Acme Packing Company
It’s that time of the week. It’s time to find out who is disrespecting the Green Bay Packers. After a strong win over the Detroit Lions, who went 15-2 last year, you’d think that most would have moved the Packers up their power rankings this week…
…but some didn’t move them up high enough, based on what most Green Bay fans think this team is capable of. Let’s take a look at where analysts place the Packers after one week of play.
Parsons had barely been with the Packers a week and already made a massive impact as the defense flummoxed the Lions. Once Parsons is comfortable, look out. As Rashan Gary told our Mike Silver, “Once he and I figure some stuff out about how each of us likes to rush, watch out. It’s gonna get spooky for sure.”
And they’ve already matched their 2024 win total in NFC North games. But with the Pack’s five remaining divisional matchups occurring over the final seven weeks of the schedule, this team would be wise to make a lot of hay over its next nine contests.
The defense showed up in a big way against the Lions. And it wasn’t just Micah Parsons, either. They looked the part of a Super Bowl contender.
No team looked more complete against a quality opponent in Week 1. The Packers’ defense made the Lions look bad, and that’s with Micah Parsons playing limited snaps. The Packers’ offense was an efficient machine. Is this the best team in the NFL?
Who else could it be? From the Lambeau Field crowd going wild during his pregame introduction to the reaction after his fourth-quarter sack, it was all about Parsons on Sunday. And he delivered. In just 29 snaps, he had three pressures, including a sack and another that forced an interception by safety Evan Williams. What’s more is that Parsons opened things up for everyone else. Three other defensive linemen recorded sacks as well. “That’s why he’s here, right?” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. — Rob Demovsky
Since head coach Matt LaFleur arrived in 2019, the Packers haven’t had many big wins that didn’t include an explosive offensive performance. Sunday’s wire-to-wire victory over Detroit was almost exclusively the result of Green Bay’s front seven controlling the line of scrimmage on defense. That kept the Lions offense from operating on schedule and forced quarterback Jared Goff into obvious (and uncomfortable) passing situations.
We only saw Green Bay’s newly acquired edge rusher Micah Parsons for a handful of snaps, but he already registered his first Packers sack and won his matchup against All-Pro tackle Penei Sewell pretty handily. If this is the version of Green Bay’s defense we get in 2025, the NFC is in trouble.
The excitement surrounding this year’s Packers squad was turned up to 11 after...
