Green Bay Packers

2 Packers Dreams and 1 Rams Nightmare

Photo Credit: Jeffrey Becker (USA TODAY Sports)

One of the spotlight matchups in Week 12 will feature the Green Bay Packers and the Los Angeles Rams. Both teams have their sights set on a division crown and a potential first-round bye in the NFC.

Here are two Green Bay dreams and one LA nightmare for Sunday’s game at Lambeau Field.

Green Bay’s offense picks up right where it left off against Minnesota

Something happened in the second half of Green Bay’s game against the Minnesota Vikings last week. In a rare display this year, the offense showed glimpses of the unit that took the league for a ride last season.

Green Bay scored a touchdown on every second-half drive. With those drives came plenty of big plays down the field — the kind of plays have been eluding the offense this year for one reason or another.

In the best-case scenario, this was the offense finally returning to the rhythm they found last year. Even if that’s the case, they’ll have their hands full against a stout LA defense. However, as we saw a year ago, the Packers’ offense can stampede through anyone when they get momentum.

If they can find that happy balance of running and passing and have success in both areas, Matt LaFleur will be smiling from ear to ear.

Expecting this year’s offense to be what they were last year just because they brought almost everyone back now was foolish in hindsight. A year ago, the offense was putting up video games numbers. If they can just reach that level a little more frequently, as they did against Minnesota last week, this team becomes lethal entering the postseason.

Fingers have been crossed in the great state of Wisconsin that the offense seen in the second half last week against Minnesota is a sign of things to come and not a one-game wonder scenario.

Yosh Nijman fills in without a hiccup

David Bakhtiari still isn’t back at left tackle for Green Bay. Elgton Jenkins, who was playing left tackle at a top-tier level all year, tore his ACL last week. In steps Yosh Nijman to protect Rodgers’ blindside.

The 6’7″, 315 lb. tackle has started three games already this year for the Packers when Jenkins was nicked up early on. He was outstanding in those starts. It’ll be a different kind of test this Sunday when he goes up against LA’s defensive front that has both Von Miller and Aaron Donald ready to tee off.

If Nijman can perform similarly this time around while Green Bay awaits the pending return of Bakhtiari, it will be more than a dream scenario for the Packers. It will give them flexibility in the future, knowing they have another solid option up front.

The offensive line is reeling with injuries, and the hope is that Nijman can plug back in and play the way he did early in the season in his spot starts. It’s fair to think that this game between the Packers and Rams on Sunday will come down to how well Green Bay can protect Rodgers and neutralize LA’s vaunted pass rush.

The Rams figure it out coming out of the bye

It was NOT pretty for the Rams leading into their bye week. Losses to the Tennessee Titans and San Francisco 49ers in back-to-back weeks was a clear signal that it was a perfect time for a few days off. The nightmare scenario for the Packers is that the extra prep time was used for Matthew Stafford to go over the film and start to limit the turnovers again. He had four interceptions in LA’s last two games.

It’s also a nightmare scenario that the off week gave Miller and Odell Beckham Jr. time to become more familiarized with the playbook.

The Rams are an excellent team; nobody doubts that. The question is: Have they salted over the issues that arose in the last two games before their bye, or will Green Bay continue to expose some of those lapses? It could be a long day for the Packers if the Rams come out firing, especially on the defensive side.

The Packers’ defense gave up 34 points to Kirk Cousins and the Vikings a week ago after Joe Barry’s group had played at an elite level for over a month. Green Bay will hope that isn’t the start of their own trend in the wrong direction.

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