Pregame Thoughts and Analysis: Patriots Travel to Lambeau for Showdown Against Packers

[PatsFans.com Article]

Pregame Thoughts and Analysis: Patriots Travel to Lambeau for Showdown Against Packers

Derek Havens

The New England Patriots will travel to Lambeau field to face the Green Bay Packers on Sunday afternoon. Here are a few thoughts on the upcoming game.

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[PatsFanSince74]

Not a whole lot to argue with in that, especially the prediction that the combined points will be well under the O/U line of 58. I think that Lacy, Blount and Gray will get 75 touches among them tomorrow and chew up a lot of clock and hopefully in the case of Blount and Gray a lot of yards. But it does leave out two things that I think are important, FWIW.

1) The weather. Game time temp will be in the mid-low 20's with little wind and clear conditions. That's a balmy November day in Foxboro, so the Packers won't have their customary Decemberish Lambeau advantage, given that they're playing a team that would actually prefer it a little colder with a bit of sleet and snow thrown in.

2) More importantly. No mention in the article of turnovers and the fact that these are the teams with the two best takeaway ratios in the League. The winner will be the team that wins that battle; just one extra possession for Brady or Rodgers would likely be the difference in this game. I like the numbers in the predicted score (27 and 23). The team that has the 27 will be the team that hasn't turned the ball over.