Packers<\/a>\u2019 injuries than Philly\u2019s. Yes, QB Jordan Love hurt his elbow, but all reports seem to lead to him playing. However, WR Christian Watson is done for the year with a torn ACL. While his hands have been inconsistent, his field-tilting speed has not only given the Packers a downfield threat, but pried open holes for other receivers. Watson\u2019s 17.1 Average Depth of Target is second in the NFL among pass catchers with at least 50 targets, and even without being targeted, his speed opens up the dig windows that Love chases after. He\u2019s their most explosive outside receiver, someone Packers\u2019 head coach Matt LaFleur calls on when they need a big play downfield. While teammates Jayden Reed and Romeo Doubs operate more in the in-between areas, Watson is the field stretcher, and him being out is an issue, because they miss the ability to go and do this:<\/p>\nThis is a problem against an Eagles\u2019 defense that wants to constrict you and force you to play the game underneath. In a funny way, this specific matchup is really fun philosophically. You have the Packers\u2019 offense, that is all gas and no brakes when throwing the ball and uses the run game to be efficient, going against an Eagles defense that forces you to be patient and wait for the moments to take shots downfield. Whoever blinks first could end up behind the 8-ball, which is why football is so fun. <\/p>\n
The Eagles\u2019 secondary capitalizes on overaggressive throws over the middle, where they have safeties Reed Blankenship and CJ Gardner-Johnson hammering hard on any dig routes. Expect a lot of Blankenship trying to \u201cpoach\u201d any in-breaking routes from his other safety spot, jumping digs and overs is basically his specialty. This \u201cpoach\u201d technique by Gardner-Johnson is what allowed Blankenship to grab an interception against the Commanders in Quarters coverage, because he\u2019s allowed to hammer hard on this out-breaker.<\/p>\n
Without Watson on the field, I wonder how the Packers will create that outside vertical threat, which should open up the passing lanes in theory, but this is a Vic Fangio defense so who knows what\u2019ll happen. Both of these teams are very different from their Week 1 matchup in Brazil, both personnel-wise and playing style-wise. Their rematch should be a very fun chess match.<\/p>\n
Individual matchup to watch: <\/strong>Packers\u2019 RB Josh Jacobs vs. Eagles\u2019 LBs Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean<\/p>\n<\/div>\nRead More<\/a> Joseph Acosta<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matchup to watch: Green Bay\u2019s downfield passing vs. Philadelphia\u2019s downfield defense Both these teams come into this game injured, but I\u2019m a little bit more worried about the Packers\u2019 injuries than Philly\u2019s. Yes, QB Jordan Love hurt his elbow, but all reports seem to lead to him playing. However, WR Christian Watson is done for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":818034,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3577,3790,786],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-818033","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eagles","8":"category-football","9":"category-packers"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}