GREEN BAY, Wis. - Rams receiver Isaac Bruce says the Green Bay Packers aren't going to come up with anything St. Louis' high-powered offense hasn't seen before.
Packers safety Darren Sharper begs to differ.
The Rams, who scored 503 points on their way to an NFL-best 14-2 record, are powered by the league's best running back, its most precise passer and a peerless receiving corps.
So, Packers defensive coordinator Ed Donatell had his work cut out for him this week.
After a quick dinner, he was back at Lambeau Field on Sunday night after the Packers' first-round victory in which they shut down San Francisco's Jeff Garcia, Terrell Owens and the NFL's second-best rushing attack.
''We'll see a lot of the concoctions come out of his little dungeon,'' Sharper said. ''He has a lot of things he's been brewing up. 'Ed's Specials,' we like to call them.''
Bruce isn't buying it.
He doesn't think there's anything St. Louis hasn't seen since they catapulted to the top of the league three years ago with one of the most difficult-to-defend offenses the NFL has ever seen.
''We've seen pretty much everything in this league,'' Bruce said. ''No one just has a defense that they've invented to the point where no one else in the league has used it before.''
Donatell hopes his novel defense will slow the Rams, who have averaged 38.8 points and 485 yards against their last eight AFC opponents, teams that are unfamiliar with them.
The Packers (13-4) haven't played St. Louis in four years.
Donatell's big wrinkle last week was abandoning the dime defense with six defensive backs in passing situations and going with a new nickel formation that included linebackers Rob Holmberg and either Na'il Diggs or Nate Wayne, with five defensive backs.
Still, there will be plenty of times the Packers have to stop the Rams with their base defense.
''I don't really think they're going to be able to run the ball on us, to be honest with you,'' Sharper said.
''Their running attack is decent, but I don't necessarily think that is where they want to make their money. They want to throw the ball. Out of 70 plays, we're predicting they're going to throw the ball about 50 times.''
The Packers are counting on shutting down the run thanks to nose tackle Gilbert Brown, who stuffs the middle and commands double teams, freeing up a linebacker.
So, if Bruce were a defensive coordinator, what would he do to slow the Ramsâ¢
He'd start by trying to disrupt quarterback Kurt Warner, the two-time league MVP and football's most accurate thrower.
''I'd start with pressure,'' Bruce said. ''I'd start with my defensive front line, make sure I get guys who can pressure that quarterback, who can defeat a double team, who can annihilate a 1-on-1 contest and get after the quarterback.''
The Packers believe they can get to Warner with Vonnie Holliday and Cletidus Hunt and speed rushers Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila and Jamal Reynolds and hope they don't have to blitz too much.
