Matt LaFleur’s team avoided a two-game losing streak once again and now gets a well-earned rest, hopefully leading to the return of some injured players.
Finally, the Green Bay Packers’ bye week is here.
The Packers have slogged through a long 12 weeks, suffering significant injuries in nearly every game this season. Still, they find themselves at 9-3 before the bye and in great position to make another run at home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs. On Sunday, the Packers’ 36-28 victory over the Los Angeles Rams also ensured that Matt LaFleur would not have his first two-game losing streak as a head coach.
But while the team has found its cold-weather hammer for the fourth quarters at Lambeau Field, it also got some injured players back before the bye in Aaron Jones and Rashan Gary. That helped immensely on Sunday, and it will only boost morale and the hope that other injured players like David Bakhtiari, Josh Myers, Jaire Alexander, or Za’Darius Smith may be able to return by the end of the regular season.
This is by far the most injury-related adversity that this franchise has dealt with in LaFleur’s short time as the head coach. He still may not end up earning Coach of the Year honors this season, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone who has overcome more absences, injuries, illnesses, and distractions this season as him.
Game recap: 5 takeaways from Packers’ victory over Rams | Packers.com
9-3 at the bye? The Packers will take it, especially with seemingly winnable games coming up in the last five games of the regular season.
AJ Dillon helps Packers power past Rams, 36-28, as Aaron Jones returns | Packersnews.com
No, Dillon’s raw rushing numbers won’t be hugely impressive from Sunday (20 carries for 69 yards), but it was the physicality of his running style and his production on short-yardage plays and in the fourth quarter that made the difference.
Packers 36, Rams 28: Instant analysis of Green Bay’s Week 12 win | Packers Wire
The Packers put up almost 400 yards and 40 minutes of time of possession against this vaunted Rams defense, even despite three short-field drives.
Shocked Jalen Ramsey, Los Angeles Rams ‘way too good’ to be mired in three-game skid | ESPN
Hmm. Are they, really, though?
In statement win over Rams, Packers show that going all-in comes in different shapes and sizes – The Athletic
All-in could mean shelling out extra money for the likes of OBJ or sending a big package of draft picks for Von Miller. It can also mean plucking veteran players like Rasul Douglas and De’Vondre Campbell off the scrap heap.
Obituary: Pittsburgh man dies at 76 ‘after a long bout with the Steelers’ | WTAE.com
“He was at his home with family when they went into overtime against the 0-8 Detroit Lions and that was all he could take.”