Week 15 Report Card: Packers Beat Ravens
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers escaped Baltimore with a 31-30 victory over the Ravens on Sunday. Ultimately, 2020 MVP Aaron Rodgers made more plays than the man who replaced the 2019 MVP, Tyler Huntley.
Here’s our weekly report card.
Passing Offense
Aaron Rodgers continued his late-season surge. He was 23-of-31 passing for 268 yards and three touchdowns, good for a 132.2 passer rating. In the last four weeks, he’s practiced twice yet thrown 13 touchdown passes vs. zero interception. He was really good but not quite great; he missed Davante Adams on a deep shot early and Allen Lazard late for what should have been the finishing blow.
Adams had a team-high six receptions, but it was a team effort because the Ravens were hell-bent on limiting the damage he could inflict upon their decimated secondary. So, Marquez Valdes-Scantling caught five passes for 98 yards, and tight end Marcedes Lewis, Josiah Deguara and Tyler Davis combined for seven receptions for 78 yards. That’s two weeks in a row of terrific production from the tight ends. Adams, Valdes-Scantling and Jones had touchdown receptions; Adams has five scores the last four games.
It’s easy to focus on the guy throwing the football but 55 percent of the yards came after the catch and Deguara had the only drop (one by Lazard was erased by a penalty). Watching Lewis run with the ball is like watching old-school Tecmo Bowl with helpless defenders bouncing off him. By our count, he broke four tackles.
Rodgers was sacked three times; one of those was a 0-yard scramble. The others were allowed by backup right tackle Dennis Kelly and rookie right guard Royce Newman. Otherwise, Green Bay’s blockers had their way against Baltimore’s conservative defense.
Grade: B-plus.
Rushing Offense
The Ravens’ run defense is one of the best in the NFL. And, aside from the absence of defensive lineman Calais Campbell, that group was at full strength. So, the 21 rushes for 85 yards by Jones, AJ Dillon and Lazard was a good day at the office.
This week, Jones was the hot hand, so he had 13 carries for 58 yards compared to seven carries for 22 yards for Dillon. Jones’ slashing style was particularly effective. He forced missed three tackles and had 30 yards after contact. Combined, they helped keep the Packers in manageable down-and-distance situations. That would be the key to the game, coach Matt LaFleur said last week, and that group delivered.
The left side of Jon Runyan and Yosh Nijman did good work, and Lewis continues to thrive in an extended playing time. On Jones’ best run of the day, an 11-yarder on the opening drive of the third quarter, Nijman and Lewis opened the lane.
Grade: B-minus.
Passing Defense
Starting in place of Jackson, Huntley was superb. He completed 28-of-40 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns, good for a 99.5 rating. He was so patient and just didn’t make a bad decision or force the issue.
Tight end Mark Andrews was a one-man wrecking ball. He caught 10 passes for 136 yards and two touchdowns. He had six receptions for 95 yards and both scores in the first half and three catches for 29 yards during the late rally. Most of the damage came against safety Darnell Savage, who was a day late and a dollar short, especially in the first 30 minutes. Based on PFF’s best guess at coverage responsibilities, Andrews caught 5-of-7 targets for 94 yards and both scores against Savage. However, Savage broke up a third-down pass early in the fourth quarter and diagnosed the two-point play to save the game.
On the other hand, the Packers did excellent work against everyone else. Star receiver Marquise Brown caught 10-of-14 passes for just 43 yards. While Andrews had receptions of 43 and 22 yards, the longest of the 18 receptions to other players gained merely 8 yards. The tackling was exceptional. Somehow, even that word seems to sell the performance short. PFF charged seven receptions to Eric Stokes, for instance, but he gave up only 35 yards. It was a phenomenal showing by the first-round pick.
Also to be considered were Huntley’s scrambles. Too often, he extended plays and escaped the pocket around the outside linebackers. Of his 73 rushing yards, 51 came on scrambles. On the final drive, Preston Smith rushed inside of left tackle Alejandro Villanueva, giving Huntley clear sailing for 15 yards. Green Bay entered the game having yielded the most rushing yards by quarterbacks and certainly didn’t show any progress vs. Huntley.
Grade: C-minus.
Rushing Defense
The Ravens rushed for 143 yards. With Huntley’s scrambles taken out of the equation, there were 19 pure runs for 82 yards (4.3 average). Latavius Murray did the heavy lifting with 48 yards on seven carries. He had a 16-yarder in which Smith, T.J. Slaton and Savage failed to take him down. Otherwise, the tackling was good. The Packers surely missed standout Kenny Clark but Tyler Lancaster played well in extended playing time. De’Vondre Campbell had 10 tackles but has had better days.
Grade: C.
Special Teams
Green Bay’s special teams got off to a rousing start when starting cornerback Rasul Douglas made the tackle on the opening kickoff at the 23. And it clinched the game with Dillon’s onside-kick recovery.
In between, it was a struggle. Punter Corey Bojorquez’s first punt was a beauty that coaxed a fair catch but cornerback Isaac Yiadom ran over returner Devin Duvernay. Later in the first quarter, Amari Rodgers’ 35-yard kickoff return was wiped out by a holding penalty on linebacker Isaiah McDuffie. Later, Duvernay broke a couple tackles on a kickoff return to the 37, the Packers escaped disaster when they failed to field a pooch kickoff and long snapper Steven Wirtel was to blame for the delay of game on the final punt when he failed to snap the ball in time.
On five kickoffs by the Ravens, Green Bay’s starting field position was the 17.8-yard line and short of the 25 every time. On six kickoffs by the Packers, Baltimore’s field position was the 27.0. That’s a first down on every exchange of kickoffs.
Over the last two weeks, Mason Crosby has made all 12 kicks – 10 extra points and two short field goals. The degree of difficulty on all those kicks has been low but that group has to be feeling better after a rough series of games.
Grade: D.
Coaching
It was another slow start offensively. A common theme has been defenses going off-script compared to season-long trends, so it stands to reason that it’s taken some time for LaFleur and Rodgers to figure things out. On six possessions spanning the end of the first quarter to the start of the fourth quarter, they scored four touchdowns and one field goal.
Defensively, the Packers continually played a mile off the Ravens’ speedy receivers and failed to keep Huntley in the pocket. If coordinator Joe Barry’s bet was Huntley would eventually screw up, he almost lost. Who knows, maybe Barry was keeping his best stuff tucked away for a Super Bowl rematch.
On special teams, the result was predictable given our rankings. But Crosby made his kicks and disasters were averted. So, based on that low bar, it wasn’t a bad performance.
Grade: C.
