Packer Central

Packers-Rams: Three Reasons to Believe

The Green Bay Packers will battle the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. Even without two of their best receivers, here are three reasons why the Packers will win.

Bill Huber

Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers will face the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday at SoFi Stadium.
Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers will face the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday at SoFi Stadium. / William Glasheen/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images
In this story:

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers won’t have two of their best receivers. The Los Angeles Rams won’t have their two All-Pro receivers.

Advantage, Green Bay?

Here are three reasons why the Packers will get back on track by beating the Rams on Sunday.

1. No Weapons for Stafford

Playing without Jaire Alexander and Carrington Valentine last week, the Packers couldn’t handle Sam Darnold throwing passes to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison at Lambeau Field.

Imagine dealing with Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua with a shorthanded secondary.

Alexander and Valentine are questionable for Sunday but Kupp, the 2021 All-Pro when he won the Triple Crown with 145 receptions, 1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns, is out and Nacua, who was second-team All-Pro last year as a rookie, is on injured reserve.

Stafford is one of the all-time greats – “first-ballot Hall of Famer,” as defensive line coach Jason Rebrovich put it this week – but he’ll be throwing passes to rookie Jordan Whittington, former second-round pick Tutu Atwell and Demarcus Robinson.

It’s not exactly the same as facing the All-Pro Jefferson and the 2023 first-round pick Addison. Whittington was a sixth-round pick in this year’s draft. Atwell, a former second-round pick, is in his fourth season and didn’t reach 1,000 career receiving yards until last week. The 30-year-old Robinson is in his ninth season and never reached 500 receiving yards in a season.

Stafford is Stafford. As is the case with any great quarterback, he is the rising tide that lifts all boats.

“That’s tough when you lose your top two guys and two guys that are premier receivers in this league, but they still got the guy delivering the football that’s one of the best in the business,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said.

“Matthew Stafford, got so much respect for him and what he’s able to accomplish. He can make any throw. He’s tougher than crap. He can stand in there, he can take a beating. We have to make sure we get after him as best we can.”

Stafford moved into 10th place on the all-time passing list last week. In the Rams’ only home game of the season, he rallied them from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to shock the 49ers.

However, without Kupp, Nacua, tight end Tyler Higbee and two starting offensive linemen, the Packers should win this matchup – even if Alexander misses another game.

2. No Defense for Love

Christian Watson is doubtful with an ankle injury and almost certainly won’t play. Romeo Doubs, as reported by Packers On SI, skipped practice on Thursday and Friday and was suspended.

Still, the Packers should be able to make plays through the air against a Rams defense that ranks 32nd in yards allowed per attempt and 31st in opponent passer rating.

Coming off a huge fourth quarter, Jordan Love should have opportunities to get hot.

“They’ve got a good defense,” Love said. “It’s something that we are familiar with. The style of defense is what our defense was running the past couple years. We’ve seen them a lot and they’ve got some good guys on defense, (but) I think we’ll be able to put a good game plan together and be able to take advantage of some of the stuff they do.”

Nobody has been able to stop receiver Jayden Reed, who entered Week 5 ranked sixth in the NFL in receiving yards. And nobody has been able to cover Dontayvion Wicks, who is No. 1 in the league in beating man coverage, according to Pro Football Focus. Bo Melton, who has the elite speed to fill Watson’s role, and Malik Heath are no slouches.

“We got some players on the team, man,” Wicks said. “We want to work for each other. We want to help each other get big plays like that. We do it in practice. You see it every day. It’s not a surprise to us.

“We all trust each other, got that connection and we know we’re going to make those plays.”

The Rams will get a lift with the return of cornerback Darious Williams, who suffered a hamstring injury in July. The 31-year-old started for the Rams in 2020 and 2021 and the Jaguars in 2022 and 2023. He was phenomenal last season with four interceptions and 19 passes defensed.

“Experience, confidence, production when he’s played,” Rams coach Sean McVay told reporters this week. “So, all of those things are reasons why we were so excited to be able to get him back. (He’s) got a great concept trigger, just a natural feel. Certain guys have a knack for being able to get their hands on the ball if those opportunities present themselves. So, we’re excited.”

Love threw three interceptions against the Vikings. The Rams only have one, and that player (safety John Johnson) is on injured reserve.

3. Jacobs Ready to Rumble

Entering last week’s game against the Rams, Bears running back D’Andre Swift was averaging less than 2 yards per carry. Against the Rams, he rushed for 93 yards on a 5.8-yard clip and added seven receptions for 72 more yards.

Could a breakout game be awaiting Josh Jacobs?

After a workhorse 32-carry day against the Colts in Week 2, Jacobs had a light workload against the Titans (with the Packers up big) and Vikings (with the Packers down big). So, he should be fresh and ready to rumble against a porous Rams defense.

“He’s obviously a guy that we want to feed as much as possible because, as you’ve seen as games go on, he just keeps getting better and better,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said.

Los Angeles ranks 28th with 4.98 yards allowed per carry. It allowed 163 rushing yards to Detroit, 231 vs. Arizona, 137 vs. San Francisco and 131 vs. Chicago.

Safety Quentin Lake leads the team with 37 tackles, and linebackers Troy Reeder and Christian Rozenboom have 33.

“They’ve given up some rushing yards but they play hard, they pursue to the ball, they come to the ball,” Jacobs said. “They play their big guys up front and they trust their second-level guys to make plays. So, we’ll see how it goes.”

Jacobs, who is seventh in rushing yards, has not scored in four games this season. It’s the longest in-season streak of his career.

“I don’t think I’m getting impatient with it. I know it’s coming,” Jacobs said. “It’s more so the guys around the building. They’re like, ‘Man, you’ve got to get one!’ Everybody’s waiting for me to get one. Hopefully, we get one this week.”

More Green Bay Packers News

Packers suspend Romeo Doubs | Packers-Rams: Five keys | Packers-Rams final injury report | NFC North power rankings and previews | Reintroducing Colby Wooden | Jayden Reed chasing NFL history | Packers among favorites to acquire All-Pro | Jordan Love struggled under pressure | Brayden Narveson remains confident | Packers dodge bullet with Christian Watson | Davante Adams next-team odds | Packers-Rams: What channel and what to know | What’s next at kicker after workouts? | On SI NFL power rankings | Consensus NFL power rankings | Packers at Rams matchups

Published |Modified
Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.