Jets vs. Packers: Know Your Opponent with Packers Therapy

With the Green Bay Packers coming to MetLife Stadium, we spoke with Chris Richards of Packers Therapy. Chris and his co-host Dave have been talking Packers football together since 2005, so we asked him what Jets fans need to know about Green Bay heading into Sunday’s matchup.

JetNation: Let’s start with Micah Parsons. The Packers struggles without him now date back to last season.  Is his absence really that significant, or are there bigger issues with this defense that have been exposed while he’s been out?

Chris Richards: Parsons is a field-tilter, particularly in the passing game. So, he will always be missed when he is not on the field. After he went down with his knee injury in December at Denver, the Packers defense was never the same. Of course, that came on top of losing Tucker Kraft on offense and Devonte Wyatt on their interior defensive line. The combined swoon was caused by the multiplication of losing key players, not just Parsons.

This year’s defense is deeper in the front seven, and they got good pressure vs. the Vikings even without Parsons. I suspect having a new Defensive Coordinator (Jonathan Gannon) who brings a more aggressive approach helped cover up the loss of Parsons, too.

In short, it wasn’t the defense that hurt them so much late in the game in Minnesota as much as it was the offense putting the defense in largely untenable situations. And if you ask Packers fans, three consecutive shaky third-down penalties called by an unsteady officiating crew to keep a critical drive alive for the Vikes did little to help matters.

JetNation: Aaron Glenn knows the Packers pretty well from his years as defensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions. How much of an advantage do you think that familiarity gives him? Are there tendencies with Jordan Love or Matt LaFleur’s offense that Glenn may be particularly well equipped to attack?

Chris: Glenn’s experience as DC in Detroit will certainly help him prep the Jets. He will have a feel for Matt LaFleur’s tendencies and will have a sense for Jordan Love’s game. However, Love has matured since Glenn last faced him and LaFleur has tightened the roster at the receiving positions, all of whom are better players than they were the last time Glenn faced the Packers.

Moreover, the legal troubles that removed Josh Jacobs from the roster have impacted the way LaFleur is likely to call the game. Last week in Minnesota, the Packers were pass-heavy compared to the way they approached things when Jacobs was available. So, while Glenn’s experience against Green Bay is certainly useful, that will only go so far in facing this version of the Packers offense.

JetNation: Josh Jacobs is unavailable, and Green Bay’s running game struggled against Minnesota. The Packers averaged 3.1 yards per carry in Week 1. What should Jets fans expect from the Packers’ running game without him?

Chris: More than losing Jacobs, the big reason for the flaccid running game against the Vikings and, in a larger sense, the final outcome can be put on a porous offensive line that featured four inexperienced starters and one very good one (RT Zach Bako-Bewele) who is coming off a serious knee injury and was clearly diminished. I don’t expect the line to be much better this week. GB might mix in RB Kaleb Johnson, acquired near the end of training camp from the Steelers, who is more in the Josh Jacobs mold than either Chris Brooks or MarShawn Lloyd, who both struggled behind that befuddled line last week.

Lloyd has shiftiness and speed, but has missed most of the past two seasons with a cascade of injuries after not carrying much in college at USC. Brooks, while not bad with the ball under his arm, is mainly a third-down back.

GB has to be more effective at running the ball to keep Glenn from bringing zero blitzes like they faced in Minnesota last week, but I am skeptical that the Packers can repair the damage caused by their OL in a single week.

JetNation: Jordan Love threw for 387 yards in Week 1, but the Packers still came away with a loss. Where is Love as a quarterback right now? If you’re the Jets defense, what do you want to take away from him?

Chris: I thought Love was quite good last week, a quick view of the highlights reveals a series of impressive throws, and his arrow continues to point up. Love is good, probably a top 10 QB. He will never be confused with former Packers Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, but is certainly better than those two guys were when they were with the Jets. But playing behind a line that can’t keep him clean and requires Love to throw off his back foot too often will be a limiting factor.

If I was Aaron Glenn, I would blitz the hell out of him to exploit the Packers’ poor offensive line. If given time to throw, Love can be lethal. But that doesn’t seem to be consistently possible with the line GB put on the field vs. the Vikings.

JetNation: Christian Watson had a huge opening game with 147 receiving yards, and Matthew Golden was heavily involved as well. What should Jets fans know about this Green Bay receiving corps, and which matchup should concern the Jets the most?

Chris: The Packers have four strong receiving threats. Beyond Watson and Golden, they have Jayden Reed and Tucker Kraft, both of whom are threats — they’ve paid all those guys for well-founded reasons. It will be hard for Love to find them, however, if he is running for his life or flat on his back, both likely outcomes given the present state of the Packers OL.

Watson, Golden, and Reed have excellent speed, can get open downfield, and are threats to catch and run, as evidenced by the 81-yard TD romp by Watson when he took an intermediate pass and used his speed and open-field ability to reach the end zone.

Kraft is already among the best TEs in the game; the Packers acknowledged as much by the extension they signed him to last week. But he is also coming off ACL surgery. Still, he had an impressive first game back and is a complete TE, a guy who can block, catch the ball, and run after the catch. He also is a locker room leader and has the “C” on his chest to prove it.

JetNation: Beyond the obvious names like Love and Watson, give us two or three Packers that Jets fans should be watching closely on Sunday. Who could have a major impact on this game that the average Jets fan might not know much about?

Chris: Trey Smack — probably the best name for a kicker in the NFL — is a rookie, but the only kicker drafted this year in the NFL. There seems to be a good reason for that. He kicked a 59-yarder in Minnesota that would have been good from 65, made the rest of his FGs in that game and was perfect in the preseason. However, he also missed a PAT at Minnesota, which of course came back to bite the team later in the game. Moreover, the kid is still a rookie. The early indications are promising and he could be a factor if the game comes down to a long field goal attempt.

I noted Devonte Wyatt earlier; he can be a disruptive force on the interior defensive line. When he is on the field, he is someone that needs to be accounted for. However, he is often injured and in past versions of this defense, his absence has had a major ripple effect.

Also on defense, watch for Edgerrin Cooper, a speedy, physical linebacker who can rush the passer and work sideline to sideline with good speed and an aggressive nature. He and DE Lucas Van Ness both had sacks last week.

Finally, Brenton Cox has been brought along slowly after being undrafted and has been disruptive coming off the edge in place of Parsons, although no one can replace that guy.

JetNation: Green Bay blew a 22-10 lead against Minnesota in the opener. From a Packers fan’s perspective, what went wrong? Was that just a bad opening week, or did you see problems that could carry over against the Jets?

Chris: The Packers have a head coach who excels at game planning and play design, and is quite good at play calling. But other in-game decisions do not seem to be Matt LaFleur’s strength. Case in point was the decision to take points off the board late in the Vikings game so they could try to go for a 4th-and-1 conversion, this despite the poor OL and a QB who is not very good at sneaking in short-yardage situations.

Leaving well enough alone, the Packers would have had an eight-point lead and, at worst, gotten the ball back with the game tied. However, after that failed attempt, Minnesota went down the field to take a three-point lead and the momentum of the game turned.

MLF seems to want to coach the team he wishes he had, not the one he has.

JetNation: The Jets want to run the football. Breece Hall went over 100 yards in Week 1, and New York ran the ball 39 times. Without Parsons, how confident are you in Green Bay’s ability to stop a physical Jets running game?

Chris: Parsons was better in the run game than we expected last year. But that’s not really his strength, so I don’t think his absence will be felt in that aspect of the game. Teams have run well against the Packers in recent seasons, but this defense under Gannon plus some personnel changes shouldn’t be the turnstile that we’ve seen in the past.

Still, there is a lot of youth in their front seven, with the exception of two vets they acquired in the offseason: DT Javon Hargrave and LB Zaire Franklin. It is not clear at this point if they have the talent or ability to consistently stop a physical running game.

As Packers fans, we are going to find out if this revamped unit can hold up against a team committed to the run.

JetNation: What is the biggest weakness on this Packers team right now? If you’re Aaron Glenn and the Jets coaching staff, where are you attacking Green Bay?

Chris: As noted before, the OL is a mess. I expect Glenn and the rest of the league will exploit that weakness without mercy.

JetNation: Flip it around: what is the Packers clearest path to beating the Jets at MetLife? What does Green Bay need to do well for Packers fans to feel good about this matchup?

Chris: On our podcast, Packers Therapy, we’ve talked for years about the need for the Packers to feature more quicker-developing, short-to-intermediate passes to take advantage of their plus pass-catchers and above-average QB — this is where they’ve invested their money, so they should be maximizing that asset.

This would also have the benefit of protecting their line by not requiring them to block for quite so long. Moreover, as their running game is unsettled, setting up their backs for success by establishing the rhythm passing game would likely bolster that aspect of the attack.

On defense, Gannon brings a different approach than Jeff Hafley — he favors disguise and a more aggressive style of play; the Packers need to lean into that.

JetNation: Finally, what’s the mood among Packers fans after the Week 1 loss? Is there genuine concern about this team, or is the feeling mostly that it’s one bad game and Green Bay will be fine?

Chris: There is widespread panic among Packers fans that wouldn’t have been as likely in past years. This is because the outcome in Week One was disturbingly similar to how the games played out down the stretch in 2025. Most fans acknowledge that it is just one game in September and that things might look very different two months from now.

But it is the way they lost last week — looking stout for most of the game and wilting late — that has gotten under people’s skin. Many expected a loss at Minnesota, as it is a tough place to play and the rivalry with the Vikings always makes this a tough game.

But a loss to NYJ will fill emergency rooms across the state of Wisconsin with Packers fans complaining of chest pains and stroke symptoms.

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