The Green Bay Packers are in the city of Angels today as they take on the Los Angeles Rams for the Packers' first visit to SoFi stadium since the venue opened its doors in 2020. Kickoff is slated for 3:25 CST as the 2-2 Packers, coming off their 31- defeat against the Vikings at home in Green Bay will be looking to put a W in the win column for the first time against the Rams in California since 1966. The Rams are coming off a 24-18 defeat at the hands of the Chicago Bears and sit at a record of 1-3 as they'll surely be looking to right the ship at home. 

The last time these two teams met was last year on November 5th when the Packers defeated LAR 20-3. The Rams were without QB Matthew Stafford due to injury and had to roll with Brett Rypien who could not get anything going on offense going 13/28 for 130 yards and an interception. He was also sacked by Packers' safety Jonathan Owens where he lost the football and Devondre Campbell recovered. For the Packers, the offense wasn't terrible with Jordan Love going 20/26 for 228 and a touchdown and Aaron Jones rushing for 73 yards and a TD on 20 carries, but it was fumbles that prevented them from pulling out an even more decisive victory with Jones and Dontayvion Wicks losing the ball once each. This game was also highlighted by a 31-yard Emanuel Wilson run and the lone passing touchdown of the game was one of my favorite drawn-up plays that I'd ever seen with Jordan Love double-faking a swing pass to both Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon on each side of the field before hitting Luke Musgrave up the middle for the touchdown. 

Last week's loss was a stinger for the Packers. They had Jordan Love return to the lineup only for the team to struggle in almost every facet of the game going down 28-0 early before they rallied late just to fall short 31-29. It appeared as if Jordan Love had to shake off a bit of rust early and when he got back into the groove it was just too late as some balls were forced that maybe shouldn't have been thrown and ended up being intercepted and the team just seemed to shoot themselves in the foot with penalties and blown assignments ending in their 2nd loss of the season. The Rams' are without their top two wide receivers and struggled last week against the Bears, but with Matthew Stafford at the helm, you never know what could be accomplished. 

We hope to see Jordan Love back to form today in what could be a get-right game for the Packers to put up another tick in the win column. 

What to see on Offense

The Packers will be dealing with some players absent from their offense today with Christian Watson listed as doubtful and Romeo Doubs being suspended due to conduct detrimental to the team. Watson is likely to be out due to an ankle injury after a seemingly gruesome collision that looked far worse than it ended up being, as many thought there was a chance Watson's season would be in jeopardy. Unfortunately, Doubs has been in the drama spotlight, as he did not practice Thursday and Friday due to personal reasons. It came out late Friday night from SI's Bill Huber that these reasons were unhappiness with his role in the passing game. Honestly to me, it doesn't make any sense as Doubs tends to be one of the top-targeted receivers. Nonetheless, Doubs has been suspended for conduct detrimental to the team for his practice absence. Some may remember last year Jaire Alexander was suspended for some issues he raised with the team. Luckily, those were worked out and now Jaire seems to be happier than ever in Green and Gold. Brian Gutekunst stated that he is confident they'll be able to move forward positively, so hopefully he is right, but regardless, Doubs will not be playing today. 

Speaking of absences, for the first time in 11 years, teams don't have to think about Aaron Donald when game-planning for the Rams' defense. Unless they're just bringing him up in relief that he's retired. But even without Donald, the Rams pass rush remains a threat. They already have seven sacks in four games with Byron Young leading the way alongside rookie first-round pick Jared Verse. Jordan Love wasn't given an injury designation for this week and was listed as a full participant in Thursday and Friday's practice. Hopefully, this means he has his full mobility back. The Rams won't be causing Love to run for his life, but they will certainly give the offensive line a challenge in protecting Love today so hopefully he'll be able to stay on his feet. It's worth noting that Elgton Jenkins is questionable with a knee injury, but Jenkins seemed to indicate to reporters this week that he was fine and it isn't a cause for concern. 

When it comes to the Rams' secondary, however, things improve in the Packers' favor. Their top corner Tre'Davious White has not been off to a good start giving up four touchdowns already this season. He also hasn't been able to keep the laundry away as he's been penalized five times. After White, it doesn't get a whole lot better. The Rams have lost corner Darious Williams and safety John Johnson III to injured reserve with Johnson having the team's lone interception this year. Even with the Packers being without Watson and Doubs, they should still be able to have a good day against this secondary. Reed and Wicks will lead the way with Melton and Heath getting a share as well. Luke Musgrave is questionable with an ankle injury, but even if he is a go, I anticipate Tucker Kraft to be the more featured tight end as he's begun to jump out a little bit further than Musgrave as of late. 

Now to the rushing offense. If you thought the Packers were bad against the run, woof, wait until you get a load of the Rams. So far this season, the Rams are dead last against the run with 165.5 rushing yards allowed per game. Josh Jacobs hasn't even come close to matching his production against Indianapolis in week 2, but some of that can be attributed to being behind most of the game against Minnesota. I'm not saying this is going to be a 32-carry 151-yard afternoon for Josh Jacobs, but I would anticipate Jacobs being featured in this game for sure on the ground and hopefully have much better production than the last two weeks. 

Despite missing two of their top 4 receivers and one of their top 2 tight ends possibly, I still think this could be a big day for the Packers' offense given how much the Rams have struggled. 

What to See on Defense

When I said the Rams were limping, I meant it. On the offensive line, if you take a look at their depth chart you'll wonder how they have a line to field with five linemen on Injured Reserve, most notably starting guards Steve Avila and Jonah Jackson. As if that wasn't enough, the Rams will also be without their top 2 receivers in Cooper Kupp, and Puka Nacua who landed on injured reserve. Also, tight end Tyler Higbee remains on the injured list after starting the season on the PUP. Many injuries to the Rams' offense that will hamper their productivity, but don't count them out as HC Sean McVay can dig into his bag of tricks just as well as Matt LaFleur can.

If there's a Quarterback who can overcome those injuries and still find success, it's Matthew Stafford. After getting carved up by Sam Darnold last week, the Packers' secondary will need to be at their best whether Stafford has his full complement of targets or not. Against the Vikings, the Packers' secondary was missing Jaire Alexander and Carrington Valentine who could've made a difference. Both were limited practice participants in practice this week and are listed as Questionable for today. If they do not go, Stafford could find success regardless of who's catching the ball.

Last week, Stafford still found his receivers against Chicago. Jordan Whittington had six catches for 62 yards and Tutu Atwell had four catches for 82 yards. Stafford did have two turnovers last week fumbling the ball once and throwing an INT another, so it's those mistakes that the Packers' pass rush will have to push for. The Packers lead the league in takeaways with 12, so pushing for Stafford to make those mistakes will be huge. Stafford was sacked three times last week and was hit six times. Unfortunately, the Packers' defense will be without Devonte Wyatt due to an ankle injury. Wyatt has been off to possibly the best start of a season in his career so far with three sacks in four games and several tackles for losses. But even without Wyatt, I'd like to think the Packers have a better pass rush than the Chicago Bears so hopefully, players like Rashan Gary can pick their season up a bit with a few sacks today against LA. 

On the rushing side, Kyren Williams has been the workhorse back for the Rams so far this season. He has 258 yards in four games but he's only averaging about 3.5 yards per carry. He put up 94 yards and a touchdown last week against Chicago and for a back that rushed for over 1100 yards last year in only 12 games, Williams could still be dangerous. The last two weeks have been a bit better for the Packers' defense in stopping the run. Between Tennessee and Minnesota, the Packers have only given up 119 yards rushing in two games. The Packers were able to stifle Tennessee's rushing game by forcing mistakes early and getting out to a big lead forcing them to pass. If the Packers can stop the run early and force Stafford into some mistakes, this could be a very winnable game on the defensive side of the ball. 

This is hopefully going to be a game for the defensive front to show what they're made of. We've seen little flashes here and there, but the defensive line has honestly been disappointing. Today's game provides an opportunity to turn that around. 

Extra Notes

After I was jubilant last week that Brayden Narveson was 3/3 on extra points and 3/3 on field goals in Tennessee, he decided to miss both of his field goal attempts which quite possibly cost us a chance at victory. The Packers had two kickers in for work-outs this week, but no one signed, so clearly they believe Narveson is still their best option. I disagree, but since I don't have the choice today, I'll be pulling for Narveson to turn it around in LA. 

Are we ever going to see a kick return? Keisean Nixon has only had the chance to return one kick in four games. Sadly the Rams have only allowed one return this season which was last week against Chicago. All signs point towards them probably avoiding Nixon as well. It's fairly entertaining that a rule the NFL instituted to create more returns has actually resulted in far less than in previous seasons. 

In the End

Given the injuries and issues this Rams team has faced early in the season, this could very well provide the Packers' offense with a "get right" game as I said before. We're lucky that type of a game comes after only a 2-2 record, but after losing our starting quarterback after week 1 and having to play a completely different game on offense for two weeks before returning, I think it's needed to get this offense rolling again like a well-oiled machine.

The defense as well will have a lot to prove in the pass rush category. The secondary has done an excellent job taking the ball away, leading the league in that category. If the pass rush can step up to the levels it's capable of as well, we could see a top-10 defense in Green Bay for the first time in a while.

Hopefully, all will work out today and we'll have a victory secured for our return to Green Bay against Arizona next week. Go Pack Go.