Packers’ offense vs. Giants’ defense
A week after facing a decorated defensive coordinator in Steve Spagnuolo, the Packers will face another on Monday with Wink Martindale locking horns with Matt LaFleur.
The New York Giants’ defense has struggled this season, but Martindale has done a good job making chicken salad with the ingredients he has been handed. In addition, the Giants’ offense has been dreadful, which has put them in tough spots through the season.
Overall, the Giants rank 28th in the NFL in yards given up per game. This is not the test the Packers faced a week ago with the Kansas City Chiefs defense.
If there’s a player on defense to watch, it’s second-year pass rusher Kavyon Thibodeaux.
Thiobdeaux has 11 sacks on the season and has been relentless in his pursuit of opposing quarterbacks.
The Packers’ offense is coming off another strong performance against what is probably the best defense they’ve played so far this season.
Perhaps the short-term pain is turning into a long-term gain right in front of our eyes.
Jordan Love threw three more touchdown passes on Sunday, and he’s thrown eight touchdowns to zero interceptions in the last three games.
Christian Watson had another strong performance with two touchdown receptions. He did leave the game with a hamstring injury that puts his status in doubt for Monday’s game. If he is able to play, however, he is starting to look like the player the Packers thought they were getting when the season began.
Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks have all made plays over the last three weeks as well. Doubs had a big fourth-down conversion on a beautiful throw from Love that helped set up Watson’s second touchdown of the night.
The pass protection kept Love relatively clean and allowed him to complete 25 passes to nine different receivers against the Chiefs.
The run game is still struggling but looked better on Sunday against the Chiefs. AJ Dillon ran for 73 yards on 18 carries, and looked as explosive as he has all season.
It remains unclear if Aaron Jones will be back on Monday, but even if he is, expect Dillon to be the team’s workhorse as the temperatures continue to dip.
Packers’ defense vs. Giants’ offense
Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce are still one of the best duos in all of football.
The Packers really found a way to limit both of those guys in Sunday’s win over the Chiefs.
Mahomes threw for 210 yards and only one touchdown pass. Travis Kelce had 81 yards receiving but was not an overwhelming factor in the game as he usually can be.
Green Bay’s pass rush has started to heat up. Lukas Van Ness, Rashan Gary and Preston Smith all had at least 0.5 sacks in Sunday’s win. The team as a whole had three sacks against Mahomes.
That goes with the three sacks they had two weeks ago against the Lions.
They’ll be facing a Giants offensive line that is dreadful in pass protection. The key of course will be getting to obvious passing situations against a bad offensive line.
The Packers have had their struggles against opposing ground games.
The Packers’ defense is coming off another poor performance against the Chiefs. Isiah Pacheco ran for more than 100 yards and averaged more than six yards per carry.
That may not bode well for the Green Bay defense in this matchup because they are facing a team that will be playing a backup quarterback. Even when their starting quarterback is playing, the Giants want to get the ball to their best player.
That is Saquon Barkley.
Barkley has been in and out of the lineup with injuries, but he’s healthy now, and that could be a problem for a Green Bay defense that is once again at the bottom of the league in defending the run.
Keisean Nixon just had the biggest play of his career with an interception of Mahomes on Sunday night. He is now the only Packers cornerback currently on the roster with an interception.
Special teams
The Packers’ kicking game had officially become a problem before Sunday’s game against the Chiefs.
Anders Carlson was starting to struggle and had missed a kick in every game except for one since the bye week. The Packers expressed confidence in the young kicker again, and he rewarded their faith.
Carlson made all of his kicks on Sunday night, including a 48-yard field goal that ensured the Packers would not lose in regulation. That was the biggest kick of his career to date.
Perhaps that will give him some confidence as the weather continues to turn and kicking conditions become more volatile.
Nixon was only able to return one kick on Sunday night but got the Packers out past the 25 and into some better field position.
Perhaps he’ll get more opportunities in another outdoor stadium that will be subject to the elements.
The Giants were dreadful on special teams a year ago, finishing 28th in Rick Gosselin’s annual special teams rankings.
The kicking situation in New York has been rocky with Graham Gano being placed on injured reserve in November.
Randy Bullock has handled kicking duties since then and will likely line up there for the Giants on Monday night.
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