Packerlifer
Cheesehead
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2008
- Messages
- 1,782
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Last winter when the schedule came out and we saw St.Louis on the Packers' Week 3 game most of us probably smiled as he put a "W" by that one; right after the "W" we expected to hang on the Cincinnati game at Lambeau in Week 2. Well, we didn't get that "W" in Game 2 and I'm not so sure we'll get it this week either the way the Packers are playing in the first two weeks of the season. Their offensive line and safety areas are in crisis or very close to it. The running game is stuck, the passing attack is out of sync, there's nothing special about our special teams and there's questions about whether our defensive front seven can stop the run and pressure the opposition qb. Now the Packers go on the road to a dome game, on artificial turf; a setting in which they've traditionally struggled. The Rams are coming off a close loss at Washington last week; similarly the Bengals came to Green Bay off a close loss the previous week, as well. It's the home opener for the Rams and the regular season debut there of their rookie head coach Steve Spagnuolo. The same Spagnuolo who 21 month ago, as def. coordinator of the Giants, designed and executed a stopping defense that denied the Packers their first Super Bowl appearance in 10 years in the NFC Championship Game at Green Bay. The same Spagnuolo who worked for years in Philadelphia under the late Jim Johnson in one of the defenses that has most given the Packers fits for years. The Bengals' Cedric Benson gashed the Packers for 140 yds. on the ground last Sunday. St.Louis' elite back Steven Jackson should be capable of doing at least that, if the Packers play that way again. The Rams averaged 6 yds. per carry last week against the stout Redskins defense on the road. St.Louis has 2 first round draft picks, including a number one overall, on its d-line. The way Packers tackles have made Antwan Odom and Adawale Ogunleye look like Reggie White and Bruce Smith the past 2 games there could be a big day coming for Chris Long, Adam Carriker, Leonard Little, Victor Adenyanju and Clifton Ryan who are the Rams' defensive front. Marc Bulger is a former Pro Bowl qb who has declined due to injuries and playing with poor teams in recent years. Say, didn't they say something similar last week about Carson Palmer? Last week the Bengals sat their first round draft pick Andre Smith due to injury but a shuffled line-up still handled the Packers' defensive front. This week the Rams will sit their first round draft pick Jason Smith but don't think what the Rams have left may not surprise as well. Several former Packers are on the Rams roster now and may like to make some plays just to give the Pack second thoughts about giving up on them. WR Ruvell Martin, S Anthony Smith, LB Paris Lenon, RB Samkon Gado may have a little revenge incentive to play with. St.Louis may be 0-2 but are feeling better about their winlessness at this point than the Packers should about their 1-1. They were statistically dominated in Washington last week but never let the Redskins cross the goal line and lost by only 2 points. The Packers were lucky they didn't lose by an even bigger margin than 7. This game can no longer be treated as a presumptive "W" for the Packers. They are going to have to play better than they have in either game this season so far. Much better. Like about a hundred percent better.