Packers Report Card: Grades From Victory Over Bengals

The Green Bay Packers beat the Cincinnati Bengals, thanks to a strong first half by the defense, enough big plays by the offense and key improvement on special teams. Here’s this week’s report card.

Green Bay Packers cornerback Carrington Valentine (24) breaks up a pass intended for Cincinnati Bengals receiver Ja'Marr Chase. | Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Ugly, but effective.

That’s probably the best way to describe the Green Bay Packers’ 27-18 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday at Lambeau Field.

While the game felt in doubt only for a handful of plays, the Packers had blown two games similar to this one in the last month and might have felt a sense of déjà vu as the Bengals’ offense rolled in the second half.

“I feel a sense of relief right now,” coach Matt LaFleur said.

Relief might be an appropriate emotion, but the Packers are 3-1-1 heading into next week’s game at the Arizona Cardinals. As the season progresses, stacking wins is going to be paramount.

The question now for the Packers is how do they grow from this to grow into the team they think they can become.

Getting more consistent performances from each side of the ball is going to be a big part of that, and that’s reflected in this week’s report card.

Without further ado, here are our grades from Green Bay’s 27-18 win over the Bengals, starting with the unit that everyone loves to hate.

Special Teams

To the Packers’ credit, they did make some adjustments to their special teams during the bye. They had a kick blocked in back-to-back games before putting their starting offensive line on field-goal protection. It looked like it was going to be smooth sailing.

That is until this week in practice when Brandon McManus was sidelined with a quad injury.

There was some debate as to whether McManus would be able to play, and ultimately the decision was to hold him out and hand the kicking duties to Lucas Havrisik, who tried out on Friday and was signed on Saturday.

Havrisik was only asked to make the game-sealing field goal after the two-minute warning. You’d be forgiven if there were nerves in the building, and the look on coach Matt LaFleur’s face when he was asked about it said it all.

He was nervous, too.

Havrisik?

He kicked the ball right through the middle of the uprights.

27-18. Game over. Packers win.

In a game that could have gone horribly wrong when you’re asked to replace a standout kicker, that’s all the Packers could have asked for.

In the return game, the Packers had three returns of more than 30 yards, with Savion Williams and Bo Melton looking comfortable handling return duties. Daniel Whelan pinned the Bengals at the 7 late in the first half and the Packers handily won the field-position battle after kickoffs.

If there is something to complain about, it’s the lack of stability at punt returner, where Matthew Golden appeared to be benched in favor of Romeo Doubs after an ill-advised decision to make a fair catch inside the 10.

There was also a holding penalty by Melton on the aforementioned fair catch and a personal foul on Ty’Ron Hopper. Those are the only issues preventing the Packers from a perfect score in special teams.

Rich Bisaccia’s crew has gotten a lot of hate over the years, and especially the last two weeks.

This week, they deserve their flowers.

Grade: A-minus

Pass Offense

The final numbers are not especially gaudy, but Matt LaFleur was happy with the way quarterback Jordan Love played.

He did throw a bad interception on the first series of the game and had a bad miss to Luke Musgrave for what would have been a big completion. Other than that, Love was the same efficient player he’s been for most of the season, piling up 259 passing yards and a passer rating over 100 for the fourth time in five games.

Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft (85) celebrates with Jordan Morgan (77) after scoring a touchdown vs. the Bengals. | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

“Outside of that,” LaFleur said of the interception, “I thought he played his ass off.”

The other big story from the game was Matthew Golden, who had his best game as a pro. He finished the game with 86 yards on three catches, but all of them were impactful. On his first, he turned a short catch into a gain of 20.

His next two catches were over 30 yards. One led to Green Bay’s first touchdown. The other helped the Packers put the game away. The only thing holding Golden back at this point is lack of opportunities, but more of those may come with time.

Tucker Kraft caught Love’s only touchdown pass, a 19-yard catch-and-run that was the longest touchdown of the season for Love.

Green Bay’s passing attack averaged almost 10 yards per dropback but the offense needs to become more consistent in scoring situations. Perhaps the return of Christian Watson is something that will help in that regard.

For now, however, Green Bay’s offense can key in on the fact that it has flashes of brilliance but has not hit its stride.

Grade: B

Rush Offense

Hello, Josh Jacobs.

Jacobs and the run game had been quiet for most of the year thanks to a variety of reasons. The offensive line continued to shuffle thanks to injuries along the front. Jacobs was running into loaded boxes and unable to work up a head of steam before hitting his stride.

This game, however, was drastically different.

Jacobs ran for 93 yards on 18 carries, and a season-high 5.2 yards per rush. He was especially impactful in the second half as the game wore on, which is something the team saw a season ago.

“I don’t know a lot of guys who want to tackle him,” Jordan Love said about Jacobs.

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) stiff-arms Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt. | Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Jacobs’ biggest play was a 14-yard burst that gave the Packers a 17-7 lead in the second half after the Bengals had held the ball for the first 10 minutes of the third quarter. A run game like that will help Green Bay’s passing game as the season progresses.

“I went over there and I challenged the offensive line, and said, ‘If they’re going to play two-shell, and we’re getting 2 yards, it’s going to be a long day for us,’” LaFleur said. “So, those guys did a really nice job responding.”

In addition, Jordan Love made some key plays with his legs, extending plays to make them in the air but also running for first downs. Love finished with seven carries for 26 yards. That’s part of Love’s game that simply was not there a season ago, and it’s helping the offense now in both phases of the offense.

Green Bay finished with 153 rushing yards, and it feels like it’s starting to hit its stride.

Finally, for the first time this season, the Packers started and ended the game with the same five linemen. Six played, with Jordan Morgan starting at right guard, Sean Rhyan getting one series and Morgan finishing.

Other than that, all of the other preferred starters went the distance. That’s something that can finally give this group an opportunity to gel.

Grade: B

Pass Defense

The defense was truly a tale of two halves.

At halftime, you barely heard a peep from All-Pro Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, who combined for three catches for 28 yards in the first half. Green Bay’s pass rush did not pile up sacks, but it was consistently in Joe Flacco’s face, forcing him to get rid of the ball quickly. The Packers shut out the Bengals as a result.

The second half was different.

Flacco caught fire, finding his dynamic duo of receivers. Chase finished with 10 catches for 94 yards, including a spectacular touchdown to pull the Bengals within six in the second half. Chase and Higgins finished with 15 catches for 156 yards and the aforementioned touchdown.

One of the concerns for Jeff Hafley’s group is the lack of big plays. Down-to-down, they’ve been great for most of the year, but are still stuck on just two takeaways. Plus, they have one sack in each of the last two games against quarterbacks who are not going to beat you with their legs.

Flacco finished 19-of-26 passing for 219 yards and two touchdowns. He wasn’t close to turning the ball over.

Considering he just got to Cincinnati a few days ago, that’s about as good as the Bengals could have hoped for.

Furthermore, the Packers’ defense has not forced a punt in the second half since they played Cleveland at the end of September. That’s a concerning trend that will need to be rectified. Whether it’s taking the ball away or putting the quarterback on his back, this defense is starved for big plays.

Grade: C

Rush Defense

The Bengals do not run the ball often, and when they do, they don’t run it well.

Chase Brown had a couple nice carries but rarely gashed Green Bay’s defense. Brown finished with 42 yards on nine carries. That 4.7 yards per carry – by far his best of the season – but the Bengals didn’t seem too interested in keeping him as a focal point of the gameplan. Samaje Perine had 16 yards on six carries.

For all the concerns surrounding Green Bay’s rush defense to start the season, it’s done pretty well to start the season. The Bengals carried 16 times for 55 yards, a 3.4-yard average.

Thanks to a few pile-pushing runs from the Bengals’ backfield, it wasn’t a perfect performance, but this group has been really good at slowing down opposing ground games.

Grade: B-plus

Coaching

After a rough game his last time out, Matt LaFleur pushed most of the right buttons against the Bengals.

The first big one was the adjustment they made to the field-goal operation, choosing to put his starting offensive line on the protection team, which they had not done in the first four games.

“It’s a point-scoring play,” LaFleur said.

Furthermore, his timeout decision before the end of the first half worked to perfection as Evan McPherson lined up to kick a record-breaking 67-yard field goal. His first kick hit the crossbar and bounced over, but LaFleur had chosen to ice him with a timeout. The next kick was woefully short, which gave Keisean Nixon a chance at a return.

His offense, which dominated everywhere but the scoreboard in the first half, found an extra gear in the second half, matching the Bengals score-for-score.

Josh Jacobs and Tucker Kraft spearheaded the attack with a touchdown apiece, and LaFleur made a good decision at the end of the game to trust his fill-in kicker on fourth-and-2 with the game hanging in the balance.

Perhaps he would have been forgiven if he felt nervous, and he even threw a pass on third down to go for the knockout, but kicking the field goal rather than going for it on fourth down was the right decision.

Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley has to figure out the woes of his defense in the second half of these games. Next week, they’ll have a chance to do so against an Arizona offense that is playing short-handed with its top running backs on injured reserve and standout receiver Marvin Harrison suffering a concussion on Sunday.

Rich Bisaccia deserves some praise for what was a really good performance by his special teams.

Overall, it was a good game from Green Bay’s coaching staff.

Grade: B