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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
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