The Green Bay Packers beat the Los Angeles Rams 24-19, but they looked out of sorts throughout the first half. Without Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson, it felt logical that they would run the ball often to start the game. Green Bay is second in the NFL in total rushing yards, with 698 entering the game, behind only the Baltimore Ravens.
Green Bay did run the ball effectively in the first quarter, generating solid gains to open up the passing game. Shortly thereafter, Jordan Love hit Jayden Reed for a 53-yard strike.
That set up a one-yard touchdown run for Josh Jacobs, the first of his career with the Pack.
The Packers moved the ball 96 yards in nine plays and took 5:05 off the clock.
But outside of that drive, they struggled to move the ball in the first half. Excluding the touchdown drive, the Packers had five other possessions in the first 30 minutes. Those led to three three-and-outs, an interception returned for a score, and a field goal to end the half. They also didn’t convert a single first down on five attempts during the first half.
It was frustrating because Love and the offense showed that they have the talent and the ability to move the ball down the field methodically, but they could not execute. It was confounding why they went into halftime only leading the Rams 13-10.
With both of their top two receivers out, why didn’t the Packers run the ball, given how well Josh Jacobs has played all year? Jacobs only had nine carries for 47 yards in the first half, averaging a robust 5.1 yards per carry. It looked like Matt LaFleur abandoned the running game after Green Bay got their first score, but they got it going again right before halftime.
But things immediately looked different on both sides of the ball in the second half.
On the fifth play of LA’s opening drive, Kingsley Enagbare forced a fumble that Xavier McKinney recovered, forcing a turnover on Los Angeles’ first possession of the second half. Green Bay converted that turnover into points two plays later when Tucker Kraft caught a Love’s pass in the middle of the field and ran it 50 yards for the score to take the lead 17-13.
Following that touchdown, the Rams responded by turning the ball over again. Stafford threw another interception to McKinney, giving him five interceptions in five games with the Packers.
Green Bay took advantage of that turnover again by converting it into six points. Tucker Kraft caught the touchdown to put the points on the board and extend Green Bay’s lead, 24-13.
At this point, Green Bay had forced turnovers on both of Los Angeles’ first two drives in the second half and scored touchdowns on each one. The Packers came out of the locker room and immediately set the tone after a sloppy first half.
However, the Packers didn’t score for the test of the game. They also let the Rams back into the game. L.A. scored a one-yard touchdown pass to Demarcus Robinson to make the score 24-19 with 3:30 seconds left to go.
The Rams forced Green Bay to punt after only four plays, but the defense stood strong and stopped the Rams to win the game 24-19.
They need to utilize the running game more and take pressure off of Jordan Love. With the top two receivers out, Josh Jacobs needs to be getting around 25 carries per game, he only had 19 against the Rams.
Green Bay should be able to air the ball out again when Doubs and Watson return. However, they shouldn’t abandon the run game, which has given them consistency all year — when they’ve taken advantage of it.
