Packers Report Card: Grades From Loss at Eagles

The Green Bay Packers lost 40-33 to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night. Here are the weekly grades, lowlighted by the abysmal run defense.

Author:
Bill Huber
Updated:
Nov 28, 2022 4:02 PM EST
Original:
Nov 28, 2022

In this story:

Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – For losing teams, it’s always a game of one step forward and one step backward. That was the case for the Green Bay Packers, who followed up their rousing victory over the Dallas Cowboys with back-to-back losses to the Tennessee Titans and Philadelphia Eagles.

Against the Titans last Thursday, the offense was all-around terrible but at least the run defense stepped up to stop Derrick Henry. Against the Eagles on Sunday night, the offense scored a season-high 33 points against one of the best defenses in the NFL but the run defense had more holes than a kitchen colander.

“Bottom line is you can’t allow somebody to run for 353 yards against you and you can’t turn the ball over in a game like this,” coach Matt LaFleur said after a 40-33 loss to the Eagles.

He’s right. You can’t give up 353 rushing yards against a high-quality team. You especially can’t give up 363 rushing yards, which was the actual total.

“I thought we had some opportunities in the first half and didn't capitalize on every opportunity,” LaFleur continued, no doubt lamenting Aaron Rodgers’ second interception of the night, one in which tight end Tyler Davis ran the wrong route but Rodgers threw the ball, anyway. “You can’t do that against a really good football team.”

According to ESPN, the Packers have a 2 percent chance to qualify for the playoffs. Two percent might be good for milk but it’s not good for a team that has been a perennial championship contender but now lost seven of its last eight games to fall to 4-8.

But, hey, at least it was close. That’s something else bad teams cling to in times of despair.

“We put up 33 points and battled against the No. 1 seed. I think there’s a lot to feel good about,” Rodgers said. “Obviously, defense is going to not feel great about some of those things and obviously I turned the ball over twice. We put ourselves in position.”

Here is this week’s Packers report card.

Passing Offense

Aaron Rodgers went 11-of-16 passing for 140 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions before exiting with a rib injury. He threw the ball really well but made two killer mistakes.

The first looked like a wounded duck that bounced off the helmet of Darius Slay and into the hands of safety Josiah Scott. That handed the Eagles a short field and a 13-0 lead. The second came in the second quarter, with the Packers trailing 20-14 but nearing the red zone. Rodgers said tight end Tyler Davis ran the wrong route. Bad on Davis. But Rodgers threw the ball, anyway. Bad on Rodgers.

Jordan Love played the final two series and was 6-of-9 for 113 yards and one touchdown. Those are great numbers but they come with two caveats. One, most of the yards came via run after catch on Christian Watson’s 63-yard touchdown. The throw was good but the credit for that belongs to Watson and genetics. Two, as Love noted, the Eagles were “playing soft” so were giving up some easy completions.

That said, Love looked poised and threw the ball well. His best throw was a hole shot between two defenders that was dropped by Aaron Jones. Perhaps he could have run a couple times but, given the scoreboard, it’s hard to quibble with those decisions.

By our count, Jones and Randall Cobb had the only drops. Jones, however, had a 30-yard gain on a screen and a 23-yard touchdown on a scramble drill.

Given the power of the opponent, the pass protection was pretty good. Rodgers’ first interception came after either center Josh Myers or left guard Elgton Jenkins decided to ignore stud defensive lineman Javon Hargrave. Josh Sweat’s sack came against left tackle David Bakhtiari but was set up by Ndamukong Suh vs. right tackle Yosh Nijman. One play later, Fletcher Cox beat right guard Jon Runyan for a sack. Either Sweat or Cox injured Rodgers’ ribs. Nijman was flagged for a false start on fourth-and-3 from the 6 in the fourth quarter.

Grade: C-minus.

Rushing Offense

Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon combined for 107 yards on 20 carries. Dillon had his best game of the season, carrying eight times for 64 yards, highlighted by a 20-yard touchdown. Dillon entered the game with only eight carries of 10-plus yards but had three vs. the Eagles. By our count, he broke two tackles and had 35 yards after contract.

GM Brian Gutekunst rightly has taken a lot of criticism for his third-round picks, especially with the recent release of receiver Amari Rodgers and last week’s suspension of Sean Rhyan. But there aren’t many quality runs that don’t involve tight end Josiah Deguara getting out on the perimeter and taking his man for a ride. Yosh Nijman had a good night, too. Left guard Elgton Jenkins’ bogus holding penalty eliminated a touchdown run by Aaron Jones. Big-play receiver Christian Watson has been a factor, too.

Grade: B-minus.

Passing Defense

Jalen Hurts completed 16-of-28 passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns. The scores – 30 yards to Quez Watkins and 6 yards to A.J. Brown – came against Rasul Douglas. A couple plays before the touchdown to Brown, which made it 34-20, Jaire Alexander awaited an interception that instead was caught by DeVonta Smith for 14 yards to convert a third-and-12.

The Packers had two sacks – one by Justin Hollins and one shared by Jarran Reed and Preston Smith. Reed has been a bright spot as a pass rusher, even if the sack numbers say otherwise. They broke up only two passes, with Kingsley Enagbare deflecting the first play of the game and Alexander adding one later.

By PFF’s reckoning, Rudy Ford gave up 2-of-3 passing for 2 yards and Alexander gave up 2-of-6 for 23 yards. Getting the start for benched former first-round pick Darnell Savage, Ford made the defense’s only big play, a strip of Brown that was returned by Quay Walker for 63 yards to set up a touchdown.

Of course, you can’t talk about the pass defense without taking Hurts’ scrambles into account. Hurts took off five times for 87 yards. That, in essence, gave him 240 yards on passing plays. His first scramble came on third-and-10 on the opening series. He broke tackles by a spying Walker as well as safeties Adrian Amos and Savage for a gain of 24. Who knows how the game might have played out had the Packers forced a three-and-out punt instead of giving up a touchdown. Then, on third-and-2 late in the first quarter, veteran Preston Smith was careless with his pass rush and Hurts took off for 42 to set up another touchdown.

Grade: D.

Rushing Defense

The Packers allowed 363 rushing yards, the third-most in franchise history. They weren’t even that bad vs. Colin Kaepernick in the 2012 playoffs or Raheem Mostert in the 2019 NFC Championship Game. It was an absolutely embarrassing performance. The Packers were pushed around up front and missed tackles by the bushel. Sure, Rashan Gary and De’Vondre Campbell are out but that’s just making excuses.

By our count, the Packers missed 14 tackles on running plays (we’re including scrambles here). It’s hard to say what’s worse: that the Packers allowed 209 yards after contact or 154 yards before contact. Those huge numbers show just how bad Green Bay’s defense performed.

Between run and pass, inside linebackers Quay Walker, Krys Barnes and Isaiah McDuffie missed nine tackles. Kenny Clark was a force against the run vs. Tennessee but spun his wheels vs. the Eagles. Where’s the attitude and toughness from this defensive front?

Grade: Z.

Special Teams

Keisean Nixon dropped the opening kickoff, then complicated matters by taking it out of the end zone. Finally, he slipped and fell at the 9. Same old Packers special teams, right?

Nixon more than made up for that mistake. He returned kickoffs to the 41, 47 and 47. With returns of 52 and 53 yards, he became the only player in the league this season with a pair of 50-yard kickoff returns in the same game. He is fast and tough. Arm tackles aren’t going to cut it, as the Eagles learned a few times.

Mason Crosby missed a field goal. Neither of Pat O’Donnell’s punts were returned. Eric Wilson tackled the last kickoff at the 21.

Grade: B.

Coaching

The Packers had three extra days to get ready for the Eagles. It as if defensive coordinator Joe Barry spent all that time working on Thanksgiving dinner or watching Looney Tunes. How else can you explain the Packers looking so overmatched by Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts? Hurts almost set the NFL single-game record for rushing yards by a quarterback. Were the Packers unaware that he’s a great runner?

Offensively, the Packers moved the ball but went 1-of-7 on third down. That’s going to be a losing number most weeks.

Credit to quarterbacks coach Tom Clements for having Jordan Love ready to rock and roll. And credit to Rich Bisaccia’s special teams, which had been coming off a string of poor performances, for having a good night. Keisean Nixon was terrific but he had room to run, too.

Grade: D-plus.