Green Bay Packers: 3 Things They Must Improve in Order to Repeat

Let me start this off by saying that I think the Green Bay Packers are the current favorites to win the Super Bowl this year. However, I'll only maintain that line of thought if they can improve on a few things that they have shown to be weaknesses throughout the first quarter of the season.

Rush Defense—Don't be fooled by the Packers having the second ranked rush defense in the league so far this year. If it wasn't for the Bears utter incompetence (except against the Panthers apparently) to do anything on offense, this rank would be much lower. To the other three opponents they have faced this year, Green Bay has allowed 3.9, 3.4 and a whopping 5.2 yards per carry. Obviously, the 5.2 yards was against their most recent opponent, the Denver Broncos. At certain points in that game, I wasn't sure if I was watching Willis McGahee or a replay of Terrell Davis in Super Bowl 32. While that is a bit of an exaggeration, you get my point. By the time January comes around, and considering that chances are Green Bay will be the No. 1 seed and play games in the infamous conditions of Lambeau Field, stopping the run becomes a crucial part to making a run for Indianapolis. We can just take a look back to the NFC Championship game of the 2007-2008 playoffs against the Giants to see what I mean. Green Bay was a solid favorite in that game to move on and face the New England Patriots, but they let the Giants run for 134 yards on the way to what we all know was an incredibly painful loss for us all. (Feel free to blame Favre in the comments if you want.)

Rush Offense—The Packers are, almost literally, middle of the road when it comes to running the ball. They rank 15th in the league with 109.5 yards per game, which isn't terrible, but that mainly comes from Aaron Rodgers stretching out the defense leaving at most seven defenders in the box, most of the time less. It also doesn't hurt that they haven't exactly faced the cream of the crop when it comes to rushing defenses. However, when the weather gets cold the opposing defense, much like certain parts of the body, will shrink in, causing Green Bay to rely more heavily on being able to run the ball. Unfortunately, we can look at the same NFC Championship game for the perfect example of the lack of a running game costing the Pack a shot at the Super Bowl. In the same game that they allowed 134 yards, they ran for a breath taking 28 yards!

Pass Defense—The obvious choice for the biggest need for improvement is without a doubt their sheer lack of ability to stop their opponents from hurling the ball all over them. Giving up an absolutely awful 335.8 yards per game, the fact that this hasn't cost them at least one game so far is pretty mind boggling. While giving up 419 yards to Drew Brees is far from ideal, it is at least understandable. Even allowing Cam Newton to throw for 432 yards isn't the worst thing in the world considering the tremendous talent he's shown through the first quarter of his first season. But allowing Cutler to go for 302 yards and Orton for 273 (bringing him to 945 total) and three scores? Luckily a few of the play makers on defense stepped up against Orton to pick him off three times, allowing Green Bay to build their comfortable lead. If the Packers are planning on making another trip the Super Bowl, they can't rely solely on Woodson to bail them out. If you want an example of this costing them a playoff run, it's your lucky day! The obvious choice here is to go back to Arizona from the 2009-2010 playoffs where they allowed 379 yards and five touchdowns to Kurt Warner. Another painful ending to a Green Bay playoff game (an obvious face mask on Rodgers causing the fumble that was run back for a score) that I don't like to bring up, but unless they can fix this, I'm afraid it will all happen again.

So what do you guys think? If there's something I'm missing or something you think I'm just flat out wrong about, let me know and I'll do my best to get back to you. And remember, GO PACK GO!