The Green Bay Packers managed to escape Week 4 with a win over New England to improve to 3-1 on the season. Although it wasn’t pretty, as Matt LaFleur has said, you’ll never catch Green Bay apologizing for winning.
With the game now behind us, it’s now time to revisit the Packers’ performance through the stats and figures that helped define what we saw.
116
Is it possible to have a quiet 116 receiving yards? If so, Allen Lazard may have done it. While the passing game sputtered for much of the first half, Lazard’s presence was a constant. In addition to the 116 yards, a few of those receptions helped move the sticks on third down and set up scoring opportunities for others. He, as always, was crucial as a run-blocker as well.
3-11
The defense took some lumps, especially against the run, but they got the big stops when needed and were once again very effective on third downs. Green Bay entered Sunday’s game with the best third-down defense in the NFL. That success, often a product of their play on early downs, which puts the opponent in third and long situations, continued against New England, who was only 3-11 on third downs.
3 and 10.0
As far as pass protection goes, Elgton Jenkins once again led the Packers’ offensive line in pressures allowed with three. Is it because of rust as he returns from injury? Or is the transition to the right side of the offensive line more challenging than we expected? Either way, while I don’t expect an immediate change, the Packers may look into moving Yosh Nijman and Jon Runyan to the right side with Jenkins sliding back to left tackle. However, we then run into the question, how will those two fare on the right side?
While Jenkins took some lumps in pass protection, he was very good as a run blocker. According to PFF, Aaron Jones ran his direction four times and totaled 40 yards on those carries.
5
Rashan Gary was a game-changer for this Packers’ defense, even dealing with tight end chips. He finished the game with five pressures, two sacks, five tackles, including a loss, and a forced fumble, along with a fumble recovery. Gary also forced a pressure in overtime to keep New England out of field goal range. He is now tied for seventh among all edge rushers in pressures, and he’s tied for first in sacks.
4
The Packers offense has now lost a fumble in all four games this season. Aaron Rodgers has also thrown three interceptions, including that pick-six, after throwing only four all of last season. Overall, the Packers have seven giveaways this season, which is tied for the sixth-most in the NFL. Fortunately, this hasn’t cost them much in the win-loss column, but in part, that’s due to the level of competition they’ve faced. Against good teams, these turnovers will result in losses.
27.8
As I wrote prior to this game, the Packers’ special teams unit, which has fared well, was going to face its toughest test of the season against New England. Patriots return man Marcus Jones averaged 27.8 yards per kick return and 24.5 yards on two punt returns. It’s also noteworthy that with Adrian Amos sidelined, Rudy Ford played just nine special teams snaps (or 28%). This will be worth watching if Amos is going to miss time, as Ford has made a big impact as a gunner.
167
Regardless of whether it was Brian Hoyer or Bailey Zappe under center, we all knew that the Patriots were going to lean very heavily on the run game. However, the Packers still struggled to slow Rhamondre Stevenson and Damien Harris down.
As a team, the Patriots rushed for 167 yards at 5.1 yards per carry. The Packers did play less nickel to get their bigger bodies on the field, but over 50% of their defensive snaps still came from that formation, which resulted in some chunk runs from New England. We also saw the Patriots frequently use a sixth offensive lineman. But credit where it’s due, this run defense came up big in overtime with the Patriots flirting with field goal range.
110
The passing game was wildly inconsistent, but you could count on Aaron Jones to create explosive plays. The offensive line did a very good job of creating running lanes, which Jones took advantage of, rushing for 110 yards, including a whopping five runs of 10-plus yards.
3
Randall Cobb was targeted eight times against New England with five receptions and three targets that moved the chains. One third down target came on an eventual touchdown drive. Another drew pass interference that extended the drive. And the last came on the Packers field goal drive in overtime. Cobb has been targeted five times on third downs this season, catching all five and converting the first down each time as well.
70
As we saw, the Packers are going to experience growing pains with Romeo Doubs, but as Aaron Rodgers told reporters following the game, the trust is still very much there. Doubs played 70 of the Packers’ 73 offensive snaps, and while he had the fumble and dropped pass, he also caught five passes for 47 yards and a touchdown on a fantastic back-shoulder grab. The flashes of a big-time receiver are absolutely there.
11.2
That was a rough first half for Aaron Rodgers, to say the least, as he completed 4-11 passes for 44 yards with an interception and a passer rating of 11.2. However, Rodgers settled in, and the Packers began moving the ball. Green Bay strung together three straight scoring drives in the second half, and Rodgers finished the game with 251 yards, a pair of touchdowns, and 7.1 yards per attempt. Rodgers again got the ball out quickly when kept clean and was effective when blitzed and off play-action.
443 and 271
As the game unfolded, it wasn’t a very encouraging performance from either side of the ball. Of course, there are areas to improve upon, but at the end of the day, the offense put up 443 total yards, and the defense held New England to only 271. Take away the pick-six, and if Doubs hauls in that touchdown grab, this game looks quite different.
