Packers could take huge edge on Sunday
It is only Week 2 of the NFL regular season, but the Green Bay Packers have a massive opportunity ahead of them. The Packers will be hosting the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday Night Football, a team that beat them in the NFC Championship game last year in overtime.
Seattle is not playing like a champion, falling in overtime to the St. Louis Rams, 34-31. The Seahawks could not block at all, allowing six sacks and multiple other pressures while the defense surrendered an unheard-of 34 points to an offense with Kenny Britt as its best receiver. On top of that, the Rams were without their best two running backs in Todd Gurley and Tre Mason.
Meanwhile, the Packers were able to go on the road and dispatch the lowly Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, with Aaron Rodgers throwing three touchdown passes. On Sunday, Green Bay can push its record to 2-0 and more importantly, take a two-game lead in the race for home-field advantage throughout the postseason over the Seahawks. The Packers would also hold any tiebreaker via a head-to-head win.
When you look at the talent on Green Bay, it is hard to see it losing more than three or four games. If that is indeed the case, the Seahawks would almost be assured of losing out on home-field in January. Seattle is a great team, but it is not the same group away from CenturyLink Field. The Seahawks will be hard-pressed to go into the vaunted Lambeau Field and take out the Packers.
In the NFC, Seattle and Green Bay remain the best two teams. Sure, there are some challengers in the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals, but both would have to play perfect games to beat Green Bay or Seattle in the playoffs, home or away. In the final analysis, the NFC runs through the Packers and Seahawks, and everybody else is a decided underdog.
With Green Bay, the regular season is basically a 17-week tuneup for the playoffs. Barring an injury to Rodgers, the Packers are going to breeze through the mediocre NFC North. The Detroit Lions made the postseason in 2014 but they watched as Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley left in free agency for the Miami Dolphins and Rams, respectively. The Minnesota Vikings are a trendy pick to make a deep January run, but they looked rancid against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 1 in a 20-3 loss. The Vikings and Lions also play each other on Sunday, so one of them will be sitting at 0-2.
Even without Jordy Nelson, who was lost in the preseason with a season-ending torn ACL, the Packers are the class of the conference. Beating the Seahawks on Sunday night would put Green Bay in fantastic position to assure that the playoffs run through Lambeau Field.
Good luck beating the Packers there.
