Must Win? Must Play Well » Brats & Beer

August 22, 2008
posted under: Packers, Pre-game, Pre-season

There are some exhortations out there, specifically from the Journal-Sentinel and Jay Sorgi at WTMJ, that tonight’s game in Denver is a must-win situation for the Packers. It would be great to come away with a victory, but no pre-season game is a must-win. It is imperative, however, that Green Bay’s #1 offense and defense play well tonight to get their confidence back and get into a rhythm for the regular season.

Even with Scott Wells out for this game, the starters on the offensive line have to get the job done tonight and give Aaron Rodgers better protection than he got in San Francisco. Despite all the talk this off-season about finding the five best guys, the O-line will likely be a rotating cast once again this year, so Clifton, Colledge, Spitz, Sitton, and Tauscher (plus Barbre and probably Moll) have to show tonight they can rise to the occasion even when someone is sitting out.

Rodgers, meanwhile, has to show he can rebound from a bad performance and come out swinging the next game. One of the most important things our new QB needs to figure out is when — and when not — to check out of running plays. Mike McCarthy was criticized in some quarters a week ago when the Packers ran the ball just three or four times in the first half, but it came out later that Rodgers had actually switched the call at the line several times. Staying with the run could have slowed down the 49ers blitz and given him a better shot at completing more passes later in the half, so we’ll see if he has more confidence in his line and running back tonight.

Speaking of the passing game, our receivers need to have as close to a perfect game as they can have tonight. There have been too many dropped passes already this pre-season, especially by Donald Driver and Donald Lee, so the time is nigh that the passing game comes together and prove it can be the big play threat we need it to be. (Hopefully Driver and Lee have taken a look at CheeseheadTV’s clinic on fighting the ball.)

The front four on defense has been thinned by injury, but at this point those are the guys we’ll be going into battle with, so they and Bob Sanders have to figure out how to get pressure on the quarterback. Last week Jay Cutler managed to slice and dice Dallas’ secondary for 178 yards and a touchdown, so this should will be a real test for how effective the D-line can be in disrupting the opposition’s passing game. The front seven’s stoutness against the run also took a hit last week when Frank Gore and DeShaun Foster combined for 66 first half yards. Putting up some resistance against Selvin Young and Michael Pittman tonight would go a long way towards restoring some faith in that phase of the defense.

The headlines tomorrow need not say “Packers win,” but the starters do need to give us a solid first half.