NFL DIVISIONAL ROUND PREVIEW: LOS ANGELES RAMS AT GREEN BAY PACKERS

BY ADAM GREENE

Our Saturday NFL Divisional round begins with the NFC’s No. 1 seed, the Green Bay Packers, hosting the NFL’s best defense in the Los Angeles Rams inside the not-so-icy confines of Lambeau Field. The forecast is calling for a downright balmy 35 degrees.

LOS ANGELES RAMS AT GREEN BAY PACKERS (-6.5, O/U: 45.5)

Location: Lambeau Field, Green Bay, Wisc.

Kickoff: Jan. 16, 4:35 p.m. EST

Broadcast: FOX

THE HISTORY

The Rams and Packers go back a long way, 1937 to be exact when the Los Angeles team played in Cleveland. Green Bay dominated the early match ups, going 12-1-1 until the Rams flipped the script in 1945. This will be the 96^th overall meeting between the two franchises with LA holding a 47-46-2 advantage in the all time series thanks to their last meeting, a 29-27 win over the Pack back on Oct. 28, 2018.

Which is where the history of these two franchises today begins. Los Angeles’s tight win was the beginning of the end for then head coach Mike McCarthy. McCarthy would be fired before the season even wrapped as the team limped to a 6-9-1 finish.

In that game, Jared Goff threw for 295 yards and three touchdowns. Todd Gurley rushed for 114 yards and caught six passes for 81 yards and a TD. Aaron Rodgers was good for 286 yards and a TD. Devante Adams caught five passes for 133 yards.

The Rams obviously left quite the impression on Green Bay management because they hired Sean McVay disciple and 2017 Los Angeles offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur to replace McCarthy. It’s worked out alright. The team is 27-7 counting the playoffs with LaFleur at the helm.

This will just be the third postseason game between the squads. The first was a 28-7 Packers win in the 1967 NFL Western Conference Championship. In 2002 we had a battle of Hall of Famers as Kurt Warner led the then St. Louis Rams over the guy he used to back up, Brett Favre, 45-17, in the NFC Divisional Round. Favre threw six interceptions in that contest, tied for the third highest total in NFL history.

LOS ANGELES RAMS (11-6)

The Rams roll into the Divisional Round after a dominating 30-20 win over the Seattle Seahawks in their Wild Card game. John Wolford got the start for LA for an injured Jared Goff, but was knocked from the game early. Goff came in, not even a full two weeks from his thumb surgery, and gutted his way to 155 yards passing with a touchdown. Cam Akers was the big offensive story of the day, rushing 28 times for 131 yards and a score and catching two passes for 45 yards. The Rams defense sacked Russell Wilson five times, intercepted him once and forced a fumble on special teams. They allowed just 11 pass completions in the game.

GREEN BAY PACKERS (13-3)

As the top seed, the Packers got to watch all of last week’s action on their sofas with the rest of us. The week before, they knocked off the Chicago Bears 35-16 to secure the No. 1 spot in the NFC. Aaron Rodgers threw for 240 yards and four touchdowns, possibly locking up another MVP award in the process. Marquez Valdes-Scantling had 87 yards receiving and a touchdown.

THE PICK

There’s been a lot of love tossed at the Rams heading into this game and it’s well deserved from last week’s performance. It’ll take the same thing to compete with Green Bay this week. The problem is, LA is banged up and, while Goff has been named the starter, he’s still not 100 percent. I do think it will be close, but I feel the Pack will pull it off. Packers 23, Rams 17

LAST WEEK

Straight up: 3-3

Against the spread: 1-5

SEASON

Straight up: 173-88-1

Against the spread: 132-130

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