GREEN BAY \u2014 Normally, a Week 12 game at home against a sub-.500 team wouldn\u2019t be a must-win. A should-win, sure, but not a make-or-break game.<\/p>\n
But after what the Green Bay Packers did in the NFC North last season, Sunday\u2019s matchup with the Minnesota Vikings at Lambeau Field feels awfully important.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s super important,\u201d veteran safety Xavier McKinney said. \u201cLast year we went 1-5. That\u2019s not where we want to be as a team in this division.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, the Packers went 1-5 in their six NFC North contests last season, a record that made their 11-6 overall record feel quite paper tiger-y. And their lone in-the-division triumph was only made possible by defensive tackle Karl Brooks blocking a potential game-winning field goal on the final play of their win over the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field.<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s matchup between the Packers (6-3-1) and Vikings (4-6) being the first of three straight NFC North matchups for head coach Matt LaFleur\u2019s crew, with a trip to Detroit for Thanksgiving up next on Thursday followed by a home date with the Bears on Dec. 7.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll important. We lost to Minnesota twice last year. We lost to Detroit twice last year. And then we split with Chicago,\u201d veteran cornerback Keisean Nixon said. \u201cWe\u2019re 1-0 against Detroit. We\u2019re ready to go 1-0 against Minnesota and then 1-0 against Chicago. Division games are the biggest games. It\u2019s a playoff atmosphere, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Entering Sunday\u2019s games, the Bears (7-3) were somehow in first place in the division, followed by the Packers and the Lions (6-4). But because of the way the schedule falls, much remains unwritten.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at the teams in our division, everybody\u2019s in it. Everybody\u2019s got similar records and obviously, we\u2019ll be playing everybody here at the back half,\u201d said quarterback Jordan Love, whose teams are now 5-7 in the division with him starting. \u201cSo these are definitely some games we\u2019re going to have to go out there and win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added defensive end Micah Parsons: \u201cIt\u2019s one of the toughest divisions in football, if not the best division. So, we\u2019ve got to come together. Even though the Vikings had early struggles, they showed times of winning [football] and coming back and being resilient. This is a really good team and we\u2019ve got to come prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here are three aspects to this specific NFC North matchup worth watching:<\/p>\n
1\ufe0f\u20e3\u00a0\u2014\u00a0WIIIIILLLLSSSSONNNN!<\/p>\n
With veteran running back Josh Jacobs a true game-time decision with the bruised knee he sustained in last Sunday\u2019s win over the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium, the Packers intend to work him out before the deadline to submit their inactive list 90 minutes before kickoff.<\/p>\n
Even if Jacobs does play \u2014 he confessed at midweek that the decision is a difficult one given the quick turnaround for the Thanksgiving Day matchup with the Lions \u2014 he figures to be on a pitch count, meaning No. 2 running back Emanuel Wilson is in line for more extensive action than he\u2019s had so far this season.<\/p>\n
In 10 games this season, Wilson has carried 53 times for 220 yards, including an 11-yard touchdown last week against the Giants after Jacobs departed with his knee injury. Last year, even with Jacobs shouldering much of the offensive burden (1,329 yards, 15 rushing TDs), Wilson still managed to gain 502 yards and average just under 5 yards a carry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the guy, man \u2014 as much as he works, how hard he works. But not only that, he’s very coachable. I mean he comes up to me probably every day and asks me something that I think he should work on,\u201d Jacobs said. \u201cI think the biggest thing for him is just having that confidence. e’s going to do his thing. He’s a good back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Packers also have Chris Brooks, who has served as more of a fullback this season, and Pierre Strong, who was elevated from the practice squad on Saturday. But Wilson believes he is ready to do whatever his team needs from him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just do my job,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cI prepare throughout the week and just continue to do what I\u2019ve got to do to help come out with the win.\u201d<\/p>\n
2\ufe0f\u20e3 \u2014 A MUST GAME FOR MUSGRAVE?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Packers knew immediately that rising star tight end Tucker Kraft\u2019s season-ending knee injury was going to make the second half of the season a challenge offensively. But LaFleur and Love both expressed confidence that No. 2 tight end Luke Musgrave, whom the Packers actually selected one round ahead of Kraft in the 2023 NFL Draft, would step up to fill Kraft\u2019s shoes.<\/p>\n
So far, that hasn\u2019t really happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe playmaking ability that Tucker has shown to have is special. It really is,\u201d offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said. \u201cWe’re just trying to find in other ways, [with] different guys stepping up. Not necessarily in the tight end room but in other areas — receivers, running backs, everybody within our offense.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo say, \u2018Why aren’t these guys like Tucker?\u2019 I don’t even think like that. It’s just, how can we put these guys in the best position for their skill set to be successful?\u201d<\/p>\n
While Musgrave isn\u2019t the all-around tight end Kraft is, his forte is as a pass-catcher, which is what made his two drops against the Giants all the more problematic \u2014 although Love insisted those mistakes won\u2019t change how he views Musgrave.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike we\u2019ve talked about before, with Tuck being down, he\u2019s going to have more opportunities. I think it\u2019s something we\u2019ve got to keep building on,\u201d Love said. \u201cHe\u2019s been a guy who\u2019s made a lot of plays and I think for him, it\u2019s having that confidence when he goes out there.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody\u2019s confident in Luke. I think building guys up and always giving guys confidence is always the way to go, no matter who it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
For his part, Musgrave insisted his issues against the Giants (one catch for minus-1 yard) and his limited production since Kraft\u2019s injury (seven receptions for 56 net yards) haven\u2019t dented his belief that he can fill the void.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s always going to be the mistakes that you can clean up, but I feel like I’m playing with good effort. So, yeah, I feel good,\u201d said Musgrave, who played the fewest snaps of any of the three healthy tight ends against the Giants. \u201cObviously, losing Tuck was a huge hit \u2014 great player. But I\u2019m trying to try to get better at blocking and focus on things I can control.\u201d<\/p>\n
3\ufe0f\u20e3\u00a0\u2014 GARY ‘NOT A HUGE SNAP-COUNT GUY?’<\/p>\n
Speaking of oddities with the snap counts against the Giants, defensive end Rashan Gary\u2014the 2019 first-round draft pick, the guy with the $25.77 million cap number for this season \u2014 played fewer snaps (39) than lesser-known defensive end Kingsley \u201cJ.J.\u201d Enagbare.<\/p>\n
Asked how that happens with a player who is supposed to be a marquee pass rusher like Gary, LaFleur replied, \u201cIt was just, I would say, a byproduct of the game. He’s never been a huge snap-count guy, if you look at the course of his career. And I think [Enagbare] has been doing a heck of a job. So I’d say that’s more of just a credit to how \u2018J.J.\u2019 has gone in there and done his job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite LaFleur\u2019s deft choice of words, make no mistake: The head coach flat-out said that Enagbare has earned a larger share of the snaps that should be going to Gary.<\/p>\n
Through 10 games, Gary has 7.5 sacks, tied for the total he had last season in 17 games and positioning him well for the first double-digit sack season of his career. But he hasn\u2019t registered a sack in any of the past three games, and after recording 4.5 sacks in the first three games, he has just three in the past seven games.<\/p>\n
According to Pro Football Focus, Gary has 33 total pressures on 274 pass-rushing snaps. His total pressures rank 29th among qualifying defensive ends.<\/p>\n
By comparison, Parsons has eight sacks and 56 total pressures on 331 pass-rushing snaps, good for fourth among defensive ends.<\/p>\n
And among the Packers defensive linemen, Parsons has played the most snaps (509) followed by Gary (425), Karl Brooks (411), Colby Wooden (352), Devonte Wyatt (300) and Enagbare (245).<\/p>\n
Gary did not come through the locker room during the open-to-the-media periods during the week to discuss his workload or his production, but defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley delivered a very strong statement of support for Gary \u2014 and insisted the numbers have been misleading.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing really to look into there. It\u2019s one game,\u201d Hafley said. \u201cIf you look back on the other games, I just don\u2019t think there\u2019s a story there with this one game. I anticipate his snaps going up. You can say J.J. played one more snap than him in the game but that\u2019s just kind of the way it worked out. That wasn\u2019t the set plan of the game. It\u2019s just rotation guys, how they drive\u2019s going, how it happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if he needs more from Gary since Parsons\u2019 arrival was supposed to unlock Gary and give him more 1-on-1 matchups instead of being double-teamed, Hafley replied, \u201cI think Rashan would appreciate you comparing him to Micah. Are there times where guys are getting 1-on-1s? Sure. And are there times we want them to win more? Absolutely. We definitely do. I\u2019m not putting this in a box and saying it\u2019s all one or the other. It does need to get better. I\u2019d like to get [him] more opportunities to go pass rush, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
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