The Green Bay Packers will go back on the road this week, heading to Metlife Stadium to take on the New York Giants.
The Giants’ season has one purpose at this point. They’re attempting to develop a young starting quarterback.
The Packers? They have bigger aspirations than that.
Their schedule down the stretch of the season is tough, so they’ll need to stack as many wins as they can.
More on that with our weekly six-pack.
1. November to Remember
Green Bay’s November started off terribly with a disappointing 16-13 loss to the Carolina Panthers.
The Panthers and Giants were supposed to be the two teams the Packers should have expected to beat with relative ease.
The Panthers and Giants games were surrounded by dates with Philadelphia, Minnesota and Detroit.
Looking ahead to December, the Packers will play Chicago twice, with a date in Denver sandwiched between them.
The fact of the matter is, Green Bay is going to have a tough time putting together wins due to the amount of tough opponents they play. They need to beat the teams that are inferior to them.
2. Who’s the new guy?
At the beginning of the season, it looked like the Packers were going to be facing off against Russell Wilson. The former Wisconsin Badger was benched early in the season and gave way to New York first-round pick Jaxson Dart.
How good is Dart? That remains to be seen, but the early signs have been positive.
His mobility is something that could help against Green Bay’s pass rush. He played well in his first matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles thanks to his ability to extend plays to find receivers down the field. Green Bay will need to have a good plan in place for his mobility.
3. Who’s he throwing to?
Could this be a game the Packers’ secondary builds some confidence?
Who knows?
Despite some of the gnashing of teeth about Green Bay’s cornerbacks, they’ve played to a level that was likely expected of them.
That includes a game against a team of a similar talent level, the Carolina Panthers, where Green Bay’s pass rush did not have an impact on the game, but the Packers still held the Panthers fewer than 120 yards passing on the day.
Dart is without his best receiver, Malik Nabers, who was lost for the season with a torn ACL.
Wan’Dale Robinson has been his best receiver in Nabers’ absence, but he’s not someone who a defense typically builds a game plan around.
4. Skat Back
Green Bay’s run defense was starting to show some cracks in its foundation before Rico Dowdle blew them open in the team’s loss to Carolina.
Dowdle ran for 130 yards on 25 carries, and the Panthers had no interest in doing anything other than running the ball on that blustery November day.
The Packers, with some good fortune will avoid the physical running style of Cam Skattebo.
Skattebo suffered a gruesome ankle injury against the Philadelphia Eagles, so he will miss this game.
In his place, the Giants use a running back-by-committee approach.
5. Reinforcements?
Lukas Van Ness has missed four consecutive games with a foot injury he suffered in the team’s win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Van Ness could be back this week, which will give the Packers a boost on both their defensive end group but also potentially at defensive tackle. Van Ness has kicked inside in his career, and the Packers have liked his versatility.
One other thing to watch is the practice schedule of Jayden Reed. He likely won’t be back for the Giants’ game, but he should be practicing with the team with a goal of returning by Thanksgiving according to Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
6. Not Another Nightmare
The Packers should not have good memories of this stadium. The only time they’ve been there with Jordan Love as the starting quarterback, they laid an egg.
The team was coming off two of the biggest wins of the season with wins over the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs.
Following that, they were diced up by Tommy DeVito and Saquon Barkley, while the offense scuffled.
This time around, the Packers cannot afford a repeat performance.
