Acme Packing Company
If there was ever a time for the Green Bay Packers’ run game to figure itself out, it’s on Monday Night Football against the Philadelphia Eagles.
In a game that will likely have major NFC playoff seeding implications, the Packers come in banged up, most notably on the heels of Tucker Kraft’s season-ending ACL injury last week against the Carolina Panthers. On top of that, the Packers are dealing with multiple injuries at receiver, along with knocks to Zach Tom and Aaron Banks, who were limited in Thursday’s practice.
Despite all of those injuries, the Packers are still consensus favorites by all of the major sportsbooks, and one of the biggest potential mismatches could be attacking the front seven of Philadelphia’s defense.
The Eagles have significant talent on their defensive line with players like Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and Moro Ojomo, along with an All-Pro linebacker in Zack Baun and an exciting rookie in Jihaad Campbell. However, according to FTN Fantasy, the Eagles are just 26th in defensive DVOA against the run this season. ESPN’s run stop win rate metric isn’t any more optimistic, ranking the Eagles 27th as a team.
That presents a real opportunity for the Packers to finally get their run game going. Josh Jacobs has had an up-and-down start to the season, averaging just 3.8 yards per carry, but is starting to look a bit more like himself in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, backup RB Emanuel Wilson has flashed as a change-of-pace back in recent games. His best performance came in a statement win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, rushing 11 times for 61 yards while adding another 26 yards on three catches. He also racked up 81 total yards in the overtime tie to the Dallas Cowboys a few weeks prior.
For as much as Packers fans want to see Jordan Love start to air it out more, the run game can be a real way to attack Philadelphia’s defense. It can also open up some chunk plays off of play action, especially with Christian Watson back in the lineup as a big-bodied deep threat. According to PFF, Love is posting a 113.7 passer rating on play-action passes this season, completing 68.8 percent of those passes for 534 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception.
Matt LaFleur and Adam Stenavich are notorious for scheming up effective run concepts based on weaknesses they can exploit in a given week, and that is a trend that we’ll likely see again on Monday night.
