On to New York.
That’s the new focus for the humbled Green Bay Packers after suffering their second humiliating loss on the West Coast in four weeks on Sunday night in San Francisco.
Matt LaFleur’s team desperately needs a “get right” game against the two-win Giants at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
There are no cakewalks in the NFL, especially on the road. The Giants might be 2-9, with a rookie quarterback and the 29th ranked scoring defense in the NFL, but the Packers will be in for a dogfight if they don’t bring their best on Sunday in New York.
Here’s what we do know:
– The Packers are 2-0 coming off losses this season.
– Aaron Jones scored seven rushing touchdowns in those two games.
– The offense didn’t have a turnover in either game.
– The defense forced five turnovers, including four interceptions.
That’s a pretty well-defined recipe for the Packers bouncing back from a disappointing performance in 2019. Stick to it Sunday, and the doom-and-gloom of the 37-8 loss in San Francisco will begin to fade.
A win over the Giants would put the Packers back on track for an 11-win or better season. They are favored on the road on Sunday and they’ll likely be favored in four of the last five games.
According to the New York Times’ playoff predictor simulator, beating the Giants on Sunday would improve the Packers’ playoff chances to roughly 96-97 percent.
Everything is still ahead of LaFleur’s team, regardless of how bad it looked Sunday night at Levi’s Stadium.
The Packers now have five weeks to patch some growing holes and get hot going into what will likely be a gauntlet in the NFC playoffs.
How can the Packers start getting right in New York?
Start by getting back to core concepts of LaFleur’s scheme, blocking along the offensive line and turning Jones into the featured piece of the offense, both as a runner and receiver. On defense, Mike Pettine’s group must figure out a way to better defend the middle of the field against big plays. The special teams need to take baby steps and simply learn to get out of their own way.
The Packers are, without much doubt, a good football team. They’ve got five weeks to become a great one.
Adversity in the NFL comes in many ways, but it mostly arrives via injury or a disappointing result. The response is always what matters most.
In Week 4, the Packers fell late to the Philadelphia Eagles and lost Pro Bowl receiver Davante Adams to a toe injury. Instead of crumbling against a tough part of the schedule, LaFleur’s team got creative on offense and rattled off four straight wins, including two on the road against playoff teams from last year.
In Week 9, the Chargers served up a beat down and provided a nifty little blueprint for taking down the Packers. Once again, LaFleur rallied the team together and fended off the visiting Carolina Panthers at a snowy Lambeau Field before the bye.
This time, the Packers will have to shake off another devastating loss and the likely absence of right tackle Bryan Bulaga.
Many will call the Packers a pretender this week, and they’ve probably earned that label over the last month.
But an NFL season is 16 games, not 11, and seasons aren’t defined by one result, regardless of the aesthetics of that result. The Packers have an opportunity this week to put Sunday night in the rear-view mirror and set a different course for the final month of the regular season.
Nothing about the NFL is consistent except for the fact that narratives around players and teams are guaranteed to change. The Packers have been staggered. It’s time to heal the wounds inflicted in San Francisco and wind up a counterpunch on Sunday in New York.