The Green Bay Packers face an explosive offense in their Wild Card playoff opponent, the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles feature a pair of talented and dangerous receivers in DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown. It will be up to defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley and the Packers defense to contain Smith and Brown without allowing Saquon Barkley to run wild and Jalen Hurts to beat the Packers with his arm or his legs. The primary responsibility for slowing down the Eagles top receivers will fall on two players. These two Packers will face a vital test Sunday against the Eagles.

These Two Packers Face a Vital Test Against the Eagles: The Receivers

Brown led the Eagles in receiving yards with 1,079. He finished second on the team with 67 catches in 13 games and caught seven touchdown passes. Brown is the bigger deep threat of the duo and averaged 16.1 yards per catch. The Ole Miss alum stands 6’1” and 226 pounds which makes him the bigger, more physical option of the Eagles top two.

Smith led the team with 68 catches, one more than Brown. Like his counterpart, he played 13 games this season. Smith finished the season with 833 yards and eight receiving touchdowns. The Alabama alum stands 6’0” and weighs 170 pounds.

The Eagles tend to throw to both receivers on the perimeter, outside the hashmarks. That means the primary responsibility of covering Brown and Smith will fall predominantly on the Packers two perimeter cornerbacks.

Carrington Valentine

With Jaire Alexander unavailable for the playoffs, the Packers starting perimeter cornerbacks will continue to be Carrington Valentine and Keisean Nixon.

Valentine has come on in recent weeks and has been making big plays. In the last four games of the season, the former Kentucky star intercepted his first two NFL career passes. He also broke up three passes and forced a pair of fumbles. The second-year man also played more than 91 percent of the team’s defensive snaps in each of those four contests.

Valentine likes to play a physical style and prefers to bump receivers off the snap of the ball. For the season, opposing quarterbacks completed 76.7 percent of their passes when throwing to receivers covered by Valentine and had a quarterback rating of 80.1. He played 57 percent of the Packers defensive snaps in the 15 games he appeared in with many of them coming in the final four games.

Head coach Matt LaFleur likes the progress that Valentine is making. “CV is a young player, and the more he plays, it seems like the better he’s getting,” LaFleur said late in the season. “And I think he’s addressed some of the things that we wanted him to work on throughout, not only last year, but into this year, and he’s done a nice job, and certainly he’s made some plays for us, particularly in the last couple of games, and I expect him to get better.”

These Two Packers Face a Vital Test Against the Eagles: Keisean Nixon

Nixon started the season as the Packers slot corner, but when Alexander was injured, the team moved him to the perimeter. Nixon’s versatility has been a major asset for the Packers this season.

To his credit, Nixon has taken a positive attitude towards the change in position. “Nobody cares that your starters [are] not playing, you’ve got to step up,” Nixon told the Packers official Web site. “I came into this year playing nickel and then they told me that I was going to play corner, and I was excited about it, and I’ve been outside all year. Somebody gets hurt and I’ve got to go inside, but I’m not tripping on it. That’s what I want. Inside, outside, I just want to be on the field. The best players be on the field and I don’t come off.”

Nixon tends to make some big plays but also gets beaten frequently. His inconsistency can be frustrating at times, but his good plays tend to outweigh his bad. For the season, opposing quarterbacks completed just 57.5 percent of their passes when throwing to receivers covered by Nixon according to pro-football-reference.com and have a quarterback rating of 78.9.

Hafley has been pleased with Nixon’s performance and versatility. “Look at what he’s been able to do,” Hafley said. “His coverage has been tight, he’s been able to blitz, he’s been aggressive against the run. I think Keisean needs to get more credit than he’s probably getting for all that we’ve asked him to do and all the different things he’s actually been able to have success with. I’m really proud of him.”

The Test

The Packers will need big games from Valentine and Nixon on Sunday. If they are equal to the challenge, the Packers chances of pulling off an upset increase significantly.

 

 

Follow Gil Martin on Twitter @GilPackers

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