Funny game, Indianapolis is in some way very similar to us, they can't run, they are pass-wacky, they have a good QB that is not playing his best game, their coaching is poor and they can or can't beat the Panthers depending just on what they do.
Against Denver I could foresee the game exactly as it developed, I posted it here and unfortunately I was right. This time I must confess I have no idea about what to expect from this game.
We can't defend against physical WRs, and they don't have one.
We can't defend against a smart QB and they don't have one.
So our only problem in defense will be Newton's ability to scramble, Olsen and the running game.
I believe that we have finally learned how to control mobile QBs, Clay Matthews has learned how to do it.
I think, and I'm not sure, we might control Olsen.
And I think the kind of running game the Panthers have is not really dangerous.
So unlike Denver we should be able to defend well against Carolina. Of course they can just instruct Newton to see if Ted Ginn is 5 yards behind Hayward and if not just throw towards whoever Hyde is allegedly covering. If they do this we might be in some kind of trouble but they won't. The Panthers are not Denver, they are not a smart team, they just are, they play every game in the same way.
Their defense is not better than the Broncos' and our offense can't play a worst game so an improvement is inevitable. Indi showed how to attack the Panthers, you just throw deep and from time to time their secondary cracks. Unfortunately Rodgers is not the right QB to do this, he will try to control the game, throw "safe" passes and minimize turnovers, so I expect to see a lot of Tim Mashtay in this game.
I think it can work to run against Carolina to open the play-action passes. But we can't do this if we pull Lacy after he runs for 10 yards and wait about 15 plays to put him back again. Our offense is suffering a strange inversion of strategy, instead of running to open the pass we pass to open the run, this is perplexing because Rodgers and Lacy are the kind of players you need to do exactly the opposite thing, keep pounding 2,3,4 yards each run and open the play action passes.
Packers 17 Carolina 13