Week 7 Preview: Packers Host Oakland Raiders
Jon Gruden returns to Lambeau as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders to face the Packers yet again in his career. The Raiders are 3-2 and coming off of two wins against the Bears and the Colts. The Packers are 5-1 going into the game as Matt LaFleur’s apparent deal with the devil is still paying off.
Things you should know:
Notable injuries for the Packers include Davante Adams who will not be playing. Geronimo Allison was recently upgraded from doubtful to questionable. Rookie safety Darnell Savage will also be inactive.
The Raiders will also be without their WR1 due to Tyrell Williams having an ankle injury.
Unlike the Packers, the Raiders are coming off a long two-week rest period.
This will be the first game as a Packer for WR Ryan Grant — picked up recently by Green Bay as a free agent. Grant had a brief stint as an Oakland Raider. UPDATE: Grant is now listed as inactive.
Former Packers WR Trevor Davis will be facing his former team – he was traded to the Raiders in September of last year for a 6th round pick in 2020.
The Packers are currently ranked 23rd in the league for rush defense while Oakland Raiders RB Josh Jacobs is currently 10th in the league for total rushing yards. Expect to see the Raiders try to exploit this weakness in the Packer defense.
The weather in Green Bay, Wisconsin is predicted to be fairly mild
Once again, Aaron Rodgers will be looking deep into the depth chart for passing targets and is likely to throw to up to 7-10 players by the end of the game. The Packers’ youthful wide receiver corps has been pushed to their limits with the now three week absence of WR1 Davante Adams. All eyes are on Allen Lazard to see if he can continue his performance seen last week.
Some notable Packers/Raiders games in history:
MNF Game After Death of Favre’s Father
1999 Week 1 Game – Favre played with a broken thumb
Game Info:
Location: Green Bay, WI – Lambeau Field
Time: 1:00pm Eastern Time – 12:00pm Local Time
Radio: WTMJ
Streaming Online: FuboTV
Source: 506 Sports
Oct 6, 2019; Arlington, TX, USA; Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) reacts to a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
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I don’t have a good feeling about this game. If they can’t stop Josh Jacobs they are fucked
I agree with you about the Packers needing to stop the Raiders run game. The Raiders appear to be a ball control offense using the run game and a short/quick passing game. When you play teams like that the Packers need to not miss tackles. The first guy needs to bring down the receiver or ball carrier. This game will be about tackling and blocking.
A couple of positive stats to give you a better feeling about the game. The Packers (11th) and Raiders (13th) have about the same red zone TD scoring %. The Packers defenses red zone TD scoring % allowed is rated 10th while the Raiders are rated 24th in the league. That can be a big advantage to the Packers, as long as the Packers don’t give up big plays. The Raiders so far have not shown an ability to make big plays on offense. However, I do think Gruden will try to put Trevor Davis in position to make some big plays.
It is getting close to the time when points per play and points per play margin stats mean something. The Packers offense (14th) and Raiders (20th) are close. However, the Packers defense is rated 7th in point per play allowed and the Raiders are rated 24th. When it comes to points per play margin that combine the offense and defense points per play allowed and made, the Packers are 7th in the league while the Raiders are 24th. To me the Packers are the better overall team, but this is the NFL and the ball does bounce in odd ways, along with the referees.
Aaron “fucking” Rodgers
Chin up son.
MVS and Allison will be active. Ryan Grant is inactive.
Second team in a row coming off the bye. Those nfl schedule makers sure favor the pack!
And the Packers get to play the Chiefs next after the Chiefs played a Thursday game. Who was it that said it was a big advantage for a team to have an extra three days (or 7 days) of rest and game planning?
They do man. Lonely boy said so.
GAME DAY BITCHES!
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I’d sure love to see the Packers run off 4 solid quarters. But i’ll settle for 3.
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Packers got this.
Crosby beat both Bakhtiari and Jenkins on his sack….just sayin.
Someone needs to remind Lazard to catch the ball before making a move. A Jimmy Graham sighting, I was wondering if he was still around. Excellent footwork Kumerow. Howard’s post about points per play and red zone percentage is playing out nicely so far.
Early in the game there was a pass to #80 and I thought to myself, who the hell is #80 these days? Then the announcers said Jimmy Graham. I was like “oh yeah, I forgot about him.”
I hereby deem Jake Kumerow wide receiver #2 (this week), no matter what happens in the 2nd half. Mr. Allison…if fans at home know you need to get out of bounds, so should you. Mr. Lazard….being the hero last week, will only last one week…if you don’t catch the damn ball.
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Special shout out to Aaron Jones for his spinning TD grab. WOW
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Where’s MVS? Two solid quarters, lets keep it going. I think it’s about time for a 40 burger.
Packers got this.
Think MVS heard you. I am starting to believe he is a one trick pony though. Deep threat with straight line speed. Doesn’t seem like he will be a guy getting consistently open on short and intermediate routes
But that’s ok Kato, because that’s what he was advertised as. He can take the top off like Jordy used to. He won’t be the possession type receiver Jordy was but that doesn’t mean he can’t or won’t improve in that area. The more he makes plays like he did today, the more defense’s will have to account for him, and when Adam’s comes back it can’t help but open things up for others also.
How many passes does Waller have to catch to get the Packers attention? Goodson just looks lost out there.
No shit…I thought that was Todd Christensen. He ran free all day.
Quiet here. No one seems to be pumped the Packers are 6-1 and in control of the north and essentially a two game lead factoring the tiebreaker they hold over the queens
Pragmatically pumped. Very happy with the Rodgers performance. A perfect passer rating, 5 TD passes, one rushing, over 400 yards, and all spread around to multiple targets. He’s playing some of his best football in a while and that’s great.
Receivers stepped up and Jimmy was one of them. Good there too. All in all the offense really clicked and the line is doing a great job.
When I looked at the numbers from the game I seen Oakland had actually a few more yards of total offense. In many areas the Raiders were statistically even with the Packers. It came down to the stops when they mattered and the turnovers because the defense was a bit porous at times. No sacks, and as mentioned Waller ran pretty free most of the day. The coverage left a bit to be desired and some of their receivers were catching the ball with nobody in the same zip code a bunch of times, like that TD that was called back.
I think they’ll adjust more on this because the right opponent could really exploit it. That’s my little concern after this game. At least I have faith that this coaching regime will make the right week to week corrections where the last one would be stubborn.
This is a development process and it is going very well. Better than most would have expected. I would have never guessed the team would be 6-1 at this point. It is great to see this team playing with a swagger, an enthusiasm, they haven’t demonstrated for a while.
Mitch is right on top of it, as usual. I collected some numbers concerning the defense but yea, they are 6-1 and i don’t want to shit on that (today). But…a realistic and factually correct assessment of the defense isn’t out of line.
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If anyone noticed, this week you don’t see any comments of…”a win is a win”. Because the offense dominated and clearly took control of this game and part of me says about damn time, and another part still believes it’s a work in progress, with better things to come, hopefully. It looks like the table might be set for this offense to eat, we’ll see how it goes. I think this offense and Rodgers performance today are going to heighten this teams national media exposure. All eyes will soon be on this team. Especially if they can beat the Chiefs.
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At the end of the day. Fun game to watch, good to see the offense making progress…..4 solid quarters
Unpopular opinion, but perhaps this Adams injury was the best thing that could happen to this offense. I get that Adams is their best skill position player on offense and Rodgers wants to forcefeed him, but I have always felt offenses function at their best when the ball is spread around, and the Packers are no exception. When Rodgers was at his best in the first half of this decade, he was spreading the ball around and often had 8-10 different players with catches. Today that was the case. I hope that this is the start of a new trend.
Spot on Kato. I have been thinking this for the last two weeks. When Rodgers is playing his best, it is because he is looking at the whole field, not just for one or two guys. His best successes were earlier in his career when he passed to multiple receivers game in and game out. Well, it will be interesting to see if this trend (a great one at that!) continues once Adams is back. Trusting that Rodgers WILL continue to survey the whole field each and every down for the rest of the season. It works!
I think someone from here drove to Green Bay and spent a few hours working with Rodgers on his shortcomings. It’s about time someone taught him how to play.
Ha ha . . . But I’ll say this, search all of his great games. They were usually when he passed to all kinds of different targets. The last 4 to 5 years? You tell me. I can just about guarantee to you that he was looking at 2 to 3 guys only for the whole game each and every game. It was obvious to me, to most of us on here, and to many football pundits. Why was he was doing that? I have no clue. the ONLY time that he would deviate from this trend was when one or both of his targets were out of the games only because he was compelled to. From a purely observational point of view, I believe that this is one of his very few flaws as a future HOF QB. if he continues on this current trend of spreading the love around . . . He will be a motherfucker for any team to deal with again.
Non Packers observation: New Orleans completely dismantled the bears defense. They stuck with the run, which is important. Hope the Packers pay attention to that for their next matchup. Also, Nagy seems even more allergic to the running game than McCarthy ever was. They called 7 running plays the entire game. Trubisky is not a great QB, but as a playcaller you aren’t putting him in a position to succeed having a 5:1 ratio, and that game was fairly close for the first three quarters
I sorta watched that game. It seems to me that the bears only had low 100’s in yards gained halfway through the 4th quarter. They didn’t get into the red zone till late in the 4th. they had 15 minutes less time of possession. They had 17 yards rushing. They were horrible and Trubisky was getting booed out of town. Half their yards and 2 td’s came in garbage time late in the 4th. The Saints were up 26-10 before the 4th quarter. It seems that the Bears will wind up in the cellar unless the refs decide they aren’t going to help the vikings win any more games.
Ed should have a summary later. I’ll post my conjecture tomorrow morning.
Aaron Fuckin Rodgers
WTF! The Packers are 6 and 1! Well, I cannot complain about the offense today! Rodgers reverting back to the Rodgers of old two weeks in a row with multiple receivers thrown to. I knew Carr would give them fits if he was not pressured too hard. But he made a few costly mistakes and that shut them down. The D line did a great job shutting the Raiders down on the one series at the goal line. Great stop by Goodson. The Packers were in control after the beginning of the second half, no looking back. It was a great game to watch. However, the middle of the field for our defense sucked eggs once again, however, I believe that will change once Savage gets back into the system. The Packers had no answer for Waller. Each week, they seem to have one guy beating them soundly throughout the game. But I’m happy with this teams progress that is holding up quite well for a transitioning team (2nd year defensive and 1st year offensive coordinators). What an amazing record for a team to have that is newly transitioning! Keep it up! Wow!
Well said…, i’ll second that last sentiment. I said back in week 1 or 2 that there was a lot more energy, like top to bottom more energy. I also said it’s early, but it seemed like this team had great positive energy and team chemistry. My viewpoint on that has only strengthened since then. Don’t miss the post game locker room video if you haven’t watched it. This team is night and day from the McCarthy days in so many ways.
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In related……I love how LeFleur acknowledged his team’s performance, but more impressive was him following that up with keeping things “in check”. Stressing that it’s one game. I really, really like this guys mindset. He know’s he had (has) a huge job in front of him, and he just seems so grounded and 100% focused and with incredible vision. I think he’s doing a great job, and i’m happy for him that he can enjoy the results of his labor. This team was not in great shape when LeFleur took it over. I think so far, he’s doing an outstanding job. But he better keep an eye open on that defense. More on that later when i’m at work.
We are in accord with the way that LaFleur is running this team, as well as the fact that there does seem to be something amiss with the defense. The middle is really suspect. We need a pair of stud ILB’s ( I am not sold on Martinez ) and Savage back in there. Or, perhaps the middle of the field is Pettine’s Achilles heel?