All of a sudden, the Green Bay Packers are alive again. While they were never mathematically dead, it certainly felt like it over a 1-7 stretch from Week 5 to Week 12 that sunk them toward the bottom of the NFC. But lo and behold, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers looked to be having the most fun they’ve had all season on Monday night. They cruised to a 12-point victory over Sean McVay and Baker Mayfield’s beaten-down Los Angeles Rams. That performance extended their winning streak to only two. Still, after the Seattle Seahawks lost twice and the Washington Commanders face a challenging final stretch, they are potentially three triumphs away from an improbable playoff berth.
A pair of home divisional contests are left on their schedule. But before that, they face a more challenging Christmas Day showdown on the road against Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins. It will be a rematch with offensive mastermind Mike McDaniel, a co-architect of the San Francisco 49ers attack that dismantled Green Bay in the 2020 NFC Championship game. Despite taking running back Raheem Mostert with him to Miami, his system has been pass-heavy. Due to the blazing speed of the pair of wideouts on the outside, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, it has often played like a seven-on-seven offense with quick, relatively short passing.
If Joe Barry’s Christmas gift to Packers fans is more of the coal he’s been delivering all year, Sunday will be an uphill climb. Quite a bit, therefore, will fall on the shoulders of Green Bay’s most expensive and most important defensive player, Jaire Alexander. After agreeing to a 4-year, $84 million extension with the Packers last offseason, Alexander has continued his reign as one of the league’s top players at arguably the game’s most challenging position. He brings fire to a unit that has often lacked it in the decade since Rodgers’ only title. Alexander will be tasked with neutralizing Miami’s star wideouts — primarily Hill, who has already amassed more than 1,500 receiving yards in his best NFL season.
Earlier this week, Alexander was named Green Bay’s only Pro Bowler. With four interceptions and 12 passes defended, he’s flashed plenty of what’s made him a household name over the past few years; however, this season has been far from perfect. Treylon Burks got the better of him on a dagger deep ball from Ryan Tannehill. Equanimeous St. Brown beat him for 56 yards a few weeks ago. And Commies star Terry McLaurin won his game-long battle against Alexander, most notably with a long touchdown catch and a game-sealing third-down conversion.
The ups and downs have failed to dampen his flamboyant personality. Talking smack is a pretty standard facet of a flashy corner’s game, and Alexander is no different — especially this season. He’s referred to former teammate St. Brown as a “scrub” and ignited a heated game-long battle with Buffalo Bills wideouts Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis that started in the tunnel. Most recently, he projected “like seven interceptions” for his secondary ahead of last week’s matchup against Mayfield.
Alexander has talked a lot of talk, and it’s fair to say that the results have been slightly mixed, considering the expectations for an $84 million superstar. In just a couple of days, the entire nation will be watching him face off against the Cheetah, the league’s leading receiver. The lights will be the brightest they’ve been all year, just the way Ja likes them. For the Packers, meeting the tall task of escaping Miami with a win starts with their top defender walking the walk.
When the Packers passed on wide receivers with their first-round picks back in April’s draft, the gut reaction was outrage and incredulity. The next reaction was realizing that all signs pointed to a nasty defense that would become the strength of the 2022 Packers. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case. Devonte Wyatt has done next to nothing in his rookie season, and De’Vondre Campbell has missed time. Darnell Savage failed to meet expectations, and second-year corner Eric Stokes and star edge-rusher Rashan Gary were lost for the season. Most notably, Joe Barry does not know how to utilize his talent.
Tannehill and the Tennessee Titans gashed the defensive unit set to take the field on Christmas through the air. The Eagles trampled them on the ground by the Eagles in a hard-to-watch game that induced PTSD from the aforementioned 2020 NFC Championship game. Barry is no match for McDaniel, but if Jaire Alexander and his 4.38 speed can take care of Hill, that could give Rodgers all the daylight he needs to grant the holiday wishes of people across Wisconsin.
