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Micah Parsons and the Packers' biggest strength plays right into one of Jared Goff's biggest strengths, how that changes the game for the Lions
Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Green Bay Packers have Micah Parsons now, and that is 100% a big deal in the NFC North race, and it's immediately a big deal for Week 1 when the Detroit Lions have to go to Lambeau to take on thier NFC North rivals.

There's been some talk about how the Packers may look to use Parsons and their other pass rushers like Rashan Gary and Edgerrin Cooper. Daire Carragher of Packer Report suggests that there could be a heavy lean towards blitzing since Parsons and Cooper are two of Pro Football Focus' highest graded blitzers.

That's going to be a problem for Jared Goff, right? After all, Goff goes from second in QBR to 23rd in QBR when he faces pressure. All we've ever heard about Goff is that being under pressure is his greatest weakness. So blitz away if you're the Packers, right? Maybe that's not the best idea for teams because Goff has demonstrated that when pressure is in his face, it can be a problem, but when teams blitz on him, he's one of the best quarterbacks in the league.

I know that doesn't seem like it makes sense, but last season, Goff was PFF's fifth-highest graded starting quarterback against the blitz with an 84.9 grade. He also had the third-highest completion percentage among starting quarterbacks being blitzed. He completed 70.5% of passes in these situations. He also threw 14 touchdown passes, which was the fourth most against the blitz. He was also only sacked eight times when blitzed.

Goff showed this the most whenever the Lions played the Vikings last year. Brian Flores' defense was supposed to give Goff all the trouble in the world, based on how Goff handled Flores' Patriots defense when he was with the Rams. The Vikings blitzed more than any other team last year, too, with 277 blitzes. When they played Goff in Weeks 7 and 18, it did not go well.

Goff completed a combined 82.5% of his passes for 337 yards and two touchdowns when they blitzed him. He did throw two picks, but that hardly mattered as the Lions walked away with wins in both games, and the blitzing never really affected Goff in either of them.

So we'll see what happens on Sunday evening when the Lions take on the Packers. If Green Bay is hoping to blitz, they may not come away with all of the results they were hoping for.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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