It is really hard to point to anything from the first game and say 'Well that's going to be the difference in this one.' When they played in September, I sweated out a horrible hangover after a fun guys weekend in Green Bay, and it was about 75 degrees in Wisconsin with the same sort of weather in San Francisco. Now, it has a chance to be the coldest game in the NFL history. Weather is not the only difference. People are back from injury, people are injured that were not in September. It is a completely different game. Colin Kaepernick is a player whom currently has ownership over Green Bay. The numbers are silly in the last two games when he faced Green Bay plus he is coming on strong as of late with the addition of Michael Crabtree. Kaepernick never really dealt with this kind of weather yet in his career, and when he does play in colder weather games, it is inconsistent at best. Green Bay will need to be better in terms of contain as this has been a problem that burned them in the past with Kaepernick as well as running backs like Frank Gore from bouncing it to the outside. If Green Bay can bottle up Kaepenrick and Gore, it will probably result in a good day for them.
It is probably assumed Gore will eat on Sunday against a weak Packers defense. Seeing what Matt Forte did means Gore could have a massive day on Sunday. Now he is bothered by a knee injury and one thing I found interesting just looking his logs this year is he strings together three or four big games then he struggles for a couple. This would also be called inconsistency friends as well as grasping for straws with a shitty defense. Gore only had 14 yards albeit against a tough as nails Arizona's defense. I cannot help, but think this is just a wonky statistic thing meaning Gore will likely have over 80 yards of rushing. More importantly is not what Green Bay does against Gore, but the others who will run the football comparable to when you let a basketball star beat you and not his or her teammates.
As for the other quarterback, it will be the second game back for Aaron Rodgers. He did not play well in his first game back. If we were to do a Packers Classroom, it was a C performance for Aaron. But this could be a game where he comes up with a big performance. I realize it will be colder than a beautiful girl when I try to talk to her, but hear me out with this out. Matt Ryan had 348 yards against San Francisco's pass defense two weeks ago completing 37 passes with only eleven incompletions. Carson Palmer had 407 yards last week and nobody is panicking about how San Francisco will stop Rodgers? Even with the cold, no one should be shocked if Rodgers comes up with a big day on Sunday.
While it seems like passing through heavy winds might not be the best idea, it could be the only one. Green Bay is running the ball well, but San Francisco's rush defense will lock most teams down. They need to have some creativity with their running game. The short side toss did not work against Chicago and it will certainly most not work against a fast San Francisco defense. Now do I believe the sweep will work because San Francisco's defense is very aggressive meaning they can get caught up in something like a sweep play yet it needs to be with the field. Please I cannot take many more short-side tosses in my life because I am pretty sure I will jump directly out of my window.
Before I make my pick, let me address a couple things... I hate to sound like a Packers elitist, but here we go. Everyone needs to stop bitching about Troy Aikman and Joe Buck. They do not hate your team, I promise. Look I love Cris Collinsworth, but does he sometimes say things I disagree with? Absolutely. Announcers are not always accurate just like we in life are not always accurate at our jobs. Seeing this petition against Aikman is embarrassing to Packers fans. It is up there with 'Best Fans in Baseball' type bullshit we see from St. Louis. Also embarrassing was Packer fans getting on Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for taking San Francisco over Green Bay... HOW DARE THE PACKER BEAT WRITER PICK AGAINST THE TEAM... U ARE NOT DOING YOUR JOB, TELL ME NICE THINGS, NOT BAD THINGS.
Well I am going to disagree with Dunne. It is probably because I am a homer but I also truly believe Green Bay can win this game. They will need to force a couple turnovers as well as play close to mistake-free football as possible. Rodgers always shows up for San Francisco, and that will happen on Sunday plus Eddie Lacy has one of the best days on the ground against San Fran's defense. Green Bay's defense holds Kaepernick in check while Gore has a big day. This is another nail-biter but Packers pull it out.
Green Bay 28 San Francisco 23
Charlie.
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