The Green Bay Packers broke the 100-yard rushing mark on Sunday against the New England Patriots, in part because they changed up both their backfield and their offensive line. Will those changes stick moving forward? That hasn’t been determined yet.
Let’s get into how this Packers team looked different than in the past in our week’s snap count breakdown. As a reminder, these only include offensive and defensive snaps, not special teams.
Quarterback
Jordan Love: 56 snaps
Tyrod Taylor: 8
Backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor got in for the second time this season, his first since he kneeled down twice against the Chicago Bears. Taylor operated the offense on the last few drives of the game, when the Packers had already put away the game. No quarterback controversy here.
Running Back
Pierre Strong: 29
Kaleb Johnson: 26
Josh Jacobs: 9
The leading rusher on the night was Kaleb Johnson, who has been a healthy scratch as of lately. Johnson was pushed into action because of MarShawn Lloyd’s knee injury, and he split time on the field about 50-50 once starter Josh Jacobs left the game with a fractured finger.
Between Lloyd, Jacobs and Chris Brooks, who only has two weeks left in his practice window, the Packers will need to make some tough decisions soon at the running back position. They’re dealing with three injuries, have five roster-caliber players, can only carry four on the 53-man roster (at most) and can only carry three on the game-day 48-man roster. At some point, something is going to have to give here.
Receiver
Christian Watson: 49
Matthew Golden: 48
Savion Williams: 30
J. Michael Sturdivant: 15
Bo Melton: 14
Coleman Owen: 8
Former practice squadder and current punt returner Coleman Owen got his first looks on offense in garbage time. He had not played on offense up to this point in the season. Owen was also pulled off the kickoff return unit, allowing Bo Melton to be the top returner with J. Michael Sturdivant as the “off-returner.”
Belton had a 48-yard return that highlighted the night in the kicking game, while Owen had a 13-yard punt return.
Oh, yeah. Christian Watson and Matthew Golden went off.
Tight End
Tucker Kraft: 52
Mark Redman: 24
Jonnu Smith: 16
There’s nothing special about the tight end rotation this week, other than Josh Whyle being out with an injury. Last week, the Packers decided to roster only three tight ends on game day for the first time all season, and they don’t seem to want to do that again. Instead, they brought up Drake Dabney from the practice squad to help replace Whyle’s snaps on special teams. While Dabney didn’t play on offense, he did play six snaps in the kicking game.
Offensive Line
64: Anthony Belton
64: John Williams
56: Jordan Morgan
56: Laken Tomlinson
45: Aaron Banks
19: Kevin Zeitler
8: Mekhi Becton
8: Jager Burton
The Packers played all eight of their offensive linemen today, with their last two — Mekhi Becton and Jager Burton — only getting in when Tyrod Taylor hit the field. For what it’s worth, Becton played left tackle in his reps. In total, 13 offensive linemen have now played for Green Bay’s offense this season.
The big story here, though, is that the Packers are back to a guard rotation, which they have been famous for in previous years. This time, though, they’re moving around three guards for two spots, not just splitting reps at one spot between two guards.
Before garbage time, Green Bay played two drives where Laken Tomlinson played left guard and Kevin Zeitler played right guard. Aaron Banks was on the bench for those looks. Otherwise, the team played Banks at left guard, pushed Tomlinson at right guard and Zeitler was on the bench. So the Banks vs. Zeitler rotation also comes with Tomlinson flip-flopping sides to get them on the field, too.
For a staff that tried to sell us on continuity on the line early in the year when the guards were at their worst under Jacob Monk and Donovan Jennings, they seem to have thrown that playbook out entirely. A guard musical chairs is going on, and we’ve already seen six players suit up at those two spots this season.
Who even knows which eight players are going to be up on game days when Sean Rhyan and Travis Glover are finally back healthy? I’m done guessing about who the line will be. We’ll find out on Sundays.
Defensive Line
32: Karl Brooks
31: Chris McClellan
29: Devonte Wyatt
23: Anthony Campbell
19: Jordon Riley
Again, nothing too shocking here. Campbell and Riley are going to be the lower defensive linemen on the team’s depth chart until the likes of Warren Brinson and/or Jonathan Ford can return from the injured reserve.
Edge Defender
32: Lukas Van Ness
32: Brenton Cox Jr.
30: Barryn Sorrell
30: Dani-Dennis Sutton
It remains close to an even split for all four of the Packers’ top edge defenders, something we’ve seen throughout the year. Can this keep up whenever Micah Parsons returns to the lineup? I doubt it.
Off-Ball Linebacker
59: Isaiah McDuffie
57: Nick Niemann
2: Kristian Welch
2: Ty’Ron Hopper
After just two defensive snaps, injury replacement starter Ty’Ron Hopper left the game with a chest injury, which head coach Matt LaFleur was not asked about in the post-game press conference. Officially, the Packers ruled him out of action, and he never returned to the game.
At the end of the game, Isaiah McDuffie, the team’s replacement starter at the Mike position, left with an undisclosed injury, too. Forcing Kristian Welch, the team’s sixth linebacker option, into the game.
Keep an eye on the injury report this week, as the Packers cannot afford to be out Zaire Franklin, Edgerrin Cooper, McDuffie and Hopper. If those four can’t go, they might need to call up practice squad linebacker Jack Dingle and sign a player off the street.
Cornerback
51: Keisean Nixon
51: Brandon Cisse
11: Carrington Valentine
10: Benjamin St-Juste
4: Kamal Hadden
Carrington Valentine got one rep as a dime defender (a second slot) in the first half, but otherwise his snaps and Benjamin St-Juste’s snaps came in garbage time, when Keisean Nixon and Brandon Cisse were pulled out of the game. Kamal Hadden’s snaps all game as a slot defender, when safety Javon Bullard was getting worked on.
Safety
59: Evan Williams
51: Xavier McKinney
44: Javon Bullard
12: Kitan Oladapo
Kitan Oladapo played some safety in garbage time and when Evan Williams was out. Williams had the air knocked out of him at one point, but he returned to action.
At the end of the game, it was Hadden in the slot with Williams and Oladapo playing the high safety looks, due to their lack of bodies at the position. Ultimately, the team allowed Xavier McKinney and Javon Bullard, who was in and out of the game twice, to rest.
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