Today, the Green Bay Packers are in Jacksonville, Florida, for what will be a hot one. At noon, they will take on the Jacksonville Jaguars for a showdown between two teams with mirrored records. The Packers are riding a three-game winning streak at 5-2, and the Jaguars are hoping to get some positive streak going, sitting at 2-5. The Packers are coming off their 24-22 victory over the Houston Texans where they showed they can match up with the best teams of the AFC, and the Jaguars are returning home after a 32-16 victory over a lowly Patriots team in London. This will be the first time the Packers have played the Jaguars in Jacksonville since 2016 and the eighth time the teams have met in the regular season with the Packers holding a 5-2 record over the Jaguars in their history. 

The last time these two teams met was in Green Bay in November of the 2020 season. The Packers were sitting at 6-2 on the season with the Jaguars looking up from the bottom of the barrel at 1-7. Despite their records, it was a close game with the Packers emerging victorious with a 24-20 final score. In the absence of starting Quarterback, Gardner Minshew, backup QB Jake Luton went 18/35 for 169 yards, a touchdown, and an interception with Packers' starting QB Aaron Rodgers going 24/34 for 325 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. Two big plays highlighted the second quarter with Rodgers hitting WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling for a 78-yard touchdown pass and just 4 minutes later, Jaguars punt returner Keelan Cole returned a punt 91 yards for a score. The Jaguars would go on to finish this season at a lowly 1-15 putting them in position to draft their current Quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, first overall. 

The Packers' victory over the Texans last week may not have been the prettiest win, but they all count the same in the end. The defense completely grounded the Texans' passing game only allowing CJ Stroud 86 yards on 10 completions out of 21 attempts. The success against the pass was great, but the Packers' defense's old foe, the running game showed its ugly head once again with Joe Mixon piling up 115 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. I'd say overall it was a great performance for the defense though, as the majority of the Texans' success on offense with scoring came off turnovers and short fields. The Packers offense had a fairly good performance through the air and on the ground but it was tainted a little bit by two Jordan Love interceptions. 

The Packers will be looking to hopefully put together a perfect performance today and pull off another win in Florida.

What to see on Offense

There's been some chatter that Josh Jacobs has not performed to expectations since his signing by the Packers. This is just ridiculous as what is the expectation? Pure dominance and 100+ yards per game? That's not going to happen in a Packers' uniform given Matt LaFleur's philosophy on keeping running backs fresh. In my opinion, Josh Jacobs has been great so far this season for the Packers' offense. He's currently ranked fourth in the league with 540 rushing yards in 120 attempts. No matter who's been lined up in the backfield for the Packers, Aaron Jones, AJ Dillon, or Josh Jacobs, Matt LaFleur doesn't want them overworked and wants to ensure they are good to go all season long. 

Coming off a 12-carry, 76-yard performance by Jacobs against the Texans last week, Jacobs will be taking on a Jaguars defense that ranks sixth in the league against the run only allowing 102.6 yards per game. This is impressive, but to be honest, last week before they only allowed 38 rushing yards to the Patriots, the Jaguars were tied for 11th with 113.3 YPG. That was ranked behind the Packers' defense at the time believe it or not. So, one big game moved them from 11th to 6th.

Don't get me wrong, they're still impressive. Led by linebackers Devin Lloyd and Ventrell Miller who are tied for the team lead in tackles with 47, the Jaguars are still good at getting to the ball carrier. Nose tackle DaVon Hamilton is a big body up the middle sitting at 6'4 335 lbs that the Packers are going to have to account for if they want to rush up the middle. Hamilton has made a difference in the running game stuffing ball carriers at the line of scrimmage and could stop the rushing attack in its tracks if not dealt with. Despite these numbers, I think the Packers will still have a good chance of rushing the football for over 100 yards total in this game whether that's in the hands of Josh Jacobs alone, or a team effort. 

If we are successful running the ball, a great deal of it will likely be due in part to a successful play-action pass threat. Jacksonville is simply not good vs the pass.

Playing fantasy football just isn't right for me if I don't have a few Packers players. When I saw a 30 ranking for the Jaguars defense this week, I knew Jordan Love has to be licking his chops over the game he could have. Jacksonville is ranked 32nd in opponent passer rating. They're also ranked 30th against Wide Receivers and 27th against tight ends. I'll bet the Packers' pass catchers were lining up to drop off gifts at Matt LaFleur's desk this week in hopes it would butter him up enough to make them the focus of the passing game today. The Jaguars secondary has allowed 16 touchdown passes and has only intercepted the ball once this year. 

Tyson Campbell is probably the most talented cornerback in the secondary and after returning from injured reserve last week against the Patriots he'll be looking to turn around his season. Outside of Campbell, Ronald Darby and Montaric Brown round out the cornerback position with Andre Cisco and a familiar face in former Packer Darnell Savage at safety. Cisco holds the lone interception in the secondary and though most fans would likely laugh at the idea of Darnell Savage making a difference in this game, I wouldn't count it out. Savage was always known for having ups and downs and a chance to show the team that drafted him in the first round and cut him loose after five years that they made a mistake may motivate him to have a good showing. But let's be honest, when you look at the Packers' current safety room, I doubt even a huge game by Savage will make them think twice. 

If the Jaguars do have one thing going for them today against the Packers' offense, it's their pass rush. Travon Walker and Josh Hines-Allen sit at the top of the team's sack totals at the defensive end position with six for Walker and 2.5 for Hines-Allen. They could offer some pressure to Jordan Love but given the amount of times lately I've written about opposing pass rushers only for them to be a virtual non-threat in the game, I'm not worried about it. Rasheed Walker and Zach Tom aren't marquee names on the offensive line, but they should be as they've been outstanding.

When I look at this match-up I see an opportunity for the Packers' offense to have a flawless game and carry that momentum into next week.

What to See on Defense

Back when Madden 21 was the latest way to play on the digital gridiron, I can remember alongside playing the Packers in Franchise mode, I also took ownership of the Jaguars, moved them to London, and drafted Trevor Lawrence first overall. Lawrence then went on to turn around the franchise in London, but of course, would lose to the Packers in the Super Bowl. I may have owned both teams, but my allegiance was always with the Packers. Well, from that bit of football fiction, only one of those situations came true. The Jaguars did draft Trevor Lawrence first overall, but they didn't move to London, and I wouldn't say he's exactly turned around the franchise. 

So far this season, Trevor Lawrence hasn't had a terrible season, but it doesn't quite meet the contract he demanded in the offseason. Lawrence in seven games has 1,527 yards passing, nine touchdowns, and three interceptions. As a point of reference, Jordan Love in just five games has a little under 200 fewer yards but has six more touchdowns, and well, five more interceptions. But in two fewer games, I'd call Love far more impressive. The top Jaguars receiver is rookie Brian Thomas Jr. who leads the team with 30 catches, 513 yards, and four touchdowns. Receiver Christian Kirk is also a weapon with 25 catches, for 320 yards and one touchdown. Kirk tends to be lined up in the slot most often and the Packers are going to have to be strong roping in both receivers to have some success today. 

Perhaps my biggest concern when it comes to the Jaguars passing game doesn't even come from an impressive stat sheet. Tight end Evan Engram can be a weapon all on his own that could exploit the Packers if not respected. The Packers seem to have a history of struggling against tight ends. I feel like it's the Jermaine Wiggins curse. Ever since the Packers allowed the former Minnesota Vikings tight end to rumble for 94 receiving yards in 2004 when he wasn't known at all for being a big-time pass catcher, it's become a cross to bear where we get gashed by tight ends out of the blue often. Engram hasn't stuck out often this season, but the Packers will need to be diligent against the tight end to ensure they don't wind up on the wrong side of that "curse" again. 

The Jaguars have managed to do a decent job of keeping the pressure out of Lawrence's face so far this season as they rank fifth in QB pressure rate. So, the Packers may have to get creative if they want to make the Quarterback uncomfortable in this one. 

Moving on to the running game, Jacksonville boasts a two-headed rushing attack between Travis Etienne and Tank Bigsby. Bigsby leads the way so far with 415 yards and four touchdowns to Etienne's 230 and two, but either one could be the top rusher on any given day. The Packers have been better against the run this year than years prior, but that's not saying a lot as they still have a lot of work to do sitting at 13th in the league for rushing yards allowed per game. They were gashed by Joe Mixon last week, but at the same time, they strongly limited CJ Stroud when it came to the pass. Perhaps at the current moment, they're running their defense by picking their poison. If so, I'd personally like to see them stop the run this time around. 

Extra Notes

What can't be said about Kicker, Brandon McManus' Packers debut? After drilling all three extra point attempts last Sunday, McManus was put on the field for his first-ever field goal attempt in a Packers' uniform with 3 seconds left in the game and a chance to win. No big deal right? Apparently so, as McManus nailed the 45-yarder and celebrated in the stands with the Packer faithful and the rest of his new teammates. If it were Brayden Narveson or any of our previous 2024 kickers, I'm not so sure that kick goes through the uprights. Hopefully, this is the beginning of the end of our kicker woes for the remainder of the 2024 season.

Daniel Whelan is a weapon. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Last week, Whelan had 5 punts for 284 yards averaging 56.8 yards and a long of 66. Whelan is a field flipper and hopefully, he will keep this up for the remainder of the season as temperatures start to drop. 

In the End

I've seen it all week long, that this is a trap game for the Packers considering they have a big match-up with Detroit next week. Funny enough it seems like every time we play the Jaguars people are calling it a trap game. Well, Matt LaFleur has already stated that he doesn't believe in trap games so hopefully that holds. Given the youth of this Packers team and their tendency to focus on one game at a time, I would say they're not looking to the Lions, they're focused on what's ahead of them today and making sure they get the job done in Jacksonville. 

We're miles ahead this year of where we were last year at this time. But the schedule is going to start getting difficult after today's game so hopefully the Packers can pull off a big win in Jacksonville today and take that 6-2 momentum back to Green Bay for a big game against the Lions next week. Go Pack Go.