Green Bay Packers: 3 Key X-Factors for a Playoff Run
By Paul Bretl
Here are three X-Factors for the Green Bay Packers during what is hopefully a deep playoff run and a Super Bowl push.
The playoffs are here, and after a second consecutive 13-3 season, this time the Green Bay Packers hold the NFC’s top seed and the road to the Super Bowl through the NFC comes through Titletown. The Packers got to this point by having the most productive offense in the NFL in terms of points per game and DVOA, and their defense also appears to be peaking at the right time as well.
In order to make a playoff run and hopefully win a Super Bowl, they’ll need their star players — Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams, Za’Darius Smith, and Jaire Alexander, to name a few — to continue playing like stars. But as always, it’s going to take more than that.
So which non-stars need to step up and are vital to this team’s playoff success? Well, those are my X-Factors, and while there are certainly more than three that could be on this list, to me, these players are some of the most important.
Green Bay Packers X-Factor: Billy Turner
On Tuesday, I wrote an article discussing how wrong I was on Billy Turner as well as Rick Wagner. The depth of the tackle position was one of my biggest concerns entering the season, but these two have proved me wrong–especially Turner.
Turner started off the season at right tackle, filled in at left tackle when David Bakhtiar was hurt earlier in the year, spent some time at right guard as well, and now he is back at left tackle — the most important position on the offensive line — for the final stretch.
Regardless of where Turner has lined up, he has played very well. According to Pro Football Focus ($), Turner has allowed only two sacks, 25 pressures, and he’s the third-rated pass-blocker at offensive tackle by ESPN’s win rate metric.
Against Tampa Bay and Carolina, we’ve seen how this Green Bay Packers’ offense can sputter when the offensive line struggles. So in the playoffs, they’ll need Turner — as well as the rest of the line — to continue playing at a high level.