Defense disappoints as Tannehill, Henry slay Packers playoff hopes
Pack fly to Philly to try and clip Eagles' wings
The Tennessee Titans have yet to beat a good team this year and that trend continued last Thursday as Ryan Tannehill absolutely carved up the Packers defense having his best game of the year in a 27-17 over Green Bay.
The defense lacked effort for the most part in their secondary despite the front seven doing a pretty darn good job at stopping Derrick Henry from running all over them.
There were some highlights, however, as we hand out this week’s cheeses.
Mid write-up P.S., please read to the end for a special Thanksgiving note from yours truly.
The Cheeseboard 🧀
Christian Watson 🧀
Another standout week from Christian Watson showcasing his use as a receiver down the field and positive asset in the offense. Four catches for 48 yards and two touchdowns is well enough to earn you a slice of muenster. Doesn’t hurt that he was the first Packers rookie wide receiver to have back-to-back games with multiple touchdown receptions since Max Mcgee in 1954. Pretty good company I’d say.
Randall Cobb 🧀
The veteran came through again for the Packers catching all six of his targets for 68 yards. Not the biggest night on the stat sheet, but Cobb deserves it being such an asset in the Packers’ passing game and nabbing clutch catches all season when he has been healthy.
Preston Smith 🧀
Preston Smith has had a great year as showcased by his placement in the Cheeseboard (T-2nd with Rashan Gary). He had another great night on Thursday as he had 1.5 sacks and five tackles. He has been good since Rashan went down against Detroit. Seeing him continue to have a standout year would be encouraging to see despite the Packers’ higher aspirations are likely squashed.
Krys Barnes 🧀
Returning from a knee injury and concussion, Barnes has looked good since he has been back including this game where he recorded a sack and tied for the team lead in tackles at 12. When they’re right, the Packers backers are a pretty stout unit with the addition of Quay Walker.
Cheeseboard after 11 games:
Aaron Jones: 🧀 x 8
Preston Smith: 🧀 x 4
Rashan Gary: 🧀 x 4
Christian Watson: 🧀 x 3
De’Vondre Campbell: 🧀 x 3
Jaire Alexander: 🧀 x 3
Romeo Doubs: 🧀 x 3
Rudy Ford: 🧀 x 3
Aaron Rodgers: 🧀 x2
AJ Dillon: 🧀 x 2
Elgton Jenkins: 🧀 x 2
David Bakhtiari: 🧀 x 2
John Runyan: 🧀 x 2
Kenny Clark: 🧀 x 2
Keisean Nixon: 🧀 x 2
Pat O’Donnell: 🧀 x 2
Randall Cobb: 🧀 x 2
Rasul Douglas: 🧀 x 2
Quay Walker: 🧀 x 2
Allen Lazard: 🧀
Eric Stokes: 🧀
Darnell Savage: 🧀
Jarran Reed: 🧀
Krys Barnes: 🧀
Mason Crosby: 🧀
Robert Tonyan: 🧀
Sammy Watkins: 🧀
Zach Tom: 🧀
Preview of Packers-Eagles, score predictions and Thanksgiving food picks
We’ve said it time and time again this season, but this might be another big game for Aaron Jones to be utilized to his highest potential if the Packers want any chance at winning this game.
As Jordan and I talked on the pod, it’s not necessarily a win condition, but in three of the four wins the Pack have this year, Jones has 15+ carries. The outlier is the Tampa Bay game after they went away from him in the second half. Just getting him going and sticking with him is better than handing the ball off to him twice to begin a game and then not trying to utilize his running ability the rest of the game.
That’ll be tough this week — as it was last week — as the Eagles defense is scary good. They’re middle of the pack in rushing yards allowed as well as rushing attempts, but their front seven isn’t to be taken lightly with the likes of Brandon Graham, Josh Sweat and T.J. Edwards.
But as good as they are against the rush, they’re even better against the pass. CJ Gardner Johnson looks like a DPOY candidate with six interceptions so far this season and pairing him with Darius Slay? Whew buddy it might be tough sledding for Rodgers and Co. to find success.
The Eagles are third in the league in sacks as well.
So maybe let’s look to get Aaron Jones going!
For the Packers on offense, it is imperative that Jaire Alexander and Rasul Douglas have good games this week. AJ Brown and Devonta Smith both have the ability to take over games and impose their will on slacking, unfocused defenses — looking at you Jaire Alexander.
The Eagles other yearly award nominee is quarterback Jalen Hurts who is making a strong case at MVP. The dual threat QB is second on the team in rushing yards and leads Philly in rushing touchdowns. A QB spy is almost a must this week and I think it would be a great development game to have Quay Walker draw that assignment to see how he handles it and have some tape on how he can improve on it for his career going forward.
Players to watch:
Numac: Quay Walker
Jordan: Jaire Alexander
Score predictions:
Numac: 30-10 Eagles
Jordan: 27-10 Eagles
Thanksgiving reflection & Food Favorites/Least Favorites:
Time to get sappy for a brief moment. This holiday season I want to express how thankful and grateful I am to all of you who read this and listen to Talk of the Tundra and the rest of our GSPN shows.
Having always had a love for sports, being given the chance to host my very own podcast with GSPN and BlueWire has been nothing short of awesome.
I love the community we’re building just 12 weeks into our first season and I cannot wait to see what the rest of this season (probably more losses sadly), the offseason (hopefully significant changes!) and the future hold for Jordan, me and the rest of the GSPN crew.
So from the bottom of my soon-to-be-sweet-potato-filled heart, thank you.
Food picks
Numac: Favorite, mashed sweet potatoes with brown sugar pecan crust. Least favorite, cranberry sauce.
Jordan: Favorite, mashed potatoes. Least favorite, fluff.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone, safe travels and Go Pack.