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Five things I'm going to be watching, in no particular order:
1 - Our zone defense, especially if we're not ahead by a lot and the Vikings can stick with their run game. We're going to have to play zone defense. We've seemed to finally get it together, but this is the exact type of team that can put us to the test. We're going to have to keep our eyes to the backfield on almost every play. Peterson's play speaks for itself, but Ponder is also an athletic QB. This game could tell us a lot about our ability to stack up against quality rushing offenses (see Seattle, SF, Minn.) The Falcons are balances. We'll have to mix it up with them. The Redskins have RG3. We'll have to keep our eyes to the backfield with them. . . Our zone defense is going to be very important in the playoffs. I'll lose a lot of confidence if the secondary looks lost the way it has in the not so distant past. This is the test.
2 - Our running game. It's been getting better and better, but a stumble here might say a lot about if it's real or if our running game is a pretender.
3 - Mason Crosby. His kicks weren't too bad last week. The long one hit the upright, but it was a long kick. It was no gimme. Hopefully he shows us that he's rounding into shape
4 - Aaron Rodgers continuing to take steps with his passing weapons. I do think Cobb will be out this week. It's not incredibly worrisome to me, just because he's a really smart player. He knows where to be. That won't change after one missed game. Jennings seems to be getting better each week. I want to see that take yet another step. I'd like to see Finley continue to progress. I'd love to see Nelson come in and look playoff ready, or at least close. GJ looking like GJ is huge too. He's a legit #1. Play like it and I love our passing attack.
5 - Health, especially on the DL and OL. We're going to need our big guys to be healthy. We don't have enough of them on offense, and on defense, they're just starting to take off. We have a bye week coming up, hopefully. If those guys can stay healthy, they're going to benefit greatly from a week off. Everyone knows players wear down over the season. Being able to get a couple really good lifts in and being able to rest their joints will be huge. We could be looking at a beast of a DL with Raji, Pick, Neal and Wilson/Worthy/Daniels being key situational backups. As far as the OL goes, it's more about us just simply not being able to afford an injury at OT. We lose one of those guys, and we're looking at trouble. The other player defensive player is Clay Matthews. He's had a couple weeks to get into football shape. A few weeks on, a week off to get his body 100% is ideal. A healthy week for him makes for a fucking beast coming off a bye week. The last player is AR. He's been historically impressive coming off bye weeks. The way he plays, the hit's he's taken and will take in the playoffs, the way he runs. . . . Having that guy at or near 100% is just plain scary.
A lot of things can happen going into this post season run. Lose one superstar player (AR/Matthews) and we're all but screwed. If we get beat up in some important places, we're looking at a very tough road, playing against what looks like teams who can take advantage of any weakness. We need to continue to get better. Winning the SB is extremely difficult, to say the least. Taking hits to the health of our team would make it even harder. And then there's the fact that we're just starting to show signs of being elite. If we see something like we saw earlier in the season or against the Giants, it's not going to look good for our chances against playoff teams, even if we have played extremely well as of late.
HUGE GAME. Huge for more reasons than just the bye week. Strap yourself up for a very important game here. Get on the edge of your seat right now because even if we get out to a lead we're one big injury away from a horrible shot to our SB hopes.
1 - Our zone defense, especially if we're not ahead by a lot and the Vikings can stick with their run game. We're going to have to play zone defense. We've seemed to finally get it together, but this is the exact type of team that can put us to the test. We're going to have to keep our eyes to the backfield on almost every play. Peterson's play speaks for itself, but Ponder is also an athletic QB. This game could tell us a lot about our ability to stack up against quality rushing offenses (see Seattle, SF, Minn.) The Falcons are balances. We'll have to mix it up with them. The Redskins have RG3. We'll have to keep our eyes to the backfield with them. . . Our zone defense is going to be very important in the playoffs. I'll lose a lot of confidence if the secondary looks lost the way it has in the not so distant past. This is the test.
2 - Our running game. It's been getting better and better, but a stumble here might say a lot about if it's real or if our running game is a pretender.
3 - Mason Crosby. His kicks weren't too bad last week. The long one hit the upright, but it was a long kick. It was no gimme. Hopefully he shows us that he's rounding into shape
4 - Aaron Rodgers continuing to take steps with his passing weapons. I do think Cobb will be out this week. It's not incredibly worrisome to me, just because he's a really smart player. He knows where to be. That won't change after one missed game. Jennings seems to be getting better each week. I want to see that take yet another step. I'd like to see Finley continue to progress. I'd love to see Nelson come in and look playoff ready, or at least close. GJ looking like GJ is huge too. He's a legit #1. Play like it and I love our passing attack.
5 - Health, especially on the DL and OL. We're going to need our big guys to be healthy. We don't have enough of them on offense, and on defense, they're just starting to take off. We have a bye week coming up, hopefully. If those guys can stay healthy, they're going to benefit greatly from a week off. Everyone knows players wear down over the season. Being able to get a couple really good lifts in and being able to rest their joints will be huge. We could be looking at a beast of a DL with Raji, Pick, Neal and Wilson/Worthy/Daniels being key situational backups. As far as the OL goes, it's more about us just simply not being able to afford an injury at OT. We lose one of those guys, and we're looking at trouble. The other player defensive player is Clay Matthews. He's had a couple weeks to get into football shape. A few weeks on, a week off to get his body 100% is ideal. A healthy week for him makes for a fucking beast coming off a bye week. The last player is AR. He's been historically impressive coming off bye weeks. The way he plays, the hit's he's taken and will take in the playoffs, the way he runs. . . . Having that guy at or near 100% is just plain scary.
A lot of things can happen going into this post season run. Lose one superstar player (AR/Matthews) and we're all but screwed. If we get beat up in some important places, we're looking at a very tough road, playing against what looks like teams who can take advantage of any weakness. We need to continue to get better. Winning the SB is extremely difficult, to say the least. Taking hits to the health of our team would make it even harder. And then there's the fact that we're just starting to show signs of being elite. If we see something like we saw earlier in the season or against the Giants, it's not going to look good for our chances against playoff teams, even if we have played extremely well as of late.
HUGE GAME. Huge for more reasons than just the bye week. Strap yourself up for a very important game here. Get on the edge of your seat right now because even if we get out to a lead we're one big injury away from a horrible shot to our SB hopes.
I hope we beat them soundly and put to rest all this coronation about AP. I'm so sick of seeing his mug on TV this week. Yes, he's having a great season but do the talking heads have sing his praises 24/7?
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