The Packes placed Edgerrin Cooper on the injured reserve list. They signed RB Pierre Strong and LB Christian Welch to the 53-man roster and signed LB Jack Dingle to the practice squad. Last week they placed Warren Brinson on the injured reserve. The Packers elected to leave a roster spot empty as there are only 52 people under contract. Early reports are that Javon Hargrave has an achiilles injury and Skyy Moore also left the game with an ankle injury.
The Packers did not elevate anyone from the practice squad for the game. The inactive players due to injury were LG Aaron Banks (knee/toe), OG Jacob Monk, and Anthony Campbell (ankle). Donovan Jennings was a healthy scratch. Kevin Zeitler was active but did not play.
Player Snaps
Tomlinson 62
Rhyan 62
Morgan 62
Belton 62
Glover 62
Zeitler
Williams
Becton
The Packers gained 70 yards on 26 carries, a 2.69-yard average per carry, with a long of 23. The Packers gained 26 yards on 5 carries on their first drive, a 91-yard touchdown drive, and 19 yards on 5 carries on their next (second) possession, a 10-play, 45 yard drive capped off by a 7-yard touchdown run by Lloyd. After that, running lanes became scarce. After those two drives, the Packers gained 25 yards on 16 carries with a long of 23 late in the game (7:41 left in the fourth quarter) when the Packers were up 31-7. Jordan Morgan cannot run block. He struggled early against Austin Booker, who had 3 tackles for loss and 2 sacks. Pro Football Focus gave everyone on the line very poor run grades except for Laken Tomlinson, who clocked in with a 70.
The pass protection overall was good. Love was hit 5 times and sacked twice. The sacks came early. Morgan allowed 3 pressures (2 sacks and a hurry). Glover allowed 2 hurries. Morgan and Glover each were called for a penalty. The ball still came out relatively fast at 2.57 seconds on average, but Love had enough time to go deep and to wait sometimes for longer developing routes to work open.
PFF gave Tomlinaon their highest grade at 64.5, followed by Belton (59.5), Rhyan (52.6), Morgan (45.7) and Glover (42.6). Those pass blocking grades seem low to me. I thought Glover deserved another chance after having an encouraging game last week against Tampa Bay but he did not nail down his spot. We likely will see Kevin Zeitler next week; indeed, I was a little surprised not to see him this week. We have not yet seen Mekhi Becton to see where he fits into the situation, but Beltlon played well enough to win with
Player Snaps Routes
Kraft 48 24/5/1
Redman 21 8/0
Smith 21 11/0
Whyle 10 3/0
Kraft caught all 5 of his targets for 64 yards with a long of 46. He had a bad drop. Redman, Smith, and Whyle ran 22 routes but were not targeted. Redman continues to block well. Kudos to Gutekunst for trading for Redman to upgrade what looked like a very weak tight end room. It still needs work.
Player Snaps
Love 60
Taylor 2
Love completed 25 of 31 attempts (80.6%) for 367 yards (a whopping 11.84 yards per attempt) with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. He finished with an 137.5 passer rating. He averaged 10.9 yards of Adot. The Packers exploited the departures of 3 safeties who left the Bears in free agency (Brisker, Byard, and Gardner-Johnson). PFF listed 2 drops as a team statistic. Love was sharp again. He had a little more time. He scorched Chicago when they blitzed, completing 8 of 10 attempts for 130 yards and a touchdown when Chicago sent extra rushers.
Player Snaps Routes
Lloyd 27 10/2//10
Strong 26 16/4/5
Johnson 9 0/0/7
Lloyd gained 31 yards on 10 carries and scored 2 touchdowns. He caught 1 of 2 targets for 6 yards. Kaleb Johnson gained 26 yards on 7 carries, with a long of 23. Don't be deceived though: he played mostly in garbage time. In the game thread I predicted that Johnson would average less than a yard per carry, expecting the Packers to go into turtle mode to protect a big lead. I was close but he had that surprising 23-yard run around the left end (around the left end). Kidding aside, Johnson does look like the back most likely to get positive yards on tough runs. Pierre Strong gained 7 yards on 5 carries and caught 3 of 4 targets for 11 yards. None of these players moves the needle.
Player Snaps Routes
Watson 50 30/7/0
Golden 48 27/7/0
Melton 30 17/4/0
Moore 11 5/1/0
Sturdivant 9 3//0/0
Christian Watson caught 6 of his 8 targets for 143 yards and 2 touchdowns with a long of 53. He is still mostly a big play target, but he is starting to be a chain-mover. Matthew Golden caught 6 of 7 targets for 123 yards with a long of 50. Melton caught 3 of 4 for 20 yards. Moore was targeted once and left the game with an ankle injury. Sturdivant's long touchdown reception was erased by his own pass interference penalty. He did initiate some contact but officlals sometimes will let that go. He also had a penalty on special teams. PFF hated Watson's run blocking but he and Golden got elite grades.
The Packers seem to like having a clean replacement for their slot receiver, inserting Moore for the injured Jayden Reed. Now that Moore is injured, it remains to be seen if they will use Sturdivant in the slot. While I like Sturdivant quite a bit, Watson and Golden can do a lot of damage out of the slot. With 2 openings on the 53-man roster, they might sign a wide receiver and/or bring up Neyor.
The Packers played a very clean game. They committed 4 penalties for 25 yards. There were few pre-snap penalties and only a couple of drops. Love fumbled but recovered his own fumble. There were no huge blown assignments in pass blocking or coverage. The Packers won the turnover battel 5-0. That will lead to a lot of wins.
Defense:
Player Snaps
Brooks 39
Wyatt 32
Hargrave 31
McClellan 30
Ford 17
Kudos to the defensive line for winning the line of scrimmage against Chicago's vaunted offensive line. That will be more difficult if Javon Hargrave is lost for the rest of the season with an achilles injury. The Packers can hope that Brinson and Anthony Campbell can contribute when they return. Brinson looked very good in training camp.
Wyatt had 3 tackles (3 solo), including 2 sacks. He had 2 missed tackles according to PFF, which lowered his run defense grade to (32.8). Brooks had a tackle for loss and Hargrave had an assisted tackle and a QB hit. Brooks got a stellar 83 grade, including a run defense grade of 80.3. McClellan had a quarterback hit and Ford plugged up the middle well. The Bears gained only 84 yards on 24 carries but the Packers jumped out to a 14-0 lead and never looked back.
Player Snaps
Van Ness 40
Cox 35
DDS 32
Sorrell 24
Van Ness had 2 tackles (1 solo), with 2 quarterback hits, one of which was unblocked. PFF gave him credit for 5 pressure in 25 pass rushes, a good 20% pressure rate. Brenton Cox had 3 solo tackles (1 solo) and had 3 pressures in 27 pass rushing snaps (11.5%). Dennis-Sutton had 3 tackles including a sack and 2 QB hits. PFF credited him with 3 pressures in 24 pass rushing snaps (12.5% pressure rate). Sorrell had 1 solo tackle and 2 pressures in 14 rushes, but one was unblocked. His snap count decreased again. The Packers managed 9 pressures even though the Bears dropped back to pass 40 times and took 2.85 seconds from snap to throw on average. PFF gave LVN and DDS 72 grades and they gave Cox a 70. Mostly, Bagent was not very good. I suspect that the Bears made an error in judgment starting Bagent over Keenum.
Player: Snaps
Franklin 64
Hopper 39
McDuffie 32
Niemann 0
Franklin had 9 tackles (1 solo) with a tackle for loss and a pass defensed. PFF listed him with 2 missed tackles. Franklin allowed 5 of 8 targets for 55 yards. It looked like McDuffie and Hopper rotated in. Both play special teams, as well. McDuffie had 6 tackles (3 solo). He had no pressures on 3 pass rushing snaps. He allowed 4 of 5 targets to be completed for 28 yards. Hopper had 2 tackles (1 solo). He allowed 1 of 2 targets to be completed for 5 yards but the other target was an interception. Hopper had no pass rushing snaps. It seems a little odd to send McDuffie rather than Hopper, who seems to have a little more juice. PFF gave Hopper a 68 grade overall despite his interceptions as they did not like his run defense.
Player Snaps
Williams 69
McKinney 61
Bullard 53
Cisse 69
Nixon 61
Valentine 9
Olapado 8
Hadden 7
Williams had 12 tackles (7 solo) and allowed 2 of 5 targets to be completed for 23 yards. That is good for a 54 passer rating allowed. Williams is solid in all phases of the game. PFF gave him a 75.8 grade. Nixon had 6 tackles (4 solo) 1 tackle for loss and 1 passes defensed. He played a physical game. He allowed 3 of 7 targets to be completed but for just 26 yards, good for an 53.3 passer rating allowed. Once again, Nixon is better than fans give him credit for. Cisse had 2 solo tackles, one of which was a sack, and a pass defensed. He missed 2 tackles. He allowed 1 of 3 targets to be completed for 13 yards and a 47 PRA. Valentine had 1 solo tackle and allowed 1 pass to be completed for 6 yards. Bullard had 7 tackles (4 solo) and a pass defensed. He allowed 5 of 5 targets to be completed for 27 yards, a 89 PRA. McKinney had 2 solo tackles with 2 passes defensed. He allowed one pass to be completed for 17 yards but he had two huge interceptions. Hadden had 4 tackles (2 solo) with three of those tackles coming in the first half, not garbage time. He allowed 1 of 2 targets to be completed for 5 yards, good for a 56 PRA. Olapado had a solo tackle. Valentine did not not allow the only pass thrown his way to be completed. PFF loved all of them.
The Packers played Williams at free safety on 34 snaps and in the box on 27 snaps. McKinney played deep on 43 snaps and in the box on 14 snaps. However, the Packers had a big lead so the running threat was reduced. Bullard played 2 snaps at the LOS, 14 in the box and 2 deep, with the rest coming at slot.
SPECIAL TEAMS:
Smack missed an extra points and made just 1 of 3 field goals, a 35-yarder. Whelan punted 4 times for 221 (55.3-yard average) with a long of 75. He had 2 downed inside the 20 and 1 touchback. .
DL: 2.16 (a little up from 2.02l ast week)
LB: 1.95
Edge: 1.90 (a little down from 2.02 last week)
DB: 4.88 (4.95 last week)
TE: 1.61 (down from 1.83 last week)
RB: 1.00
WR: 2.39 (Up from 2.17 last week but less than season-long norms)
Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Reuters US Sports Pictures
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