Green Bay Packers vs Detroit Lions: 5 Matchups to keep your eyes on

1. Packers’ Receivers vs Lions’ Corners

If Adams is out, which is very possible, as the team is playing it safe with his injury, this battle is going to get a lot harder. Slay was limited in practice, but he’ll likely be active for this game. He’s typically shadowed Adams, but guys like Geronimo Allison and Marquez Valdes-Scantling are much easier covers for him.

During the final couple of seasons under Mike McCarthy, Green Bay’s receivers often struggled to get open due to poor route combinations and a lack of athleticism. The offensive creativity is now there, but Adams is a major piece for making it all go. No matter what corner lines up against him, he’s often going to win that matchup, which always gives Rodgers somewhere to go. He doesn’t have the same advantage without him.

The aforementioned Coleman has been playing lights out in the slot for Detroit. To neutralize that, we could see Green Bay play a lot of multiple tight end sets. This would force Detroit to either match by taking Coleman off of the field, or they would have to play small where Green Bay could exploit size mismatches. Regardless, a lot of this is going to come down to Adams, because the game plan changes in a major way if he’s on the sidelines.