5 Big Questions Revisited in Green Bay Packers v. Vikings Matchup
By Paul Bretl
Q: How do the Green Bay Packers start and finish this game?
A: Slowly (again) and aggressive
As I noted in my 5 Big Questions article, the Green Bay Packers entered Sunday’s game ranked 26th in first-quarter points per game scored this season. Although they did find some success on their first two drives of the game, one ended in a field goal and the other on a failed fourth-down attempt. The Packers began the game 0/3 in the red zone and with only six points to show for it early on.
After back-to-back games where the Packers nearly let two late leads slip away, Aaron Rodgers discussed following the Cleveland game how Green Bay needed to continue to be aggressive in the second half, even if they were playing with a multi-score lead.
Well, they certainly did that against Minnesota, and you could tell that staying aggressive was an emphasis. Below are two examples of this from by 4 Big Things article that came out following the game.
"“Up 27 to 3 with five minutes left in the third quarter, the Packers had a seven-play drive that included five pass attempts and resulted in a field goal. The next possession that began in the fourth quarter was a 10 play touchdown drive that included eight passes.”"
Rather than looking to simply run the clock with some vanilla and conservative play-calling, the Packers were still looking to move the ball and ultimately score.
Q: Can the Green Bay Packers special teams unit contain Kene Nwangwu?
A: They did
Kene Nwangwu entered Sunday’s game with only 13 kick return attempts, but he had taken two of them for scores — the most in football — and was averaging 35.0 yards per return–again, the most in football. On the flip side, the Green Bay Packers kick coverage unit was allowing the seventh-most yards per return this season–so I’m sure you can understand my concern.
Now, it’s not as if the Packers totally stopped Nwangwu, he still did average 28.6 yards per return with a long of 37, but it’s also not like any of those returns had a major effect on the game either. And despite the frigid temperatures, I was happy to see Mason Crosby knock a few through the end zone, limiting Nwangwu’s opportunities.