Green Bay Packers head into Nation’s Capital with their season on the line. If Packers lose this one, they will have a long mountain to climb into the NFC six despite how bad the NFC North is. This is a classic case of Green Bay having their backs against the wall. That’s been a good thing for this team in the past, and let’s hope it will do the same on Sunday.

How Jared Cook changes the offense
Green Bay gets back Jared Cook this week. He’s a full participant in practice for the first two days, and it’s far to assume he will be playing in Sunday night’s game. Packers will actually get to use their 4WR-1TE-1RB package to the best of their ability. Cook isn’t going to solve all of the problems of Green Bay. He will provide more of a threat than what Richard Rodgers brought to the table in the past couple weeks.

Slowing Down Reed and Davis
Packers are having some major issues with stopping tight ends. Micah Hyde has been real bad of late. Much of the reason could be he’s bothering by a shoulder issue which is slowing him down. Reed might get his regardless. He had nine catches with 120 yards and a touchdown. Vernon Davis is an added element, so Washington will plan to beat them through the middle of the field.

Don’t sleep on a big James Starks night
Washington’s rush defense is very mediocre. They rank around 23rd in the league in all categories. Mike McCarthy will likely employ the balance attack again to see if Starks can break one. I wouldn’t be surprised to see if Green Bay goes run-heavy early on. Starks should get plenty of opportunities, and we’ll see how many touches Christine Michael gets as well. I would expect Michael more around the goal line than anywhere else on the field.

Clay Matthews’ impact
Green Bay hasn’t got to the quarterback in weeks. Washington’s offensive line is pretty good actually even though they’re missing Trent Williams whose suspended for PED’s. They are second in run DVOA for lineman and fourth in pass protection. It would be some shit if Green Bay finally came home against the best offensive line they’ve faced in weeks. Now, this could be concerning and mean Kirk Cousins lights up Packers secondary like a D.C. Christmas Tree.

Prediction
There’s a lot telling me to pick against Packers, and I do think this will be whoever has the ball last wins yet that team is going to be Green Bay. Lost in all the drama, Aaron Rodgers actually looked damn good in the game versus Tennessee. He comes out with another massive game, and Packers get some things going on the ground. We’ll still be talking about the defense, but they make one key hold on Cousins and Skins. GB 34-28

Charlie.