Something had to give. The number one defense against the number one offense. Never in Ram history, even in the heyday of the Ram ‘Fearsome Foursome’ from the 1960’s, had the Rams ended the regular season number one in scoring defense, allowed the fewest touchdown passes, and had the number one overall ranked defense at the end of the year. The old motto, defense wins championships now needs an asterisk. *Unless you are playing the 2020 Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rodgers.
The Packers scored each time they touched the ball in the first half. They scored when given only 29 seconds, from their own 25 yard line… and they left a time out on the table. Fifty four yards in 29 seconds. They even had two shots at a touchdown. They “settled” for a field goal after facing 75 yards and only 29 seconds. Against the best defense in the NFL. Let that sink in.
Aaron Rogers had a 108.1 QB rating. Jared Goff was close with a 105.9. Perhaps the most important stat was the Packers offensive line again keeping Rogers clean for the entire game. The entire LA Ram final defensive stats: no sacks, 1 tackle for loss, 1 QB hit, and 4 passes defensed. Did the injury to Aaron Donald help the Packers and the stat sheet? Undoubtedly. But this was an incredible playoff effort for an offensive line missing their best player. Elgton Jennings just earned the All-Pro award he received this year. Frustrating Donald into a 15 yard composure penalty in a drive that ended in a touchdown was a huge swing for the Packers. Watching the Rams best secondary defender, Jalen Ramsey, lose his mind over the motion created LeFleur play design that pinned a touchdown on his stat sheet gave players and fans the feeling that the Packer game plan was not going to be frustrated by LaFleur’s former teacher, Sean McVay.
This win was a “monkey off the back” game for LaFleur. Last year he was humiliated in the playoffs by a former tutor in Kyle Shanahan. This year the student out-schemed and out maneuvered his former master. How did he do it? Devising a scheme that relied on his playmakers. The running game two headed monster of Jones and Williams (and an additional 27 yards from rookie A.J. Dillon) battled, scratched and spun for 164 yards. Tonyan, MVS and Lazard had 4 catches apiece and Davante had his usual 9 catches for 66 yards and a touchdown.
Rodgers late touchdown to Allen Lazard was, as Wayne Larrivee likes to say, “the dagger”. While the rating for the two QB’s was very close, Rodgers made the key plays for his team. Two plays that occurred before that last TD pass were emotional and momentum back breakers for the Rams. When A.J. Dillion fumbled after a crushing hit by Troy Reeder and A’Shawn Robinson, the game was still in the balance. Rodgers staying focused, picking up the ball and saving the drive was critical. Two plays later Lazard is in the end zone.
The other critical Rodgers play was after Rick Wagner was called for a controversial holding, backing up the Packers to their 8 yard line. Two plays layer, in his own end zone, Rodgers sidestepped the rush of Leonard Floyd, and calmly dropped a laser to Lazard for a first down. That drive ended in a punt but those yards prevented the Rams from getting the ball back with a short field or perhaps even a safety.
The special teams….hey we just won a playoff game in Lambeau against the best defense in the league where the Packers only punted twice and were just finger tips away from scoring a TD on one of those drives. Why spoil a good mood.
Defensive game balls should be given to Kenny Clark, Rashan Gary and Za’Darius Smith. The Rams were 3 of 8 on third down and Goff was sacked four times for a total of 26 yards lost. The Packer defense did not dominate, but made more big plays than the Rams defense. Make no mistake, Jared Goff came to play and his injured thumb had no impact on his arm strength or accuracy. He just couldn’t make the key plays of the game.
That was left to Rodgers and company to the delight of eight thousand or so happy fans at Lambeau Field and millions more cheering into their televisions. Here’s to hoping they have as much fun next week. Next up, the NFC Championship.
Hats off to the O line, and the D front 4. Special teams shit the bed as per usual, especially that play that would have given the Pack field position near the 40 yet, had to start the series near the 10. All in all a solid play by both the defense and offense. Nice to see a running game for once. Was it me or did A- Rod look poised and having fun?
They have had a running game most of the year. I believe they finished ranked 8th
I was meaning this season
Love it and all being said. But I really don’t understand those short kick offs. Our opponents almost always go beyond 25 yards and often much further. I’m afraid this gonna cost us. Hopefully if so it will be in next regular season.
Williams made each of his runs count. He was very determined running up the middle and it sure made a difference in the game and wearing out the defense. Jones is a special back, very talented. Sure would be nice to see at least one of the two as Packers next season.
If I had to guess, Williams will be back. I think it’s a foregone conclusion that Jones will be gone, especially after hiring Rosenhaus. I don’t see the Packers rolling into 2021 as the only back with NFL experience. Especially since LaFleur utilizes the running back position so much
It’s Aaron Rodgers….His name has a D in it. RoDgers!
Sorry just an observation, some paragraphs he is Rodgers. Some he is Rogers.
Atta boy..
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Keep up the good work Barney.
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Btw…when Andy gets back in the office let him know that Aunt Bea said dinner would be an hour late.
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Carry on Deputy.
Punting, fielding punts and tackling on kickoff returns makes every Packer fan white knuckle the couch. Now we need to worry about XP snaps that get the kicker killed? What did Scott think Crosby would do with that ball if he caught it? Juke out Brockers and run for a 2?
Happy they won and this team feels completely different from last year. Hoping for the best! Was that PF4L with no shirt drinking a Silver Bullet? That may have been the time tested overalls and no shirt look….nice.
Whutch u talkin bout Willis?!
Paul, I would agree with your defensive game ball players. A couple of other defensive players need to be mentioned.
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How about Barnes play with a cast. Without that cast he probably has an INT. No doubt the Rams wanted to pick on the middle of the field in the pass game and accomplished their goal to some degree. Barnes showed toughness and an ability to adapt on the fly. It appears a one handed Barnes is better than the other ILBs on the squad? This could be a problem in NFCC game.
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P. Smith’s effort and play was maddening for about 2/3 of the season. Add in Lowery for that matter. Both have improved their play and effort over the last 4 to 6 weeks. I don’t know if it was being out of shape, injury, a combination of both, or if some veterans try to pace theirselves during a long season. I do think some veterans don’t show as much urgency for entire games in the early to middle parts of the regular season. I hate that philosophy if it is the case. Plus I think LaFleur and his big toe had a meeting with a defensive coordinator and some of his players after the Colts game. P. Smith in this game directly stopped 3 of the Rams failed 3rd down (3 of 8) completions. The two batted passes. One on the first Rams possession and the other on the Rams last possession. In addition on the Rams field goal drive P. Smith crashed down the line and stopped Akers short of a first down on 3rd and 2.
Howard…from what i’ve seen the one thing that Preston does better than Gary, is tip passes. he had a couple key passes defensed.
Not a knock on Gary, it’s a learned skill when you know you can’t get to the QB. Preston is pretty damn good at it.
Some players get paid top of the scale league money, Tackles are great, one of the basics of playing football.
But with top scale money, come high expectations.
So far, if the saints win, I think it’s in the packers best interest to punt away from Harris given their issues in coverage. That is nearly two return TDs
I think we all should be done calling the Rams the #1 defense.
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Almost 500 yards, no sacks, barely smelled Rodgers cologne. They gave up 32 points and it probably should have been 46. The Packers held the ball for almost a 13 minute advantage.
The Packers defense didn’t set the world on fire. No turnovers, Goff had a 100+ passer rating. But the defense did enough…4 sacks, 7 QB hits. A couple key 4th quarter stops. As much as i bitch about the defense, if they can hold a team to 18 points, life is good.
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The big bad Rams? Well….not on the road.
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Maybe something is in the air at Lambeau. The Titans only looked a shell of themselves also.
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I did like what Paul said about the monkey off their back….but idk, if the Bucs come rolling into town….i see another monkey.
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I don’t know who ya’ll would like the Packers to face next weekend, but whoever it is, it will probably be tougher than these L.A. boys.
I haven’t watched the Bucs/Saints game yet, i about to in a minute. I think given a choice, i’d rather play the Saints, but i think either will be tough.
I would rather face the saints without question and see Brees and his noodle arm try and complete passes more than 5 yards down the field in 20 degree weather
Both teams are going to have weather trouble.
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I like Bree’s and respect him, he’s gotten kind of screwed in N.O. with poor defenses. If it wasn’t for the Packers and Rodgers, i’d be rooting for him to go all the way….go out on top in his last year. The guy’s been a legend in the NFL, and in life.
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Brady….i respect him, but idgaf, he has enough hardware.
I watch Tampa Bay and i wonder how the hell they dominated the Packers.
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I get matchup problems and all that, but somethings wrong.
I agree. It was a fluky game. The Packers controlled that game early going up 10-0 before Rodgers essentially throws back to back pick sixes which never happens and I would bet everything I own he doesn’t repeat even once in this game. The bucs also didn’t have a single penalty which was very unusual. They are a pretty good ball team, but not 38-10 over the packers good
I don’t remember back to back pick 6’s…but it’s not my world..
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The Packer went up 10-0 and Tampa Bay said enough of this shit and went after Rodgers hard…and didn’t get a lot of resistance.
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The Packers had 0 sacks, 4 QB hits, and 1.5 TFL
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The Bucs had 5 sacks, 13 QB hits and 8 TFL, and idk how many QB hurries.
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It was a simple plan of the Bucs…Head north…destroy whoever has the ball and anyone who gets in your way.
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But. we get another bite at the apple. Questions remain….answers will be provided, soon.
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The table is set.
The two rodgers picks were uncharacteristic but not a fluke…at least the pick 6 wasnt…but last i checked the packers were within 1 score 17-10 after those picks, which happened in the 2nd quarter. What we saw after that was a complete and utter meltdown on both sides of the ball.
The packers struggle with teams who have rangy aggressive linebackers and TB has 2 of the best in the business. The Bucs wont just let rodgers pick them apart…they will force the issue. When your check down throw only gets 1-2 yards a pop this offense has big problems.
One thing i do trust is La fleurs ability to re adjust the offensive game plan. It also looks as if the run game has gotten even stronger as the year has gone on.
Its hard to grade the defense last game since they were put in some bad positions but i dont recall them doing anything to make up for the poor showing on offense.
Kind of felt bad for Brees last night. You can see he just doesn’t have the arm anymore. Still, he’s a warrior and a HOF-er. Payton must not have had any confidence in the backup Q-backs, and left Brees out to dry. Whether he left Brees out there out of respect for everything Brees has brought to N.O.; he still should have thought about the other 52 guys on the team. After all, this is the playoffs, you as coach, have to pull out all the stops! Brees’ presser after the game, it kind of looked to me that he was at peace, and he realizes——- time has come!
The reason i think we saw the last of Bree’s….is his own desire, or lack thereof..
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I’ve seen multiple times, where it was reported he originally was going to retire last season, had a deal with a network to call games..but came back for one more run at it for the Saints, and his team (players).
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He, like Aaron Rodgers this season were sitting ducks against the Bucs pass rush. They destroyed the Saints O line, like they did against the Packers.
Does anyone think Rodgers and Bree’s have a passer rating in the 30’s if their O lines aren’t getting steam rolled?
Even at 42..Bree’s is a top QB…Rodgers at 37 is MVP…..If the Bucs decide to destroy your O line.
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Alvin Kamara had an ok game (not great) rushing against the Bucs, because he’s Alvin Kamara.
As good as Aaron Jones is…he had 10 carries for 15 yards against the Bucs front 7.
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The Bucs are beatable, let me repeat…the Bucs are beatable!!
But GDI…..you had better come up with an answer to having your O line pushed back down your QB’s throat.
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You’re not going to “fix it” with a pass out wide in a dink and dunk game, 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage, because the Bucs will shut you down 9 out of 10 times.
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There is saying…that’s older than i am…”Games are won and lost up front”. If you disagree…re-watch the game.
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To drive home my point….i’ll bring it up again…..
Last game the Bucs had 5 sacks….13 QB hits…and how many hurries? That means on 35 drop backs, he was harrassed 18 times, not including hurries.
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STORY OF THE GAME – PFF
“Rodgers didn’t have any turnover-worthy plays in 2020 before this game, but he had at least three against the Bucs and was constantly under duress all game long. Left tackle David Bakhtiari going down injured only exacerbated the problem.” – PFF
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Stigg has trust that LaFleur will adjust the offensive game plan. I have hope.
I have hope, because i’ve seen this movie before with Seattle last season.
Saints and it isn’t because of the outcome of the earlier Packer games.
Because you don’t like them or…..
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Don’t keep us in suspense my man. :)
jetpack.wordpress.com’s server IP address could not be found.
I’m not re-writing it.
Bucs ILB Devin White after they beat GB earlier in the season—-(we knew that the Packers don’t belong on the same field as us). You can bet your last JU JU bean that LaFleur will use that as motivation this coming weekend! I can’t wait to see what mother nature has in store!
Devin White was in beast mode last night…holy shit.
Other NFL news! Is there any other organization that is more messed up than the Texans? All of the talent that they’ve had, have either been traded, players asking to be traded, coaches fired, teams media people fired, and now their star Q-back says he wants out! Talk about instability at the top; and we all know if shit starts at the top, it heads down stream.
Packers did what they needed to do…run straight at Donald and break the rams will. I wrote a lengthy analysis on this last thread but it was smart game planning. The only place the diminished Donald wasn’t all world is on run defense.
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Moving on to Tampa Bay…the Packers are in for the battle of their lives. The problem for the Packers is offensively they use the run game and 5,6,7 yard gains on short passes to open up the field. Tampa has two all world middle linebackers who dominate against the run, and turn those 5,6,7 yard passes in to 0, 2, 3 yard passes. They also press hard, making the packers sticks routes a dangerous and inefficient proposition. Rodgers didnt have a great game against TB the first time (similar to brees stat line last night) and while ill attribute some of that to him playing poorly…you gotta give the TB defense credit where credit is due This is true for almost every NFL game, but the Packers absolutely need to win the upfront offensive line battle so they can hit them with longer routes and force them to be honest. Additionally they need to stick with the run game even if it isnt as effective as recent history has shown.
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Defensively the Packers have improved…but im still not sold they can stop an offense with this many weapons. The bucs can run a nice power run game in the Lambeau weather featuring Jones and Fournette (quite a back up if you ask me). If they play the run heavily (which they should) they better be scheming all freaking week on how not to get Preston Smith stuck in 1 v 1 coverage on Antonio Brown. You bet your ass the bucs will find that on film and try to exploit it all day. Brady may not have the arm he once had…but my god…that guy just owns the pocket…owns the footwork…and the Packers didn’t even touch him last game. Defensively this game will be won if and only if the Packers rushers can actually get home this time. This season has shown they can get to the qb…but really only in obvious passing situations.
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This may be a defense mechanism for keeping expectations low…but….I unfortunately see the Bucs walking out of Lambeau as the NFC champions. This won’t be San Fransisco repeat but the bucs are the real deal. I may even bet on them straight up to hedge my disappointment if the packers lose.
Skippy won’t even say Rodgers name. Saw on YouTube for a minute. Blamed the loss on Donald not playing and his facemask grab basically. Pointed out the 2 almost INTs at the end of the half.
I’m afraid of this Tampa team. Nice fumble Jared Cook. But you play who you play. I hope Suh carriers the no Super Bowl curse. Julius Peppers had it, some players are not meant to go to the Super Bowl. Also that Center for the Bucs plays as dirty as Suh.
carries.
I like Cook, but he had a horrible game.
Agree on Suh. Karma should dictate he doesn’t go to a SB
I recorded First Take and started watching it. As some of you know, i don’t watch live tv because of so many commercials, plus i like to FF through things that don’t interest me
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I was fast forwarding through commercials and notice it seemed like it took too long.
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After the Rodgers segment was over, and then when the commercials were over and they showed Drew Bree’s at his presser.
10 minutes and 32 seconds went by. That is why, i refuse to watch live tv.
WTF?
Devin White is the one person (yes! even above Brady) that can stop Green Bay from going to the Super Bowl. He IS that good, and he is everywhere all game long. He is also NOT a nice player, and hits to hurt. Green Bay needs to scheme him out of as many plays as possible. This fuck plays like three guys every play. he makes Mack,Trevathan and Roquan Smith of the Bears look like second-tier players. It doesn’t hurt that he has 4.4 speed either. He is the key to the game IMO.