By Conor Perrett
With the Green Bay Packers coming off an overtime win to America’s team; Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, they now host another top team when the Tennessee Titans come to Lambeau Field for Thursday Night Football.
Both sides are still in the playoff hunt, and both need to keep stacking up wins so read on and I’ll tell you who I think will win this exciting match-up tonight.
Green Bay Packers (4-6)
Power Rankings: 18th
DVOA Rankings: Offence – 9th, Defence – 17th, ST – 30th: Overall – 14th
Thanks to a five-game losing streak that buried them deep in the NFC standings, it has been a difficult season for the Packers.
Aaron Rodgers has looked like a fraction of his former self and the offence has just been stuck in gear following the off-season trade of wide receiver Davante Adams. That was until last Sunday when we got our first bit of spark from them this season, when they came from behind to beat a fancied Cowboys team.
The man at centre of this renaissance was rookie second-round pick Christian Watson, who caught four passes on the day for 104 yards and three touchdowns. He is one of the new young receivers that was brought in to replace Adams, and he has had a rough start to life in the NFL being on concussion protocol and also dropping a number of catchable passes. It has left an unhappy Rodgers throwing to him, and numerous times this year the quarterback has shown his frustration on the field and on the sideline.
It’s clear Rodgers is not happy with the current situation or where the team is heading towards. Despite winning last week, his demeanor really wasn’t much different until the last drive. He tends to take his frustration out on head-coach Matt LaFleur despite a winning relationship with him over the last two years.
Having a group of young receivers isn’t ideal, but he also has Randell Cobb returning for this game. The defence hasn’t been living up to its potential. With a good second half of the season, Green Bay could find themselves in the playoffs, but that still might not cement Rodgers’ future with this team.
Tennessee Titans (6-3)
Power Rankings: 12th
DVOA Rankings: Offence – 21st, Defence – 9th, ST – 11th: Overall – 13th
The Titans are in the driving seat for the AFC South title and now that starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill is back, they have a resemblance of a passing game once again. On Sunday he threw for a pair of touchdowns on his return to the lineup in the Titans’ win over the Denver Broncos.
The King, Derrick Henry, has got himself back on track in the past month, having topped the 100 rushing yard mark in five of his last six games. He looks just as scary as he did back when he won Offensive Player of the Year in 2020, and tonight he gets to take on statistically the league’s worst run-defence this week in Green Bay.
On the other side of the ball, the Titan defence has been hotting up as well, and in their last six games they have not given up more than 20 points in four quarters. That six games stretch includes the Kansas City Chiefs who have the No. 1 scoring offence in the league and are first in offensive DVOA. They will be missing their top pass rusher Bud Dupree for this clash, but a strong and gritty Mike Vrabel team won’t let that set them back.
Prediction
This matchup will be closer than the records suggest and feels like a coin toss in my opinion.
With the Packers being at home, they enter the game as three-point favourites in the bookies and have had the better fortune with injuries. They looked good on Sunday night and I think Rodgers will get this offence motoring again. How soon in the game will this happen is the question, as this Titans defence has been playing up near the league’s best in recent weeks.
Despite the arrows pointing towards Green Bay in some situations, I like the matchup for Tennessee. I don’t think they will be able to run the ball as effectively as people might think, with the Packers run-defence often showing up when it matters most.
But Tennessee is a real tough outfit and won’t be fearing the cold reception when they will get at Lambeau Field. They nearly went into Kansas City two weeks ago and beat them without a serviceable passing attack and I think this time round, in another difficult place to perform, they walk out with the win.
Titans 20, Packers 17
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