5 Big Questions Green Bay Packers Face against New England
By Paul Bretl
There are a lot of unknowns that come with going up against a Bill Belichick-coached team, which is why even though the Green Bay Packers may be heavily favored, this matchup with New England presents some unique challenges.
As part of my preview for this week’s game, as always, I have my five big questions that will be facing the Packers when they take the field on Sunday.
Can Bill Belichick take away Green Bay Packers’ run game?
The most challenging aspect about going up against a Bill Belichick-coached defense is that you never truly know what to expect. What he’s put on tape recently is by no means what he is going to deploy that specific week.
However, one thing we do know is that he will try to take away what is most important to the offense, which in the Packers’ case, is the run game.
Everything the Packers do on offense is predicated on the run game. In fact, things have spiraled out of control quickly during the Matt LaFleur era when Green Bay abandons the run game and becomes one-dimensional. This allows the defensive front to tee off on Aaron Rodgers and limits what LaFleur can do as a play-caller.
Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon were bottled up last week in Tampa Bay, but the Packers still stuck with the run game, totaling 24 carries between the two. At the end of the day, the Packers want to pick up chunk plays on the ground, but consistency is just as important. The run game can still be impactful even without picking up five yards per carry. The defense just needs to believe that the offense will run the ball in any given situation to keep them on their toes.
This season, the Patriots are allowing 4.8 yards per carry, which ranks 22nd through three weeks. If Belichick is able to limit Jones and Dillon, are the Packers able to stick with it once again? Or how will they counter? Also, if the Patriots do end up selling out to stop the run, what does that open up for Aaron Rodgers in the passing game?