Snaps, Stud, Dud, Defining Play

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers did what they couldn’t do last season.

They beat a really good team.

The Packers trounced the Detroit Lions 27-13 on Sunday. Dan Campbell’s Lions are built on physicality and mentality but it was Matt LaFleur’s Packers who dominated the trenches on both sides of the ball.

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

The Packers ran 48 plays on offense.

Quarterback: Playing with his injured left thumb, Jordan Love had light duty while being one of only three players to go the distance. Love threw 22 passes, wasn’t sacked and was hit only twice. The only real punishment he took was when he was clobbered by Aidan Hutchinson on the overturned interception.

Running backs: It was a tale of two halves for Josh Jacobs, who played 42 snaps. He carried six times for 8 yards in the first half but 13 times for 58 yards in the second half. His work against the blitz was impressive. Chris Brooks played nine snaps, mostly in a tandem with Jacobs, and rushed once for 1 yard and caught one pass for 1 yards. Emanuel Wilson played two snaps and carried once for 4 yards. Brooks added three assisted tackles on special teams.

Receivers: Romeo Doubs led the way with 34 snaps. He was followed by Matthew Golden (23), Dontayvion Wicks (22), Jayden Reed (18), Malik Heath (11) and Savion Williams (three). Reed had a team-high three catches, Doubs had a career-long 48-yard catch and Wicks and Golden had third-down conversions on the opening touchdown drive.

Tight ends: Tucker Kraft, not surprisingly, was on the sideline for only four snaps. He’s just too good to not be on the field. He had a 15-yard touchdown catch and a 3-yard run. In a bit of a surprise, Luke Musgrave (17 snaps) played only two more snaps than John FitzPatrick (15). Ben Sims was a healthy scratch.

Offensive line: This will be the group to watch on a short week. While center Elgton Jenkins and left tackle Rasheed Walker went the distance, right tackle Zach Tom (hip; 30 snaps) and left guard Aaron Banks (ankle; 43 snaps) watched the end of the game from the sideline. Sean Rhyan (33 snaps) started at right guard but alternated series with Jordan Morgan (20 snaps) before injuries put them both in the game. The next man up at right tackle, Darian Kinnard, played 15 impressive snaps. Rookie right tackle Anthony Belton got his feet wet with three snaps.

The Packers were on the field for 67 plays on defense.

Defensive ends: Barely a week after he was acquired in a trade with Dallas, Micah Parsons played 30 snaps. Coach Matt LaFleur didn’t seem particularly happy that Parsons played so many snaps. “That’s definitely higher than what we anticipated,” he said. Why did he play so many? “That’s a great question. I’ll have to investigate.”

Rashan Gary led the way with 47 snaps, Lukas Van Ness played 36, Kingsley Enagbare played 21 and Brenton Cox dropped out with a groin injury after eight snaps. With Cox’s injury, rookie fourth-round pick Barryn Sorrell could make his debut against Washington after being a healthy scratch.

Defensive tackles: Following the trade of Kenny Clark, Devonte Wyatt played a career-high 49 snaps. He didn’t have a single game of 40 snaps last season. He made them count with one sack and three quarterback hits. Colby Wooden (35 snaps), Karl Brooks (34) and Nazir Stackhouse (eight) rounded out the group with Warren Brinson a healthy scratch. Wooden, who was a healthy scratch himself to start last season, had the best game of his career with six tackles, including two for losses.

Linebackers: Edgerrin Cooper and Quay Walker went the distance and were dominant. Cooper had 12 tackles – a few misses prevented him from having a monster season debut – and Walker had nine tackles, including two for losses, and one pass breakup. They were pivotal in limiting Jahmyr Gibbs to nine carries for 19 yards and 10 catches for 30 yards. Isaiah McDuffie played 18 snaps and Ty’Ron Hoper got one. Acquired after final cuts, Nick Niemman was in on four tackles on special teams.

Cornerbacks: With Nate Hobbs inactive, Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine went the distance. Detroit’s receivers had only one catch of 12-plus yards and none of 20. Limiting Amon-Ra St. Brown to four catches for 45 yards is big time.

Safeties: In a surprise, Javon Bullard got the start at safety. In the base defense, the safeties were Bullard and Xavier McKinney. In nickel, Evan Williams entered at safety and Bullard moved into the slot. During the second half, it was the expected tandem of Williams and McKinney at safety. So, McKinney played all 67 snaps, Bullard played 59 and Williams played 56. Bullard had nine tackles and played a key role in limiting St. Brown and Williams had an interception.

Rashan Gary was the game MVP with 1.5 sacks. Micah Parsons’ debut was sensational; according to league data, the Lions lost 0.29 yards per rushing play when he was on the field. The cornerbacks limited Detroit’s premier receiver tandem of St. Brown and Jameson Williams.

So, let’s veer another direction and pick Josh Jacobs. He’s had much better days running the ball – and will have much better days this season – but he was incredible in pass protection in allowing Jordan Love to beat Lions blitzes. That includes these plays – a third-down completion to Matthew Golden on the opening touchdown drive and the bomb to Romeo Doubs in the second quarter.

There were a lot of blue shirts filling the Lambeau Field bleachers. Even coach Matt LaFleur took notice. At the close of his opening statement, he said: “All in all, I was really happy with our performance. I thought the fans that showed up brought great energy, and the fans that sold their tickets to all those Lion fans, got to be better.”

The Packers led 17-6 at the start of the fourth quarter. Set up by Rashan Gary’s sack, the Packers had the Lions facing third-and-16 from their 2. The Lions handed the ball to David Montgomery to get some space for the punt. Instead, Colby Wooden dropped Montgomery for a loss of 1. Why? Because of the preoccupation with Micah Parsons.

This is the impact of Parsons. He is such a game-wrecker that even with an elite right tackle in Penei Sewell, the Lions were petrified of Parsons blowing up the play.