Green Bay Packers: 3 Keys to Victory over the 49ers

If the Green Bay Packers are going to come away with the win in San Francisco, these are going to be their three keys to doing so.

Is it Sunday Night yet? This game between the Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers not only has huge playoff implications in which the winner will control their own destiny to the NFC’s one seed, but it is also just going to be a really fun matchup to watch.

The Packers have a couple of things going in their favor. One of which is that they are very healthy and coming off of their bye. The second being that the Niners are really beat up and they could be without a few key players on Sunday. With that said, this is still a very good San Francisco team that is extremely well coached and if Green Bay is going to come away with the win, these will be their three keys to doing so.

Packers run game

The 49er defense was incredibly dominant over their first seven games of the season, however, that was against a fairly weak schedule. But in their last three games against two of the better offenses by DVOA, San Francisco has been leaking oil. Especially when it comes to their run defense.

During that span they are allowing 145 rushing yards per game and the Green Bay Packers need to exploit that weakness if they hope to come away with the win. Both Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams are averaging around 4.5 yards per carry this season and their contributions in the run game has been a big reason for the offense’s overall success.

Establishing the run will also negate the stout 49ers’ pass-rush, allow Green Bay to control the clock, and it will set up play-action which should open up the passing game, making things a little easier for Aaron Rodgers.

Slowing the 49ers’ run game

While the Green Bay Packers’ run defense has had their issues, to their credit they did a very nice job of containing Christian McCaffrey. While he did still rush for over 100 yards, he wasn’t able to rip off many chunk runs and he didn’t control the game like had done for most of the season.

Now the Packers will have another difficult test against a 49ers team that has a three-headed monster at running back with Matt Breida, Tevin Coleman, and Raheem Mostert. As a team the Niners are averaging 149 rushing yards per game this season, the second most in football.

Much like they did against Carolina, the Packer offense can help the defense by getting an early lead which will force San Francisco to throw the ball more and make them one-dimensional, allowing the Green Bay pass-rush to pin their ears back a bit.

Pressure Jimmy Garoppolo

Although the Green Bay Packers’ defense has given up a lot of yards this season, more times than not, they’ve come up with a big sack or a turnover at just the right time. And in 2019, Jimmy Garoppolo has shown that he will make a mistake or two each game, especially when he is under duress. His interception rate of 3.2 percent is the eighth most in the NFL this season.

Not to mention that Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith are going to have favorable matchups against 49ers’ tackles Justin Skule and Mike McGlinchey who have combined to give up three sacks, 19 total pressures, and two penalties over the last two games. Just a few weeks ago we saw Jadeveon Clowney of the Seattle Seahawks wreak havoc on Garoppolo and both Za’Darius and Preston should have the same opportunity this week.