Good afternoon, everyone. On Sunday at Lambeau Field, the Green Bay Packers looked to end their four game losing streak. Their opponent on Sunday was the Los Angeles Rams, who were without Matthew Stafford due to a thumb injury. The game was ugly at points, but the Packers ended up winning by double digits against the Rams. Here is how the game went down.
The Packers defense was able to keep the Rams from scoring any points on their first drive. On third and 1 from the Rams 49 yard line, an end around play was shut down for a loss of 2 yards by Jaire Alexander, which forced Los Angeles to punt to Green Bay. The Packers offense was forced to start at their own 8 yard line because of a holding penalty during the punt, which was fair caught by Jayden Reed. Even with that bad field position to start the drive, the Packers were able to move the ball down the field. During the drive, the Packers were able to convert a couple of third downs. With 6:17 left in the first quarter, the Packers faced a fourth and one from the Green Bay 41 after Aaron Jones was stuffed on the previous play. They decided to go with a QB sneak/tush push play that worked for a first down. The problem was that there was an offsides penalty called on the offense for some odd reason (for the record, that call was awful by the officials). Because of the penalty, the Packers were forced to punt back to the Rams. Daniel Whelon was able to boot it to the Rams 12 yard line, where the return man went for an additional 14 yards to the 26. The Packers defense was able to give the offense the ball back thanks to a fumble recovery. On first and 10 from the Green Bay 45 yard line, there was a botched snap that was recovered by Brett Rypien, who started at QB for the Rams. He then lost the ball thanks to Jonathan Owens stripping it from him. The ensuing fumble was recovered by De’Vondre Campbell at the Rams 41 yard line. The Packers took advantage of the turnover by going down the field and scoring their first touchdown of the game. Aaron Jones ran it in from 3 yards out on first and goal, giving him his first TD since week 1 against the Bears and passing Donald Driver and Paul Hornung all time in the touchdown list for Green Bay (Jones now has 63 touchdowns in his Packers career). Due to the rainy conditions, Jones played it safe by not doing a Lambeau Leap after his touchdown. The extra point kick by Anders Carlson was good, giving Green Bay a 7-0 lead with 14:19 left in the second quarter. The Packers quickly got the ball back thanks to the defense forcing a three and out. After the punt, the offense started their next drive at their own 38 yard line. The drive started great thanks to an end around by Jayden Reed going for 21 yards to the Rams 41 yard line. Unfortunately, the drive stalled after that thanks to an incomplete pass that should have been a touchdown. Jordan Love under threw the pass and Christian Watson wasn’t able to catch the ball in traffic. An intentional delay of game penalty pushed the punt back 5 yards. Whelon was able to punt the ball inside the Rams 10 yard line, where it was fair caught. After the defense forced another three and out, the offense started their next drive at their own 40 with 9:32 left in the second quarter. Once again, the Packers faced a fourth and one and decided to do a QB sneak/tush push play. For a second time, it worked only for it to be nullified by the same dumb offensive offsides penalty from before. Because of the penalty, the Packers punted back to the Rams, who were able to move the ball down the field to score a field goal with less than 2 minutes left in the first half. Starting from their own 25 yard line, the Packers offense was able to get into field goal range to potentially score some points. The bummer was that the kick was wide left from 48 yards out, keeping the halftime score at 7-3.
The Packers started their first second half drive at their own 47 thanks to a 51 yard kickoff return by Keisean Nixon. That great return was wasted on the first play. Dontayvion Wicks caught the pass from Jordan Love, fell down to the ground, and lost the ball in the process. Since he wasn’t touched by a defender, the ball was still up for grabs. The fumble was recovered by Ahkello Witherspoon at the Los Angeles 42 yard line, giving the Rams the ball. The Rams were able to get to the Green Bay 29 yard line before their drive was stalled by penalties and defensive stops by Green Bay. Even though the Rams were at the Green Bay 36, they did not go for the field goal (probably due to the weather conditions) and punted back to Green Bay. Jayden Reed fair caught the punt at the 16 yard line, where the Packers offense started their next drive. Things were going well until Aaron Jones was stripped of the ball during a run. The ball was recovered by a Rams defender named Duke Shelley, who returned it to the Green Bay 36 yard line. Thankfully, the defense was able to shut the Rams offense down after the fumble. To make things better, the kick was wide right, giving the Rams no points. Three plays into the Packers’ next drive, the Packers got into the red zone. However, they were forced to settle for a field goal after Jordan Love was sacked for a loss of 4 yards by Aaron Donald on third and 2 from the Rams 4 yard line. The kick was good from 26 yards out, increasing the lead to 10-3 with 2:10 left in the third quarter. The Rams looked to respond with a score on their next drive, but the drive ended after they were stopped on fourth and 2 from the Green Bay 47. RB Royce Freeman was stuffed for no gain by Colby Wooden and Rashan Gary on the play, giving the Packers the ball. The Packers did nothing with it while avoiding a turnover when a fumble on second down went out of bounds. What exactly happened on that second down play was that Love was able to get rid of the ball before he got down to the ground. It was a fumble, but it went out of bounds for a loss of 8 yards. The drive resulted in a three and out and a punt, giving the Rams the ball back. The Packers were able to get the ball back thanks to a pass that was tipped by Jaire Alexander and picked off by Anthony Johnson, giving the offense the ball at midfield. The ensuing drive resulted in only a field goal after AJ Dillon was stuffed for no gain on third and 1 from the Rams 16. The kick by Anders Carlson was good, giving the Packers a 10-point lead with 9:08 left in the fourth quarter. After the Packers forced yet another three and out, Jayden Reed took the punt to the Green Bay 28 yard line, where the offense started their next drive with 8:26 left. During the drive, the Packers faced a third and 12 from their own 40 yard line after a sack on the previous play. Jordan Love went for the deep shot to Christian Watson, who was able to catch the ball for a 37 yard gain. Watson got injured during the play, but his big catch set up the touchdown that happened 2 plays later. On second and 7 from the Rams 20, Love faked a pass to his left and then threw a pass down the middle to Luke Musgrave, who was able to take the pass all the way for a touchdown. I was glad Musgrave scored a touchdown on the play, which was great in design and execution. Again, due to the weather, there was no Lambeau Leap after the touchdown, which gave the Packers a 20-3 lead with 3:41 left in the game. The Rams tried desperately to get some points in garbage time to make the final margin more respectable, but they failed to do so after an incomplete pass to Cooper Kupp on fourth and 2 from the Green Bay 38. The Packers then ran out the rest of the clock to seal the 20-3 win. With the win, the Packers improve their record to 3-5 on the season.
On offense, there were some ugly moments. Once again, the Packers were not able to score more than 10 points in the first half either due to penalties that killed drives or inability to get the ball in the end zone. Two fourth down QB Sneak/tush push conversions were ruined thanks to awful offensive offsides penalties (both called on Jon Runyan Jr). Thankfully, the one in the fourth quarter was not flagged as the Packers were running out the clock. In the second half, their first two drives abruptly ended due to fumbles by Dontayvion Wicks and Aaron Jones. Jordan Love did not play perfectly, as he missed a couple of passes (including an underthrow on a potential TD pass to Christian Watson) and took an awful sack during the end of the first half. In the second half, he played much better, completing 12 of his 13 pass attempts for 160 yards and a touchdown to Luke Musgrave (Love finished 20/26 for 228 yards and a TD). Musgrave led the receivers with 51 yards on 3 catches (including the TD on that awesome play in the fourth quarter), while Christian Watson caught the pass that helped set up the touchdown for a 37 yard gain. I do hope that Watson heals from his chest and back issues soon. Dontayvion Wicks caught 4 passes for 49 yards and kept his composure after he lost the fumble in the third quarter thanks to Aaron Jones giving him a pep talk. What helped the offense was better offensive line play and the fact that Aaron Jones touched the ball 24 times for a total of 99 yards. I was happy that Jones was allowed to have that many touches and help the Packers win the game. Yes, there were mistakes along the way, including the fumbles, but the offense did enough to get the win on Sunday. Hopefully the mistakes are corrected before they face much tougher opponents.
On defense, the Packers played very well, allowing the Rams to only score a field goal all game. The run game was kept in check once again, with the Rams only getting 51 rushing yards from their running backs. Despite the fact that Kenny Clark got injured during the game (praying for a quick recovery), the defensive front, including Rashan Gary, Colby Wooden, and Karl Brooks, made sure that Brett Rypien didn’t play well. Rypien threw for only 130 yards while completing less than 50 percent of his passes and turning the ball over twice (a fumble and an interception). The defensive backfield played very well even after losing Rasul Douglas in a trade to Buffalo. Jaire Alexander, Carrington Valentine, and Anthony Johnson all made plays against the Rams, with Vallentine allowing only one catch and breaking up a couple of other passes. There were a couple of extra turnover opportunities that the Packers missed, but they did a great job against a Rams offense that was missing their starting QB. A highlight on Sunday, other than the turnovers, was a fourth down stop that effectively sealed the game thanks to the offense scoring the dagger touchdown afterwards. Hopefully the defense continues to play well against another bad offense in Pittsburgh next week .
On Special Teams, the Packers kept the mistakes to a minimum, other than Anders Carlson missing a field goal and a couple of penalties. Keisean Nixon had his longest kickoff return of the season with a 51 yard return to open the second half. I’m hoping that he can take one to the house for a TD at some point this season. Jayden Reed did well on punt returns as he went for double digit yards on two punt returns while fair catching the rest of them. Thankfully, there were no turnovers, blocked kicks, or any crazy mistakes that would have given the Rams extra momentum. Anders Carlson made every kick other than the one before halftime, and Daniel Whelon punted a few balls inside the Rams 20 yard line, which were both great to see. I am still thankful that the Special Teams unit is led by Rich Bisaccia, who is great at getting his guys ready for anything. Hopefully that’s still the case next week and beyond.
Overall, It was great to see the Packers get back in the win column. It was not perfect and it was against a Rams team that was not at 100 percent, but a win is a win at the end of the day, especially at Lambeau Field. Next up for the Packers is a trip to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers. I’ll be talking about that game later. In the meantime, I am celebrating a Victory Monday for the first time in a few weeks. Have a great week, everyone. Go Pack Go!
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL’s YouTube page. Click on “Watch on YouTube” if you’re curious.)
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