As faint snow flurries began to fall late in the first quarter at Lambeau Field, the Packers offensive line, which is missing All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari due to injury, began to dominate the line of scrimmage. Packers running back Jamaal Williams burst through gaping holes, running for 17 yards on three consecutive plays and Aaron Jones adding 11 yards on two rushes.
Green Bay then benefited from a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty on Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald who got into a snarling tussle after a play. Four running plays set up a play-action fake in the backfield and quick throw to Davante Adams for a 1-yard touchdown pass that gave the Packers a 10-3 lead. In one of the featured one-on-one battles of the game, Adams beat the Rams top cornerback, Jalen Ramsey, on the play. After the whistle, Ramsey seemed annoyed at teammate Nick Scott for impeding his path to covering Adams.
Stealing a tactic from the Packers, the Rams unleashed their no-huddle offense on their second possession of the game with immediate success. With the Green Bay defense retreating, quarterback Jared Goff fit some precise passes in small windows over the middle of the field. First, Goff connected with wide receiver Josh Reynolds for 28 yards and, on a similar route, Robert Woods caught a 19-yard pass.
Goff was 4 of 5 for 51 yards on the Rams’ 8-play, 62-yard FG drive.
— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) January 16, 2021
Those gains set up a fourth-and-1 for the Rams at the Packers’ 11-yard line and Los Angeles chose to go for it (perhaps recognizing that Green Bay had the league’s highest scoring offense.) But a false start penalty on both Rams guards forced them to settle for a 37-yard field goal by Matt Gay that tied the game at 3-3.
The Packers advanced inside the Rams’ 20-yard line on their opening drive but had to settle for a 24-yard Mason Crosby field goal. The key play of the drive was a 27-yard pass from Aaron Rodgers to Equanimeous St. Brown when the Packers used their no huddle offense to catch the Rams defense unprepared and still moving to get set before the snap. In fact, the Rams ended up with 12 players on the field.
But despite a first-and-goal at the Rams 4-yard line, Green Bay lost a yard in three plays — two of them incomplete passes — to set up Crosby’s field goal.
The Rams-Packers game features several matchups of strength against strength, both teamwide and among individual players. One of the most anticipated, between Packers receiver Davante Adams and Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey, turned chippy in pregame warm-ups.
Ramsey and Adams traded barbs as Adams was on the turf at Lambeau Field and Ramsey watched from the sideline. Adams had to be walked back toward Green Bay’s side of the field by Packers staffers.
How much Ramsey can inhibit Adams, who had 115 receptions in the regular season, figures to be a key to the outcome.
Saturday will be the Rams’ first playoff game at Lambeau Field, although not their first postseason game in Wisconsin.
On Dec. 23, 1967, Green Bay defeated the Rams at Milwaukee’s County Stadium, 28-7. It was the first of three Packers postseason victories that season, the last being a 33-14 rout of the Oakland Raiders in the second Super Bowl.
The Rams and Packers have met in the playoffs only one other time, on Jan. 20, 2002, when the Rams were in St. Louis. Playing at home, the Rams won easily, 45-17, with quarterback Kurt Warner outperforming his counterpart Brett Favre, who threw six interceptions. Those Rams advanced to the Super Bowl and were upset 20-17 by the New England Patriots, the first Super Bowl championship in the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick era.
Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff, who will be making his first start since having surgery on his right thumb on Dec. 28, was wearing gloves on both hands in warm-ups before Saturday’s game against Green Bay at Lambeau Field.
Temperatures at game time in central Wisconsin are predicted to be not much more than 30 degrees. Goff, who was raised in the California Bay Area and played collegiately at Cal-Berkeley, does not have extensive experience performing in cold weather and passers often opt to wear thin, tacky gloves since the football can get slick as the thermometer drops. But some quarterbacks find the gloves distracting.
Goff at times seemed to be struggling to grip the football during the Rams’ 30-20 defeat of Seattle last weekend in the wild-card round. Goff did not start that game, but replaced John Wolford when he left the game in the first quarter with injury and completed 9 of 19 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown.