Green Bay Packers: 3 Key Players for the Divisional Round

The Green Bay Packers have made the playoffs. Here is a look at three players that need to have big games in order for them to win in the Divisional Round.

The fun is about to begin. The Green Bay Packers will know their opponent for the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs by Sunday evening and they’re going to end up facing a tough opponent regardless of who survives wild card weekend. That’s just how the playoffs work. There are no gimmes.

Of course the Packers will need their stars to play well. Aaron Rodgers, Za’Darius Smith, Aaron Jones, Davante Adams, they all need to bring their “A” games for the Packers to make it out of the Divisional round and have a chance to get to the Super Bowl.

However, in addition to the big name players, there are others who will need to step up and play well to help supplement their stars. And while there are others worthy of this list, these three players, in particular, are key for a Green Bay Packers’ win in the NFC’s Divisional round.

Allen Lazard

Allen Lazard might be the most important of all the role players going into the postseason. When the playoffs hit, everything is monumental. The focus kicks up a notch and coaches find ways to try to take your best players away from you. Which as we all know in the passing game, that is Davante Adams.

If the Packers were to face New Orleans, Adams would get the Marshon Lattimore treatment. Lattimore hasn’t been as good as he has been in recent years, but he is still a very good cornerback and he’ll certainly win his share of matchups. Even if the Packers don’t face New Orleans, Adams will likely draw more double coverage than he did in the regular season. And if he does, Lazard has clearly emerged as the team’s second wide receiver.

In 2019 Marquez Valdes-Scantling has disappointed in terms of his consistency and Geronimo Allison has had a rough season as well. But fortunately, Lazard has become a reliable second option after being cut following training camp. He caught a big touchdown pass last week in Detroit that tied the game and not to mention that he’s also been a great option on third down. He’ll need to make some plays to take the pressure off of Adams and give the Packers a legitimate option as the team’s second receiver.

Dean Lowry

When Dean Lowry plays well, the Green Bay Packers defense just plays better. He was pretty good through the first three weeks of the season, and the Packers had the look of a dominant defense. However, when he didn’t play well, opponents were able to really focus on taking Kenny Clark out of the game. And with all due respect to Tyler Lancaster, outside of Lowry and Clark, the Packers really don’t have a ton of quality options along their defensive line.

This season the Packers’ defense has been at their best when they stop the run and get opponents into third and long situations when they can really focus on getting after the quarterback. In order to do that, Lowry has to play well.

Kevin King

Matt LaFleur perhaps said it best in his Thursday news conference when he pointed out that a lot of the Packers’ success on defense has been because of Kevin King. And he’s right. When King has played well, the Packers are a very hard team to throw the ball against. In addition, with a possible matchup against New Orleans looming, King might be the team’s best matchup against Michael Thomas.

Now with that said, there is no “good matchup” against Thomas, but King can match up with him size-wise in a way that Jaire Alexander simply cannot. That said, Alexander is the team’s best corner and that has caused teams to throw away from him which has given King a chance to make plays. Despite a rough patch in the middle portion of the season, King has made more plays than he’s missed on.