Packers Q&A! Packers Vs Vikings Matchup, Injury Uncertainties, Score Prediction

It is almost time

Before I get into today’s Packers Q&A I wanted to let you guys know I started an NFL podcast! It is currently only on youtube. The first episode dropped yesterday. You can watch it here. Feel free to copy this link and watch it after this article if you are interested.

Now onto answering your questions. We are only 2 days away from the Packers vs Vikings Week 1 matchup!

I am pumped.

“Do you think the Packers will jump start win this match against the Vikings even if we don’t have all of our starters? I remember we had this deal in the Cardinals game last season in Week 8.” Football Fan

This is a very intriguing matchup to start the season for both teams. You have the Vikings coming in with new head Coach Kevin O’Connell, former Super Bowl winning Rams offensive coordinator. Even though I don’t want to say it, the Vikings should be better than they were last year.

Word coming out of Minnesota seems to point to this offense being much more dynamic than they were last year. The players seem to be excited about what O’connell is doing and how he plans to run this offense. I respect Kirk Cousins’ game and I don’t think he gets enough credit. Justin Jefferson is one of the best receivers in the game. Dalvin Cook is one of the best running backs in the game. Add all of that up and you have a very explosive offense that can beat you in multiple ways. It’s a great test for a Packer’s defense that has expectations to be one of the best in the NFL this year.

All the Packers need to do is get Kirk Cousins off rhythm. This Dline is going to be lethal. Rashan Gary will not be stopped. Preston Smith can ball. Kenny Clark is a stud. I can’t wait to see what this defense can do. We will see in 2 days. The Vikings offense is a great test to see what we really have.

Now onto your question about the injuries. The Packers have lots of potential uncertainties: Allen Lazard (didn’t practice wednesday or thursday with an ankle injury), David Bakhtiari, Elgton Jenkins, Darnell Savage, Robert Tonyan (limited Wednesday/Thursday). It is certainly not ideal for many of your top players to be question marks coming into Sunday’s game.

If Allen Lazard isn’t able to go, the 3 starters at WR will likely be Sammy Watkins, Randall Cobb, and Romeo Doubs. Lazard being out isn’t ideal. However Romeo Doubs has shown that he has the talent to be a great wide receiver. The question is will he be able to produce in the first game of his NFL career. He’s still a young player building chemistry with Aaron Rodgers. Regardless, the Packers will be spreading the ball around much more than they did last year.

The biggest concern I have this week is the offensive line. The Vikings have two top tier pass rushers in Za’darius Smith and Danielle Hunter. If Bakhtiari is out Yosh Nijman is going to have a handful holding back Za’darius. Even if Bakhtiari is back he could be rusty considering he’s been out for around 20 months (except for limited playing time last year vs the Lions). Hopefully Elgton Jenkins will be able to start at right tackle but part of me thinks he won’t be playing. If that’s the case the Packers will start Royce Newman most likely at right tackle who played guard last year. If the offensive line starts struggling the Packers will just need to get the ball out quickly which they typically do.

There are some concerns but I think the Packers will find a way to win this game.

“Which receiver do you think will have the best game?” In N Out

This depends on whether or not Allen Lazard plays. If Lazard does play I’ll go with Allen. He has chemistry with Rodgers and will be heavily targeted this year. If not I think it will be Sammy Watkins. Rodgers has been praising what he’s doing a lot recently. I do think there is a chance Romeo Doubs or Christian Watson (if he plays) could have a big explosive play. Those guys have SPEEED. The ball is going to be spread around a lot.

“What do you think the score will be?” Maple

I’m going to go with Packers 27 Vikings 17.

“Will the special teams be solid or disgusting?” Doug Jankowski

This is the million dollar question. The Packers have done seemingly everything possible this off-season to try to improve this unit. Bringing in Rich Bisaccia. Signing multiple players who are great special teams players: Dallin Leavitt & Keisean Nixon who formerly played for Bissacia. Safety Rudy Ford recently signed from the Jaguars known as a great special teams gunner. The unit did not look great in the preseason and was graded 31st overall by PFF. I assume having the starting unit out there every time will help once the season starts. Let’s hope it all works out.

“Do you think the offense will start slow like we did in game 1 last year?” Jacob Lesperance

I sure hope not. But it is the first game of the season and the starters didn’t really play in the preseason. It wouldn’t be shocking to see both teams start off a little slow as they get back into the rhythm of the game. The Vikings didn’t play their starters in the preseason as well so at least we are on an even playing field. I read an article yesterday where Kenny Clark said that they have been conditioning a lot more this year. Last year’s week 1 game was in Florida and it was very hot. The Packers didn’t seem 100% prepared for that. Maybe Matt Lafleur thinks the reason was partly a lack of conditioning leading up to week 1. Even if they do start out slow we saw that even though they got destroyed week 1 last year it didn’t really matter. Let’s hope we start out strong!