4 Big Things from Green Bay Packers No. 1 Seed Clinching Win
By Paul Bretl
The Green Bay Packers clinched the NFC’s top seed with a convincing home win over the Minnesota Vikings. Once again, the NFC playoffs will run through frigid Lambeau Field.
I’ve now had the opportunity to rewatch this matchup, and this time around, I have 4 Big Things from the Green Bay Packers performance.
The Green Bay Packers defense was able to contain Dalvin Cook
The Green Bay Packers run defense entered Sunday’s game having been playing some of their worst football over the last two weeks, allowing 5.5 yards per rush to Baltimore and a ridiculous 8.8 yards per carry to Cleveland.
Dalvin Cook and Minnesota presented another difficult challenge, but the Viking run game ended up being a non-factor.
For starters, and most importantly, after a few weeks of the Green Bay defensive front being pushed around, they were the ones doing the bullying. Kenny Clark was often double-teamed but still couldn’t be moved, which created opportunities for his teammates, and a strong push from the interior. Edge rushers Rashan Gary and Preston Smith both did an excellent job of sealing the edge as well–something they struggled with in recent weeks.
There was also the fact that Green Bay was up against Sean Mannion and not Kirk Cousins, so we saw Joe Barry provide his run defense with some help and a few players closer to the line of scrimmage more frequently.
The Vikings also provided the Packers with some help as well. Although they were trailing for pretty much the entire first half, the game really didn’t turn into a three-score lead until the final minutes. Yet Minnesota was quick to stray away from the run, with Cook only rushing the ball seven times over the first two quarters.
Green Bay’s offense gave the defense a multi-score lead to play with, which took running the ball off the table in the second half. Cook ended up finishing the game with only nine carries for 13 yards and three receptions for no yards.