🏈ON TO THE NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: PACK OVERPOWERS RAMS 32-18 @ LAMBEAU! — “O Line” Shines In Mauling “#1 Defense”
By Paul Wickham Schmidt
Courtside Exclusive
Jan. 17, 2021. The Green Bay Packers left no doubt in the perhaps overhyped “battle” between the #1 offense and the #1 defense. Likely NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, laying an impressive “juke” in a hapless L.A. Rams’ defender in the process, as the Pack rolled.
Led by running backs Aaron Jones, Jamaal Williams, and AJ Dillon, the Pack gashed the Rams’ D for 188 yards on the ground, on the way to 488 yards of total offense. The defense sacked Rams’ QB Jared Goff four times and generally held the Rams’ offense in check when it counted.
The Rams basically were playing without their defensive leader and superstar Aaron Donald, ineffective in limited action (obviously should not have played at all) because of a previous injury. His only notable play was a really dumb 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that helped keep a Packer drive going in the first half. But, even a healthy Donald couldn’t have turned the tide on Saturday evening.
An under-touted aspect of the Pack’s dominating performance was the offensive line. They actually were without their best player, All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtairi. No matter! His replacement Billy Turner, Elgton Jenkins, one of the most versatile and underrated players in the league, and his buddies Corey Lindsey, Lucas Patrick, Rick Wagner, Mercedes Lewis, and Robert Tonyan dominated the Rams’ supposedly fearsome defense. Not only did they open big holes at the line of scrimmage for the running game, but also gave Rodgers spectacular protection.
AR has one of the “quickest releases” in football history. But, on Saturday he didn’t really need it. He had all day on most drop-backs. Indeed, except for a failed and flailing “jersey grab,” he was barely touched all night. And, when Rodgers has time, he almost never loses.
The Pack now needs to put this one behind them and concentrate on next week: The NFC Championship Game, one step from Rodgers’s second Super Bowl. Although the Pack also reached the championship game last season, they laid a big egg in getting literally run out of the stadium by San Francisco.
Interestingly, many, including me, thought at that point the Pack would have to do a major offseason “rebuild” to remain competitive with the 49ers and the other NFC “up and comers.” But, much to everyone’s surprise and consternation, the was no such “rebuild” during the offseason. Instead, in a highly controversial and much criticized move, the Pack drafted QB Jordan Love, in what was (wrongly) thought to be the “beginning of the end” for Rodgers in Green Bay.
What did happen, however, was that two of the “best minds in football” — Coach Matt LeFleur (28-7) and AR — sat down with the coaching staff over the winter and designed what is now the best and most feared offense in football — nearly unstoppable! (And we can’t forget wide receiver Devante Adams, whose amazing talent and unfailingly great instincts have made him and and Rodgers the most effective combination in football.)
Seems like the “pieces were there” all the time — it was the “melding of minds” between Rodgers and the coaching staff that was the “missing link.” Even the Pack defense, with most of the same players who too often came up short last year, is holding teams to under 20 points average over the last seven games — no mean feat an an offensive-minded league.
No matter who wins between the Saints and the Bucs this evening, the Pack will be facing a formidable challenge and a future Hall of Fame QB next week in Drew Brees (Saints) or Tom Brady (Bucs).
For the record, the Brady and the Bucs dominated the Pack earlier in the season in what was undoubtedly Green Bay’s worst outing. On the other hand, Rogers and the Pack narrowly out-dueled Brees and the Saints in a classic late-September showdown where both threw for three TDS.
But, this is January, where previous results don’t necessarily predict the future. It should be a great one at Lambeau next Sunday afternoon (projected 17-26 degrees with snow flurries).
Go Pack!