Green Bay Packers vs. New York Giants: Breaking Down Green Bay's Game Plan

The Green Bay Packers are on the road this week with a matchup against the New York Giants. Green Bay is currently on a two-game losing streak and really needs a win to stop this season from slipping away.

The good news is that the Packers have a rather favorable matchup with the Giants in Week 11. At 3-6 on the season, it'd be fair to call New York's season a major disappointment. However, the team is riding a three-game winning streak heading into the game.

Here, we'll break down Green Bay's game plan for this week's matchup.

The Competitive Edge

Quarterback

As bad as Eli Manning was at the start of the season, he's quietly improved over the past three weeks. But even if Manning plays like he did earlier in the year, he'll still be quite a bit better than Scott Tolzien for the Packers.

Advantage: New York

Running Backs

The Giants' ground game has been a mess this season, but it finally got some solid play last week from Andre Brown. However, Brown doesn't nearly have the talent of Eddie Lacy. Throw in the production of James Starks and the Packers get the edge here.

Advantage: Green Bay

Wide Receivers

Heading into the season, the Packers and Giants had two of the best receiving trios in the league. While neither has quite lived up to expectations, the receiving corps remains the strength for both teams. With Randall Cobb still out for Green Bay, the Giants get the nod thanks to how dangerous Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz and Rueben Randle can all be.

Advantage: New York

Tight Ends

The signing of Brandon Myers in the offseason was supposed to provide another major weapon for the Giants offense. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case, as Myers has struggled to make an impact all year long. The Packers, meanwhile, lost Jermichael Finley for the season but have seen Andrew Quarless and Brandon Bostick really step up the past two weeks.

Advantage: Green Bay

Offensive Line

If the Packers weren't dealing with so many injuries on their offensive line, they'd easily have the advantage here. However, they could be without two starters this week (more on this later), so even though New York's offensive line has struggled all year, it wins this positional battle slightly.

Advantage: New York

Defensive Line

Whether defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul plays for the Giants this week will ultimately determine which team has the advantage here. Even though the Packers defensive line has been quite bad the past two weeks, it would still be better than the Giants' unit without JPP. Considering Pierre-Paul's status is still unknown, Green Bay has the edge as of right now.

Advantage: Green Bay

Linebackers

The Giants have not gotten many good games out of their linebackers this year. It's easily been one of the weakest points on the roster. While the Packers linebackers have certainly had their struggles this year, getting Clay Matthews back should ultimately help their overall play in a big way.

Advantage: Green Bay

Secondary

The Packers secondary has been one of the absolute worst in the NFL this season. And it's been getting worse and worse in recent weeks. There are only a handful of teams that Green Bay would have an advantage in the secondary against, and the Giants aren't one of them.

Advantage: New York

Packers Offense vs. Giants Defense

Without Aaron Rodgers for the third straight week, it would make sense for the Packers offense to depend on the run game this week. Unfortunately, the Giants have one of the best run defenses in the league.

The Giants rank sixth overall in run defense, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). They're currently only allowing an average of 102.8 rushing yards per game and have only given up six rushing touchdowns in nine games.

So, while the Packers would love to feature Lacy and Starks throughout the game, they could have trouble getting the ground game going. Throw in the fact that the Packers could potentially be missing some key players on the offensive line (more on this later) and a strong rushing attack seems even less likely.

What does this mean for the Packers offense? It means that wide receivers Jordy Nelson, James Jones and Jarrett Boykin will need to step up in a big way.

Tolzien was impressive in his first NFL game last week. He has surprising arm strength, the ability to move around in the pocket and can make plays. He'll need to limit his mistakes, but that should happen as he continues to get more comfortable in the Packers offense.

The good news for Tolzien and the Packers passing game is that the Giants pass rush and coverage are the weakest links of their defense. There is definitely a possibility for Green Bay to exploit this part of the Giants defense, but it will take big games from Nelson, Jones and Boykin for that to happen.

Look for the Packers to run the ball early but for them to really focus on their aerial attack as the game progresses.

Packers Defense vs. Giants Offense

Over the past two weeks, the Packers defense has looked worse than it has at any other time this season. However, if there is any game in which it could bounce back, it's this week against the Giants.

While the Giants offense has shown signs of improvement in recent weeks, it's still far away from being even a good offense. The team currently has the sixth-worst offense in the league, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

The worst parts of the offense for New York have been its run and pass blocking. While the unit has only given up 22 sacks this year, Manning has been under pretty consistent pressure from opposing defenses all year long. As for the run blocking, the Giants are only averaging 76.9 yards per game, the fourth-worst in the NFL.

What this means for the Packers defense is that it could finally have a game in which it excels at getting pressure on the quarterback. It also means that the run defense could get back on track after struggling the past two games.

Another positive area for the Packers is that the Giants currently lead the NFL with 17 interceptions thrown on the season. Creating turnovers, especially interceptions, has been a major issue for Green Bay this year. With Manning averaging nearly two interceptions a game (he has 16 on the season), the Packers could finally force some turnovers in this game.

However, if Manning is playing as well as he's capable of playing, the Packers defense could be in trouble. The unit hasn't been able to stop any passing offense this year, and the trio of Nicks, Cruz and Randle will be the best receiving corps it's faced all year.

It's likely that this game will be decided on the success or failure of Manning. If he struggles, the Packers will be in great position to win. However, if he plays like a quarterback who has won two Super Bowls, this game could get really ugly really quickly.

Special Teams

After a treacherous start to the season, the Packers have gotten much better play from their special teams in recent weeks. The only exception is kicker Mason Crosby, who missed two of his four field-goal attempts last week. However, he's only missed two other field-goal attempts all year, so last Sunday could have been just a bad game.

As for the Giants, they simply haven't been spectacular in any aspect of their special teams either. They've been good, but not great.

What this means for this specific matchup is that special teams isn't likely to play a huge role in whoever wins this game. Basically, a big play from either team's special teams would be a pleasant surprise.

Wednesday's Injury Report

Name	Position	Injury	Practice Status
Don Barclay	OL	Knee	Did Not Practice
Evan Dietrich-Smith	OL	Knee	Limited Participation
Casey Hayward	CB	Hamstring	Did Not Practice
Johnny Jolly	DL	Groin	Did Not Practice
Clay Matthews	LB	Thumb	Full Participation
Andy Mulumba	LB	Ankle	Limited Participation
Mike Neal	LB	Abdomen	Did Not Practice
Nick Perry	LB	Foot	Did Not Practice
Ryan Pickett	DL	Knee	Limited Participation
Aaron Rodgers	QB	Collarbone	Did Not Practice

The injury report simply doesn't look good this week. In fact, this might be the worst it's looked all season. 

Only one player on the injury report was a full participation, and that was Matthews. Considering he's basically playing with one hand and one club, it's hard to consider him 100 percent healthy.

Where the Packers will be hurting the most is on the offensive line. If neither Don Barclay nor Evan Dietrich-Smith can go on Sunday, they will likely be forced to start Marshall Newhouse and Lane Taylor. That combination didn't work out so great last week, and there is no reason to believe that Newhouse and Taylor have improved in just one week.

If the injury report doesn't look better as the week progresses, the Packers will be at a huge disadvantage, especially with their depth, this week against the Giants.

The Packers Will Win If...

...the defense shows up to play.

It'd be easy to be concerned about the offense, but that hasn't been the issue the past two games without Rodgers in at quarterback. The issue has been the play of the defense, and it's been scary bad.

The past two weeks, the Packers have played teams that started backup quarterbacks. However, both Josh McCown of the Chicago Bears and Nick Foles of the Philadelphia Eagles torched the Packers secondary. 

Furthermore, Matt Forte and LeSean McCoy both broke 100 rushing yards against the Packers run defense. The unit as a whole has been missing numerous tackles (15 in the past two weeks) and struggled to create pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

The Giants offense has the potential to put points on the board in bunches. Unfortunately, that isn't true for the Packers offense any longer. If the team has any chance of winning this game, the defense will need to show up to play and contain New York.