The Green Bay Packers used an early touchdown from Josh Jacobs, a second-half surge fueled by two Xavier McKinney takeaways and two Tucker Kraft touchdowns and a late defensive stop to take down the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday at SoFi Stadium.
The win was Green Bay’s first against an NFC opponent and improved the Packers to 3-2 overall after five weeks. Matt LaFleur’s team hosts the Arizona Cardinals next week.
Here are three takeaways from the Packers’ win over the Rams:
1. Offense remains explosive but inconsistent
The Packers gained 187 of their 323 total yards on seven explosive plays — a 66-yard catch by Tucker Kraft, a 53-yard catch by Jayden Reed, a 21-yard catch by Josh Jacobs, runs of 11 and 13 yards by Jacobs, an 11-yard run by Reed and a 12-yard scramble by Jordan Love. Explosive plays have been common for the Packers — they came into Week 5 ranked first in total number of catches of 20 or more yards and runs of 10 or more yards. But the down to down consistency needs to improve. Despite four explosive runs, the Packers still only averaged 4.2 yards per carry. Love averaged only 4.4 yards per attempt on his other 24 attempts not including the 66-yarder to Kraft and 53-yarder to Reed. Dontayvion Wicks isn’t finishing catches. Reed had a drop on third down. The Packers had three false start penalties. Love was sacked twice, including once on third down, and had a fumble out of bounds losing yards. The offense feels close to breaking out in a big way, but consistency — the difference between good and great — is proving to be a tall final hurdle.
2. Defensive front must be better
To truly be championship worthy, the Packers defensive front must awaken from an early season slumber. Matthew Stafford ended up being sacked three times, and pressure from Edgerrin Cooper helped get the Packers off the field on the game-deciding fourth down, but the front hasn’t looked consistently disruptive outside of one half in Tennessee. More and more, Jeff Hafley is having to bring extra defenders to create pressure, and the four-man rush is ending in too many quarterbacks throwing from clean pockets. The Rams were short-handed at receiver and couldn’t consistently take advantage. But most good teams will — and the Packers have plans for playing big games against good teams in January. Rashan Gary didn’t have a quarterback hit and was mostly quietly again Sunday. He needs a breakout, and soon.
3. Never undersell a road win
Pick apart this win if you will, but there’s nothing easy about winning on the road in the NFL, especially when your team is working through a substantial mid-week distraction (Romeo Doubs suspension) and battling a lengthy injury list. The Rams were down several key contributors, but Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford won a Super Bowl together, and the Rams are rapidly improving on the offensive and defensive lines. The Packers were admittedly sloppy, especially in the first half and even late, but Matt LaFleur’s team made enough plays to win the game. There’s something to be said about going on the road and winning when you don’t have your best stuff. Think about games in Atlanta or Las Vegas or Denver early last year. All close losses. The Packers are building toward their best football, clearly, but winning along the journey sure helps.
Other tidbits: Rookie kicker Brayden Narveson made a 46-yard field goal, temporarily lowering the temperature on his hot seat…In place of Devonte Wyatt, second-year defensive lineman Karl Brooks produced 1.5 sacks, plus a pressure on Xavier McKinney’s interception…Tucker Kraft chewed up yards after the catch, and you wonder if the Packers might consider building more of the passing game around his elite trait…Rookie linebacker Edgerrin Cooper is a big-time blitzing threat, especially on stunts where he can use his elite athleticism to get around the corner and close on the quarterback…The Packers won the turnover battle for the fourth time in five weeks.