Ramsey vs. Adams (article)

BY DAVID CARR

NFL NETWORK ANALYST

The matchup between Davante Adams and Jalen Ramsey on Saturday is must-watch TV, and it will be a big part of a divisional playoff with the No. 1 scoring offense in the NFL up against the No. 1 scoring defense.

Just looking at the physical aspect with these guys and the ability that they have, it’s going to be really good.



Adams is the best receiver in the game now. He does everything DeAndre Hopkins does from a catch radius standpoint, going up and grabbing the football, being able to adjust to it. And he has the explosiveness of Stefon Diggs and the lateral quickness of a guy who plays inside that’s not as big and strong.

But even in situations where you talk about catch radius and Adams’ ability to jump out of the gym, Ramsey has all of that, too.

Ramsey is long, his arms are long, like Adams’. Ramsey can play through a receiver without interfering with him. You see a lot of guys have to grab and hold and put that other arm out to knock the ball down, but Ramsey has the ability to kind of reach around a guy to knock the ball down.



But there are a few layers to this matchup, and a lot of it is going to come down to Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Packers coach Matt LeFleur and what they decide to do.

The first thing I do as a fan and an analyst, I try to see if these guys have played before and if there is some history there. The very first game that Ramsey started in the NFL was against the Packers in 2016 and it was against Adams. When they matched up, Adams had one catch for 5 yards and it was on a screen.

Rodgers has played against first-team All-Pro cornerbacks seven times since Adams’ rookie season. In those games the Packers are 1-6, but the last one was in 2018. That was before LeFleur got there, so there are some different levels as you start digging through it and trying to look at what’s going to happen in this matchup.

PACKERS HAVE STRUGGLED IN MATCHUPS WITH

TOP CORNERS

It used to be the Packers would run a lot of dropback pass plays and just let Rodgers find the best matchup and work his magic.

Adams would be the backside receiver in a trips set of three by one, where they have three receivers on one side and Adams by himself on the other side and it’d be kind of easy to take him away. It’s easy to roll a safety over the top or put Ramsey over there, and then it just makes sense for the quarterback to read the other side and go where the best matchups are.

The Packers offense is completely different now, so those numbers can be skewed. They can tell you what Green Bay used to be and what commonly happened when they went against All-Pro corners, and you’d have a hard time finding any production – the Packers didn’t even score 20 points in five of those seven games.

But the way their offense runs now, Adams can right that wrong, or at least make it a situation where it’s more of a fair fight.

Adams is the best in the league in beating press coverage, so you rarely see guys challenge him. Ramsey will go up and challenge guys. I don’t know that he’ll necessarily do that with Adams – as good as Ramsey is, he struggles against guys who have great lateral quickness because he’s a bigger guy. He wants to be able to get his hands on you, or if he doesn’t do that he wants to back off and kind of read the quarterback, so he has some Richard Sherman in him there.



ADAMS’ VERSATILITY CAN BE WINNING MOVE FOR GREEN BAY

But if they go to the line of scrimmage, one on one, I favor Adams in that situation. I’m curious to see how many times Ramsey will want to put his hands on Adams and try to be physical with him because that has not worked out well for really anyone.

Also, Ramsey is not a guy who likes to travel inside, but that’s not an option because of the different positions Adams lines up. The Rams can’t let Adams line up inside and let him go against a linebacker or a lesser corner. His production would be through the roof.

With the way they run the ball in Green Bay now, with the condensed formations they use and where they put Adams, it’s going to be a challenge for Ramsey and his teammates. A lot of times the Rams will zone it off and Ramsey won’t get a chance to follow Adams.

So, it’s going to be interesting to see how the Packers want to attack with Adams and where they put him.

As fun as this matchup appears, if I’m LeFleur I’m going to try to do everything I can to not put Adams in a situation where he has to run a route against Ramsey 30 times. I would try to match him up on lesser guys.

There will be times where they do match up, but I don’t think we’ll be able to take a camera and just put it on half of the field and watch those two go at it all day.

It will be fun to watch when they do, though. It’s probably the best matchup we’ve seen in years and it’s must-see TV, for sure.

DAVID CARR IS A FORMER FRESNO STATE QUARTERBACK, NFL NO. 1 DRAFT PICK AND SUPER BOWL CHAMPION. NOW HE’S AN ANALYST FOR THE NFL NETWORK AND WRITING A WEEKLY COLUMN IN COLLABORATION WITH THE BEE’S ROBERT KUWADA. THE COLUMN IS SPONSORED BY VALLEY CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL.

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