Wednesday Cheese Curds: Packers prepare for Lions ground game

Of Packers fans’ many frustrations with Joe Barry, consistently underwhelming run defense might be foremost.

It can seem like getting gashed on the ground is a week-in, week-out phenomenon in Green Bay. Every Sunday (and just as often on Mondays or Thursdays), the Packers line up and get run on, often to an embarrassing degree.

And with that backdrop, here come the Lions, who seem to mimic their head coach’s gritty, grind-it-out demeanor and the run, run, run mentality that can go with it to a fault. To that mix they add 2023 first-round pick Jahmyr Gibbs, one of the more explosive players in this spring’s draft class. Sprinkle in a little of the mad scientist efficiency offensive coordinator Ben Johnson has dreamed up, and you’ve got an interesting offensive stew going, one custom built to frustrate both the Packers and their fans.

Can Barry and his charges reverse the “you can run on the Packers” narrative? Probably not in one week, no, and especially not after we’ve already seen the Falcons move the ball on the ground with seemingly little effort against the Packers. But they’ll have to get it done on Thursday, and a key early-season divisional matchup might hang in the balance.

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