How the Packers’ offense plans to counter the Steelers’ defense in Week 4

When the Pittsburgh Steelers play a team like the Green Bay Packers, an NFC powerhouse, there can be a lot of uncertainty surrounding the matchup.

Sure, fans know the big name players from their opponent, but a lot can change from one year to the next.

With that said, I reached out to Acme Packing Company’s contributor Joe Meerdink and asked him a series of questions about the upcoming game. He was more than generous to provide answers to these questions, and in this article I asked him what the Packers’ plan to counter the Steelers defense in Week 4 will be.

How will Aaron Rodgers and company try to move the ball against the stout Steelers defense?

Check out his answer below, and be sure to follow Acme Packing Company for the latest news and notes from the other side of the fence leading up to the game at 4:25 p.m. ET.

When the Packers have the ball, how will they try to move the ball?

You see three big things from Matt LaFleur’s offense pretty much every week: motion, play action, and personnel variety, and I imagine that’s what they’ll deploy against the Steelers this week. Lafleur loves pre-snap shifts and motion, and he uses jet motion, in particular, to set up cuts and backside angles in the team’s wide-zone running game, so definitely look for that. The wide zone runs play into the Packers’ diverse play-action concepts, and he’ll drop dozens of different alignments and personnel groups into a given game to exploit the matchups play-action creates. Look for lots of each of these things on Sunday.

Just on the surface, it almost sounds like the Green Bay offense is the offense which everyone thought Matt Canada was bringing to Pittsburgh as the offensive coordinator. Nonetheless, this will likely be the toughest challenge for the Steelers’ defense, but not all is bad when approaching this game.

First, the Steelers will be getting some key pieces back on the defensive side of the ball, mainly in T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith. Second, when the trio of Watt, Highsmith and Melvin Ingram have been in the lineup they have been downright dominant. Lastly, they will need to be dominant to slow down Aaron Rodgers and company.

Notice I didn’t say stop Rodgers and company, but slow down. There are some players in this game you don’t stop, you just hope they don’t make the big play to break the back of the defense. That would be the three-headed monster of Rodgers, Adams and Jones.

Are the Steelers up to the task? It won’t be easy, but will be a tremendous test for a defense many believe is considered to be “elite”.

How do you see this game shaking out? Let us know in the comment section below, and be sure to stay tuned to BTSC for the latest news and notes surrounding the black and gold as they prepare for the upcoming Week 4 game.