No game is as simple as it looks on paper in the National Football League, especially in the playoffs. Favourites are often built up to be near invincible, but underdogs are always looking for a chance to jump up and bite them. Each week during the playoffs we’ll take an X’s and O’s look at what a Vegas underdog needs to do to pull off a stunning win.
NFL Conference Championship Sunday gives us a chance to give you two for the price of one. First we’ll take a look at a Green Bay Packers team that heads to Seattle as more than a touchdown underdog, and the strategies they’ll need to use to pull off the upset and book a ticket to the Super Bowl.
Packers’ offence must utilize entire field
Flat out, Aaron Rodgers has to throw at Richard Sherman if that’s truly where his reads take him on Sunday. In Green Bay’s season-opening 20-point loss to Seattle, Rodgers threw 33 passes and not even one went in the direction of the Seahawks’ All-Pro cornerback. Jarrett Boykin lined up at the right side wide receiver spot as a sacrificial lamb for 49 snaps against Sherman for the Packers that day, never seeing even a single target.
It’s fine to respect Sherman, he’s certainly earned it, but your offensive game plan cannot be tailored around one opposing player. Ignoring an entire side of the Seattle secondary essentially cuts the field in half for the offence when throwing the ball. It allows a player like free safety Earl Thomas to cheat once he sees a team will not throw in Sherman’s direction. That makes passing windows smaller and more difficult to find and fit the ball into, even with a highly accurate passer like Rodgers.
Green Bay should mix up which receivers Sherman sees at his left cornerback spot. Role through Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb or Davante Adams and make Sherman defend against the Packers’ best. Green Bay has to prove early on that they’re not afraid to throw at Sherman. That will open up the entire field for an aerial assault on offence to keep Seattle’s cover men honest in their coverage.
Let Matthews and Peppers rush Russell Wilson
Green Bay should turn their elite pass rushing duo of Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers loose as often as possible in passing situations. No. 52 and No. 56 should be moved around by Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers and vary their pre-snap looks. Whether it’s lining up beside each other, at opposite end spots or off the line in an ‘amoeba’ defensive look the pair needs to keep Seattle’s offensive line guessing so they can’t easily pint point where the experienced rushers might come from.
Matthews and Peppers have to make Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson feel the heat and beat him up for 60 minutes.