The Packers elevated TE Drake Dabney from the practice squad for week nine. He played 6 snaps on special teams. The inactive players due to injury were LB Zaire Franklin, OL Travis Glover, OC Sean Rhyan, and TE Josh Whyle. The healthy scratches were Marshawn Lloyd and Donovan Jennings.
Player Snaps
Belton 66
Williams 66
Morgan 58
Tomlinson 58
Banks 46
Zeitler 20
Becton 8
Burton 8
The Packers gained 129 yards (!) on 32 carries, a 4.03-yard average per carry, with a long of 34. The running backs gained 95 yards on 26 carries, good for a 3.65-yard average, with that long run helping immensely. They ran the ball considreably better than last week. The Packers had a -0.08 EPA per carry per PFF. New England is paying big bucks for their defense overall and plenty to their defensive line, which features Milton Williams and Christian Barmore. The Patriots are trying to get by in the middle with 35-year old Daquan Jones and youngster Cory Durden. New England entered the game with a top ten defense.
The pass protection overall was below average. Love got 2.54 seconds of time from snap to the throw, on average. The NFL average is 2.86. Love was hit 5 times and sacked 3 times per ESPN (4 sacks per PFF), but he had to roll out, move around in the pocket, and throw off his back foot to get passes off.. PFF suggests that the Packers gave up a 18 pressures. For context, PFF indicated that New England gave up 27 pressures.
Morgan allowed 1 hurry in 35 pass blocking snaps. John Williams allowed 3 hurries. Betlon allowed 4 pressures (3 hurries, 1 sack). Tomlinson allowed 3 hurries, again in 35 pass blocking snaps. Aaron Banks allowed 3 pressures in 31 pass blocking snaps, including a hurry, 1 QB hit and 1 sack. He could not run block and his pass blocking miscues were the kind that gets the quarterback hit. Tucker Kraft and Mark Redman were not charged with allowing any pressures. Jonnu Smith does not play many pass blocking snaps. Green Bay allowed just 3 unblocked pressures, meaning that they handled stunts and twists pretty well and Love got the ball out when necessary. For context, New England allowed 13 unblocked pressures as Gannon dialed up some blitzes.
Predictably, PFF hated John Williams (36.5), Aaron Banks (38.9), Belton (48.4), and Morgan (54.7). They liked Laken Tomlinson (77.6) but really not anyone else on the entire offense. Zeitler (55.6) was okay. Becton (48) and Burton (55) played in garbage time, with Becton playing left tackle and Burton at guard. I would not read too much into Becton playing left tackle: it might mean he is viewed as the swing tackle, but who knows. Morgan, Banks, and Williams cannot run block. I think Aaron Banks gets at most one more week to show that he should be the starting left guard. It is possible he does not get that chance, with the Packers moving to a line of Morgan/Tomlinson/Williams/Zeitler/Belton, with Sean Rhyan replacing Williams when he returns to action. Rhyan has a high ankle sprain but was not placed on the injured reserve list.
Player Snaps Routes
Kraft 54 26/2/2
Redman 24 4/0/0
Smith 16 9/0/0
Dabney
Kraft caught 1 of 3 targets for 10 yards. He does not look dynamic. He did carry the ball on two sneaks, one of which was successful. He bobbled the snap on the other and failed to gain 1 yard despite decent push from the offensive line. Mark Redman and Jonnu Smith did not have any targets. Redman's blocking was decent. Jonnu Smith never pass blocks. His run blocking is less than what is desired and explains why he was a healthy scratch last week. The Packers played 1.42 TEs on average, a number that has been trending down each week. The room is not providing much production this year.
Player Snaps
Love 58
Taylor 8
Love completed 23 of 29 attempts (79.3%) for 379 yards (13.07-yards per attempt!) with 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. He finished with an 153.2 passer rating. He averaged 13.9 yards of Adot. He threw at least 2 passes away. Love had 6 big-time throws and 1 (zero if you believe PFF) turnover-worthy pass. He scored a 13-yard rushing touchdown on a scramble. This was a great performance from Love. PFF gave Love a 94.3 grade. Tyrod Taylor handed the ball off without incident.
This passing chart from Next Gen is impressive and lends even more credence to Jordan Love's claim for post-season awards.
Player Snaps Routes
Strong 30 17/2/8
Johnson 26 10/0/14
Jacobs 10 3/0/4
Pierre Strong gained 22 yards on 8 carries, a 2.75-yard average with a long of 8. He caught 2 passes for 11 yards. Johnson gained 68 yards on 14 carries, a 4.86-yard average. He had a 34-yard gain through a gigantic hole on the right side of the line. He was not targeted. He looks like a running back when there is a hole to hit. Otherwise, he dances too much. Jacobs gained 5 yards on 4 carries and broke his ring finger on his right hand when he tried to stiff-arm a defender.
Player Snaps Routes
Watson 51 28/8/0
Golden 49 32/10/0
Williams 32 19/4/3
Sturdivant 15 4/0/0
Melton 15 8/0/0
Owen 8 0/0/0
Matthew Golden caught 10 of 10 targts for 164 yards with a long of 49 and a touchdown. He just gets so open but he has shown some ability to win a contested catch. The Packers need a volume receiver and he looks like he can fill that role while still being a deep threat. Christian Watson caught 7 of his 8 targets for 171 yards with a long of 43 and a touchdown. He looked great for playing with some kind of rib injury, even doing a back flip after his touchdown catch. Savion Williams caught 3 of 4 targets for 25 yards and a touchdown. He gained 11 yards on 3 rushing carries with a long of 11. That translates to gaining 11 yards on his first end around and then getting nothing on the next two. He gave excellent effort (84.7 run blocking grade) and has shown very good hands. PFF gave him an 75.2 grade. Watson (92.2) and Golden (84.9) were fantastic. The offense looks unstoppable when those two are cooking.
Melton and Sturdivant had no targets. Melton is a willing blocker and does a good job for his size. PFF have him a 86.2 run blocking grade, and of course he had a long kickoff return. It appeared to me as though Sturdivant ran a lot of decoy routes were he is just going in motion to get a defender to move or clearing out a zone. Sturdivant looked good as a gunner. Melton was evaluated for a concussion late in the game and that is why Owen got in the game, plus it was garbage time.
The offense made very few mistakes.
Defense:
Player Snaps
McClellan 33
Brooks 32
Wyatt 29
Campbell 25
Riley 20
Brooks had 2 solo tackles, 2 sacks and 3 tackles for loss. He had 4 pressures (2 sacks, 1 QB hit, 1 hurry) in 28 pass rushing snaps, an excellent 14.5% pressure rate. He has improved his run defense, though it is just average now. Brooks has some juice, though. PFF gave him a 67 grade. Anthony Campbell had 1 solo tackle and no pressures in 15 pass rushing snaps. PFF gave Campbell a 54.4 grade. Wyatt had no tackles or pressures. Wyatt held his ground on running plays and was able to play after getting hurt a couple of games ago. McClellan had 1 assisted tackle and 1 QB hit. PFF credited him with 1 pressure in 21 pass rushing snaps. He did his job. PFF have him a 62 grade. Riley had 3 solo tackles but no pressures in 10 pass rushing snaps. PFF gave him a 50.4 grade.
I would have liked to have seen a little more push from the interior linemen, but this is a good result.
Player Snaps
Cox 34
Van Ness 32
DDS 32
Sorrell 30
Van Ness had 1 solo tackle and 2 pressures in 21 pass rushing snaps. He missed a tackle. New England's preferred left tackle did not play. Sorrell had 3 tackles (2 solo) with 2 hurries in 15 pass rushing snaps. He was fine but PFF gave him a bad grade because he got caught in a coverage assignment and allowed a 15-yard gain. I am ignoring PFF's grade. Brenton Cox had 4 tackles (1 solo), 1 QB hits and a half sack. PFF gave him 2 QB hits, 1 sack and 1 hurry in 22 pass rushing snaps, a vry respectable 18.18% pressure rate. He is putting himself in position for a payday next year. Dennis-Sutton had 3 tackles (1 solo) but 3 pressures in 17 pass rushing snaps. This was a decent result but New England is pretty banged up on the offensive line and Gannon had to resort to a lot of scheming to get pressure.
Cox led the way in PFF's view with a 62.9 grade. DDS (59), LVN (55.9) seem about right. Sorrell got a 49 grade but a 29.8 coverage grade was taken far too heavily into account. I don't expect Sorrell to cover very well.
Player: Snaps
McDuffie 60
Niemann 59
Welch 3
Hopper 2
McDuffie had 10 tackles (5 solo) with 1 sack and 2 tackles for loss. . He had 3 pressures in 6 pass rushing snaps. He allowed 5 of 7 targets to be completed for 65 yards, good for a 100.3 passer rating allowed. McDuffie had a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. PFF gave him a 83.4 grade. I thoght McDuffie did a really nice job. He was shaken up late in the game but walked off the field under his own power. Niemann had 7 tackles (5 solo) with a pass defensed. He had 1 missed tackle. He had 2 hurries in 11 pass rushing snaps. He allowed 3 of 5 targets to be completed for 68 yards, good for a 143.8 passer rating allowed. It could have been a lot worse. PFF gave Niemann a 51.5 but gave him decent run defense and coverage grades. The coverage grade makes no sense to me and I do not care about poor pass rushing grades from the deep backup off-the-ball linebacker. Welch did no harm. Hopper left after 2 snaps with a chest injury and did not return. No one asked Coach LaFleur about Hopper's injury. The trade deadline is Tuesday. If Hopper is going to be out, it might behoove the Packers to find another linebacker. I don't think more than a 6th or 7th round pick, maybe just a swap. Green Bay perhaps could try to get through Week 10's Viking game and get to the bye in week 11.
Player Snaps
Williams 61
McKinney 51
Bullard 44
Olapado 14
Nixon 51
Cisse 51
Valentine 13
St. Juste 12
Hadden 5
McKinney had 4 tackles (2 solo) and 2 interceptions. McKinney made both interceptions happen: the opposing quarterback did not just throw a couple of terrible passes and he was just lucky. McKinney allowed 2 of 4 passes to be completed for 26 yards. PFF gave McKinney a 92.6 grade. Williams had 5 tackles (4 solo) with a pass defensed. He allowed 1 completion on 1 target for 8 yards, a 60 passer rating allowed. He made a beautiful intercepition. PFF only gave him a 70.6 grade. Most players would put that game on their resume. Bullard had 3 tackles (2 solo). He had no pressures on 2 pass rushing attempts. Bullard allowed 3 of 4 targets to be completed for 54 yards and a touchdown. PFF gave him a 48.3 grade, which seems a trifle harsh, though of course he had a rough day overall. He did appear to be fighting through some kind of injury. Olapado had 3 tackles (1 solo). He was pretty solid in limited snaps. PFF gave him a 68.8 grade.
Nixon had 4 tackles (3 solo). He missed a tackle. He allowed 4 of 5 targets to be completed for just 44 yards, but one reception was for a touchdown. Nixon simply got beat by a very good route and pass. He allowed a 142.9 passer rating overall. PFF gave him a 56.4 grade. Cisse had 3 tackles (1 solo), including 1 pass defensed. He pushed out a runner after a lateral to force a punt, a heady play. Cisse allowed 1 of 4 targets to be completed for 4 yards, good for an 39.6 passer rating allowed. He had 1 hurry on 1 pass rushing snap. PFF gave him a 81.7 grade. Valentine had 1 pass defensed. PFF gave him a 68 grade. Hadden had 2 solo tackles. He missed a tackle. PFF gave him a 29 grade for just 5 snaps.
SPECIAL TEAMS:
Smack made 3 field goals with a long of 51 and 4 extra points. Daniel Whelan punted 4 times for a 53.5-yard average but he had 2 touchbacks, which were a little unlucky. Bo Melton had a huge 48-yard kickoff return that led to points.
DL: 2.20 (up from 2.12 last week)
LB: 1.97
Edge: 2.03
DB: 4.79
TE: 1.49
RB: 1.00
WR: 2.58
Photo courtesy of Eric Canha, Reuters US Sports Picture Service
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