The 6-5 Baltimore Ravens head to Lambeau Field Monday Night, to face the 7-4 Green Bay Packers.

The Ravens have been favored in the forthcoming games against Chicago, Detroit, and Oakland since the schedule was released. At this point if Baltimore loses to any of those three teams, they will not deserve to go to the playoffs.

At-home, the Ravens were just pushed to OT against a Pittsburgh team missing Roethlisberger, and Polamalu. Count me as one not expecting the Ravens to win in their visit to Steel Town.

So, if you believe the Ravens will need to get to 10-6 to make the playoffs, then you have to believe Baltimore must win Monday.

With that in-mind, here are a few thoughts about this game.

1) Baltimore is not the only team in this game with the playoffs on the mind. The Packers have won 3 games in a row, and need to continue to win to advance as a Wild Card in the NFC.

2) Green Bay will enter this game as the leader in NFL Total Defense, 4th against the run, and 6th against the pass.

It is easy to see why they have had success, as there are pieces existing on each of the three levels (DL, LB, and Secondary).

On the D-line, the Packers have a couple of anchors at DT with the veteran Ryan Pickett, and the 2009 1st round pick BJ Raji. Both are over 330 lbs, and are going to represent a challenge for the interior of the Ravens offensive line.

At LB, Green Bay will be without OLB Aaron Kampman for the game, but are still starting 3 first-round picks with AJ Hawk, and Nick Barnett at ILB, and ROLB Clay Matthews. Matthews was the Packers second 2009 1st-rounder, and he has responded with 5 sacks in his rookie season.

In the Secondary, Charles Woodson is in his 12th year in the league. While I am amazed by his advancing age, he is still one of the premier shut-down corners in the game.

Opposite of Woodson, the Packers will have to deal with the recent season-ending loss of Al Harris. His replacement is the 3rd year veteran Tramon Williams. Williams was undrafted out of Louisiana Tech, but was considered a de facto starter due to how often he was on the field guarding a 3rd receiver.

Similar to how Webb has taken over for Fabian Washington, my question would be who has taken over Williams in the Packers Nickle package? It would appear that would be 2009 6th round pick Brandon Underwood out of Cincinnati.

At Strong Safety, the Packers start Atari Bigby. The Packers have to feel pretty good about him, as they provided Bigby a 2nd round tender in February.

At Free Safety, Green Bay is starting Nick Collins who was a 2008 All-Pro.

Former Raven Derrick Martin adds depth at Safety.

You would have to believe that a package is being developed for Flacco to go after Williams, and Underwood, but they are going to have to be wary of Collins. We have talked about the Ravens pedestrian pass-rush (21 sacks), but Green Bay only has 23. The starting DE’s for Green Bay (Johnny Jolly and Cullen Jenkins) are not going to touch Flacco. As long as the Ravens hold their own against Matthews, and the DT’s, Baltimore should be able to attack down the field.

3) The Ravens will go into this game believing that Gaither, and Oher do not need help from the TE’s. This will mean that Heap (and LJ Smith if the Ravens remember him), are not tied to the line. The Ravens should use the two TE sets and attack Green Bay that way.

4) The Packer offense is ranked 6th overall, with the 6th ranked passing-attack, and 11th ranked ground game. The first thing I would want to do, is eliminate Ryan Grant and the Packers running game. Grant is averaging 4.3 yards a carry, on 19 carries a game. Take him out, and put the Green Bay offense in 3rd and long situations.

The 5’11 198 lb Greg Jennings, and 6’0, 194 lb Donald Driver are both excellent receivers, but neither is physically imposing. Foxworth, and Webb should be able to match-up.

5) Aaron Rodgers has been sacked 44 times this year. There have been five games, where Rodgers has been sacked at-least 5 times. Green Bay has a 1-4 record in those 5 games. It is hard to believe the Packers have been as productive as they have been, with that type of porous pass-blocking. Get Rodgers on the ground, and you will win.

Chris Stoner
Chris Stoner

Owner

Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.

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