The defense that stops the run first and makes their rival one-dimensional may prevail.
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The first column I wrote for the Racine County Eye praised Mike McCarthy’s decision to surrender play calling duties for the Green Bay Packers. He was playing in front of loaded boxes and didn’t seem to mind, averaging 6.45 yards per carry with eight men in the box, posting a 2.93-yard average after contact and breaking 16 runs of 20 yards or more in the final seven games.
Adrian Peterson is no stranger to this award. “Everything”, Packers linebacker Julius Peppers said about Peterson. “He’s the best player in the league in my opinion”. Vikings RB Adrian Peterson leads all National Football League rushers with 961 yards, 227-yard lead over Arizona’s Chris Johnson…. He is coming off a season-high 203 yards rushing on 26 carries last week in a 30-14 victory at Oakland. “He’s definitely someone you have to pay a lot of attention to, like we are”. “They’re pretty smart. They understand who we’re playing, we understand how good they are, and we understand that they’re the defending champs for a long, long time”.
With wind gusts between 25 and 35 miles per hour, this came down to the running game, defense and field position.
It hasn’t been as easy since. Rodgers is listed on the Packers’ injury report as having a sore right shoulder. “This is the type of game where you have to be sound”. It looks as though if they play like they have been for more than a month, they can win and set themselves up for a great finish in December.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Vincent Jackson, who has missed the past three games with a knee injury, returned to practice but appeared to be limited to a few individual drills.
WR/KR Ty Montgomery (ankle) was downgraded from full status in practice Wednesday to limited participation Thursday. James Starks will draw that assignment.
“I feel like there’s a shift”, Peterson told the Pioneer Press on Thursday.
“I looked at Aaron Rodgers, and I’m like, ‘He’s looking at me”. The Packers aren’t on the field on Fridays, so Rodgers may have to go through Saturday’s light practice just to make sure he’s good to go.
Rodgers has been sacked 11 times in the last three games – the same sack total he had in the first six games combined – prompting McCarthy to say that his quarterback has gotten hit “way too much”. But he’s been able to practice with an unspecified injury to his throwing shoulder and is probable for Sunday’s showdown with the Vikings. With Blake Bortles and Marcus Mariota, we get to see two quarterbacks drafted in the top-5 in each of the last two drafts.
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“We needed 19 points to win today, you would expect us at home to score 19 points”, Rodgers said. When we receive a kickoff, obviously, it’s the start of the half or the opposing team just scored and we answered the call when we really needed to.
