Packers Report Card After Beating Patriots in Overtime

The Green Bay Packers edged the New England Patriots on Sunday. Here is our report card, with the rushing offense earning the best grade.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – A look at the stats shows the Green Bay Packers did exactly what they should have done against the New England Patriots on Sunday.

They dominated them.

The Packers outgained the Patriots by 172 yards. They converted twice as many third downs and had twice as many 20-yard gains.

Of course, the reality is the Packers were fortunate to escape with a 27-24 victory, with Aaron Rodgers and Co. needing overtime to dispatch rookie third-string quarterback Bailey Zappe.

“It’s never easy winning in this league and there’s a lot of things we need to do better, but bottom line is we found a way when we needed to and we made just enough plays to come out on top,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “I was proud of our guys. We talk about how do you respond to adversity, and I thought that there was a lot of adversity throughout the course of the game and our guys stuck together. They’re not always going to be pretty wins and I’m OK with that. You guys can criticize us, that’s cool. But bottom line is we found a way to win.”

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was in agreement. Yes, he was part of a dismal first half that had the boo birds making their first appearance of the season. But a third consecutive win, no matter the circumstances, is reason to smile.

“I feel great,” he said. “3-1, it feels great after that first quarter, four-game stretch. A win’s a win. That was an ugly first half, good second half. We’re going to celebrate this and now the schedule gets physically demanding as far as travel [to London to face the Giants next week].”

Here are this week’s grades.

Passing Offense

It was a tale of two halves for Aaron Rodgers. In the first half, he was 4-of-11 passing for 44 yards and an 11.2 passer rating. With one sack, Green Bay had 37 net passing yards. The Patriots had more yards on Jack Jones’ 40-yard interception return for a touchdown. In the second half, Rodgers was 17-of-24 passing for 207 yards and two touchdowns, good for a passer rating of 124.8.

Allen Lazard caught six passes for 116 yards in a superb performance, Romeo Doubs had a big-time touchdown on a back-shoulder throw on third-and-3 to force overtime and tight end Robert Tonyan made his first big play since last year’s ACL injury with a 20-yard touchdown.

Rodgers was sacked only once but faced a good bit of pressure, especially in the first half. His play under pressure remains troublesome. He went 1-of-6 when under duress, according to Pro Football Focus, a trend that dates to last season. Sometimes, it's not his fault. With 3:50 remaining in regulation, Lazard was streaking wide open up the left sideline but Aaron Jones got demolished in blitz protection and Rodgers had to throw away the ball.

Under pressure, his only completion was a huge one, as he danced away from pressure allowed by David Bakhtiari for an exquisite 24-yarder to Randall Cobb to convert a third down. Is Cobb in Green Bay because of Rodgers? Probably. Good thing, though. He’s like a fire extinguisher. When needed, Rodgers has smashed that glass and turned to Cobb to put out some third-down fires.

On passes thrown 10-plus yards downfield, Rodgers completed 8-of-14 passes. That’s a noteworthy and important development. At Tampa Bay last week, he was 3-of-8.

Doubs had the only drop, a deep shot in the final 2 minutes that could have won the game in regulation, and he fumbled again. His explosive ability to get open is obvious; so is his running power when he gets the ball in his hands. If he can eliminate even half his mistakes, he’ll be on his way to stardom.

Grade: C-plus.

Rushing Offense

The Packers topped 200 rushing yards at home against Chicago in Week 2 and almost did it again with 199 yards vs. the Patriots. Aaron Jones was back to his dominant self with 16 carries for 110 yards, a robust 6.9 average. Give him an inch, he might not always take a mile but he’ll at least take several yards. It’s as if there’s a rocket attached to his back. By our count, he only broke three tackles – he had two on the same defender on one play – but gained 78 yards after contact.

Sidekick AJ Dillon hadn’t gotten much running room and hadn’t done much on his own, either. But then came the second half and, especially, overtime. He finished with 17 carries for 73 yards, a 4.3 average. He had just four carries for 17 yards in the first half. Give him 52 yards after contact.

The right side of guard Royce Newman and tackle Elgton Jenkins powered the path. Doubs had an excellent block on Christian Watson’s 15-yard touchdown run, a masterpiece of scheme and execution. When Dillon was stuffed on third-and-2 to start in the third quarter, Jones got a toss around left end for 17 on fourth down.

Grade: A-minus.

Passing Defense

Last week, the Buccaneers played without their three marquee receivers. It was a big reason why the Packers earned an upset victory. On Sunday, the Patriots were without starting quarterback Mac Jones (ankle) for the entire game and veteran backup Brian Hoyer (concussion) for most of it. It was a big reason why the Packers won this game, too.

It was a mixed bag against rookie Bailey Zappe. The Packers finished the day with four sacks, with Rashan Gary having two (including a strip/sack) and setting up a third. It was a studly day for Green Bay’s stud pass rusher. Easy to ignore, cornerback Eric Stokes had two big-time tackles to keep his man short of the first down.

On the other hand, Hoyer had a 27-yard completion to Nelson Agholor to set up the opening field goal, Zappe threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to DeVante Parker against a coverage bust and Zappe had a 21-yard completion to Agholor to set up another touchdown. Zappe’s passer rating was a Rodgers-like 107.4.

The Packers not only didn’t record an interception, they didn’t even break up a pass. For the second week in a row, the quarterback went after All-Pro linebacker De’Vondre Campbell with success.

Grade: C-minus.

Rushing Defense

There’s no sugarcoating this phase. Everyone knew the Patriots were going to run the ball. Clearly, that must have crossed the minds of defensive coordinator Joe Barry and his players. Yet the Patriots ran for 167 yards and averaged 5.1 yards per pop.

The Packers didn’t miss many tackles on Damien Harris (18 carries, 86 yards) or Rhamondre Stevenson (14 carries, 66 yards). It’s just that they always got 3 or 4 more yards than the blocking provided. That adds up over the course of a game.

Reed, who led the team with eight tackles, and Gary, who was stout at the point and crashed across the formation a couple times, had good days. There have been better days for Campbell and defensive lineman Dean Lowry. The Packers need better on the edge than outside linebacker Jonathan Garvin provided. Remember those big passing plays mentioned before? Those all came on play-action because of New England’s consistent success on the ground.

On the bright side, Green Bay forced three consecutive three-and-outs to end the game. The Patriots ran six times for 18 yards on those plays. Lowry had a big tackle for 0 yards on second-and-5 in overtime, and Reed and Kenny Clark stopped Stevenson a yard short on third-and-3 at the end of regulation. Those plays salvage the grade

Grade: D-plus.

Special Teams

Rich Bisaccia’s coverage units were superb in the first three games but not so much on Sunday. Marcus Jones had a kickoff return of 37 yards and punt returns of 29 and 20. The 20-yarder at the end of regulation, with flier Rudy Ford stymied by a double team but nobody else from the coverage unit there to help, put the Patriots on the threshold of field-goal range in overtime.

A stupid block-in the-back penalty by rookie Tariq Carpenter – he could have been flagged twice for the same offense in a span of 2 seconds – took the Packers out of Hail Mary range at the end of regulation. Crosby’s kickoffs really lacked punch after an opening touchback.

On the bright side, Pat O’Donnell had two more inside-the-20 punts, including one downed at the 2 by Keisean Nixon, who did well to keep his heels out of the end zone. And, of course, when it was time to win the game, there was perfect execution on Crosby’s 31-yarder.

Grade: C.

Coaching

If you’re going to criticize LaFleur for his lack of adjustments on offense at Tampa Bay, then you’ve got to praise him and his staff for finding the right moves to get the offense moving in the second half.

Governed by his emotions, and perhaps the reaction of the fans who saw the replay on the scoreboard, LaFleur challenged Doubs’ end-zone drop. “It was almost like throwing a Hail Mary. That could have came back and bit us in the butt,” he said.

This isn’t a coaching point, per se, but it must be pointed out that while the run defense was gashed and the pass defense couldn’t capitalize on facing a rookie quarterback, Barry’s crew gave up 17 points. Of New England’s 11 total positions, it gave up zero or one first downs seven times. The Patriots had three drives start around midfield and never scored. That’s winning football. So, you could take the C-minus for pass defense and D-plus for rush defense and come up with a B.

Grade: C.

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