MVN - Most Valuable Network

Week 15 preview: Packers @ Rams

When the 11-2 Packers take on the 3-10 Rams in St. Louis this Sunday, Brett and the boys will have plenty to play for beyond just keeping pace with the red-hot Cowboys and keeping the chance for home-field advantage alive.

For starters, there’s revenge. Every Packer fan remembers the agonizing pain of the Rams’ 23-20 squeaker of a victory last season. With less than a minute left to play and the Packers with the ball inside the 20, the Rams forced a Brett Favre fumble, effectively ending a contest that the Packers were in an ideal position to win or, at the very least, send into overtime.

Also, even more importantly, there’s the always-crucial playoff bye. With the 9-4 Seahawks still in contention for the second NFC first-round playoff bye, the Packers must win at least two out of their last three games to earn a bye. And with Detroit and Chicago still on Green Bay’s regular season schedule, a win against the Rams is more than important. Without that bye, the Packers won’t have the opportunity to recoup from their many nagging injuries.

Also important is momentum. Now is not the time to start losing contests. Coach Mike McCarthy knows that his team should be playing its best football when playoff time rolls around – not suffering the kind of setbacks that come with a late-season loss.

Then there’s the smaller rewards a victory brings. Favre is only 184 yards short of Dan Marino’s all time-best mark of 61,361, and a Packer win will almost certainly require more than 184 yards passing – thus, another Favre record.

A victory also keeps the Packers alive for another two records: most wins in franchise history and most points scored in a single season. No Packer team has ever won 14 games, which is now a real possibility with only three games remaining. The two Packer Super Bowl teams of the ’90s both went 13-3. What’s more, if the Green and Gold find a way to average at least 32 points in the final three games, the all-time point record will be theirs as well.

Possible Rams’ Roadblocks: After losing their first eight contests, the Rams have gone 3-2 since their week-nine bye and are getting even better as quarterback Marc Bulger, running back Steven Jackson and a number of others recover from injuries that have ruined their season. The Packers should be wary of a healthy Bulger, seeing as receivers Torry Holt, Issac Bruce and Drew Bennett are real threats. And that’s not even including tight end Randy McMichael whose 30 catches and three touchdowns should concern a Packer defense that struggles to successfully defend tight ends.

Packer Pluses: The Packers play great on the road (5-1 this year), Ryan Grant has added a true threat at running back (he leads the NFL in rushing since week eight) and Will Blackmon has given the Packers the kind of returner that causes opposing coaches to lose sleep. Plus, with another week for Favre to rest his elbow, the passing game will likely regain its impressive pre-Dallas-game form. The Packers are 8.5-point favorites, but I see the Packers winning by an even larger margin, despite many experts calling this a possible trap game.

My Prediction: Packers 34 Rams 17

Get to know your enemies: Visit MVN’s St. Louis Rams’ site RAMblings and read why columnist Punit Vachharajani thinks the Rams will lose to the Packers despite the return of Bulger.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 15th, 2007 at 7:03 pm and is filed under Regular Season, Game preview. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.