The Packers released Bo Melton and immediately signed him to the practice squad to open up a spot on the 53-man roster. However, they did not use the roster spot. Perhaps whatever was planned hit a snag. The Packers also elevated LB Christian Welch from the practice squad to replace TyRon Hopper, who is injured. The inactive players due to injury were LG Aaron Banks (knee), IDL Warren Brinson (calf), and Hopper (achilles). OL Travis Glocer, IDL Anthony Campbell, and WR Sturdivant were healthy scratches.
Player Snaps %
Bako-Bewele 68 100
Rhyan 68 100
Jennings 68 100
Morgan 68 100
Monk 68 100
Belton 4
Burton 0
Williams 0
The Packers gained 66 Yards on 21 carries, a 3.1-yard average per carry, with a long of 14. The Packers could not gain a yard in short-yardage situations. That is par for the course with the Packers.
The pass protection was horrendous, but it is difficult to assess how individuals handled their assignments because so often the pressures that were allowed came from unblocked looks, twists or stunts. A lot of the problems were due to confusion but some guys got beat too often as well. For what it is worth, Pro Football Focus listed Jordan Morgan with allowing 5 pressures (3 hurries and 2 QB hits). Monk allowed 3 pressures (1 sack, 2 QB hits. Bako-Bewele allowed 4 pressures (1 sack, 1 QB hit, and 2 hurries). He looked a little ponderous on the field. Jennings allowed 2 hurries and Rhyan allowed a sack and a QB hit. Rhyan also lost the battle with Dominique Orange on the failed quarterback sneak. ESPN lists the Vikings with 15 quarterback hits, including a whopping 7 by Edge defender Dallas Turner.
The Vikings blitzed on 78% of Green Bay's drop backs, per Next Gen Stats and PFF had it at 93%. The guards were terrible, but the tackles also had dreadful days. I would not be surprised if none of the offensive linemen receive a grade above 50. Maybe Bako-Bewele will improve when he gets back into football shape. One can hope that Aaron Banks gets healthy is can be an adequate left guard. And, of course, one can hope that the young linemen improve over the course of the season. That Packers used Belton as a 6th offensive lineman on 4 plays. I kept thinking Belton (number 71) was Whyle (number 81).
Player Snaps
Kraft 45
Smith 32
Redmond 21
Whyle 11
Kraft caught 3 of 6 targets for 65 yards, with a long of 30. He blocked well and looked ready to have a big season. The Packers did use 2 and 3 tight end sets quite a bit. Jonnu Smith caught 2 of his 3 targets for 50 yards with a ling of 43. The Packers played 1.60 tight ends per play on average, which is fairly high but not wholly out of character.
Player Snaps
Love 68
Taylor DNP
Love completed 21 of 42 attempts for 387 yards (9.21 yards per attempt) with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. He finished with an 88 passer rating. The Packers played a game of cat and mouse. When Love deciphered where the pressure was coming from correctly and was able to get some minimal protection, he was able to through passes in stride to receivers that popped for big gains. This type of offense leads to disjointed offenses. PFF listed the Vikings with a 53% pressure rate. Love got 2.3 seconds before there was pressure and 2.45 seconds to throw, both of which are nasty numbers.
Player Snaps
Brooks 38
Lloyd 30
Johnson 0
Chris Brooks gained 29 yards on 7 carries, a 4.14 average. He allowed 2 pressures. Marshawn Lloyd gained 37 yards on 13 carries. He also allowed 2 pressures. Neither was impressive. Lloyd showed some ability to get to and turn the edge. Kaleb Johnson only played on special teams. He fell over when he tried a modest cut on both of his returns. He reminded me of Musgrave.
Player Snaps
Golden 56
Watson 52
Reed 39
Melton 8
Moore 4
Christian Watson, along with Kraft and Love, was the offense in the first half. He caught 6 of 8 targets for 147 yards (131 in the first half), and 2 touchdowns, with a long of 81 yards. Golden had 5 receiving yards in the first half but finished with 95 yards on 6 receptions. Some of his receptions came in garbage time in the second half and he was targeted 12 times. Reed caught 3 of 7 targets for 20 yards. The Packers seem to have a lot of difficulty integrating him into their offense in a predictable way. He has some really big days and then other games where he disappears. Melton caught one pass for 10 yards, and it was a bang, bang play as Love unloaded the pass due to heavy pressure well before Melton reached the top of his route. Moore had 1 target but no receptions. The days of spreading the ball around appear to be over.
Defense:
The defense did allow the Vikings to score 29 unanswered points. That said, a lot of that is on the offense. In the second half, the Packers drives were punt, field goal, downs, fumble, interception, downs. The Vikings had a 6-p[lay, 28-yard touchdown drive, a 9-play, 83-yard touchdown drive (okay, that is a real drive), a 1-play, 1-yard touchdown drive, and a 3-play, 14-yard touchdown drive.
Player Snaps
Brooks 37
Wyatt 34
Hargrave 30
McClellan 28
Ford 28
Ford led the Packers with 4 tackles (3 solo) and a QB hit. Wyatt had 3 solo tackles but had no pressures in 14 pass rushing snaps. Karl Brooks had 2 assisted tackles and 2 pressures in 19 pass rushing snaps. Hargrave had 1 solo tackle and McClellan had an assisted tackle but no pressures in 9 pass rushing snaps. The Packers allowed 3.67 yards per carry to the running backs and just 3.1 yards per carry overall, as the QBs scrambled 7 times for 8 yards. The tackling was very good. The Vikings were able to reset the line of scrimmage but the Packers were very good about not letting runs rupture for big yards.
The Packers played 2.42 true defensive linemen per play, on average. That is a lot, even if one of them is Karl Brooks. The Packers played 49% base defense, 49% nickel, and 1.6% in dime.
Player Snaps
Van Ness 43
Sorrell 40
Cox 27
DDS 21
Van Ness had 4 solo tackles including a tackle for loss, a sack and a QB hit. PFF gave him 3 pressures in 16 pass rushes, a respectable 18.8% pressure rate. Cox had 4 solo tackles and 2 pressures in 13 pass rushes, a 15.4% pressure rate. Sorrell had 3 solo tackles and 1 pressure in 13 pass rushes, a 7.7% pressure rate. Dennis-Sutton had 1 assisted tackle but no pressures in 10 pass rushing snaps. He did take on the fulllback very well early in the game. Gannon for the most part had to manufacture pressure, The Packers had 6 QB hits and 3 sacks. However, Minnesota only threw the ball 24 times (plus 7 scrambles). The Packers had a blitz rate of 30% and a pressure rate of 40%. Those are acceptable numbers.
Player: Snaps
Cooper 65
Franklin 65
McDuffie 1
Welch 0
Niemann 0
It sure looks like it is the Edgerrin Cooper and Zaire Franklin show. I was impressed by both players. Franklin hits hard and the tackling was good. Cooper had 7 tackles (6 solo), including 2 tackles for loss, a sack and a QB hit. Franklin had 4 tackles (2 solo) and a QB hit. Both of their QB hits were unblocked. PFF listed Cooper with allowing 3 of 4 passes for an 82 passer rating, while Franklin allowed 3 of 3 targets to be completed, good for a 102 passer rating allowed. I thought their coverage was fine, overall.
Player Snaps
McKinney 65
Williams 65
Bullard 35
Nixon 65
Cisse 49
Valentine 16
St; Juste 1
The Packers played a ton of zone, about 83% zone altogether. Jefferson got his yards (92), and their tight ends had modest production (Hockenson managed 36 yards and Josh Oliver had 22 yards) but all of the other receivers combined for just 1 yard. 39 of Jefferson's yards came on a free play where Wentz just chucked it into the end zone. The Vikings finished with 151 passing yards. Williams had 7 tackles (6 solo) and Nixon had 5 (3 solo) with 2 QB hits, a pass defensed, half a sack and a tackle for loss, but he allowed a touchdown reception as well. Cisse experienced cramping late in the game and was replaced by Valentine, but Cisse got the start.
SPECIAL TEAMS:
The special teams giveth, and they taketh away. Melton had a 59 yard kickoff return and Skyy Moore and two nice punt returns and looked solid on his fair catches. However, Smack missed an extra point and Whelan had a 22 yard punt. While up 22-10 in the third quarter, the Packers also allowed a 68-yard kickoff return that resulted in a 6-play, 28-yard touchdown drive to tighten the score to 22-17.
PENALTIES/REFEREES:
The Packers committed 12 penalties for 98 yards. Minnesota was called for 3 penalties for 15 yards. Minnesota was awarded first downs on 5 of those penalties (not including the touchdown pass to Jefferson on a free play). The Packers were awarded no first downs by penalty. The referrees resuscitated a couple or drives with flags and sustained one drive with 3 penalties that resulted in first downs. True, the Packers probably got away with a couple of face masks that were not called, and whether Aaron Jones was down by contact is a very close call, in my opinion. But at least one of the penalties on Bullard and the one on McKinney were brutal because they were not just ticky tacky but probably were not fouls at all.
DL: 2.42
LB: 2.02
Edge: 2.02
DB: 4.55
TE: 1.60
RB: 1.00
WR: 2.34
Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Becker, Reuters Sports Pictures Service
Statistics courtesy of Pro Football Focus and Next Gen Stats
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