Green Bay Packers: Slowing Dalvin Cook is the key to victory

The Green Bay Packers have another tough divisional matchup this Sunday, and if they are going to win, they must slow down Vikings’ running back Dalvin Cook.

After a hard-fought victory last Thursday against the Chicago Bears, the Green Bay Packers have another difficult NFC North battle on their hands this Sunday when the Minnesota Vikings come to town.

Of course, this is a big game for both teams but if the Packers can come out with the win they will become the early favorites for the NFC North title with a 2-0 record in the division. However, before we get too far ahead of ourselves the game has to be played first.

As always there are a number of keys to victory, such as forcing turnovers, keeping Aaron Rodgers upright, and establishing the run. But perhaps, there isn’t an aspect of this game more important than slowing down Vikings’ running back, Dalvin Cook.

Against the Atlanta Falcons this past Sunday, Cook put together a big game with 111 rushing yards on 21 attempts, and two touchdowns. But diving into those numbers a little further, it was really a boom or bust performance by Cook.

Out of Cook’s 111 yards, 62 came on only three rushing attempts. Meaning, that over his remaining 18 carries, he had an average of only 2.7 yards per rush. So for this Green Bay Packers’ defense, limiting the big play is a must.

Second, as I was rewatching the Falcons-Vikings game, I noticed that Cook had a lot of success when he was able to run outside of the tackle box. Whether he was bouncing the play outside on his own or it was a designed run, Cook had a number of decent runs when attacking that part of the field.

In total, when Cook was able to get outside, he averaged eight yards per attempt. So setting the edge is going to be a crucial part of this game for Preston Smith and the rest of Green Bay’s EDGE defenders.

During last week’s game in Chicago, run defense was an area that P. Smith really stood out in. He did a fantastic job of containing while reading the quarterback and running back before committing to anything. It sounds simple, but you would be surprised at how many players fail to do this on a consistent basis.

While the stats from last week are a bit lopsided given that the Bears abandoned the run fairly quickly and there just isn’t a large sample size, Green Bay was still able to hold Chicago to just six yards on four attempts when they did attempt to run outside.

If the Packers are able to slow down Cook – and I use the term “slow down” because I’m not sure you can truly stop him – it is going to force Kirk Cousins to have to make some plays behind a poor offensive line.

Last week, Cousins would attempt only 10 passes on 11 dropbacks and he was still sacked once and put the ball on the ground twice because of the pressure from the Atlanta defensive front. In all, Pro Football Focus gave the Vikings offensive line a pass-blocking grade of 26.9 which was dead last in the NFL by nearly 15 points.

As we’ve seen from Cousins in the past, if the opposing team is able to create pressure he is likely going to make a mistake which will hopefully lead to a turnover or two for the Packers’ defense.

Yet, with all of that said, it all starts with slowing down Dalvin Cook and forcing the Minnesota offense to throw the ball more than a dozen times. This will expose their offensive line which is likely the weakest part of their team and hopefully, allows this revamped Packers’ defensive front to take advantage.