The Green Bay Packers’ home opener on Monday Night Football will be many things as they welcome in the Motor City Kitties to Lambeau Field, but most importantly, it has turned into a litmus test for this offense.
No matter how you slice it up, the Packers were flat-out abysmal on offense against the New Orleans Saints in Week 1. When the best thing to happen is your left tackle showing that he is indeed elite at his spot, it doesn’t bode well. And that’s not a knock on Elgton Jenkins; the dude is a baller anywhere on the line.
For as bad as Week 1 was, the Packers have a golden opportunity on Monday night against a reeling Detroit Lions defense to show that the New Orleans Saints debacle was an anomaly.
Detroit will be without their 2020 first-round pick, cornerback Jeff Okudah. The No. 1 corner on Detroit’s depth chart suffered a ruptured achilles against the San Francisco 49ers, leaving an already thin secondary even thinner.
Rookie third-round pick Ifeatu Melifonwu will now slot in to one of the starting spots alongside Amani Oruwariye. The latter was a fifth-round pick in 2019 and was Detroit’s most reliable corner for a year, if only because he played in all 16 games and started 15 of them. According to Pro Football Focus, he graded out poorly in Week 1, earning a 38.5 against the 49ers. While PFF isn’t the be-all-end-all, it does provide some detailed context into how individuals performed.
Aaron Rodgers picked apart Okudah last year in Green Bay’s matchup at Lambeau, and Okudah returned this year as Detroit’s top option at the position. Suffice it to say, the reigning MVP is licking his wounds from Week 1 and licking his chops at this appetizing Week 2 tilt.
It’s a litmus test for Green Bay in large part because of the stunning effort that was displayed in Jacksonville in Week 1. What’s even more stunning is that players like Davante Adams said the team came out flat, via Packerswire.com.
“It just got weird, man. It was a weird game,” Adams said. “We had like 12 plays in the first half. Our defense wasn’t getting off the field and that just wasn’t our best display. We came out really flat and I think that it’ll be a really good wake-up call for us.”
How does that happen in the season opener? Isn’t it objectively the easiest game to get fired up for? Adams isn’t wrong, it’s exactly how Green Bay looked. But hearing the players echo that is alarming.
Had they lost to the Saints but showed competence on offense, no one would’ve batted an eye. Instead, there is now a laser focus on this Packers offense for Week 2 as it’s a super-favorable matchup on paper.
Not only has Rodgers feasted on the Lions throughout most of his career, and especially last year, the same can be said for Aaron Jones. In their matchup in Lambeau last year, Jones ran wild, galloping for 168 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries. Every indicator points towards Green Bay having a field day against Detroit on Monday. On offense, at least.
The issue is that the game isn’t played on paper and can’t be perfectly predicted based on past results. More relevant is the most recent performance. And for the Packers, it was the worst they’ve been in the Matt LaFleur era.
Green Bay can temporarily silence the naysayers if they come out strong and hang a crooked number on a depleted Lions defense. Some will still say, “It’s just Detroit.” But for the Packers, the opponent doesn’t matter right now, getting back on track does. It just so happens to be a nice buffer game in theory for Rodgers and Co.
Detroit made Jimmy Garoppolo look like the second coming of Joe Montana. Some running back named Elijah Mitchell looked like a mix of Marshall Faulk and LaDainian Tomlinson. Surely the Packers’ best players can match that. If they don’t, it will be full-blown panic mode in the land of cheese.
Before the year started, the most notable item in this Week 2 matchup was that it was the home opener and on Monday Night Football. It’s morphed into a game where the Packers’ offense needs to show out in a big way, otherwise there will be legitimate worry about where this unit is headed.
When the Lions come to town on Monday night, it will be more than just a game against an NFC North rival. It will be an opportunity for Green Bay’s offense to show that all is fine with their supposedly well-oiled offensive machine.
