Love winless as starter, heading west

Packers Offense vs. Rams Defense

Jordan Love is back. The quarterback returned from his knee injury after a two-game absence. His return was up and down, featuring the highs of throwing four touchdown passes, tying a career high. He also tied a career high with three interceptions, two of which were egregious as the Packers dug a 28-0 hole in the first half of their 31-29 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

This week, Love should be able to go again, barring any setbacks in practice. He came out of the game just fine, and he thinks he should continue to progress on that front.

The passing game took a significant blow in Sunday’s loss to the Vikings. Christian Watson was injured on one of Love’s interceptions and did not return to the game. They got good news out of the game, with Watson saying he thought it was just a sprain, according to Matt LaFleur. Either way, it’s tough to imagine Watson being able to play this weekend against the Rams.

That puts some of the onus on Dontayvion Wicks. Wicks, like Love, had some highs and lows during the team’s loss to the Vikings. He had three tough drops but also scored two touchdowns. One thing about Love — he’ll continue to target his receivers, even if they are struggling that day.

The Packers’ final numbers from Sunday look good. They piled up 465 yards against the Vikings but struggled in the red zone early, and turning the ball over got them in trouble as well. Overall, other than Watson, the team is healthy now, and they should be able to find some holes against this Rams’ defense.

One thing is certain: They’ll want to get Josh Jacobs more than the nine carries that he got on Sunday. That was largely in part due to the game script that had Green Bay down by two scores after they’d touched the ball once. Despite Jacobs’ reputation as a workhorse, he has been splitting snaps and carries with Emanuel Wilson the last two weeks. Wilson has done some nice things, but Green Bay needs their top back to be one of their focal points.

Los Angeles’ defense has one gaping hole in the middle of it at the moment. Anytime the Rams have played the Packers in LaFleur’s tenure, they’ve had Aaron Donald. Donald is one of the greatest defensive players to ever play in the NFL. He’s gone now after retiring in the offseason.

The Rams’ defense has been good to start the year, with one major exception. They came into Week 4 with the worst passing defense in football. Perhaps they can be the medicine that cures the ills of Green Bay’s inconsistent offense to start the season.

Packers Defense vs. Rams Offense

Green Bay’s defense is certainly good at forcing turnovers early in the season. They got two more against Minnesota. Sam Darnold threw an interception to Xavier McKinney, his fourth in four games. McKinney is the first Packer to accomplish that in team history.

The other turnover came on a strip sack from Keisean Nixon, who hunted down Darnold like a heat-seeking missile. The fumble was recovered by Edgerrin Cooper and helped get the Packers back into the game.

One of the issues the Packers are having is that teams are able to move the ball with relative ease if they’re not forcing turnovers. Darnold looked comfortable in the pocket. Aaron Jones was good enough in his return to Lambeau Field on Sunday.

The pass rush is where there are some alarms going off at the moment. After an eight-sack performance against the Tennessee Titans, they were nearly blanked by the Vikings. They did finish with two sacks in the game, but Darnold was comfortable more often than he was not.

Jeff Hafley has emphasized taking the ball away and making big plays on defense, and they have certainly done that early in the season. They could have some opportunities against Matthew Stafford, who has been prone to the turnover through the course of his career. That’s going to require the Packers to be much better at rushing the passer than they were on Sunday against the Vikings.

The Rams’ offensive line is decimated by injuries at the moment, as is their receiving corps. The biggest challenge for Green Bay with their front’s ability to get after Stafford will likely come in the run game. Kyren Williams is someone that Sean McVay has tried to lean on when the matchups are advantageous toward him.

The Packers failed their first two tests in run defense, after Saquon Barkley tore them apart for three touchdowns. Jonathan Taylor ran for more than 100 yards on just 12 carries. Aaron Jones had 93 yards on 22 carries. They did keep him out of the end zone, but four yards per carry allows the opposing offense to stay on schedule.

When you give up 31 points, everything needs to be better on defense, and the Packers have to get things on track this week against a Rams team that will be missing a ton of players. Two of those players are their top two receivers. Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua will not play Sunday either. Green Bay could be missing Jaire Alexander again, so perhaps that is a trade-off they would take?

Whether Alexander plays or not, Nixon and Eric Stokes both need to be much better than they were Sunday. Other teams have them circled. They need to start making more plays in the passing game.

Special Teams

The Packers have not benefited from the new kickoff rules as of yet. Keisean Nixon has one chance at a return this season, and it was one that was ill-advised.

There’s little reason to think that will change anytime soon. They didn’t do anything on Sunday in the return game, and Nixon’s job is mostly to take touchbacks at this point.

Green Bay’s kicking situation remains a work in progress. Brayden Narveson missed two more kicks on Sunday. This evens out the one from Week 3, where he missed a 48-yarder, but it was wiped out by a seldom-called defensive holding penalty on a defensive tackle.

He is currently tied for the league’s lead in missed kicks. He’d have the outright lead if not for the penalty wiping one of them away.

Narveson will continue to have some leash as the season progresses. Brian Gutekunst said he needed to be more patient with specialists. LaFleur insisted again after the game that his confidence was not shaken in him.

Punter Daniel Whelan has been excellent in the early part of the year as well.

The Rams have been run by Chase Blackburn, who is in his second season with the team.

Until Green Bay’s kicking situation figures itself out, they’re likely going to be at a disadvantage in these special teams matchups. They’ve given points away each of the first four weeks. That is something that cannot continue.