Well, three weeks to go, and there is so much on the line now with every game…
First, in a quick emotional turnaround, we are now officially Detroit Lion fans. They travel to Florida this Sunday to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On the one hand, the Bucs still haven’t beaten a team with a winning record. On the other hand, Detroit doesn’t have a winning record. I think it is plausible for this up-and-coming Lions squad to pull it off. We surely need them to!
Meanwhile, the Eagles head up I-95 to play the New York Giants. Both teams are knotted up at 9-4 atop the NFC North. We have already beaten the Eagles and have opportunity to beat the Giants next week. I don’t see a strong reason to prefer one of these over the other because if we end up tied with one of these guys for the final wild card berth, it will come down to the head-to-head tie-breaker. It’s hard to imagine a path to the playoffs for us that doesn’t include a win over New York next week, but since we’ve already bagged the Eagles, I guess I’ll cheer for the Giants to win the game, win their division, and leave Philly as the team for us to compete with for the wild card.
Perhaps the most important game to us is the Monday Night Football game somewhere in Minnesota. If the Packers lose to the Patriots (which is easy to imagine) on Sunday Night and the Bears beat the Vikings on Monday Night, then Chicago gets the NFC North title. Yuck. In light of our own extremely challenging match-up this week, therefore, we badly need Minnesota to get its act together enough to take out the Bears for us.
Finally, the reeling Packers head to New England this Sunday. I don’t hate the Patriots (well, I did when Moss was there). In fact, ever since their upset of the highly favored “greatest show on turf” back in Super Bowl XXXVI, I have generally admired the way they do things there. New England is playing like the best team in the league right now, and so it’s hard to envision the Packers going in there and upsetting them at home on national TV.
As the playoffs approach (and we perhaps don’t have much to write about concerning the Packers anymore), I will give fuller expression to my admiration for New England and why I may root for them against most challengers. For the present, however, they are Public Enemy #1 -- or at least for three hours this Sunday Night.
To our benefit, the Patriots have already clinched a playoff berth (the only team in the NFL so far), they have a 2-game lead in their own division, and they have the inside track on #1 seed in the AFC. Plus, the Packers are an out-of-Conference opponent. In short, this is hardly a must-win game for the Pats.
On the other hand, they seem to be the consummate professionals, which is part of what I appreciate about them. And so I fully expect them to give us their best game, which is an intimidating prospect.
The only way to beat them, it seems to me, is to keep their offense off the field with long, sustained offensive drives of our own. I know we’re capable of that, last Sunday’s performance in Detroit notwithstanding. And then, when their offense is on the field, I’d say that we have to put mega-pressure on Brady. They don’t have a deep threat, and so I wouldn’t mind seeing the Packers blitz and leave our cover guys on man-to-man islands. Better to try to get in Brady’s face than to watch him dink-and-dunk his way into the end zone for 10 plays and 7 minutes every time they get the ball.
Green Bay’s defense has not been really overwhelmed by anyone this season. And while it’s hard for me to predict that we’ll win this game, I also can’t see New England hanging 35 or 40 points on us like they have their last several other victims. Of course, they may not need 35 points. Detroit got it done against us with just 7.
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