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Green Bay Packers must balance coverage of Marshawn Lynch, Jimmy Graham

By Keegan Matheson

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The Green Bay Packers couldn’t find a less ideal time to welcome the Seattle Seahawks to Lambeau Field. Following an amateurish performance against the run in week one, Marshawn Lynch and Russell Wilson pose a great threat to the Green Bay Packers on the ground. On Sunday, their ticket to success will not just be playing Lynch well, but knowing when to highlight Jimmy Graham.

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These two players are connected in their success, perhaps as much as any running back and tight end duo in football. As Lynch loads the box with linebackers and safeties, Graham is freed to work over the top and down the seam. When Wilson strikes for an impact play to Graham, those same safeties and linebackers are forced to step back. The pendulum continues to swing.

First things first: this game is not about the 2014 NFC Championship. That storyline was played to death by 12:01AM on Monday morning, and outside of providing fluff to fill TV segments, the Packers late collapse and botched onside kick recovery need to stay in January.

Lynch will be the primary challenge facing Green Bay, and his recent success against the Packers is far from encouraging. At home in week one of 2014, Lynch rushed for 110 yards on 20 carries against the Packers, scoring two touchdowns and kickstarting a forgettable two months of run defense for the green and gold.

The two would meet again, as you know, in that NFC Championship game. His ground performance in that game, of course, is ripe for equal parts analysis and worry. What you won’t see on TV this week over the endless loop of  Brandon Bostick is Lynch picking apart the Green Bay run defense in that game. He rushed for a career-high playoff total of 157 yards on 25 attempts, scoring one touchdown while adding a 26-yard reception through the air. That’s not going to work for Green Bay.

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Graham, arguably the NFL’s top tight end not named Rob, got some serious looks in the passing game last week against the St. Louis Rams. Despite the preseason chatter that Graham would be used frequently as a blocker, he wore our the turf on Sunday while grabbing six of eight targets for 51 yards and a score.

To set themselves up properly against these two weapons, the Packers may need to put a great deal of trust in their cornerbacks with 1-on-1 situations. This would allow Dom Capers to press Graham with a slot corner or linebacker off the line of scrimmage, then have Ha Ha Clinton-Dix or Morgan Burnett waiting to blanket him over the top.

The value of Seattle combining these two talents is that if a defense focuses on fully “eliminating” one, the other’s success will trump the absence of their teammate. This forces a team like Green Bay to find a very delicate balance. One which forces the Packers to bend, but not break, a defensive strategy they’ve used to varying degrees of success under Capers. This is no small task, though, and given the state of this run defense, the Seahawks offense will be thrilled for Sunday night to come.

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