Packers: 3 Matchups to watch vs Vikings in Week 8

The Green Bay Packers look to put together back-to-back wins this week against the Minnesota Vikings and they’ll have to win these critical matchups to have success.

Last week the Green Bay Packers scored a bounce-back win against the Houston Texans and a big part of that was winning one-on-ones in crucial spots. The first matchup that I had highlighted was Jaire Alexander against Will Fuller. I think we can all agree that went pretty well.

The next was Za’Darius Smith and the rest of the pass-rushing gang getting back on track against a lackluster showing against the Buccaneers. Smith had a sack and two QB hits and the Packers as a unit had three sacks on Deshaun Watson, who isn’t an easy guy to get on the ground. I’ll also call that a win, even if there was room for improvement.

Finally, Elgton Jenkins and the rest of the offensive line had to contain J.J. Watt and they did that pretty well. It was more about thwarting his pass rush attempts and they contained him, not giving up a sack or even a hit on Aaron Rodgers. He did have two tackles for a loss, so we’ll maybe call that a wash, but winning two out of three and a tie in the third is a great week for critical matchups and that shows how important those were last week. This week we have three more equally important matchups for you to watch for on Sunday that will turn the tide of the game.