Green Bay Packers Defeat St. Louis Rams In The Dome

Jeff Janis celebrates after scoring a third quarter touchdown (Jamie Squire/Getty Images North America)

A quick recap of Green Bay's 21-7 victory over the Saint Louis Rams

The offense of the Green Bay Packers was absolutely outstanding against a strong defense in the Saint Louis Rams during Saturday's action. The Packers started off the game by getting the ball when DeJuan Harris ran the ball out of the end zone when he was 8 yards deep. Harris should've taken the knee and let the Packers start at the 20 yard line, but the Packers would take over from there. They took the ball 86 yards over 12 plays. Rodgers completed passes to Lacy, Boykin, and Cobb during the drive, with Cobb getting opening score and Crosby would kick the extra long preseason extra point to get the game going.

The Rams came back on the next drive and made it into Green Bay territory, even converting a fourth down when Jared Cook caught a short crossing route from Sam Bradford. The Rams would follow that up though from with back to back penalties to result in a 1st and 25 that the Rams could not convert from that far back, despite Bradford actually attempting a deep ball to down the right side to Kenny Britt.

The Packers came right back down the field and appeared to score on a third and goal from the 5 yard line on a completion to Jordy Nelson. This was waived off though because of a penalty on Green Bay left tackle David Bakhtiari for illegal use of hands. They ended up settling for a field goal that Mason Crosby easily nailed from 31 yards away.

The Rams made sure to follow this up by driving down the field and getting a touchdown on a pass play from Sam Bradford to Lance Kendricks. Micah Hyde did an excellent job in coverage, but there was simply no way for him to defend the ball where Bradford located it. Greg Zuerlein nailed the extra point to put the Rams within three points. This is the closest the Rams would get for the rest of the game.

Scott Tolzien took the reigns instead of Matt Flynn with the second team offense, and Tolzien looked pretty awful. He completed 10 of his 15 pass attempts for 107 yards. He mostly played in the second quarter but went into the third as well before Flynn came in. The battle of the backup quarterbacks is far from over. It might be settled in the next few weeks. Scott Tolzien also had a touchdown pass taken off of the board in the third quarter to Myles White. Rookie center Corey Linsley had a penalty for illegal use of hands on the third and four. Then after a Davante Adams catch on third and 19 for fourteen yards. He tried to get the ball to Andrew Quarless on fourth and goal from the five, but Quarless did not catch the ball and was called for offensive pass interference.

On the next drive, Matt Flynn only took three plays to drive the Packers down the field, mainly because rookie wide receiver Jeff Janis caught the ball on a short crossing route and outran everyone to the end zone. Because Flynn had hardly thrown the ball, they went for the two point conversion. Flynn tossed it to Adams and they were able to get the two points to give themselves a 18-7 lead.

The next Packers possession, Flynn drove them down to the red zone and took a bad sack on third and nineteen to Michael Sam. Mason Crosby nailed a 49 yard field goal to complete the scoring.
The Packer player who stood out that nobody was expecting was Jayrone Elliott. Elliott was facing one of the Rams third or fourth string defensive lineman. Elliott dominated him though, getting three sacks in the game when nobody was expecting him to perform much of anything. The Packers had four other players record one sack each, HaHa Clinton-Dix, Sam Barrington, Adrian Hubbard, and Mike Pennel. One play that was taken off the board by a penalty defensively was a great interception catch by Chris Banjo. Banjo had an amazing catch and since the Green Bay safeties had no interceptions last year, it was important to ensure that the Packers improved at that position, and Banjo had a remarkable impact.

The Green Bay Packers are looking for a successful season, and most importantly in the game, the Green Bay Packers stayed healthy. The main question mark would be Brandon Bostick who left with a lower leg injury and did not return. But the Packers will continue on and play the Oakland Raiders on Friday, August 22nd at Lambeau Field.