Green Bay Packers: 5 Key Questions Heading into Divisional Round
By Paul Bretl
Here are five key questions heading into the Green Bay Packers Divisional Round matchup with the Los Angeles Rams.
We are inching our way closer to the NFC Divisional Round, where the Green Bay Packers will be hosting the Los Angeles Rams at Lambeau Field.
It’s a matchup of the league’s top-scoring offense against the top-scoring defense. On top of that, there are plenty of intriguing individual matchups to watch as well, some of which include Davante Adams vs. Jalen Ramsey, Aaron Donald vs. Corey Linsley, and Jaire Alexander vs. Robert Woods, to name a few.
As I do for every game, I’ve put together my five key questions about the upcoming matchup. Whatever the answers to these questions end up being, they will go a long way toward determining the winner on Saturday. So let’s take a look.
Who has more wins, Adams or Ramsey?
Jalen Ramsey is one of, if not the best corner in the NFL and has put together another fantastic season. According to Pro Football Focus ($), Ramsey has been targeted 70 times, including the Wildcard Round, and allowed a completion percentage of just 50 percent and only 9.8 yards per catch. He also has nine pass breakups, an interception, and a passer rating of 72.4 when targeting him.
While some No. 1 corners will stick to their preferred side of the field, Ramsey will shadow, as evidenced last weekend when he covered DK Metcalk on 69 percent of his routes. So we can expect to see a lot of Ramsey on Davante Adams, and the big question here is, who is going to end up with more wins at the end of the day?
As good as Ramsey is, it’s difficult to envision Adams being completely shut down — he’s just that good — but we probably won’t see Aaron Rodgers rely on him as heavily as he normally does either, which means others need to step up in the passing game.
Ramsey has traveled to the slot this season, but only on 169 of his 1,014 defensive snaps, so we could see Adams line up there often in an attempt to draw a different matchup or to at least help create more space. Earlier this week, Adams acknowledged that this is something Green Bay might do.
This will be a heavyweight matchup, and when it comes to a receiver vs. a cornerback, this is about as good as it gets. Whichever player can come out on top is going to give their team a distinct advantage.