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4th and Short: Talking Packers, Peterson, and that putrid Lions offensive line

Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via USA TODAY Sports

Matt Williamson is a former scout for the Cleveland Browns and spent 10 years at ESPN as a scout and co-host of "The Football Today Podcast." Every Tuesday, Williamson will look at four major developments from the previous weekend of action in the NFL.

How will the Green Bay Packers fare with Aaron Rodgers on the sidelines for an extended period?

You can do a lot worse than Brett Hundley as a backup quarterback in today’s NFL; having the entire week to prepare as the starter will surely help his cause, as will the ability of Green Bay’s coaching staff to build a game plan around his strengths and weaknesses.

A free agent to be, this is an excellent opportunity for Hundley to audition for teams that might see him as a possible starter. He certainly has some starter traits and has impressed in the preseason throughout his career. Obviously, however, this is a much stiffer test. No one else can recreate what Rodgers brings to the table.

The Packers will have to rely more on their running game, but they do have two quality backs. Still, there will be a drop-off. What's really compounding matters is the injury situation with the Packers' offensive line. Rodgers can overcome poor blocking, but few others in this league can.

(Photo courtesy: Action Images)

Can Adrian Peterson be a consistent No. 1 running back for as long as David Johnson is out?

In some ways, yes. Peterson fits the Cardinals' running game very well. However, he has zero similarities to Johnson in the passing game, offering very little in this regard. Presumably, the passing-down work should still belong to Andre Ellington, but in Peterson’s first game with the Cardinals, Ellington had a minuscule role.

We have to look at that as the game script dictating which running back gets playing time. Arizona jumped up early on Tampa Bay and rightfully leaned on Peterson to grind down the Buccaneers. If the game had gone the other way, Arizona likely would have featured Ellington.

In some ways, a Peterson-Ellington tandem does give the Cardinals what Johnson once did - but Johnson is better in all capacities than either Peterson as a runner or Ellington as a receiver.

The biggest problem is that when one of these current backs is in the game, it offers the defense a glaring indication of Arizona’s intentions on that particular snap. That said, Peterson still has something left in the tank and gives the Cardinals an element on the ground that they simply haven’t had since Johnson went down. This trade will bear fruit for Arizona.

(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)

Should Lions fans be concerned following Sunday’s rough result in New Orleans?

New Orleans is a very difficult place to play, and the Saints' defense is improving (even though there were 90 points scored in that game.) But this game did show some of Detroit’s warts - namely the offensive line and overriding concerns about the defense.

Matthew Stafford was sacked five times on the road and New Orleans batted down an extremely high number of passes. Once again, the Lions' blocking did little to establish a ground game. Despite the high score, Drew Brees only threw for 186 yards (New Orleans' defense scored three touchdowns), but the Saints were winning big for much of this game and had success on the ground from start to finish.

Stafford and the Lions roared back to make things interesting, but Detroit ultimately looks like the definition of a middle-of-the-road team. Making matters worse, and possibly pushing the Lions a rung below mediocrity, there are now injury worries about Stafford, Golden Tate, and Glover Quin.

(Photo courtesy: Action Images)

Which team took the biggest step forward in Week 6?

The Pittsburgh Steelers immediately come to mind after knocking off the Chiefs in Kansas City, but was Pittsburgh truly threatened in its division? Meanwhile, the loss doesn’t hurt Kansas City all that much since the Raiders and Broncos both dropped their games.

The Saints are in the running after defeating Detroit and watching the rest of the NFC South lose. Somewhat quietly, New Orleans is still in the thick of things.

But the biggest winner of Week 6 has to be Minnesota after beating the Packers. That head-to-head win is huge for tiebreakers and the like, and now the Vikings are sitting pretty while Green Bay tries to figure out how to make up for the loss of Rodgers. The Packers' offensive line was also once again hit by injuries, so there could be tough times ahead for this franchise.

The Lions lost too, and the Vikings can feel good about getting their big win with Sam Bradford, Stefon Diggs, and Dalvin Cook all sidelined.

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