Report Card: Grades From Packers’ 16-10 Win Over Colts

With Jordan Love inactive due to a knee injury, Malik Willis made just enough plays to complement a powerhouse rushing attack and a stingy pass defense. Here are the grades from the Packers’ 16-10 win over the Colts.

Sep 15, 2024; Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA; Green Bay Packers quarterback Malik Willis (2) throws a pass during the third quarter against the Indianapolis Colts at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images / Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers bounced back from last week’s loss in Brazil by beating the Indianapolis Colts 16-10 in the Lambeau Field opener.

Without Jordan Love, Sunday’s game was not one that was going to look pretty, but when the Packers look at their record, they’ll see a “1” in the win column, which is the only thing that matters.

Coach Matt LaFleur and defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley teamed up for some high marks this week, even though they’re still looking to shore some things up in the run game on defense.

More on that, and the rest of our grades, from a steamy opener at Lambeau Field.

Pass Offense

It would have been easy to think Malik Willis was going to have a tough day at the office. He’s only been in Green Bay for three weeks and was attempting to replace Love in an offense built around a dynamic passing game.

LaFleur was impressed by how Willis handled the challenge.

“We had a lot of long calls, shifts, motions. There was a lot put on his plate to go out there and be able to do what he did today,” LaFleur said.

At the end of the day, the stat line was not gaudy, but Willis was never going to be asked to drop back 40 times.

If there is anything that served as proof about the confidence the Packers had in the passing game, it was late in the first half, when they ran the clock out instead of attempting to move the ball through the air.

Willis wasn’t asked to do a lot. That would have been a disservice to him and, frankly, the rest of the team.

He finished the game 12-of-14 passing for 122 yards and his first career touchdown pass to Dontayvion Wicks.

The passing game had another big play when he found Romeo Doubs down the field for a 39-yard completion that would have put the game away if not for a missed field goal by Brayden Narveson.  

There were not a lot of contributions from the passing game, but there were enough for the Packers to win.

in a game without their star quarterback that was going to be won on the legs of Josh Jacobs and the running back room, they’ll take that.

Grade: B-plus

Rush Offense

LaFleur said he challenged his offensive line this week.

“We had a shaky day of practice on Wednesday,” LaFleur said. “I went in there and said ‘Hey, we’re winning this game through you guys,’”

Josh Myers called LaFleur’s game plan a dream. Elgton Jenkins smiled when asked if the game plan was exactly what an offensive lineman hopes for.

It was pretty simple from the Packers’ standpoint. They had to run the ball.

The whole world knew they were running the ball. Perhaps most importantly, the Colts knew they were running the ball, and they still couldn’t stop it.

“Fifth-three rushes today. It’s one thing to want to do that, but it’s another thing to execute,” LaFleur said. “I think it says a lot about all 11 out there, starting with the offensive line, (and) our receivers were blocking their butts off, like they always do.”

Josh Jacobs finished with 32 carries for 151 yards. The Packers rushed for 261 yards and averaged 4.9 yards per carry.

As most NFL games do, this one started up front. The front five accepted LaFleur’s challenge, and the Packers won as a result.

Grade: A

Pass Defense

The pass rush was virtually silent against the Colts. Devonte Wyatt had the game’s lone sack but, for the second consecutive game against an athletic quarterback, LaFleur and the players said that was mostly by design to keep Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson from gashing them in the run game.

It worked, because Richardson couldn’t get anything going through the air with consistency.

For as talented as Richardson is, he’s also incredibly erratic. He finished with a completion percentage of 50 percent and threw three interceptions. Eric Wilson, Xavier McKinney, and Evan Williams were on the receiving end of those plays, with Wilson’s killing a fourth-quarter scoring opportunity and Williams clinching the game with a pick on a Hail Mary.

The Packers did not allow the Colts to get into the end zone until after the 2-minute warning in the fourth quarter.

That was largely due to the yeoman’s work they did in limiting the Colts' big-play passing game.

Next week, they’ll be facing a more traditional quarterback in Will Levis. Perhaps the pass rushers will finally be unleashed.

Grade: B-plus

Rush Defense

It’s tough to grade poorly in a game when your side of the ball only gave up 10 points, but that’s the state of the Packers’ run defense.

Had Colts coach Shane Steichen had a similar game plan to that of LaFleur, perhaps this game would have turned out differently.

Former Wisconsin Badgers All-American Jonathan Taylor gashed the Packers for 103 yards on 12 carries, an 8.6-average.

Thanks to Steichen, however, he was unable to deliver a critical blow to the Packers’ hapless run defense.

The Packers’ defense made one huge play on the first play of the fourth quarter. Inexplicably, Taylor was not on the field.

On third-and-1 from Green Bay’s 28, Richardson ran a speed option to the short side of the field. It was strung out by Kingsley Enagbare and cleaned up by Eric Wilson, who had a terrific day. After the 4-yard loss, Matt Gay missed a 50-yard field goal, so the Packers stayed on top 13-3.

Nonetheless, the Packers have been gashed by an opposing running back two weeks in a row.

It burned them against the Eagles. And it might again against top competition when the stakes are higher.

Grade: D

Special Teams

This game was always going to require complementary football at its finest.

The Packers almost were flawless across the board in that regard.

The first player to get a shoutout from LaFleur during his postgame news conference? Daniel Whelan, whose punting prowess included pinning the Colts at their 5 for the final drive of the game. Whelan punted three times and they stuck the Colts at their 8, 16 and 5.

Brayden Narveson looked like he was headed for high marks after making his first three kicks. Unfortunately, he missed a 45-yard field goal that would have essentially iced the game, leading to some tense moments late in the fourth quarter.

That’s Narveson’s second miss in as many weeks. How much patience will general manager Brian Gutekunst show in him? The Packers can ill afford to leave points on the field, especially when their star quarterback is sidelined.

Jayden Reed muffed a punt. Though it went out of bounds, it dings this unit a little.

Overall, the special teams played well. Evan Williams clinched a positive grade with an onside kick recovery that helped the Packers bleed precious time off the clock.

Grade: B

Coaching

The Internet was not happy with the conservative nature of LaFleur’s play-calling throughout the course of the game. Some of the 77,827 fans in attendance booed the Packers off the field when LaFleur, his team leading 10-0 with a backup quarterback who only knew a portion of the playbook and certainly wasn’t ready for a 2-minute drill, decided to run out the clock to get to halftime.

Normally, we are on the side of solving problems with aggression, but this game was different.

“Some may call that conservative; I call that being smart,” LaFleur said of his end-of-half strategy.

The Colts have a good defense, and it was clear the Packers’ run game was working early and often.

LaFleur’s job is to put his team in the best position to win. Leaning on Jacobs and the ground game was the path to that win.

LaFleur and offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich came up with a number of run schemes to keep the Colts’ defense off-balance. That, with a few plays from Willis sprinkled in, allowed the Packers to do just enough to squeak by in their home opener.

Hafley also earns high marks. Richardson had three completions of more than 50 yards a week ago. They didn’t have any completions of longer than 30 yards on Sunday.

“I think anytime you hold a team of that caliber to 10 points, I just can’t say enough about that defensively.” LaFleur said.

After a rough debut from Hafley’s defense, Sunday’s game was much better.

The coaching staff gets high marks for the day.

Grade: A

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Stock Report is up. The #Packers used the old Jimmy Valvano of "Survive and Advance - to hold off a late rally from the Colts and improve to 1-1. https://t.co/71YrhmSS8C

— Jacob Westendorf (@JacobWestendorf) September 15, 2024

Malik Willis plays role to perfection | Matt LaFleur earns career highlight | Stock report: Who’s up? Who’s Down? | Vomit, sweat and tears | Game story: Packers 16, Colts 10