With only two weeks left for the regular season, the Green Bay Packers will try to consolidate its status as the seed in the playoffs while facing their last AFC South opponent, Tennessee Titans.
Tennessee is also running a lot in this game, as the team is tied at the top of the division with the Indianapolis Colts with a 10-4 record. The Titans are led by a dangerous offensive attack that shares similarities with Green Bay not only in style, but also in classification. Today’s holiday reflections will look at these statistics, while looking at the 2019 draft and how the Titans’ top choices may have impacted Green Bay. If the Packers could redo it all, would they have made the same choices?
But first, take a look at one of the top Packers newbies and a preview of the pre-draft that materialized exactly as a media source anticipated.
Krys Barnes has been a hidden gem, just as an exit predicted
Many articles have been written about the rookie within the linebacker this season, especially after forcing a revolutionary goal line fumble last week. A film review against Carolina from the Packers Wire also showed some of the unique attributes that Barnes brings to the Green Bay post after years of very limited athletics and players whose skills are adequate to stop the race, but not necessarily the pass. For the unwritten Barnes, it was refreshing to see a young and inexpensive player with an advantage in the coming years, who was able to diagnose plays, make stops from side to side and also get back to coverage.
Stumbling over articles this week, Cream City Central was ahead of the game with the Barnes adjustment in Green Bay, writing that article in February. In this article, Barnes’s position in the draft was considered difficult to predict, with him being a type of stick for every work, but master of nothing. Still, his athletics, instincts and pedigree from a UCLA program that produced a number of budding NFL supporters were hard to ignore. Perhaps the most notable part of the article was the final sentences, which turned out to be perfect.
If Barnes is recruited by the Packers, they will receive an experienced internal linebacker with the potential to look like [UCLA] players listed above. If Blake Martinez is not rehired, Barnes would be an excellent low-risk substitute, just as good at the race but much better at coverage. Krys Barnes would be a guy that Green Bay could start the first day and feel good about.
It is necessary to give credit to those who deserve a bold prediction.
Titans are reaping the benefits of two perspectives included in Packers’ simulated 2019 drafts
Green Bay has seen a solid and steady level of impact this season since his first picks in the 2019 NFL Draft, especially from the second round Elgton Jenkins, who recently won his first Pro Bowl nomination. Darnell Savage started every game he appeared in since he was picked at the end of the first round last year, and Rashan Gary continued to develop slowly as a second year with five bags. Gary was especially noted as a player who helps create plays for those around him, even if he is not responsible for the takedowns.
But if someone were to think about a 2019 class revamp of the Packers, they wouldn’t have to look beyond Tennessee.
Before the draft, defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons was widely considered to be one of the top 15, if not among the 10, choice of the draft. With the Packers having the 12th overall choice, Simmons looked like a potential option for a team looking for an improved running pass and in-house presence. However, an ACL disruption in the pre-draft process, along with an off-field situation, destroyed part of the buzz around Simmons. Still, the Titans saw enough in the Mississippi state product to recruit him 19th overall, after the Packers caught Gary seven choices before. Since it was thought he was destined for a season of redshirt rookies with the injury, Simmons was able to come back and play in nine games last season, while starting all 13 competitions this season for Tennessee. Simmons, who posted three sacks in 2020 to accompany 12 quarterback strokes, regularly attracts double teams as one of the Titans’ best players up front and has a high roof like a robust man in the middle. It’s easy to imagine the fit Simmons would have had at Green Bay, where he could have joined Kenny Clark to help generate the rush pass and increase support against hasty opposing attacks.
Likewise, wide receiver AJ Brown was a routinely ridiculed choice for the Packers with his second choice at the end of the first round. Ultimately, the Packers rejected Brown and Ole Miss taking teammate DK Metcalf in favor of Savage and Jenkins in choices 21 and 44, respectively. The Titans landed at Brown in 51st overall and did not regret it. Like Jenkins, Brown won his first Pro Bowl selection this year and is on track to eclipse the 1,000-yard reception for the second year in a row, while reaching the end zone 18 times in two seasons. The Packers certainly benefited from Jenkins and Savage, but it is difficult to dismiss Brown’s talent and the impact he could have had instantly on the receiving body in each of the past two seasons.
Neither team is upset by the selections of the first and second rounds in 2019 and everyone should be on the field this weekend. But it’s easy to dream of the difference that the Titans’ draft choices could have made in Green Bay.
Sunday night will feature two major league offensives
The attack has been the Packers’ strength throughout the season with Aaron Rodgers earning MVP buzz. Statistics reflect success with the highest number of touchdown passes in the league, along with the top four marks in yards (3), net yards per attempted pass (4) and points (4). As good as Green Bay’s attack was, its production was matched in many ways by Tennessee.
Derrick Henry may be the first person to come to mind when thinking about the Titans’ offense and with good reason. Tennessee ranks second in the league in running attempts, yards and touchdowns, while accumulating third in yards per attempt. But the game in progress is not the only dynamic of the Titans that needs to be counted. Ryan Tannehill’s appearance in Tennessee put the Titans in sixth place in passing touchdowns and well ahead of the Packers (third) in passing yards per attempt.
Not surprisingly, with Matt LaFleur coming from Tennessee to Green Bay, both teams want to at least establish the running game as a threat to open up the action pass game. The end result is maximum efficiency in the air. As much as the two teams were successful in throwing the ball, they both rank in the bottom third of the league in total passing attempts.
So good is the fact that neither team turns the ball much – they are tied at the top of the league with just nine moves this season. As susceptible as they may be against the pass, the Titans’ defense has been far better at forcing turns than the Packers this season by league standards. The team that manages to protect the ball is likely to win on Sunday night, but the offensive firepower between two very similar offenses should result in a high score case.