Packers PFF grades: Best, worst players from tie with Cowboys in Week 4

Struggles in coverage and on special teams ruined what was an excellent performance from Jordan Love and Micah Parsons during the Green Bay Packers‘ 40-40 tie with the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night in Week 4.

Love was excellent from clean pockets, while Parsons produced double-digit pressures. The 40 points delivered by Love wasn’t enough because the Packers couldn’t get stops against Dak Prescott, and the special teams had two costly errors, including a game-turning blocked extra point.

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Based on grades from Pro Football Focus, here are the best and worst players from the Packers’ tie with the Cowboys in Week 4:

Top 5 offense

Jacobs gained 73 rushing yards after first contact, forced three missed tackles and had three runs over 10 yards while adding four catches for 71 yards. Love was excellent from clean pockets (again) and perfect on 26 passes thrown under 10 yards downfield. Kinnard gave up a team-high five pressures but earned a near-elite grade as a run blocker (88.8). Heath caught a pass for nine yards and was strong as a blocker. Kraft caught all five of his targets and produced 55 yards after the catch. Romeo Doubs isn’t listed here, but he went 4-for-4 on contested catches and had three scores.

Top 5 defense

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Parsons produced a season-high 10 pressures on 30 pass-rushing snaps and had an elite 94.3 pass-rushing grade. McDuffie made four tackles without a miss and was strong in coverage (allowed one catch for zero yards). Cooper missed three tackles but broke up a pass and was solid in coverage. Gary didn’t have a pressure but was excellent against the run, creating two stops. Wyatt played only 13 snaps before exiting with an injury but was good as a pass-rusher early on, and the defense crumbled without him.

Bottom 5 offense

3. WR Dontayvion Wicks: 47.4

4. TE John FitzPatrick: 49.4

Musgrave struggled as a run blocker but did have a big block on Josh Jacobs’ 18-yard touchdown run. Rhyan gave up four pressures, including two quarterback hits. Wicks caught two of four targets for 19 yards while running 37 routes (0.51 yards per route run). He also dropped a pass. FitzPatrick had two missed blocks and didn’t have a catch. Jenkins didn’t allow a pressure but struggled in the run game and had a penalty.

Bottom 5 defense

1. DL Nazir Stackhouse: 30.1

3. CB Carrington Valentine: 45.6

5. DE Kingsley Enagbare: 56.8

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Stackhouse had a hurry and a tackle, but he earned a poor run defense grade over 27 total snaps. Walker had a team-high five stops, and missed only one tackle, but he earned low grades as a run defender, pass-rusher and in coverage. Valentine gave up five catches on five targets for 72 yards and one touchdown, and he was penalized once. Colby Wooden had a QB hit but was almost as poor against the run as Stackhouse.

Special teams

The blocked extra point was a killer play, and the Packers allowed a 45-yard kickoff return late in the fourth quarter. The special teams missed only one tackle and did not have a penalty. Brandon McManus made his other six kicks, including a 53-yard field goal to send the game into overtime. Daniel Whelan put both of his punts inside the 20-yard line. Evan Williams, Xavier McKinney, Isaiah McDuffie and McManus had tackles covering kicks. Matthew Golden was replaced at punt returner by Romeo Doubs.

Quarterback play

Jordan Love: 78.6

Love completed 25 of 27 passes from clean pockets for 278 yards, three touchdown passes and zero interceptions. He completed only 6 of 16 passes for 59 yards on 19 pressured dropbacks. Love was also a perfect 26 for 26 on throws under 10 yards down the field, but completed just 1-for-5 on deep throws over 20 yards. Of his 31 completions, 12 came on designed screens, gaining 106 yards. The playaction passing game produced six completions for 64 yards. Love had two big-time throws and one turnover worthy play (lost fumble).

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Stat to know

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott completed 12 of 14 passes for 162 yards and one touchdown pass under pressure. He was fine from clean pockets but deadly under pressure. Not many quarterbacks are capable of performing this well under duress. His passing grade was 90.5 under pressure. Prescott also hit 4 of 7 passes thrown at least 20 yards — this was a veteran quarterback playing at a very high level.

This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Packers PFF grades: Best, worst players from tie with Cowboys in Week 4