The Green Bay Packers didn't have to rewrite their defensive playbook to make mincemeat of the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday night.
The Packers' 24-10 wild-card victory came with a clear master task: Stop Adrian Peterson. With starting quarterback Christian Ponder sidelined with an elbow injury, Vikings backup Joe Webb did little to pull the Packers away from their game plan.
Webb was no threat through the air, and even what little he accomplished on the ground -- through a scattering of read-option plays -- served to benefit Green Bay's playoff run going forward.
The Packers are sure to see plenty of the option attack next week against San Francisco 49ers starter Colin Kaepernick, and coach Mike McCarthy was happy to get a tune-up Saturday night.
"It will definitely help us with Kaepernick," McCarthy said, via ESPNMilwaukee.com's Jason Wilde.
McCarthy wasn't drawing a comparison between Webb and Kaepernick. They aren't the same player, but the Packers haven't seen much read-option this season, so every bit helps. We doubt the Vikings went into the game planning to serve as a 49ers scout team, but on far too many plays, they didn't look much better than that.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.
