Playoff Preview

It's been a difficult week on Lombardi Avenue and it seems like it's been a month, not a week since the Packers last played but the NFC Divisional Playoff against the New York Giants is finally at hand.   The two teams who have combined for 20 NFL titles kick it off Sunday afternoon at 3:30 at Lambeau Field, the 4th and final Divisional round game of the weekend.  The death of offensive coordinator Joe Philbin's son cast a pall on the organization, understandably so and the funeral for 21 year old Michael Philbin is Friday afternoon.  Several players attended the visitation Thursday night as did former Packers head coach Mike Sherman.  A large contingent is also expected for the service.  Philbin has taken a leave of absence from the team and is not expected to be in his customary spot in the press box Sunday.   Philbin's leave impacted the players during the week, in meetings and on the practice field where he normally would conduct the power point presentations on the game plan and run the offensive portion of team drills on the practice field.  Mike McCarthy will notice the absence on game day where Philbin is usually in constant communication with McCarthy on play calls, suggestions and tendencies.  I'm not sure how the duties will be allocated Sunday but my guess is either running backs coach Jerry Fontenot, receiver coach Edgar Bennett or tight end coach Ben McAdoo will handle that role.

The Packers will have a nearly clean bill of health for the game, in fact they'll start the preferred offensive line of Chad Clifton, T.J. Lang, Scott Wells, Josh Sitton and Bryan Bulaga for the first time together since week 3 against the Chicago Bears.  Greg Jennings, James Starks and Randall Cobb are also good to go on the offense.  Sitton, along with A.J. Hawk and Desmond Bishop missed the first Giants game at MetLife Stadium December 4 and they'll be back on the field Sunday.

As for the matchups:  You have to start with the Giants strength, their pass rush.  48 sacks on the season, 41 just from the defensive line led by Jason Pierre-Paul with 16.5.  Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, Chris Canty and Dave Tollefson join Pierre-Paul to form an interchangeable group that doesn't need a lot of blitzing help to create pressure.  If Clifton shows any signs of rust, the Packers won't hesitate to turn to Marshall Newhouse who admittedly had a hard time containing Pierre-Paul last month.  Given just a smidgen of time, Aaron Rodgers will have to make quick reads against a lot of 7 man coverage sure to clog route lanes and passing windows.  I expect the Packers to treat this game a lot like they do when they face Chicago, hold the line and work underneath to Jermichael Finley or checkdown running backs, picking spots to challenge downfield.  A significant running game can not only reduce pressure from the rush, but possibly break into the second and third levels of a defense intent on not getting beat through the air.   For the Packers defense, it has to start with the run.  Brandon Jacobs and Amad Bradshaw are finally rounding into form, they ran strong against the Packers in December and were even better in New York's wild card victory over Atlanta.  Taking away the run and denying play action opportunities for Eli Manning will go a long way toward cutting down the explosive gains in the air that hurt this defense in the last meeting.  Tight end Travis Beckum, receivers Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz all had gains of at least 40 yards in that game.  Communication has to improve at the back end and with better coverage comes more opportunities to swipe an errant Manning throw.  He hurried decision on the first place of the second quarter last month led to Clay Matthew's pick six.  Another key for the Pack, the hunger factor from the players who could only watch last year's run to the Lombardi trophy in Dallas. 15 players on injured reserve last season including Ryan Grant, Jermichael Finley, Brad Jones and Morgan Burnett, all expected starters this weekend.  They all need to be productive for the Packers to advance.  Finally, 16 players on the roster where bundled in layers the last time these two teams met in the post-season, the bitterly cold January night in 2008 that ended in a most-bitter overtime loss, 23-20.  While the Giants have the same feeling of destiny on their Super Bowl run, culminated by the victory that denied New England an unbeaten championship, the Packers who took part in that NFC title game do not want to let that happen again.   I think the Packers want to help Joe Philbin recover from his loss by delivering a well executed game, and they also want to get one step closer to a second straight Super Bowl appearance.   I like the Pack to win 27-21.  On the link below, hear the quotes from both the Packers and the Giants on how they view the NFC Divisional Playoff matchup.