Week 16 Report Card: Packers Beat Browns

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers improved to 12-3 by hanging on for a 24-22 victory over the Cleveland Browns on Saturday. In games with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, they are 6-1 in one-score games this season.

Here’s our weekly report card.

Passing Offense

Aaron Rodgers completed 24-of-34 passes for 202 yards and three touchdowns, good for a 115.1 passer rating. It was a tale of two halves: 18-of-23 for 154 yards and three scores in the first half, and 6-of-11 for 48 yards and no touchdowns in the second half.

Rodgers really lacked weapons with Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Randall Cobb and Robert Tonyan out of the lineup. Davante Adams made the Browns pay for not showing him the proper respect by catching 10 passes for 114 yards and two touchdowns. He had two huge drops on the second-to-last series. There wasn’t much of a YAC attack; running backs Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon combined to catch eight passes for only 36 yards and tight ends Marcedes Lewis and Josiah Deguara caught four passes for 7 yards.

The offensive line deserves a tremendous amount of credit. Matt LaFleur’s scheme and Rodgers’ quick release played a role in it, but the Browns didn’t record any sacks. In fact, Pro Bowl defensive end Myles Garrett – perhaps the best edge rusher in the game but battling through a groin injury – was in the book for one quarterback hit and one assisted tackle. Left tackle Yosh Nijman has faced the top five in the NFL in sacks (plus future Hall of Famer Von Miller) and given up a sack in just two of those games.

Grade: C-plus.

Rushing Offense

Jones carried 12 times for 66 yards (5.5 average) and Dillon had nine carries for 41 yards (4.6 average). Jones really was exceptional. It’s no wonder why LaFleur gave him the ball on third-and-2 late in the game. (More on that drive later.) By our count, 60 of his yards came after contact, including 30 yards on a 27-yard dash in which he broke three tackles. Dillon powered his way to the clinching first down.

On Allen Lazard’s 13-yard run on an end-around, it was Deguara and Jones who provided the downfield blocking. Jones gained 7 yards on a toss in which Nijman was out front looking like All-Pro David Bakhtiari. If it’s a successful perimeter run, more often than not Lazard is pushing defensive backs around. Guards Royce Newman and Jon Runyan generally provided a good push.

Grade: B-minus.

Passing Defense

Baker Mayfield threw two touchdown passes and had three completions of 15-plus yards. Meanwhile, Green Bay’s defense had four interceptions and five sacks. That’s a pretty decisive victory.

Really, Mayfield didn’t get much accomplished on the perimeter. By the reckoning of Pro Football Focus, Rasul Douglas gave up 3-of-5 for 20 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions, and Eric Stokes gave up 3-of-7 for 29 yards and one touchdown.

Where Mayfield made his hay was over the middle. On passes between the numbers, he was 15-of-21 for 188 yards and both touchdowns, including a 40-yard screen to Nick Chubb in which Stokes missed a tackle. One of Mayfield’s between-the-numbers failures came on Darnell Savage’s leaping interception in the first quarter. The linebackers, especially Krys Barnes, had a rough day at the office.

The pass rush was tremendous. Rashan Gary (two), Preston Smith (one), Dean Lowry (one) and Tapa Galeai (one) combined for five sacks. Really, Gary and Smith should have had 1.5 each. Lowry matched his season high with five pressures, according to PFF. They simply overwhelmed a Browns offensive line down three starters.

Grade: A-minus.

Rushing Defense

Then again, that same depleted offensive line simply had its way with the defense. The Browns rushed for 219 yards and averaged an overwhelming 8.8 yards per carry, the worst totals in 45 regular-season games coached by LaFleur.

Chubb carried 17 times for 126 yards, a 7.4 average. If he would have gotten 25 carries, the Browns might have won going away. By our count, he had exactly 100 yards after contact. D’Ernest Johnson added four carries for 58 yards. It was an embarrassing performance ahead of a matchup on Sunday night against the Vikings’ excellent rushing attack. The up-front defenders seem too preoccupied with getting to the quarterback.

It wasn’t that the Packers missed a lot of tackles – we counted eight (run and pass) and PFF tallied nine – it’s that there wasn’t a second man to the ball to mitigate the damage.

Grade: F.

Special Teams

Maurice Drayton’s maligned units scored a victory. Green Bay’s Corey Bojorquez had a 41.8-yard net average on five punts while Cleveland’s Dustin Colquitt had a 28-yard net on his only punt. On kickoffs, Green Bay’s average start was the 23.4 and Cleveland’s average start was the 24.8. Mason Crosby made all four kicks, running his streak to 16 over the past three games, while Cleveland missed an extra point and chased that point with a missed two-point try in the second quarter. Douglas had a team-high two tackles.

Grade: B-minus.

Coaching

There was plenty of second-guessing over the third-to-last series of the game, when Ben Braden replaced Yosh Nijman at left tackle and LaFleur ran it on three consecutive plays. I understand that Rodgers wanted to take a shot with a pass. He’s a competitor and he should want that opportunity. But, imagine the second-guessing had LaFleur dialed up a pass and Myles Garrett had blown past Braden and sacked Rodgers. Sure, a Rodgers pass might have picked up a key first down. Then again, better blocking would have given Jones a chance of picking up the first down on that ill-fated third-and-2, as well.

The bigger issue is Joe Barry’s defense. He found no answers to Tyler Huntley’s scrambles last week and no answers to stop the rampaging Chubb. At the time of year when you want to be hitting your peak, the defense is reaching its basement. Four interceptions and five sacks are great, but the chances are somewhere between slim and none of that happening against a high-quality playoff team. Clearly, opponents have figured out something against Barry. It’s time for Barry to respond.

Grade: C.

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