Five things Seattle Seahawks fans need to know about this week’s opponent, the Green Bay Packers
Thursday Night Football in Seattle gives us the first of a few playoff “elimination” games that will be occurring around the NFL over the next few weeks. The Packers and Seahawks have played their fair share of strange and classic games over the years but this time, the winner will still be in the playoff hunt and the loser will be hanging by a thread.
Here’s what you need to know about the Packers before Thursday night’s huge contest in Seattle.
The NFC power struggle that never was
Ever since the 49ers-Seahawks rivalry faded with the breakdown of the 49ers organization, the NFC, and really the NFL, has been looking for that next heated rivalry. It might have been Packers and the Seahawks, seeing it as the Packers have the best QB in the league in Aaron Rodgers and the Seahawks had a once-in-a-generation defense.
There were good elements: A controversial play (Golden Tate’s Fail Mary in September of 2012) and then the NFC Championship Game (Jan. 18 2015). Since then, the teams have played three times, all in the regular season, and neither have been dominant.
The Packers,despite reaching the playoffs two of the last three seasons, have been an underwhelming 31-25-1 during this span while the Seahawks missed the playoffs last year, too.
The complicated career of Mike McCarthy
Many of Green Bay’s struggles can be fairly (or unfairly) directed at Packers head coach, Mike McCarthy. Since he took over for the Packers in 2006, he’s got the third highest win percentage among active coaches (.627) but it’s the near misses that have McCarthy drawing the ire of Packers nation.
He’s won six division titles and made four NFC title game appearances but just one Super Bowl appearance.
Rodgers will pass his childhood hero
Rodgers is a California native who idolized San Francisco 49ers QB Joe Montana growing up. He’s just six completed passes away from passing Montana on the all-time list, which should mean he breaks the record in the first quarter. Montana ranks 17th on the all-time completed passes list with 3,509 while Rodgers has 3,504.
We could also see some more history with the Seahawks. Russell Wilson is only 17 pass completions away from passing Bernie Kosar. That probably won’t get as much publicity if it were to happen.
Thursday is an elimination game
The NFC playoff picture is crowed and complicated but this game could clear a few things up.
Five teams — Green Bay, Seattle, Dallas, Philadelphia and Atlanta — have four wins. The Packers, because of a tie, are 4-4-1 while the others are 4-5, so they’ve got a little bit on an edge.
However, they’re all chasing a wild card spot with two teams ahead of them: Carolina (6-3) and Minnesota (5-3-1). Neither team can afford a loss at this point and think they’re going to the postseason.
Rodgers without weapons
Green Bay has some injuries to key players. On Tuesday, neither wide receiver Randall Cobb or corner back Kevin King practiced.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Did not see Randall Cobb or Kevin King at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Packers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Packers</a> practice. Both hamstrings.<br><br>Kentrell Brice, Nick Perry, Lucas Patrick and Jimmy Graham rode the bike.<br><br>Every other player at least stretched. As Mike McCarthy said this morning, those on the injury report will be in rehab group.</p>— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) <a href="https://twitter.com/ByRyanWood/status/1062437721690595328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 13, 2018</a></blockquote>
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With it being a short week, it will be interesting to see how the Packers adjust.
This story was originally published November 13, 2018 at 2:21 PM.