What the Rams need to do to stop Green Bay's historic offense
Terez Paylor & Charles Robinson preview this Saturday's upcoming divisional round matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and Green Bay Packers. Green Bay's offense is in rarefied air in terms of their scoring prowess. Do Aaron Donald, Jalen Ramsey and the rest of the Rams defense have what it takes to stop them and advance to the conference championship?
Hear the full conversation on the Yahoo Sports NFL Podcast.
Video Transcript
TEREZ PAYLOR: Rams at Packers, Packers are getting 6 and 1/2 points, favorites at home. LA going to Green Bay-- that's a tough ask. But this one is a matter of strength on strength.
The Rams defense-- outstanding. That's the phrase, obviously. Their defense is outstanding. But now they face one of the league's best offenses historically over the last two decades.
Green Bay's offense really, really, really is efficient. They've got the second highest percentage of drives ending in a touchdown in the last 20 seasons. You know who's one and three? Number one is the '07 Patriots with Randy Moss. Number three is the '18 Chiefs with Kareem Hunt and the like. They fit right between those guys.
So that's how good they've been offensively. But now we get to see them against the split safety coverage of Brandon Staley, who's got Aaron Donald, who's going to play, and Jalen Ramsey, who's having a career year.
I'm excited to see that. The Rams defense is really going to have to hang in there against one of the most explosive offenses we've seen in the last two decades. Can they do it?
CHARLES ROBINSON: This comes down to one thing for me. I want to know if Aaron Donald's healthy, OK? Let's see if he's healthy, because there's a chance that he is not as healthy as people think he's going to be.
I know he's going to show up. Superman shows up. Great, awesome. Doesn't mean that Superman is going to be perfect. And then number two, Jalen Ramsey-- can Jalen Ramsey take away Davante Adams? Can he just take him away? Because you know he's been able to do that with wideouts. That's what he gets paid to do. He prides himself on this kind of a moment.
TEREZ PAYLOR: He'll be ready. I don't care how cold it is. Jalen is going to be ready.
CHARLES ROBINSON: I think if Aaron Donald is at 95%, and Jalen Ramsey can do to Davante Adams what he's been able to do with a number of elite wideouts, which is just not let him go off-- don't let him explode-- I think the Rams have an opportunity if they can run the football.
So as long as you can run the football effectively in this game, which, again, I think, historically over the expanse of the season, we always were like, can Green Bay stop the run when it matters? And then if your two defensive studs show up and play in this game, that's the only way I think the Rams have a shot.
I think if Donald is hurt, and I think if Davante Adams can get Jalen Ramsey a couple of times, you're going to have a hard time beating the Packers in Green Bay.
TEREZ PAYLOR: Yeah. Offensive line for the Rams is going to have to dominate the game. And then McVay is going to have to draw his stuff up to create some open play action shots.
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