2011 NFL Playoffs: Revisting Green Bay Packers vs. Philadelphia Eagles in Week 1

For both the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles, the 2010 NFL season kicked off in Week 1 at Lincoln Financial Field.

For one of those teams, the 2010 season will come to an end there as well.

The Packers (10-6) beat the Eagles (10-6) 27-20 nearly four months ago to open the season, but they'll once again face off in Philadelphia in the Wilc Card round of the NFL playoffs on Sunday.

While much has changed since the opening weekend of the season, the Packers could certainly learn a lot from revisiting their Week 1 matchup.

Here are three things the Packers need to repeat from their win in Philadelphia, and three things that Green Bay needs to fix if they expect to beat the Eagles for the second time this season.

Need to Repeat

Limit the Eagles' big plays on offense

The Eagles possess one of the NFL's most explosive offenses, and throughout the year we've seen them connect on big play after big play.

However, in their Week 1 matchup, the Packers' defense did a good job at limiting those big plays from the Eagles' offense.

Philly's two speedy receivers, Desean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin, combined for only eight catches and 68 yards, and the longest pass either one of them caught was 17 yards.

In addition, Lesean McCoy was held to just 35 rushing yards, and his longest run was only 12 yards.

Those are impressive stats against three of the more explosive players of the 2010 season.

It'd be hard to see the Packers repeating those type of numbers with Michael Vick slated to play the entire game, but Green Bay can take comfort in knowing they have stopped the big play from happening already before.

Keeping the Packers' offense in productive balance

While the Packers lost running back Ryan Grant just 30 minutes into the season, Green Bay's offense remained balanced throughout their matchup with the Eagles. 

The Packers ran the ball 33 times for 132 yards (4.0 average) and a touchdown, and only threw the ball 31 times.

As we've seen throughout the season, the Packers are capable of having the an elite NFL offense, but only when they remain productively balanced like they were in Week 1.

However, when the Packers become one-dimensional, like they've also done this season, that same offense can be frustratingly ineffective.

That means that Green Bay needs to bring their running game with them to Philadelphia on Sunday, because the Packers won't beat the Eagles if they can't run the ball in a similar fashion as opening weekend.

Pressuring the Quarterback

If there's anything the Packers absolutely need to do on Sunday, it's getting after the quarterback like they did in Week 1. However, they need to be even a little bit better than they were in that game.

The Packers tallied six sacks, but too many times in the second half the Packers' pressure got close to Vick but let him escape.

As teams have shown as of late, getting to Vick and putting hits on him is the key to rattling the Eagles' high powered offense. It's simply not enough to just collapse the pocket on Vick, because if you don't put a hit on him, he's going to take off and kill you with his legs.

With that said, the Packers should feel confident in being able to accomplish that feat. Green Bay finished second in the NFL in sacks with 47, and they obviously were a step ahead of the Eagles' offensive line way back in Week 1.

That kind of pressure on the quarterback needs to show up again on Sunday for the Packers.

Needs to fix

Get more out of Aaron Rodgers and the passing game

With a bevy of offensive weapons at his disposal, the Packers had big hopes for Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay passing attack heading into the season.

There was good reason too. With Rodgers leading a group consisting of Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, James Jones, and Jermichael Finley, the Packers' offense was stacked.

However, the Eagles did a solid job at limiting that potentially devastating version of the Packers' passing offense. 

Rodgers was partially to blame, and had a shaky start, completing 19-of-31 passes for 188 yards and two interceptions. He also threw two touchdowns.

Yet Week 1 was just the first of a few disappointing efforts from the Packers' aerial attack. Other poor performances include Detroit (twice), New York Jets, and Washington (to a certain degree).

While that's only five showings out of 16 in the season, the Packers can't afford to have another one of those if they plan on extending their season on Sunday. Rodgers and the passing game needs to be sharp.

Attacking Michael Vick

I already mentioned how the Packers let Vick hurt them with his legs, but it's worth going over a second time.

The Packers will again need to collapse the pocket on Vick, but making sure no. 7 is on the ground is equally important. That will be no easy task as Vick is the greatest athlete to ever play the quarterback position.

However, the Packers would be foolish to ignore the recent successes of defenses facing Vick.

The Bears sacked and stripped Vick four times each in a 31-26 win, yet the Vikings might have given the Packers the best blueprint in attacking Vick during their 24-14 win over the Eagles two weeks ago.

Minnesota brought cornerback Antoine Winfield on numerous blitzes, and he had plenty of free runs at Vick in the backfield.

He ended the day with two sacks and a fumble forced, and that speed rush on the outside caused Vick to have one of his worst performances of the 2010 season.

The Packers could use Charles Woodson in much the same way. He's a much more accomplished blitzer compared to Winfield, and I seem to remember a few Woodson forced fumbles over his time in Green Bay.

Whether the Packers decide to copy that idea from the Vikings or not, Green Bay's defense needs to do a better job at hitting and bringing down Vick this time around. 103 rushing yards on quarterback scrambles—like Vick racked up in Week 1—will make it tough for the Packers to beat the Eagles.

A Bunch of Small but Important Things

While the Packers didn't have a definitive third thing to fix, they had a lot of little things that could have costs them the game, including:

1. Only one defensive turnover. The Packers' D lives off turnovers, and I think they'll need two or three on Sunday to slow the Eagles' offense.
2. Three sacks given up. They all happened in the first half, and the Packers made adjustments, but it was the driving factor behind the passing game ineffectiveness.
3. Stopping Vick's arm. He's known for his legs, but his 101.9 rating was one of only three games in which an opposing quarterback had over a 100 rating against the Packers (Tom Brady, Matt Ryan).  

Do these all need to happen? Probably not. In fact, I could envision a scenario where none of the previous three happen and the Packers still win. However, you have to admit that the chances of a Packers' win becomes significantly lower if that's the case.

Conclusion

Even if Week 1 hadn't of happened, the Packers-Eagles matchup looks to be the NFL's most exciting matchup of Wild Card weekend.

Still, that game four months ago certainly adds a little spice to Sunday. Green Bay will either prove that Week 1 was no fluke and head to Atlanta, or Philadelphia will get sweet revenge on their homefield and advance to Chicago.

And while plenty has changed from Week 1, there is no reason to discount what happened back in Philadelphia that afternoon.  

The Packers still need to do the majority of good things they did in that game again, and in all honesty, they probably need to fix the majority of what went wrong in that game if they plan to win their second game over the Eagles this season. 

Regardless of what the Packers do or do not repeat from Week 1, one thing is for sure:  one very good football team is going to end their season exactly where they started it.