After disappointing Week 1 performances, both the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks bounced back with strong showings in Week 2 that led to comprehensive wins.
Now, with the eyes of the nation on them on Monday Night Football, both teams will be looking to go to 2-1 and give themselves an early leg up when it comes to making the playoffs.
A year ago this may have seemed as something of a gimme for the Packers, but with a swarming and relentless defense and the 12th man roaring, this one looks set to come down to some individual battles. Let’s take a look at three of them.
Stopping Chris Clemons
It may have gone unnoticed with Chris Clemons only having one sack, but through two games the defensive end has been devastating rushing the passer. The end result has been a sack, two hits and nine more hurries as he has the highest pass rushing grade (+11.2) of any defensive end in the league currently. While he’ll predominantly rush from the right side, he’s the kind of talent who the Packers can expect to see on the left and playing with his hand up, while also being versatile enough to drop into coverage.
Nonetheless it’s his pass rushing from the right, and in particular his battle with Marshall Newhouse that could be pivotal in determining the outcome of this game. In our Scramble piece we highlighted Newhouse as a player who has shown tremendous improvement, but this has the makings of his greatest test yet against a player who has started the NFL season by hitting the ground running. With Aaron Rodgers' pass completion percentage dropping to 45.5% when pressured, it’s key for both teams that their man wins.
Avoiding being skittled
Heading out of Week 2 there wasn’t a running back who forced as many missed tackles as Marshawn Lynch (14). The bruising back was able to effectively close the game off against the Cowboys with his burly running, taking the load of rookie Russell Wilson.
This is something the Packers will do their utmost to prevent. Indeed Green Bay, who earned a collective -13.3 grade in run defense in Week 1,will be looking for a performance that resembled more of what they did in Week 2 (+1.7). Here they missed just two tackles and got some solid play out of B.J. Raji. Too often Raji hasn’t shown up consistently given how much he is on the field but his battle with the Seahawks interior line (the Packers are likely to line him up at various spots), could be telling in how easy it is for Lynch to get to the second level and attack a Packers' second-level that has been known to miss tackles.
Getting off the line
In the shape of Brandon Browner and Richard Sherman the Seahawks have two of the more aggressive corners in the league. Browner has been in press coverage 35.9% of plays and Sherman is up at 39.74%, so it’s going to be crucial for the Packers receivers to beat these jams and make plays. It’s a different type of proposition to what they faced against Chicago, but with their running game likely to be stifled by a dominant run defense, it’s going to be vital for Jordy Nelson to start showing up like he did in 2011, and possibly even more important for Randall Cobb to get on the field more. His 2.11 yards per route run is the highest of any Packer, and with him spending most of his time in the slot he’s likely to get a match up with the Seahawks cornerback who has given up the most yards per route in coverage; Marcus Trufant. If the Packers can get this match up, they could be on the road to victory.
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