Defense
Over the years, it seemed like the one thing that hindered the Packers from being a complete team was having a decent defense. That's not the problem anymore as Green Bay is within the top 12 in both passing (226.0 YPG) and rushing defense (109.7 YPG), and is 8th in total defense.
Despite the numbers, the Panthers probably stand a better chance of running the football than to test the Packers' secondary. Guys like Jaire Alexander, Kevin King, Adrian Amos, Josh Jackson, and Darnell Savage are all extremely good defenders and will make it hard for Teddy Bridgewater to find open windows.
The biggest challenge Green Bay presents is their pass rush. They rank 10th in the league by registering 2.7 sacks per game and we all know about Carolina's struggles upfront. If they get to Bridgewater early and often, it could be yet another long day for the Panthers' offense.
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