Sunday night football and we will see the Green Bay Packers travel to Mall of America Field to take on the Minnesota Vikings. The game has a start time of 8:30 PM (Eastern) and will be televised on NBC. Current odds for the game have Green Bay listed as 7.5 point favorites, while the total sits at 47.
Analysis: Green Bay has a whole slew of injuries to top receivers, with WR Randall Cobb (fibula), TE Jermichael Finley (neck) and WR James Jones (knee) all out, but the team has still won three straight contests and will get back its top CB in Casey Hayward (hamstring) tonight. Aaron Rodgers has passed for 13 TDs vs just 4 INTs, while the running game has been sparked by Eddie Lacy, who has 301 rushing yards over the past three games and leads all NFL rookies with 352. Getting his first career start last week, WR Jarrett Boykin had 8 receptions for 103 yards and a touchdown against Cleveland. Boykin got the opportunity due to the Injuries to Cobb and James Jones. Green Bay’s rushing defense has allowed just 79.0 rushing YPG and 3.4 yards per carry, which both rank 3rd in the NFL. Their struggling secondary (267 ypg passing), will get a boost with the return of Hayward, especially in the red zone where the Packers rank last in the NFL with a 71% efficiency rate on defense.
Minnesota played the Giants in what was a sloppy Monday night affair, losing 23-7 after turning the ball over three times and putting up just 206 total yards of offense. QB Josh Freeman had an awful game and his apparent concussion has the Vikes turning back to Christian Ponder for this one. Ponder, who is 0-3 as a starter this year with a 59% completion rate, throwing 2 TDs and 5 INTs, has not been that good vs the Packers in four career starts (47.9% completion rate), but did have a huge game against them in Week 17 of last year with 234 passing yards, 3 TD and 0 INT. RB Adrian Peterson has run 1,442 rushing yards (5.6 YPC) and 10 touchdowns in 12 starts vs the Packers. but last week he struggled (28 yards on 13 carries) vs the Giants as they loaded up the box, which is likely going to happen again. Minnesota's defense has allowed the sixth-most yards in the NFL (391 YPG), and fourth-most points (30.2 PPG).
Pick: I will look to the Under in this one. The Packers offense has sputtered with all their injuries to key skill players, which should have them turning to the run a bit more here. Their defense is solid vs the run, (ranking 3rd) and they have allowed just 21.2 ppg. The should be able to stop this Minnesota offense that is just a mess right now, especially at the QB spot. Last week AP got 13 total rushes and that just won't get it done. I expect them to feed him a lot more in this one, which will eat plenty of clock. Since their bye week, Packer games have averaged just 37 ppg (3 games), while the Vikings 2 games since their bye have averaged just 37.5 ppg. 37 looks like a good number here as this one stays way under the total.
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NFL Free Picks: Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings Betting
What pro football bettors need to know about betting Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings on Sunday (10/27/13) - a free pick from Pregame.com's Steve Fezzik, with Brady Kannon.