Green Bay Packers v. Lions: 3 Key X-Factors for Week 14
By Paul Bretl
Here are three key X-Factors for Sunday’s matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions.
The Green Bay Packers enter their Week 14 matchup with the Detroit Lions at 9-3 on the season and sitting with a comfortable lead in the NFC North. However, they have their sights set much higher than just winning a division title. They are gunning for the NFC’s top seed and trail New Orleans — who they hold the tie-breaker over — by just one game.
On the flip side, it appears to be another lost season in Detroit. While they are still technically in the playoff hunt at 5-7, they are also a longshot to make it. With that said, this is a team that looked rejuvenated last week against Chicago with interim head coach Darrell Bevell at the helm.
Also, we can’t ignore the fact that there have been some odd games between these two teams in recent years. As Matt LaFleur pointed out on Thursday, the Green Bay Packers certainly aren’t taking the Lions lightly just because of their record.
So in what could very well end up being a close game, who are this week’s X-Factors? As I always point out, I’m not going to include the star players, we know Aaron Rodgers and Za’Darius Smith need to play well, but what else needs to take place?
And this week, instead of focusing solely on individual players, I’ve taken a different approach, highlighting one Packer player, a unit, and for the first time, a member of the opposing team.
Rick Wagner
Corey Linsley is out for the time being and that means more changes along the offensive line. And while I’m guessing many of us expected to see Jon Runyan at left guard with Jenkins at center, we instead saw Lucas Patrick at left guard, Billy Turner at right guard, and Rick Wagner at right tackle last week.
Wagner fared decently against a pretty good Eagles’ pass rush, but you could tell there were a few plays where he was beaten pretty quickly. When it was all said and done, Pro Football Focus ($) credited Wagner with one quarterback hit and four total pressures–the most on the team.
This week he will face Romeo Okwara, who is putting together a very nice season in Detroit. He’s recorded seven sacks, and his 49 total pressures are the fifth-most among all edge rushers. Okwara has also been very efficient at pressuring the quarterback, his pass-rush productivity rating, which measures pressure on a per snap basis and is weighted more heavily towards sacks, is the fourth-best in the NFL among qualified edge rushers.
Okwara has a lot of freedom, lining up on both the right and left sides of the formation fairly often, but I imagine he will be lined up against Rick Wagner more this week than David Bakhtiari. As we all know, the name of the game in Green Bay is keeping Aaron Rodgers upright, and if the Packers’ offensive line can do that, it should be another big day for QB1.