By Jim Thomas, St. Louis Post-Dispatch –
ST. LOUIS — The Rams knew what was coming from Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers — they just couldn’t stop it.
They knew Rodgers liked to go deep whenever a flag’s thrown at the snap for defensive offside. But Rodgers took advantage of “free” plays on completions of 52 yards to set up one touchdown and 39 yards to score another.
They knew Rodgers could extend plays with his ability to avoid the rush, and time after time, Rodgers was able to dump off the ball in the face of pressure for positive yards.
They knew Rodgers was superb at running left and then throwing against his body down field. The latest example was Sunday’s 39-yard TD toss to Randall Cobb.
And yes, they know Rodgers is a master of the “quick” game, picking apart secondaries with 3-step drops and precision throws.
All of the above was on display Sunday in a 30-20 Packers victory at the Edward Jones Dome. Losing at home for the first time this season, the Rams fell to 3-4 and now prepare to hop a flight to London tonight for an Oct. 28 contest against New England in Wembley Stadium. Green Bay (4-3) has won two in a row for the first time this season after stumbling to a 2-3 start.
On Sunday in the dome, it was all about Aaron — with Rodgers completing 30 of 37 passes for 342 yards and three touchdowns.
“He’s very smart,” safety Quintin Mikell said. “I think that’s probably one of his biggest things that people don’t really talk about. And as a quarterback he kind of takes what you give him, and he doesn’t try to force anything. Coupled with his mobility, that makes him lethal.”
With the Rams leading 3-0 midway through the first quarter, Rodgers took what the Rams gave him — a free play after defensive end Chris Long jumped offside.
After the flags fell, a few members of the Rams defense seemed to pause for just that split second, among them rookie cornerback Janoris Jenkins, who was covering Packers wideout Jordy Nelson on the play. Well, Nelson got behind Jenkins and the result was a 52-yard reception on third-and-3 to the St. Louis 6.
“‘Jenks (Jenkins) is watching flags fly … and he should’ve been playing defense and got caught out there,” coach Jeff Fisher said.
“That’s something we knew on film they were going to do,” Mikell said. “When (Rodgers) sees you jump offside, when he sees that flag, he’s gonna chuck it deep because it’s a free play. We’ve just got to do a better job being ready for that.”
Two plays later, Rodgers threw a perfect fade pattern to Nelson for a TD and a 7-3 Packers lead. The Packers immediately kept the pressure on, catching the Rams napping on an onside kick. Rookie Trumaine Johnson leaped to grab the ball but was undercut in a collision with two Packers and flipped completely over, losing the ball in the process.
With little in the way of Rams help nearby, the Packers recovered on the St. Louis 49 and turned the takeaway into a 10-3 lead with 2 minutes, 17 second to go in the first quarter.
“They surprised us with an onside kick,” running back Steven Jackson said. “But when you face a team that’s a potent offense, we’ve got to do our job as an offensive unit — and that’s to keep up and help our defense out.”
In four first-half possessions, the Rams reached the Green Bay 32, 14, and 8, but managed only two Greg Zuerlein field goals. The series that reached the Packers’ 14 ended when Brandon Gibson couldn’t hang on to a fourth-and-2 pass from Bradford that would’ve extended the drive.
“You’ve got to make that catch,” Fisher said. “And then we get three or four more shots at it.”
The Rams dominated time of possession in the half, 18:06 to 11:54. But the Packers flipped the script in the second half, controlling the ball for 21:04 to the Rams’ 8:56 as Rodgers and the Packers got their short-passing game going.
With Rams cornerbacks frequently giving soft cushions to Green Bay wideouts, Rodgers was more than happy to get the ball out quick, throw underneath and get smaller chunks of yardage.
Cornerback Cortland Finnegan called it a “dink-and-dunk” approach. Call it what you will, it helped the Packers convert seven of 10 third-down plays in the second half and score on four of five possessions before a Rodgers kneel-down to end the game.
“They had a great game plan for what we were doing,” Finnegan said. “We had our chances there. Multiple chances there, and didn’t capitalize. But credit them for making the plays.”
When the Rams finally scored a touchdown on a 6-yard run by Jackson with 8:50 left in the game, it trimmed Green Bay’s lead to 20-13. For the seventh consecutive game this season, the Rams were involved in a one-possession game in the fourth quarter.
“When we did that, I think our sideline was really excited,” said Sam Bradford, who threw for 255 yards and a TD, but also tossed an interception that led to a Green Bay field goal. “We thought our defense was going to go out there and get a stop, get us the ball back, and then we were going to go score again. Unfortunately it didn’t work like that.”
Rodgers made sure of that, going deep after another Rams defensive offside, this time hitting Cobb for that backbreaking 39-yard TD. Cobb got behind another rookie cornerback — Johnson — on that play, giving Green Bay an insurmountable 27-13 lead with 3:06 remaining.
The Rams, who entered the game ranked seventh in total defense and fifth in scoring defense, gave up 402 yards. They haven’t come up with a turnover since the Arizona game Oct. 4 and haven’t had an interception since Seattle in Game 4.
“We definitely didn’t play our caliber defense,” linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar said. “We didn’t play good enough to help our team win a game. And that’s something we’ve got to get back to doing.”
