The Green Bay Packers offense has had its ups and downs this season, as evidenced by the fact it is ranked 20th in points (21.4) and 18th in yards per game (331.6) as well as 17th in expected points added per play (0.010). One area that has consistently yielded positive results so far, however, has been its deep game.<\/p>\n
No team in the NFL has had more explosive plays in the passing game than the Packers, who have had 33 plays of 20-plus yards so far this season. Quarterback Jordan Love, meanwhile, is tied for the league lead with 17 completions of 20-plus air yards, and tied for third in average depth of target (9.8).<\/p>\n
The New England Patriots therefore know what\u2019s in store this Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis team lives off of taking shots,\u201d said safety Kevin Byard. \u201cThey\u2019re an explosive-play team, a vertical-passing team. So, this will be a huge challenge for us as a defense. Obviously trying to be sticky in coverage, but also when we are playing zone, making sure we\u2019re getting back in our zones, making sure we\u2019re actually forcing those checkdowns. And sometimes I think in this game we\u2019re going to have to accept the four- or five-yard checkdowns and not allowing the ball to get thrown over our head.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through eight games this year, the Patriots defense has been uneven stopping the big passing play. In total, the unit has surrendered 25 of them \u2014 10th-worst in the league.<\/p>\n
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Staying on the average so far could yield catastrophic results against a team like the Packers, that has specialized in taking the top off of defenses. Green Bay has been able to do so in large part due to its top wide receiver duo, Christian Watson and Matthew Golden.<\/p>\n
Watson is leading the team with 708 receiving yards and six touchdowns on 42 catches, an average of 16.9 yards per reception. Golden has caught 43 passes for 619 yards, four scores, and 14.4 yards per catch. Together, they have been responsible for 54 of Green Bay\u2019s 97 passing first downs this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese receivers are explosive, especially Watson and Golden. That\u2019s a nasty duo there about taking the top off,\u201d said defensive coordinator Zak Kuhr.<\/p>\n
\u201cChristian Watson may be the fastest receiver in the league; he\u2019s always a big play threat anytime he touches the ball,\u201d added Byard. \u201cBut also Matthew Golden \u2014 he is a second-year player \u2014 has a lot of juice. He\u2019s building a really good rapport. I know he\u2019s dropped some passes and stuff like that, but he\u2019s getting open. He\u2019s creating separation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drops have indeed been a problem for the Packers, with Golden leading the league with nine of them this year. In total, Green Bay\u2019s pass catchers have let 23 passes go through their hands. What this goes to show, however, is that the team\u2019s potential for big plays has been even greater than the eventual statistics shows.<\/p>\n
A lot of that is not just due to the receiving talent, but the quarterback himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s one of the most underrated quarterbacks in this league,\u201d said Byard about Jordan Love. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t get put into the top-10 lists sometimes, but he\u2019s very efficient. He\u2019s leading the league in passing yards right now. He\u2019s having a career year. A lot of it is because of those deep ball shots.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe hunts explosives,\u201d said Kuhr. \u201cThey can meticulously drive down the field and sometimes that\u2019s what it\u2019s got to be, but we have to try to limit those 20-plus-yard plays, and they are really good at it. He\u2019s really good at it. He throws a great deep ball. \u2026 We have to do our best to try to defend that in more than just one way. We can\u2019t just be, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re going to pressure him and make it get off quick, and we\u2019re not covering as long.\u2018 And it\u2019s also, \u2018Hey, we can\u2019t just sit back forever.\u2018 We have to be able to mix it up a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Patriots\u2019 defensive success on Sunday might depend on their ability to do just that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Green Bay Packers offense has had its ups and downs this season, as evidenced by the fact…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1047529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7,1167,249,52640,52113,726,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":["post-1047528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-england-patriots","tag-football","tag-new-england","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-new-england-patriots-analysis","tag-new-england-patriots-first-read","tag-new-england-patriots-news","tag-newengland","tag-newenglandpatriots","tag-nfl","tag-patriots"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117570298427033232","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1047528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1047529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1047528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1047528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1047528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}