The Green Bay Packers put together their first winning streak of the season after beating the St. Louis Rams 30-20 Sunday afternoon.
Aaron Rodgers and the offense continued to roll, as Rodgers racked up 342 yards passing and had three touchdowns on the day. Randall Cobb had two receiving touchdowns and Jordy Nelson had 122 yards on only eight catches and added a touchdown as well.
The Packers took a 7-3 lead on the Rams with about five minutes to go in the first quarter and immediately looked for more. On the ensuing kickoff the Packers recovered an onside kick attempt and drove down the field and added a field goal.
Tensions were high at half time as the Packers only had a 10-6 lead and the Rams were really controlling the game as they held on to the ball and kept the Packers offense off the field.
That all changed in the third quarter.
Green Bay received the ball to start the second half and proceeded to march down the field and Rodgers completed his first touchdown pass to Cobb on the day. The Packers dominated the third quarter, holding the Rams to only seven plays of offense and -7 yards of offense.
Steven Jackson’s first rushing touchdown of the year cut the Packers lead to seven in the early parts of the fourth quarter, but the Packers answered quickly, scoring ten unanswered points and put the game out of reach for the Rams.
The Packers defense looked good to go with the great performance by the Packers offense. The Rams moved the ball well but didn’t get it into the endzone, which resulted in them settling for field goals, giving the Packers a chance to score touchdowns and put the game away.
Casey Hayward, staring for injured Sam Shields, recorded his third interception in four games when he picked off Rams quarterback, Sam Bradford.
It was a solid performance from a defensive unit that was missing four of its starting players.
Overall it was a good game for the Packers. The Rams did their best to keep the Packers powerful offense off the field, but it wasn’t enough. The Packers offense looks like it is fully back and the defense is playing well despite all the injuries. Randall Cobb looks to have fully become a versatile weapon for the Packers and should only get better as the year goes on.
From here the Packers finally head back home to play the Jacksonville Jaguars next Sunday at noon.
Five things we learned from today
- The offense is indeed, back – Last week the Packers offense looked like last year’s offense. This week it was much of the same. It seems safe to say that whatever issues the Packers had with their offense, they have worked out and all is back to normal.
- The defense should improve – The Packers are dealing with a lot of injuries on the defense. Once all those guys come back the overall defense play should be even better. It also means the Packers have very solid backups, who fans know will perform well once they come into the game.
- Randall Cobb is the Packers wildcard on offense – It seems Cobb has found a way to stay in the starting lineup for offense and that is because he does a little of everything. He returns kicks, plays wide receiver and also runs the ball a couple of times. As Cobb continues to grow, he should only get better and become even more of a threat.
- Jordy Nelson fits well as the number one receiver – With Greg Jennings out, it was up to Nelson to assume the role as Rodgers number one receiver. He has stepped up in a big way and has had back-to-back great games. He continues to make plays whenever the Packers need them.
- The Rams may have just started a trend – Its surprising teams haven’t really tried this before but look for teams to try and drain the clock and keep the Packers offense off the field. Now that the Packers are back to putting up a bunch of points per game, most teams won’t be able to hang with them so the best way to slow them down is give them less chances to score. More teams will probably give this method a shot as the season goes on.
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