There’s more than two ways to build a football team but a couple on display Sunday evening at Lambeau Field proved the Fantasy Football approach doesn’t guarantee anything. The Green Bay Packers, perceived by many as adopting a boring draft and develop philosophy, conservatively signing mid-level or even practice squad free agents, have been a consistent winner for years. The Rams, based in glitzy Los Angeles, have taken the splashy approach. They’ve mortgaged future drafts by acquiring star talent like Jalen Ramsey, then Matthew Stafford and most recently, Von Miller and Odell Beckham Jr. believing that will propel them to Super Bowl LVI at their very own SoFi Stadium in February. A funny thing happened on the way to the playoffs as the Packers, forced to play role players all over the field as home underdogs, got the better of the “all-in” Rams 36-28 to finally reach their bye week with an impressive 9-3 record.
Without Pro Bowl talent David Bakhtiari, Elgton Jenkins, Jaire Alexander, Za’Darius Smith and front liners like Bobby Tonyan, Josh Myers and Kevin King, the Packers trotted out third string left tackle Yosh Nijman, an undrafted free agent and cornerback Rasul Douglas, a veteran given up on by Philadelphia and Carolina and plucked off the Arizona practice squad. They both came up big in one of the biggest wins of the year.
Nijman held his own against the formidable Rams front and Douglas made the game sealing play on defense, intercepting the celebrated Stafford and returning it 33 yards for a touchdown to build Green Bay’s lead to 36-17 late in the third quarter.
Aaron Rodgers, playing a third straight game with a fractured pinkie toe on his left foot, and without practice for weeks, threw for 307 yards and two touchdowns and even opened the scoring by scooting past Ramsey on a one yard run. He found Randall Cobb from 7 yards out that capped the receiver’s 4 catch, 95 yard first half. He suffered a groin injury but did not return. Cobb is yet another role player, brought back on Rodgers’ request that has paid big dividends all year.
The second scoring pass went to A.J. Dillon, last year’s second round pick who has become the lead back with Aaron Jones sidelined with a sprained MCL. While Jones got back on the field Sunday, he was limited to 10 carries for 23 yards. Dillon meanwhile, pounded out 69 yards on 20 bruising rush attempts and caught five passes including the 5 yard touchdown that capped the opening drive of the third quarter.
Rodgers said the toe held up fine until late in the game and now that the bye week is at hand, he’ll meet with the medical staff to consider continued rest and treatment or perhaps, corrective surgery.
Given time to throw by the patchwork offensive line, Rodgers completed 28 of 45 passes, including 8 to Davante Adams for 104 yards while getting sacked but one when he scrambled up the middle and actually got back to the line of scrimmage. Green Bay wound up with 399 yards of total offense and controlled the clock for a season best 39:40.
As for the defense, coming off a rough day against Minnesota, they came up with big takeaways in each half. Rashan Gary, back from an elbow injury, punched the ball out of Stafford’s hand and Preston Smith covered the fumble that set up the first of Mason Crosby’s 3 field goals for a 10-0 advantage. Late in the third quarter, Douglas jumped a Cooper Kupp route to pick off Stafford and produce points. Playing with a light box and rarely blitzing, the front kept the L.A. run game in check allowing 68 yards with a long rush of 7. They also got to Stafford twice for sacks, Gary’s strip sack early and Kenny Clark with one late but pressure was consistent throughout forcing errant throws. With 6 and mostly 7 dropping in coverage, Kupp never made a big play. Van Jefferson and Beckham Jr. did however as Stafford hit Jefferson behind Chandon Sullivan for a 79 yard touchdown for the first points, and OBJ got past Douglass on a 54 yard scoring bomb in the 4th quarter that kept the game interesting. Take out the 133 yards on those two snaps and the defense gave up 220 yards on L.A.’s other 59 offensive plays.
It was an emotional effort for the unit coordinated by Joe Barry who served as the Rams linebackers coach the past four years.
Another ex-Ram, punter Corey Bojorquez, outkicked his mentor Johnny Hekker on a windy afternoon.
The Packers only other miscues came on special teams. Cobb, replacing Amari Rodgers as the punt returner, surprisingly muffed a kick that led to an L.A. field goal and after hitting three straight field goals, Crosby found the left upright yet again on a 42 yard attempt.
But considering just how weary the team was with it’s 12th consecutive game, Head Coach Matt LaFleur’s post game comments was all about resiliency once again.
No matter how a team is built, it’s obviously a big benefit having an elite quarterback. But Rodgers has had to battle not only the broken toe and a bout with COVID in helping Green Bay inch closer to a third straight NFC North Division title. Even he is amazed just how important the seemingly afterthought role players have become on this year’s team which still has room to improve and get healthier.
Aside from Cobb’s groin pull, there didn’t appear to be any other new, significant injuries. Darnell Savage took a wicked hit on the last ditch onside kick from the Rams that Adrian Amos covered up. Savage tweeted after the game he’ll be fine.
The inactive players were King, Bakhtiari, Vernon Scott, Malik Taylor and Jack Heflin.
The Packers went 4-0 against teams from the NFC West this season. Matt LaFleur is now 9-0 after regular season losses.
At halftime, the Packers celebrated the Hall of Fame career of Charles Woodson.
David Baker presented Woodson with the Hall of Fame ring and Charles’ name was unveiled on Lambeau Field’s ring of honor saluting the other 24 Packers who have been enshrined in Canton. Woodson addressed the crowd and said, “I played seven years here and now I’ll be here forever.” Earlier this year, Woodson got the same treatment from the Raiders where he both started and ended his career but it was in Green Bay where Sir Charles became a Super Bowl champion.
