Vikings vs. Packers Preview: Cousins Makes His Return

One of, if not the most compelling of these matchups in this one o'clock slate in the NFC North, one of the most competitive divisions, Joe, that we've seen in the NFL in maybe the last decade. And we have two of the best teams in the NFL, but bottom of the pack in the division going at it today in the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers. This one taking place at Lambeau Field at 1 p.m. Eastern. Really interesting matchup here. You have Green Bay who's building all of this momentum coming off a dominant performance against the New England Patriots last week. They are the favorite here going up against the Minnesota team that has had their question marks, most of those question marks coming on the offensive side of the football. They're hoping to answer one of those questions today, bringing in Kirk Cousins from the Las Vegas Raiders, someone that is familiar with this offense, hoping that he can get them back on the right track and lead them to a much-needed victory today on the road in Lambeau. What are your thoughts on this game? I mean, the division is insane. The game is insane. This is a spot where I feel like most of the talking heads across... ESPN, Fox, what have you are going to be looking at this surging Packers offense and lay that two and a half. I don't know. I might be running to the window for the Minnesota Vikings money line here. This is a guy, Kirk Cousins, that's familiar with this offense, familiar with this head coach. Why can't he help bring this offense back to its full potential? Well, he certainly can. Jordan Addison is going to be out for this game, which means even more, I think, Justin Jefferson opportunity with Kirk Cousins. Statistically, he averaged over 99 yards per game without Kirk Cousins in his career. It's down to 76 and a half. So it's a very different scenario. I actually like Jefferson to score a touchdown in this game. I also like the over on Tucker craft. And I know that, you know, the Vikings have been very tough on opposing tight Let's not forget that first week, too, where Tucker Kraft was kind of one of the lone bright spots early on there for Packers. He was still kind of struggling. I think you're going to get rid of the ball faster with this defense. I think you see Tucker Kraft kind of in there to block and then release quite a bit. I'm with you. There's a little bit of an unknown factor now that we have Kirk Cousins back into this contest. And look, credit to the Green Bay Packers defense as well. That unit has played very good football. But to me, this is more of a get off the game and instead look more to the individual players, especially that Jefferson touchdown and big plus money. Kirk Cousins, a guy not unfamiliar with getting Justin Jefferson the football, which seemed to be a problem for, I don't know, every other Minnesota Vikings quarterback they've brought him since him. So the one guy I do want to question you about, though, is this Gavin Bartholomew coming in for TJ Hawkinson today. TJ Hawkinson, a big part of this Minnesota Vikings offense coming into today. He won't be with the team. Is that something that could affect this Kirk Cousins and Minnesota Vikings team from moving the ball down the field? Possibly. Look, I know we're all cautiously optimistic here because Cousins knows the playbook. He knows the verbiage of this game. He knows all these things. This is a familiar situation and familiar personnel. I don't think it's going to matter too much in terms for Kirk Cousins there. I do think it's going to have an interesting impact on some of the running backs as well, because when you start to limit your availability, like no Hawkinson, no Addison, we start to look around here, the funnel becomes very different. You might see a little bit more of a conservative attack here where you see a lot of Aaron Jones, you see a lot of Jordan Mason, Some Jordan, some Justin Jefferson is well layered in there. So that to me is going to be what's so fascinating to watch in this game. If they can run the football effectively, that's going to be huge because you keep Jordan Love off the field with how explosive those receivers have been of late Golden and of course, Christian Watson as well. Also look for Watson to work in the slot a little bit more like he did last week. That's going to change the perspective for his day as well, because you have to be out with the football quick against this ferocious defense of the Purple People Eaters here. Both defenses, I think, shining coming into this one. I like both of these quarterbacks at their number to throw an interception. Obviously, on their own, it's a little juicy. Minus 160 about both ways. At least that's what I was able to find on DraftKings. However, honestly, I think if you wanted to take a shot pairing those two together, why not? Both of these defenses healthy. Kind of the... Calling card of both of these organizations right now, obviously the Green Bay Packers offense has looked a lot better, but I think this Minnesota Vikings defense is going to be up for this game, trying to support their new quarterback, Kirk Cousins, and then Green Bay's defense on the other side looking to take advantage of maybe some miscues between Cousins and those receivers.