Stopping a five-game losing streak by any means possible beats the alternative.
Still, the Green Bay Packers felt they might also have relocated their groove, to boot, after snapping a lengthy midseason skid with a 31-28 overtime victory against Dallas last week.
Will rookie wide receiver Christian Watson remain the revelation he was in catching three touchdown passes against the Cowboys? The Packers are eager to find out whether or not their offense can keep rolling when they host the Tennessee Titans on Thursday night.
Green Bay has won two of the past three meetings in the series, including a 40-14 home romp over Tennessee during Week 16 of the 2020 season.
The winning team has scored 40 points or more in four of the past five meetings, a run that dates back to 2004.
Maintaining the trend Thursday might take some doing. Tennessee (6-3) has scored no more than 24 points in a game this season, while 31 points is the high-water mark for Green Bay (4-6).
The Packers, though, are confident they found a spark last week. Trailing 28-14 in the fourth quarter, Green Bay responded with two scoring passes from quarterback Aaron Rodgers to Watson before Rodgers steered the game-winning drive in overtime that culminated with Mason Crosby’s 28-yard field goal.
With Aaron Jones (24 carries, 138 yards, one touchdown) leading the way, the Packers topped 200 yards rushing for the third time in 2022. Green Bay started the same offensive line in consecutive games for the first time this season.
“That’s going to be an important part of our success moving forward if we can keep those guys healthy,” Rodgers said. “We’ve protected well. We’ve communicated really well, and we gave just little gaps for those backs, and man they had a big day.”
Tennessee is averaging 18.4 points per game. The Titans, who lead the AFC South by two games, are aiming to be unconventional, as only two teams of the 140 since 2002 to average 18.4 points or fewer have made the playoffs.
The Titans rebounded from an overtime loss at Kansas City in Week 9 with a 17-10 victory against Denver last week. With the Broncos geared toward stopping running back Derrick Henry, Ryan Tannehill connected with Nick Westbrook-Ikhine on a pair of scores after missing the previous two games with a sprained ankle.
Henry rushed for 53 yards on 19 carries to end a streak of five straight games with 100 yards or more on the ground. But that was against a Broncos ‘D’ that has allowed the ninth-fewest rushing yards (1,044) in the NFL.
As the second-leading rusher in the league, Henry hopes to come untracked against the Packers, who allow 4.8 yards per carry, tied for 28th in the league.
“I think the more carries you get him in a drive, the stronger he gets, and so that’s why it’s even more important that we pick up those third downs (when) we have the opportunity to, and get him (more) opportunities within the drive,” Tennessee offensive coordinator Todd Downing said. “Obviously that’s the mission, that’s the goal. We just didn’t do that well enough in the last game.”
–Field Level Media