The biggest thing I am worried about for the Commanders is that they will still be shaking off rust and hurt themselves with penalties and sloppy play, which we saw last week against the Giants and saw in weeks 1 and 2 of last season. It seems Dan Quinn tends to run light practices during camp and the preseason in order to keep players healthy. Although it has succeeded in keeping the team mostly healthy, it results in some sloppy play to start the season. Terry McLaurin missing practice while he negotiated a new contract didn’t help either. Last year, it wasn’t until week 3 that the team really started coming together and I could see that happening again this season, especially with a short week. If we can play mistake-free football and the players are all on the same page, I think we’ll be a force to be reckoned with. Scoring more points always helps too.
On the Packers side, I think it will come down to how well they can protect Jordan Love and keep him playing mistake-free football. The Commanders don’t have a pass rusher as famous as Micah Parsons, but they seem to function as a whole better than the sum of their parts and featured the 5th-highest blitz rate in the NFL last year. As a result, they can get pressure and managed to pressure Russell Wilson on 22 of his 45 dropbacks (almost 50%) last week. Granted, the Giants offensive line is composed of tackling dummies tied together with twine, but I think it’s still true that this defense has the ability to get after the QB.