Entering this season, despite a departed Aaron Rodgers, people looked at the Packers schedule and determined that it was a “weak” one and suited for a first-year starter with a generally seen to be a good defense, a decent run game and two wide receivers who a HOF quarterback made look like playmakers in their rookie seasons (Watson and Doubs), and could have done better if he had actually gave a damn in training camp. After a promising couple of games gave people a notion that Jordan Love had something more than “potential,” other teams figured him out and his “game” went “south.”
The guy who made the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=LY0rPTVx0kg suggested that the Jordan Love Experiment was a “shit show" and pointed out many flaws in his game, particularly footwork and “technique,” such as it was. Love had a habit of hopping around and not setting his feet or eyes before throwing the ball; others have pointed out that Love has an incomprehensible habit of “fading” or moving sideways when it was completely unnecessary, leading to off-target throws. Love’s second and third reads were practically non-existent, and suggestions that the offensive line improving only means that Love would have more time to make bad decisions.
Nevertheless, the Packers entered the game against the Rams in what should be one of those “winnable” games, with Matthew Stafford out of the line-up with an injured thumb, replaced by Brett Rypien for whom the fact that he has more “experience” insofar as game play is concerned only suggests that he is a backup for a reason, and in this game two fumbles in the first quarter, the second leading to a short-field touchdown for the Packers on a suddenly rejuvenated Aaron Jones touchdown run, was what one was expecting all season against relatively mediocre opposition.
But that only masked the Packers continuing offensive inefficiency, as that was all the offense the Packers managed in the first half after Anders Carlson missed a field goal try at the end of the half, and the Packers only took a 7-3 lead into the second half thanks to Rams offense with an even worse quarterback. The Packers managed 90 yards on the ground to offset only 68 yards passing from Love. Nevertheless going into the half with a lead at all had to be considered a “positive” at this point, and there was no reason to believe that the Rams were going to score two second half touchdowns as the Vikings did with a yet uninjured Kirk Cousins leading the way.
And yes, the Rams offensive incompetence continued with Rypien, and while there is reason to believe that a healthy Stafford would have long since torn this game wide-open as the Packers obligingly gave up the ball on two fumbles, he wasn't, the result of which meant the Rams were unable to convert those fumbles into anything useful. Not that the Packers showed much themselves offensively in the second half (besides the fumbles), managing two field goals in two red zone opportunities before scoring a touchdown as the game was winding down on a pass to Musgrave after Watson gained 37 yards on a third down play; you had the feeling that this Rams’ defense had just given up, its offense managing just 160 yards up to that point.
So what do we take away from the Packers “impressive” 20-3 win over a Staffordless Rams team that had played reasonable competitive football until last week’s blowout loss to the Cowboys? Love didn’t throw any interceptions, but we can speculate that he wasn’t under any “pressure” to make dumb throws in this game. His 100+ QB rating was aided immeasurably by two late throws of 60 yards combined with a touchdown pass when the game was already out of reach of the incompetent Rams offense.
Of course we have been "fooled" before, and the game result likely would have been much different if Stafford was playing to take advantage of three quarters of relative offensive ineptitude by the Packers, which would then likely have forced Love into "bad decision" mode.
The Packers finished the game outgaining the Rams 391-187, the Rams managing just 10 first downs. So the principle takeaway from this game is that the Packer defense was able to dominate a hapless Rams offense without its best player, and the Packers offense did all it needed to do; but only 20 points when they gained a season high in yardage isn't that "impressive." Bottom line, this game only proved that the Packers won a game they should have been expected to win.
Next week the Packers play a Steelers team on the road that actually has a winning record. I suppose if this winds up in the loss column it shouldn’t come as a shock; the only caveat is that Steelers’ defense isn’t particularly good and its offense isn’t particularly explosive. What the Steelers are good at is forcing turnovers, with a league-leading 16 takeaways after last Thursday night’s game against the Titans. If it comes down to playing under “pressure,” we may see more of the usual from Love, but who knows; maybe today’s win will provide one of those “confidence” boosts.
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