Green Bay Packers Unit Grades vs. St. Louis Rams

The unbeaten defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers welcomed the winless St. Louis Rams to Lambeau Field Sunday.

They treated them to a very inhospitable first-half whooping that had the look of the neighbourhood bully picking on a little kid. Even though they took it easy on St. Louis in the second half, the Cardinals got revenge for many of their fans hours later.

No matter. A team that cannot get through the first inning without allowing runs once in six games was not going to be able to beat the Texas Rangers...better to lose to a St. Louis team than a Dallas one!

The loss coupled with a San Francisco 49ers' victory all but ended the Rams' season, dropping them 4.5 games back in the division and two back of several teams for the wild card. The same two games gave the Packers sole possession of the division lead as the only remaining unbeaten team in the NFL.

A good coach looks for flaws in the team even after a decisive win, and there are things to pick at in this one.

Here's a look at the performance of each individual unit...

Quarterback: A

Aaron Rodgers went 17-for-28 (.607) for 310 yards (11.1 per attempt) with three touchdowns and just one pick. This gave him a 119.7 passer rating, which actually lowered his average for the season.

Rodgers once again barely needed to use his feet, with seven carries for 15 yards that included three kneel downs for a yard loss each. He was sacked just once for seven yards against a decent pass rush. That means that in 33 plays that mattered, Rodgers generated 325 yards of offense.

Total quarterback rating is supposed to factor in the importance of the play, sacks and rushing contributions where passer rating fails. The three dropped passes, one of which led to the interception, do not count against the quarterback in this system.

However, Rodgers has been hurt in the past because the Packers have such a big lead in the first half that he does little come crunch time. He also has been hurt because his receivers lead the league in yards after catch, which he is considered to play a diminished role in.

Nevertheless, his TQBR for Sunday was 91.9, better than everyone but Matt Ryan this week. When you are better than all but one person, you have earned an A.

Running Backs: D+

James Starks led the Packer running backs with 49 yards on 13 carries (3.8 average). Ryan Grant added 25 yards on nine carries (2.8) and John Kuhn had two carries for one yard (0.5). Overall, that gives the Packers backs just 75 yards on 24 attempts—a 3.1-yard average.

If this was because the Packers were running out the clock, it would be fine. However, they had just 34 yards on their first 10 carries against a team that came into the contest giving up almost 35 more yards per game than the next worst team and had the fourth-worst yards per carry yielded. Big first downs were not picked up, and one-third of the yards came on two plays.

What keeps this performance from being a failure is that the backs did their job in the passing game. The Rams like to blitz and still got to Rodgers just once. Starks caught two passes for 17 yards (8.5) and Grant two more for 27 (13.5), giving the backs 119 total yards on 28 touches. Considering the potency of the Packers' passing attack and that there were few negative plays, this performance is passable.

Receivers: B

The good definitely outweighed the bad for the Green Bay Packers receiving corps, so let us start with what did not go right.

There were three dropped passes, one of which led to an interception. With only 28 pass attempts, that ratio of greater than 1-in-10 is unacceptable. Randall Cobb was also called for a false start.

It's also rare. No team has fewer dropped passes than Green Bay. Packers receivers also have the most yards after the catch in the league, with those two facts combining to make them obviously the best corps in the league; they did not disappoint Sunday, getting over 200 yards after the catch.

Thanks to his 93-yard touchdown catch on a pass of about 20 yards, Jordy Nelson led in both receiving yards and yards after the catch; his other catch was for 11 yards. Despite his drop that led to the pick, Greg Jennings had six catches for 84 yards.

James Jones added just one catch, but for a 35-yard score. Donald Driver had a seven-yard touchdown among his three catches for 25 yards, and Jermichael Finley had just one reception but got 20 yards. Getting 266 yards and three scores on just 13 catches (20.5 average) more than makes up for three drops and a penalty.

Offensive Line: B-

For the first time since Week 3, Bryan Bulaga started a game for the Packers. Because the Rams like to blitz and have a talented young end in Chris Long, this was welcome news for Aaron Rodgers.

But like every offensive unit except for quarterback, the line play was uneven.

As previously mentioned, Rodgers was sacked just once for seven yards. Many times when he did have to avoid the pass rush, it was after he had been back in the pocket a couple seconds. There was not one penalty on the offensive line all day, though one was declined on the sack (you cheated and still gave it up?).

This sounds pretty good for a banged up unit with its best player battling an injury that had kept him out for three weeks and a young player in the other tackle spot. But that is only half of their job.

The easiest thing for a line to do is open running lanes, especially against a defense that, as detailed in the running backs slide, is terrible against the run. It is not as though the backs had holes they did not hit—they often relied on squeezing through a hole or falling forward after contact.

Even before the Packers had a three-score lead, and the Rams could expect run, the Packers had a carry for a three-yard loss, three for no gain and two for just one-yard each. Those are on the line, not the back, and represent over half the team's carries.

Defensive Line: C-

The play of the defensive line in a 3-4 would frequently look terrible if judged on statistics. The Packers line had four tackles and three assists, with both B.J. Raji and Howard Green getting one each to lead the unit.

However, this time, the line was not as good as it should have been. The Rams ran the ball effectively, with 22 carries for 120 yards (5.5 average). Granted, Steven Jackson and Cadillac Williams are good backs, but they made an elite run defense look subpar, and the line has the primary responsibility of occupying blockers to contain the run.

That being said, they deserve at least a little credit for a pretty good pass rush (three sacks) and forcing four penalties on the Rams offensive line. (More goes to the linebackers, as you will see on the next slide.) It was not their best performance, but it was adequate and enabled the Packers to hold the Rams to three points with the help of outstanding play from most of the rest of the team.

Linebackers: A

The play of the linebackers was exemplary.

Clay Matthews III and A.J. Hawk both were credited with a sack and were involved in a couple. They also both tipped the same pass. Hawk added seven tackles and two assists.

While Matthews had only one tackle, he drew a holding penalty, and his pressure was instrumental in getting the Rams tackles and tight ends to combine for five penalties and 35 yards. Erik Walden drew another of the penalties along with getting one tackle.

Again, Desmond Bishop was the unit's standout. His nine tackles and five assists meant he was in on 14 of the 29 tackles involving linebackers. Frank Zombo returned to the active roster with three tackles and an assist.

The linebackers have the primary responsibility of covering backs on pass plays. Rams' running backs, adept in the passing game did get six catches but were held to just 39 yards (6.5 average). They also flowed well to the Rams reverse, and when Sam Bradford scrambled, holding them to a total of five yards on those three carries.

Secondary: A-

The Packers defense gave up 321 yards to Sam Bradford and a Rams passing attack that came into the game ranked in the bottom five in almost every statistical category. So how can they earn an A?

Because only the simplest of fans looks at yards yielded as a barometer for how a pass defense is performing. Last season, the San Diego Chargers were first in offense and defense according to the yardage totals and could not win 10 games or make the playoffs in the league's second-weakest division.

Sure, their special teams were awful. But Green Bay had terrible special teams, too, and ranked several spots below them in both offense and defense, while still making the playoffs in a division that finished two game above .500.

What matters is points. St. Louis made three trips inside the red zone and averaged a point per trip. Even considering they turned down a field goal opportunity because of the late score, that is exceptional defense.

Bradford was 28-for-44 (.636 completion percentage) but finished with just a 76.0 passer rating because he threw a pick without a touchdown. He was sacked three times, and the coverage has something to do with that. This is why his TQBR was just 20.2, behind 22 other quarterbacks this weekend.

The defensive backs got one of those sacks (Charles Woodson) and had a fumble forced (Morgan Burnett), though the Rams recovered it. They had no penalties while registering 25 tackles and 11 assists, with Burnett leading the way with six and three and Charlie Peprah with four and five, respectively. (Tramon Williams had six tackles and an assist, Sam Shields had five tackles, Jarret Bush had two tackles and Woodson had two and two.)

True, some of those came because they allowed 22 passes (for 283 yards, a 13-yard average) to be completed on them. But the Packers will take this performance every week.

Special Teams: D-

The good news for the Packers is that this was routinely the worst unit on the field last year, and Green Bay still recaptured the Lombardi Trophy.

The bad news is that this was by far the worst unit on the field Sunday. The only thing keeping them from a failing grade was that Mason Crosby kicked his first field goal at home in swirling winds and tied Chris Jacke's franchise record for consecutive field goals made.

At 32 yards, I am still not impressed. Only four of his five kicks went into the end zone, and only three were for touchbacks. The Packers gave up only 20 yards per return on the other two kicks but were facing a below average return team.

The bigger issue was the punting. The Rams came into the game with only one punt return over a yard all season and got a 39 and 17-yard return Sunday. Tim Masthay had a 44.4-yard average on five punts and once pinned the Rams inside the 20 but also had a touchback resulting in a net under 30 yards.

The Packers own return game was bad, too. The only kick return went for 16 yards despite two players holding on the play, pinning the team inside its own seven-yard line. By contrast, Green Bay was pinned inside the 20 on three of the Rams five kicks and did not have a single return.