Snap Counts, Stud, Dud and Defining Play From Packers’ Loss to Browns

In one of the biggest upsets of the Matt LaFleur era, the Green Bay Packers were stunned 13-10 by the Cleveland Browns. Here’s our analysis of the snap counts and more.

Cleveland Browns linebacker Carson Schwesinger (49) sacks Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love during the second half. | Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers were 8.5-point favorites for Sunday’s game at the Cleveland Browns. They lost 13-10. It was the second-largest upset of the Matt LaFleur era behind last year’s Week 18 loss to the Bears, when Green Bay closed as a 10-point favorite.

Here’s a look at the snap counts and additional analysis.

Packers Snaps on Offense

The Packers played 65 snaps on offense.

Quarterback: Jordan Love was one of only three players on offense who played every snap. He threw deep on 4.0 percent of his dropbacks vs. Cleveland compared to 18.9 percent the previous two games.

Running backs: Josh Jacobs played 43 snaps, followed by Emanuel Wilson with 15 and Chris Brooks with eight. Wilson had only one carry in the first two games but six against the Browns.

Perhaps because the Browns were so focused on Jacobs, the running game was far more productive with Wilson. Jacobs had 16 carries for 30 yards – 34 yards came after contact, by our count – while Wilson had six carries for 25 yards.

Receivers: With Jayden Reed on injured reserve, Romeo Doubs led the way with 58 snaps. He was followed by Matthew Golden with 46, Dontayvion Wicks with 44, Malik Heath with 17, Savion Williams with six and Bo Melton getting three snaps at his old position.

Jordan Love completed eight passes for 98 yards to receivers, with Golden getting half the catches (four) and more than half the yards (52). Doubs caught 2-of-2 for 25 yards and Wicks caught 2-of-4 for 21. Heath, Williams and Melton were not targeted.

Tight ends: It was business as usual for Tucker Kraft, who played through a knee injury sustained at practice on Thursday. He played 57 snaps, his 88 percent playing time right in line with the rest of the season.

John FitzPatrick (15) played two more snaps than Luke Musgrave (13), meaning they’re exactly equal through three games. FitzPatrick caught two passes and scored a touchdown; Musgrave was not targeted.

Offensive line: In free agency, the Packers made Aaron Banks one of the highest-paid guards in the NFL. Before training camp, the Packers made Zach Tom one of the highest-paid tackles in the NFL. Both players were inactive last week and started on Sunday. Tom made it through one snap before aggravating the oblique injury. Banks made it through one half before being sidelined by a groin injury.

Center Elgton Jenkins and right guard Sean Rhyan played all 65 snaps. Jordan Morgan replaced Tom at right tackle, then replaced Banks at left guard. He played all but the opening snap. Left tackle Rasheed Walker missed four snaps because he needed a new facemask.

Rookie Anthony Belton played 35 snaps, with 31 at right tackle and the four that Walker missed at left tackle. Darrian Kinnard played four snaps at right tackle when Belton shifted to left tackle. Banks played 30 and Tom just one.

Whoever was in the game, the results were bad. Josh Jacobs didn’t have a prayer on most of his running plays and Jordan Love was sacked five times. He was pressured on 49.2 percent of his dropbacks compared to 34.8 percent in Week 1 against Detroit.

Packers Snaps on Defense

The Packers played 66 snaps on defense.

Defensive ends: The Packers didn’t give away the farm to have Micah Parsons watching from the sideline. He led the defensive line with 51 snaps. Among the ends, Rashan Gary played 44, Lukas Van Ness played 30, Kingsley Enagbare had 15 and Barryn Sorrell played six.

Green Bay Packers defensive end Rashan Gary (52) sacks Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco (15). | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

According to Next Gen Stats, Parsons had eight pressures and finished with his highest pressure rate since 2023. Gary had two sacks and five pressures. With at least one sack in all three games, he leads the NFL with 4.5 sacks. By the official stats, Gary had three quarterback hits, Parsons and Van Ness had two and Enagbare had one. While Van Ness didn’t have a sack, his pass rush was impactful throughout. 

Defensive tackles: Devonte Wyatt, the unit’s best player, dropped out late with an injury. So, Wyatt, Karl Brooks and Colby Wooden all played 38 snaps. Undrafted rookie Nazir Stackhouse played 10 snaps while rookie sixth-round pick Warren Brinson was a healthy scratch for the third consecutive game.

Statistically, they made no impact. Brooks had the only solo tackle and quarterback hit and Wooden had the only assisted tackles (two). Wyatt and Stackhouse don’t show up in the gamebook other than for playing.

Linebackers: Quay Walker and Edgerrin Cooper played all 66 snaps (plus four more on special teams) and Isaiah McDuffie played 22 snaps (and 19 on special teams). Ty’Ron Hopper played three snaps on defense and 16 on special teams and Nick Niemann played 16 on special teams.

Walker led the team with 14 tackles. He added one quarterback hit and one pass breakup in continuing his strong start to the season. He was by far the unit’s best player. Cooper had only four tackles; he needs to clean up his tackling with two more misses. McDuffie played one-third the snaps of Cooper but had more tackles with five. Niemann added to his team-high total of six special-teams tackles.

Cornerbacks: Keisean Nixon led the way with 63 snaps. In his second game back from knee surgery, Nate Hobbs played 48. Carrington Valentine played 23, sometimes in a rotation with Hobbs and other times when Hobbs got some action in the slot.

After pitching a shutout last week against a lesser receiver, Nixon got some work against Pro Bowler Jerry Jeudy. Nixon allowed a few catches against Joe Flacco but nothing of substance. The end-zone interference call vs. Jeudy was questionable, at best. Hobbs had excellent coverage on a deep pass, and allowed just 1-of-5 overall, according to Next Gen Stats, and Valentine didn’t give up anything.

Because of Green Bay’s strong pass rush, most of the action has come on underneath routes against the linebackers.

Safeties: Xavier McKinney played all 66 snaps and Evan Williams played 63. Javon Bullard played 37 snaps in the slot. McKinney had six tackles and his first interception of the season, a gift toward the end of the first half chucked by Joe Flacco.

Williams had six tackles, two penalties and gave up the final completion against the Browns. Moments after his defensive holding gave the Browns a first-and-goal at the 8, Bullard had a tackle for loss to help force a field goal. He missed the end of the game after a friendly-fire collision with Quay Walker. Next Gen Stats charged Bullard with two completions in two targets but for minus-5 yards.

Packers Stud vs. Browns: Quay Walker

Tackles sometimes can be a hollow stat. Sure, you made the tackle, but not before a gain of 6 yards or a first down.

As part of his team-high 14 tackles, Quay Walker had eight stops, which Next Gen Stats defines as a tackle that produced a negative EPA. Only the Bears’ Tremaine Edmunds had more stops in Week 3, and it was the second-most of his career (10 vs. Detroit in 2023). Walker averaged 3.27 stops in his career.

Packers Dud vs. Browns: Interior Offensive Line

With all the focus on Myles Garrett – and for good reason – the Browns’ All-Pro defensive end didn’t kill the Packers. Rather, it was the parade of interior pressures.

PFF charged center Elgton Jenkins with two sacks and guards Aaron Banks and Sean Rhyan with one apiece. Officially, Maliek Collins had 1.5 sacks, linebacker Carson Schwesinger had one sack and Mason Graham had a half-sack. Collins and Graham had four pressures apiece, Schwesinger had two and Shelby Harris and Adin Huntington each had one as Cleveland’s up-the-middle pressure had a dramatic impact on the game.

Defining Play

The play that killed the Packers. Whether it was the route or the throw, it had no chance of being caught by Wicks. pic.twitter.com/RE4UvgTMwo

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) September 22, 2025

The blocked field goal, obviously, was the decisive play. For all the Packers’ misdeeds, they would have won the game if not for Shelby Harris blocking Brandon McManus’ potential game-winner.

Of course, it probably wouldn’t have come down to that had Jordan Love not thrown an interception on third-and-3 with 3:18 remaining. To set it up, the Packers ran two end-arounds to Matthew Golden that gained 7 yards. 

Why not run a complementary play? With all the focus on Josh Jacobs, Love gained easy yards on a couple zone reads. Why not try it again? Why not run a play-action bootleg to get Love on the perimeter? Why not just run the ball and let the defense finish the job?

Instead, it was a three-step drop and a three-slant route. Love’s pass was either thrown well short of Dontayvion Wicks or Wicks ran the route to far upfield. It had no chance of being caught by anyone other than safety Grant Delpit, whose interception and return propelled the Browns’ upset win.