Pack ring in the year by thrashing Vikings
Win-and-in Packers preparing for SNF showdown versus Lions
Well that was a fun way to start 2023. The Packers ran all over the Minnesota Vikings in what was without a doubt a great payback game after the Vikings had their own fun week 1.
This was the most fun I had during the game:
This was the second most fun:
Every facet of the team showed up: the defense DEFINITELY showed out, the offense was clicking in the second half and the biggest worry coming into the season has new life thanks to Keisean Nixon.
And because of that team effort, we handed out a record amount of cheese this week as 10 players and one coach earned it.
The Cheeseboard 🧀
Talk of the Tundra’s Cheeseboard is a season-long leaderboard tracking and ranking exceptional performances from Packers players in the form of cheeses 🧀, of which they are three: Muenster (🧀), pepper jack (🧀🧀) and an aged sharp cheddar (🧀🧀🧀). At the end of the season, we will recap the Cheeseboard and see who ends up being the team MVP.
Keisean Nixon 🧀🧀
Without a doubt, Keisean Nixon is the MVP of this Packers season. Aaron Jones may be leading the way on our cheeseboard and is one of the most talented players on the team. But without Keisean Nixon’s explosiveness on kick returns, the Packers are not in the playoff picture. His kickoff return for a touchdown was the first for GB since Randall Cobb in 2011. That’s certainly worthy of two hunks of pepper jack.
Jaire Alexander 🧀🧀
Jaire came into this week talking his shit, calling Justin Jefferson’s week 1 performance against the Packers a “fluke.” Well, Jaire talked his talk and walked his walk on New Year’s Day and locked up Justin Jefferson and didn’t allow him a catch while he was his primary defender. Jaire is unabashedly himself and has a short memory when it comes to coverage. He’s proven himself in this stretch that he deserved that contract from the Packers and that he can Griddy with the best of ‘em.
Darnell Savage 🧀🧀
Darnell Savage has had a roller coaster of a year. After battling injuries and general lackluster play, he found himself lower on the depth chart than I imagine he’d want to be and fans were happy about it. However, Head Coach Matt LaFleur said Savage had been a pro throughout the season and took it in stride and Sunday’s game showed that. Savage benefitted from a deflected pass, intercepted it and took it to the house for a pick-6 in what had to be a gorilla off that man’s shoulders. He has been playing well and has taken over the slot corner role in Joe Berry’s defense. A tumultuous season has been looking up lately for him.
Mason Crosby 🧀🧀
Great day for the Packers’ all-time points scorer who definitely joined in on the fun. Crosby trotted out on the field as time was expiring in the first half and swung his right leg just hard enough to kick the ball through the uprights with the help of the crossbar. A good doink. It was his career-long at Lambeau and the longest field goal at Lambeau by a Packer in history. Two made field goals and five extra points for the veteran marks a perfect day and two cheeses.
Aaron Jones 🧀
111-yard rushing day for Aaron Jones. Ho-hum. Nice to see his ankle didn’t bother him this week. The cheeseboard leader tallies another.
Allen Lazard 🧀
Allen Lazard made the most of his targets Sunday, snagging five catches on six targets for 59 yards. Lazard’s biggest benefit to this team is catching balls to extend drives. During the broadcast, Jim Nantz said 75% of Lazard’s catches have went for touchdowns or first downs. Big fan of that stat. Not as big of a fan as Lazard when he drops passes and frustrates me. He didn’t frustrate me this week. He earns a cheese.
Bobby Tonyan 🧀
I love this version of the Packers where you don’t know week-to-week what pass catcher is going to make the biggest impact. I think it benefits the team so much in that opponents have to game plan for every receiver. This week was Bobby Tonyan. Tonyan had three catches for 52 yards and a touchdown including two plays. Knowing Rodgers has Tonyan in his back pocket to run great routes and make winning plays is a great benefit to have.
Adrian Amos 🧀
Adrian Amos led the team in tackling this week including one tackle for loss. The veteran also two pass deflections, one of which led to an interception. Great day in coverage from Amos as he only allowed 28 yards on two receptions as the primary defender.
Kenny Clark 🧀
The big man inside has revived his season and sealed this game for the Packers with a strip sack and fumble recovery of Kirk Cousins in the second half. His play ceased any momentum the Vikings were hoping to build in mounting a comeback. That’s leadership and showing up when it matters.
Rasul Douglas 🧀
Rasul Douglas gets a cheese for the same reason Jaire gets one. Great, lockdown day against a great offense. Rasul racked up four tackles to go with two pass deflections in Sunday’s trouncing.
Joe Berry 🧀
Defensive Coordinator Joe Berry gets back to 0 on the season after learning from his mistakes in week 1 and the rest of the season before this winning streak. The Packers defense is playing their best ball of the season, allowing only one touchdown to opposing offenses in the second half in December and now January. This defense is looking how we thought it was supposed to look early on the season. Credit where credit is due, Joe Berry has gotten them in shape. That goodwill will be short-lived if Sunday’s result is a bad one, however.
Cheeseboard after 16 games:
Aaron Jones: 🧀 x 11
Jaire Alexander: 🧀 x 6
Keisean Nixon: 🧀 x 6
Preston Smith: 🧀 x 6
De’Vondre Campbell: 🧀 x 5
AJ Dillon: 🧀 x 5
Christian Watson: 🧀 x 5
Kenny Clark: 🧀 x 4
Rashan Gary: 🧀 x 4
Darnell Savage: 🧀 x 3
Elgton Jenkins: 🧀 x 3
John Runyan: 🧀 x 3
Mason Crosby: 🧀 x 3
Quay Walker: 🧀 x 3
Rasul Douglas: 🧀 x 3
Romeo Doubs: 🧀 x 3
Rudy Ford: 🧀 x 3
Aaron Rodgers: 🧀 x 2
Allen Lazard: 🧀 x 2
David Bakhtiari: 🧀 x 2
Jarran Reed: 🧀 x 2
Pat O’Donnell: 🧀 x 2
Randall Cobb: 🧀 x 2
Robert Tonyan: 🧀 x 2
Zach Tom: 🧀 x 2
Adrian Amos: 🧀
Eric Stokes: 🧀
Devonte Wyatt: 🧀
Josh Myers: 🧀
Krys Barnes: 🧀
Sammy Watkins: 🧀
Yosh Nijman: 🧀
Packers vs. Lions Preview, players to watch score predictions
It’s simple. The Pack win, and they’re in. If they win this week they will have equaled their longest win streak with their loss streak this season. So take that how you may.
The Detroit Lions come to town riding momentum of their own with a shot entering Sunday to make their first playoff appearance under Dan Campbell and first since 2017. If the Seahawks lose in the afternoon, the Lions could get in. If they win, they’re out regardless of Sunday night’s outcome.
But a damn good consolation prize is sweeping the Packers season series and getting a top-10 pick thanks to the Los Angeles Rams having a horrendous season.
The Lions are a dangerous football team with an explosive offense, but a porous defense. Between running backs D’Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams, their rushing attack is nothing if not consistent. Swift is good at chunking out big plays and Williams is almost automatic converting touchdowns from the one-yard line. The Packers run defense will be tested this week once again. If they perform against Detroit as well as they did against the Vikings, they’ll be in good shape.
This season, Detroit has been a significantly worse team on the road than they have been at home.
Pair that with the fact that Jared Goff is pretty bad in cold weather games, the Pack are highly benefitting from this game being at Lambeau Field.
On the offensive side, I truly think Rodgers needs to be great this week to confidently lead the Packers to the playoffs. He hasn’t had an A+ game all season and that has been just fine thus far. But going into the playoffs — if we make it — it would be fan-fucking-tastic if we could see a vintage Rodgers game for four quarters. Dropping passes in tight windows and wowing us. I think seeing that Aaron Rodgers would do wonders for the fan base’s confidence levels going into the postseason.
One big contributor to that could be Christian Watson. The rookie has an OROY case and he can cement that case this week with an explosive performance against a bad defense. Him and Rodgers teaming up to lead this team to the playoffs would be a great way to enter the postseason and continue the Packers’ run of racking up regular season hardware.
Also context, I am not picking the Packers to win another game this season as to not jinx anything. I’m not superstitious, I’m just a little stitious.
Players to watch
Jordan: Aaron Rodgers and Jared Goff
Numac: Christian Watson, D’Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams, Aiden Hutchinson
Score Predictions:
Jordan: 27 -16 Packers
Numac: 30-24 Lions