Packer Central

Packers Beat Seahawks: Stud, Dud, Snaps, Defining Play

The snap counts show there’s a clear-cut No. 1 receiver for the Packers. Plus, one stud, one dud and the defining play of the Packers’ 30-13 win at the Seahawks.

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (56) celebrates with defensive end Rashan Gary (52) following a sack at Seattle.
Green Bay Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (56) celebrates with defensive end Rashan Gary (52) following a sack at Seattle. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers posted their most impressive victory of the season, 30-13 at the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night.

Here is our weekly dive into the snap counts plus one stud, one dud and the defining play from Green Bay’s 10th win of the season.

Packers Snaps on Offense

Out of 64

Offensive line: The No. 1 unit went the distance and there were no six-linemen snaps.

Receivers: The Packers focused on their Big Four, with Bo Melton playing two snaps and Malik Heath inactive. Christian Watson led the way with 50 snaps. By playing-time percentage, his three biggest games came the past three weeks with 94.4 percent vs. Miami, 92.0 percent vs. Detroit and 86.2 percent vs. Seattle. He has led the receiver group in snaps each of the last four games.

Romeo Doubs played 48 in his return to the lineup, Jayden Reed played 38 – his most since Week 9 against Detroit – and Dontayvion Wicks played 30.

Running backs: Josh Jacobs played 48 snaps and got the ball 30 times, his most touches since Week 2. His four highest playing-time percentages have come the last five games, including a season-high 82.8 percent vs. the Seahawks. Chris Brooks played 16 and Emanuel Wilson six.

Tight ends: Same as usual, Tucker Kraft led the way with 57 snaps. Ben Sims played 16 and John FitzPatrick 9.

Packers Snaps on Defense

Out of 59

Defensive ends: This was the most balanced rotation of the season. Rashan Gary led the way with 29 snaps – so not even half. The five-man rotation ranged from Gary’s 29 snaps to Brenton Cox’s 20.

Defensive tackles: Same as at defensive end, the Packers kept the workloads down, which should be good for these final games. Kenny Clark led the unit with 32 snaps, with Karl Brooks and Devonte Wyatt next with 27. TJ Slaton went from a season-high 43 vs. Detroit last week to a season-low 13.

Linebackers: With Quay Walker playing only 22 snaps due to an injured ankle, Eric Wilson filled the void with 37 snaps as the every-down linebacker and signal-caller. He added a team-high 23 on special teams. After missing three games, Edgerrin Cooper delivered a lot of impact in 34 snaps. Isaiah McDuffie played 25 and Ty’Ron Hopper played three snaps at the end.

Cornerbacks: With Jaire Alexander and Javon Bullard sidelined, Eric Stokes went the distance, Carrington Valentine played all but one snap and Keisean Nixon played all but three.

Safeties: Xavier McKinney and Evan Williams played 56 and Zayne Anderson and Kitan Oladapo played the final three.

Stud: Edgerrin Cooper

The Packers thought they had a stud linebacker when they re-signed De’Vondre Campbell after his All-Pro season. They hoped they had a stud when they used a first-round pick on Quay Walker.

They do have a stud in Cooper.

Back in the lineup after missing three games with a hamstring injury, it was like Cooper hadn’t missed any time at all.

He dominated against the Seahawks.

Cooper split a double team for a third-down sack on the opening series, added a quarterback hit that ended Geno Smith’s night in the third quarter, dropped an interception in the fourth quarter and delivered the knockout by dropping about 15 yards deep in coverage for an interception later in the fourth quarter. He’s just so fast and instinctive.

The final line: five tackles, one sack, two quarterback hits, one interception and two passes defensed. He added two tackles on special teams, for good measure.

“My plan is just to go out there and have fun,” Cooper said. “I’ve been doing this a long time. It’s just football at the end of the day. Go out there, do what I need to do.”

Dud: Riq Woolen

Usually, the “stud” and the “dud” are Packers-centric. Right guard Sean Rhyan gave up a tackle for loss to Leonard Williams, was guilty of a false start and didn’t get any movement on the failed fourth-and-2, but that wasn’t enough to make him a “dud.”

As this was such a thorough win, we’ll break from routine and single out Seahawks cornerback Riq Woolen, who was All-Rookie and a Pro Bowler in 2022, when he led the NFL with six interceptions.

On the second snap of the game, he was flagged for a blatant and silly roughing-the-passer penalty. Those were 15 easy yards for the Packers on their way to the opening touchdown. Late in the first half, he was beaten deep by Romeo Doubs for an obvious pass interference that handed the Packers a field goal. He also gave up a 36-yard catch to Christian Watson.

Defining Play

In the 29th game of his career and his 16th start, Carrington Valentine recorded the first interception of his career.

“About damn time,” he said. “Nah, it means a lot. A testimony to a lot of hard work that I’ve put in, the guys put in. It’s not just about me. That play doesn’t happen without a lot of things that come with it.”

The Packers led 17-3 with about 3 minutes left in the first half. If the Seahawks could score a touchdown here and then get a stop, they’d be in great shape with the ball to start the second half.

Instead, Valentine made a sensational play. He had underneath coverage on Tyler Lockett at about the 3 when Geno Smith – under pressure from Eric Wilson and Karl Brooks – threw to tight end Noah Fant in the end zone. Valentine came off Lockett, got underneath the pass and made the interception.

The Packers turned the takeaway into a field goal. So, instead of perhaps leading 17-10, they led 20-3 at halftime. 

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.