Morning Buzz: Game day is finally here
Welcome to your game-day Morning Buzz, rounding up news and views regarding the Green Bay Packers from around the web and here at PackersNews.com. Grab a strong cup of coffee and get caught up on everything you need to know about the Packers.
As always, the best place to start on game day is Bob McGinn’s game preview.
Two extremely confident teams line up at icy Lambeau Field. The Giants trust their defense against any opponent while wondering if Eli Manning still can win a big game. On the other hand, the Packers trust their offense while wondering if their defense can hold up. Green Bay doesn’t play many close games, but this looks like the exception.
A lot has been made this week about the recent playoff history between the Giants and Packers, but Green Bay’s seasons have ended in heartbreaking losses more often than not over the last several years, no matter the opponent. Tom Silverstein chronicles the pain for Packers fans.
Quinten Rollins played well the last time these two teams met, but he will not play today:
Speaking of the last matchup, Pete Dougherty went back and watched that game and came away with some very good observations about what it means for today’s matchup.
The Packers obviously are different with Ty Montgomery as their primary back, rather than the 250-plus pound Lacy. But their passing game has evolved too, especially concerning Jordy Nelson.
At that point in the season, Nelson was mainly an outside receiver (82 percent of his snaps in that game, by my count). Now he’s lining up all over the field, often in the slot or as a quasi-tight end (54 percent against Minnesota two weeks ago, by my count), and he has taken off. During the Packers’ six-game winning streak, he’s tied for the league lead in receptions (44).
So Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has a tough call. He might want to match his best cover man (Jenkins) against Nelson to take the Packers’ best receiver out of the game. But that would come at a cost, because with Montgomery at halfback and Jared Cook at tight end, the Packers in essence can field five receivers. Someone, most likely among Cook, Adams and Geronimo Allison, will have a good match-up, and they’ve shown recently they can exploit it.
I teamed up with Art Stapleton of The Record to put together 5 Things To Know about each team.
Micah Hyde is playing some of the best football of his career, which happens to be coinciding with significant developments off the field. Michael Cohen has the story.
The Packers' defense has been the weak link most of the year, and for many years. Bob McGinn writes on how there’s still a chance the defense rounds into form.
Elsewhere, Ian Rapoport gives us another name to watch as a potential new GM in Green Bay:
It took until Saturday, but today’s game is officially sold out:
A little slice of Packers history:
Numbers sometimes tell the story:
All eyes will be on Odell Beckham Jr. today:
George R.R. Martin, who most know as the author of Game of Thrones, has some thoughts on today’s matchup.
NFL Network previews Giants-Packers:
As does Emory Hunt:
Finally, here are our predictions for today’s game: