The Green Bay Packers won a game Sunday against Miami that they were supposed to win. It evened their record at 4-4-1 and leaves them in 7th place in the NFC playoff standings. That means, according to head coach Mike McCarthy, they are six wins away from talking about the playoffs. And that my friends, is going to be a tall order.
The Packers did play a better game on offense and defense against the Dolphins. So, of course, the special teams decided to have its worst game of the year. Blocked punt, fumble, and it’s like Shawn Slocum all over again. Not a good sign going into Seattle Thursday night, the place of the worst special teams play in history when the Packers got Bostick’d in 2015.
So the way I see it, the Packers will lose Thursday and have to win their last six games to get to 10-5-1. Obviously the odds of that are slim and none. However, the Packers did just that a couple of years ago and have an emerging star in running back Aaron Jones. The question is can McCarthy commit to-slash-adjust-to running the ball with this newfound weapon? Until Sunday the answer has been a resounding no.
However, McCarthy has not always been afraid to run the ball. He rode running backs Ahman Green and Ryan Grant early in his career, resulting in a 1,000-yard rusher in three of his first four seasons with Grant falling 44 yards short in 2007. The only one since then was Eddie Lacy in 2014. With the way Aaron Jones is running the ball now I think the only chance the Packers have is to ride him until he breaks down.
It will certainly be tougher sledding in Seattle. The Dolphins are last in the league against the run, the Seahawks are 18th. And playing in Seattle on a short week is especially tough. I can’t see the Packers winning this one, so a six game run to end the season is their only hope.
Can they pull it off again? Do we want them to pull it off again?