The Sports Xchange

GREEN BAY, Wis. — For the first time since the Super Bowl season of 2010, Aaron Rodgers isn’t dragging the rest of the Green Bay Packers along to Victory Lane.

For the second consecutive week, it was the Packers’ defense — not the two-time MVP quarterback — that was the reason Green Bay stayed undefeated. Behind four interceptions of Nick Foles, the Packers beat the St. Louis Rams 24-10 on Sunday at Lambeau Field.

The Packers are 5-0 for the first time since starting 13-0 in 2011.

“Good team win today, starting with the defense,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. “I thought they were clearly the key to our victory. Just the big plays and the constant pressure. So scrappy, a lot of adversity, up and down but, heck, it’s great to have those kind of wins. 5-0 feels good.”

Rodgers was 19-of-30 for 241 yards and two touchdowns, but St. Louis picked him off twice and also took the ball away with a fumble. That gave the Rams (2-3) a fighting chance to pull off back-to-back road upsets after knocking off Arizona last week.

However, while Rams rookie running back Todd Gurley pounded out 159 rushing yards on 30 attempts, Foles was miserable. He was just 10-of-26 for 73 yards until a long completion to Steadman Bailey in the final moments. He was sacked three times and faced constant pressure, finishing 11-of-30 passing for 141 yards.

“You can’t turn it over four times, especially turn it over to Aaron, like we did,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher said. “I’m sure we are going to look at things and say there’s some really good things.”

What we learned about the Packers

1. Aaron Rodgers is human. When safety Mark Barron deflected a pass by Rodgers, it was intercepted by linebacker James Laurianitis. That ended Rodgers’ NFL-record streaks of 486 consecutive passes (580 including playoffs) and 44 touchdown passes (49 including playoffs) since his last home interception on Dec. 2, 2012. “It was fun, a lot of fun,” Rodgers said. “Have to start a new one. I figured I might as well break the streak with a couple interceptions today. Streaks are meant to be broken, so it’s fun to put together something like that, but I’m sure someone will come along at some point and put up 600 in a row maybe.”

2. The Packers’ offense was limited to 17 points in each of the past two games. The 49ers and Rams took away Green Bay’s quick-hitting passes, then put on the pressure as Rodgers went through his progressions. Without Pro Bowl receiver Jordy Nelson, the Packers have no deep threat. “I think we’ve got that guy, but he’s been hurt the last couple weeks,” Rodgers said in reference Davante Adams, who is out with a sprained ankle. “The bye week will be nice to get some of those guys back. Davante Adams, I think, is a Pro Bowl-caliber player, and without him and without Jordy, we need to find some other ways to attack the outside stuff and still be able to be effective inside.”

3. Is the Packers’ defense for real? With the offense misfiring, Green Bay dominated Kansas City for most of the Week 3 game, shut down San Francisco in Week 4 and created four turnovers on Sunday against the Rams. “We can complain all we want on the sideline about, ‘Yeah, let’s get points,’ but would the defense want it any other way?” linebacker Clay Matthews said. “For so long now, this has been (an offensive team). It still is an offensive team, but it’s nice when the defense can hold their own, especially in the last couple weeks.”

Etc.

–QB Aaron Rodgers threw his first home interception since Dec. 2, 2012. That ended his league-record streak at 492 consecutive passes as well as a stretch of 44 touchdown passes between home interceptions. “Happy to be 5-0, but we need to play a little bit better on offense,” Rodgers said. “We’ve had some success at home over the years moving the ball efficiently, scoring points. Defense set us up with some short fields. We had some three-and-outs and also some turnovers; we’re used to putting those things in the end zone. We struggled. We’ve got to adjust a little bit better, we’ve got to run routes a little bit better, and we have to be able to get open outside better. And obviously I’ve got to throw it better than I did today and clean some of those things up.”

–The Packers’ three sacks fail to tell the whole story. They were credited for 12 quarterback hits, with LB Clay Matthews tallying 1.5 sacks and a team-high four hits. “I thought collectively as a unit we did a very good job of pressuring the quarterback,” he said. “Especially early on in that first quarter, we put him in positions in which we obviously knew were passing situations and, like I’ve said in the past, it’s very difficult to block all of us, four or five on a rush.”

–Rookie CB Quinten Rollins had the first two interceptions of his career, including a 45-yard pick-six in the first quarter. It was the first interception returned for a touchdown by a Packers defender since 2002. “It felt amazing, honestly. It’s a blessing,” he said. “I was put in position to make a play, I got my opportunity, and I felt like I took advantage of that. Hopefully, I can get better next week.”