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The Green Bay Packers head to the great northwest to take on the Seattle Seahawks in this week’s Thursday night tilt. The Packers are in the midst of a six game road losing streak, which is the franchise’s longest since the 1990-1991 season. The Pack took care of business last week against the lowly Miami Dolphins at home, but currently sit at just 4-4-1 and behind both the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings in the NFC North standings. The Packers are +3 point underdogs in this vital road game.
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Packers Need Win Badly
Green Bay is desperately trying to keep pace in the division with both the Bears and Vikings. Luckily, one of those teams will take a loss this week as they face each other in Chicago on Sunday. The Packers need to get a victory to gain ground on the loser of that match up. Winning in Seattle is very difficult to do and Green Bay has not done so in ten years. A huge impact for the Packers against the Dolphins was the emergence of Aaron Jones who ran for 145 yards and 2 touchdowns in the victory.
He has clearly separated himself from the muddled Packer backfield situation and will feature for them from here on out. Jones leads the league in yards per carry at 6.8 and will be facing a Seahawk defense that has allowed around seven yards per carry their last two times out. Green Bay needs to get Jones going early. If Jones can run the ball at a steady clip, that just brings the Seahawk linebackers and safeties that much closer to the line of scrimmage for Aaron Rodgers to pick apart.
Rodgers is having a “down” year which has been plagued by inconsistency and questions about an injury suffered in Week 1 against Chicago. However, that “down” year is still 17 touchdowns to just 1 interception. The emergence of Jones takes a little weight off of Rodgers and adds just another weapon to this already potent offense.
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Seahawks Will Want to Run
Seattle is going to try and run the ball down the throat of this Packer defense. The Seahawks lead the league in rushing attempts per game with thirty two and are first in the league in rushing yards overall. No matter who the Seahawks have put back there, Mike Davis, Rashaad Penny, or Chris Carson, the Seahawks have been impressive while running the football. The key for the Packers is to limit the yardage on early downs to keep Seattle in third and long situations. Russell Wilson is one of the best quarterbacks in the league in currently sports a 110.2 quarterback rating. Green Bay must limit Wilson’s ability to improvise when the pocket breaks down. Wilson is at his best when rolling out and creating opportunities out of broken plays.
Keys for Road Win
The Packers need to limit chunk rushing yards on early downs, keep Wilson in the pocket, and establish their own running attack with Aaron Jones. Do these things and they will escape Seattle with a much needed victory.
