Zielinski: Packers are catching Rams at the right time
By AN ZIEINSKI
The Packers are desperate for a victory. They are in the midst of a disappointing season, riding a three-game losing streak.
While most anticipated the Packers (2-5) to experience some adversity this season, the expectation was for them to be competitive, even with the league’s youngest roster.
Now, seven games through the season, so many question marks surround the Packers. They will try to right the ship today against the Los Angeles Rams (3-5).
The Packers will likely catch a break against the Rams, who are in the midst of a two-game losing streak. Quarterback Matthew Stafford is dealing with a sprained UCL in his right thumb, and he’s questionable to play against the Packers. If he can’t go, QB Brett Rypien will start for the Rams.
Rypien has played in nine games during his four-year NFL career. He has struggled in his limited action, throwing four touchdowns and eight interceptions. The Packers must generate pressure against Rypien and force him to make quick decisions.
The Packers need to fix many areas if they want to defeat the Rams. Matt LaFleur has to do a better job of calling plays, QB Jordan Love can’t force the ball into tight coverage, the receivers can’t continue to drop passes, and the offensive line needs to do a better job in run and pass blocking.
The Packers have a lot of areas where they need to improve. Luckily for their sake, they face a beatable opponent.
With Stafford unlikely to play, the Packers need to put the pieces together on both sides of the ball and claim a much-needed victory.
rediction: Packers 30, Rams 23
By GERY WOELFEL
By all accounts, the Green Bay Packers are a bad team right now.
One only has to look at their 2-5 record to support that statement.
But if there’s a silver lining to the Packers’ disappointing start to this season, it’s this: There are a host of “bad’’ teams besides them.
If you peruse the NFL standings, you’ll discover there are two teams with fewer wins than the Packers – Carolina and Arizona each with one – and there are two other teams – Chicago and New England – who have the same number of wins as Green Bay.
Scan the standings further and you’ll notice there are a lot – repeat, a lot – of teams have just one more victory than the Packers. In fact, there are nine teams that have just one more win than the Packers.
Those teams are Tampa Bay, Houston, the Los Angles Chargers, the Los Angeles Rams, Washington, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Tennessee and Denver.
Do the math and there are a whopping 15 teams – or virtually half the league – which are in the same dark space as the Packers.
And we haven’t even reached the midway point of the 17-game season. The Packers still have 10 regular-season games remaining.
Combining those 10 remaining games with so many other teams being in the same boat as the the Packers, is it absurd to think the Packers could still sneak into the playoffs and secure the last wild-card spot?
Heading into Sunday’s game against the Rams, the Packers are just two .games behind New Orleans and Minnesota for the seventh-best record – and last wild-card.
Minnesota could be in serious trouble as their standout quarterback Kirk Cousins is likely out for the season after tearing his Achilles last Sunday against the Packers. As for New Orleans, it has lost two of its last three games and four of its last six.
It goes without saying the Packers face a daunting challenge to make the playoffs, but are their insurmountable?
We’ll find out much more about hed coach Matt LaFleur’s team today when the Packers host the Rams at Lambeau Field. A win keeps the Packers in the playoff mix. A loss? Well, Packer Nation then can start in earnest working on its mock draft.
Prediction: Packers 27, Rams 20
