Snap Counts, Stud, Dud and Defining Play From Packers’ Win Over Cardinals

GREEN BAY, Wis. – In previous road games, the Green Bay Packers failed to make the necessary plays down the stretch to beat the Cleveland Browns and Dallas Cowboys. On Sunday at the Arizona Cardinals, they made those plays for a 27-23 win.

Here’s our weekly analysis of the snap counts, along with one stud, one dud and the defining play from a wild day in the desert.

The Packers played 56 snaps on offense.

Quarterback: Jordan Love played every snap. It wasn’t his best game but three of his final four drives (not counting the take-a-knee to end the game) produced touchdowns.

Running backs: Josh Jacobs got limited action in the first half due to his injured calf, but it was a lot of No. 8 at crunch time. Jacobs played in 31 snaps – his fewest of the year by 11. Emanuel Wilson and Chris Brooks were nonfactors with 19 and seven snaps, respectively.

Jacobs had the better stats. He also had the better blocking. Wilson carried six times for 17 yards, with 25 yards after contact, according to NextGen Stats. 

Receivers: Dontayvion Wicks, who missed all but one snap of the second half last week with an injured ankle, dropped out with a calf injury on Sunday and was limited to 15 snaps. So, the Packers rode Romeo Doubs (50), Matthew Golden (41) and Malik Heath (23). Savion Williams played only four.

Doubs was the leading receiver with six catches for 72 yards. Golden got off to a hot start with three catches in the opening series but finished with only four. Wicks caught 1-of-2 for 5 yards and the others weren’t targeted.

Tight ends: Tucker Kraft played 50 snaps or 89 percent, which is right in line with his season average of 91.3 percent. He caught five passes for 58 yards and one touchdown, including the big one on fourth-and-1 to set up the winning touchdown. It was the first time in his career that he was targeted 10 times.

Luke Musgrave played 24 snaps, John FitzPatrick played 16 and Ben Sims was inactive. Musgrave was not targeted. After catching 34 passes in 11 games as a rookie in 2023, he’s caught 12 passes in 13 games the past two seasons.

Offensive line: There was no rotation this week. The starting group of Rasheed Walker, Aaron Banks, Elgton Jenkins, Jordan Morgan and Zach Tom went the distance. The Cardinals produced only one sack and 11 pressures – Micah Parsons had 10 pressures by himself – but 19 handoffs to the running backs gained only 72 yards. Walker and Banks had the only penalties, both 5-yard infractions.

The Packers played 76 snaps on offense.

Defensive ends: Micah Parsons, who had three sacks in a tour-de-force performance, played 54 snaps, his third game of more than 50 in the past four games. Rashan Gary, who had a big sack-strip, played 47.

With Lukas Van Ness inactive and the defense on the field a lot, Kingsley Enagbare played 32 snaps and Barryn Sorrell played 30. Enagbare’s previous season high was 21 in Week 1 and Sorrell had played a total of 35 in the first five games.

Defensive tackles: Karl Brooks was a backup the first four games but started in place of Devonte Wyatt the last two games. He’s No. 1 on the unit in snaps, though, with 265. He played 52 snaps against the Cardinals, 10 more than Colby Wooden.

Brooks had one assisted tackle but was impactful with five pressures. He also drew a holding penalty during the final series. Wooden had six tackles and had the pressure that led to Rashan Gary’s sack/strip. He might have played his best game.

A healthy scratch the first four games of his career, sixth-round pick Warren Brinson played 33 snaps and was in on a key first-and-goal tackle for loss in the fourth quarter. Undrafted rookie Nazir Stackhouse played only 14 but was key on the pivotal quarterback sneak.

Linebackers: Edgerrin Cooper played 74 snaps and Quay Walker missed eight snaps due to injuries. Isaiah McDuffie played 32.

Walker had nine tackles, 1.5 sacks and three quarterback hits. He had five pressures in eight blitzes. He’s having his best season. While there was a big disparity in playing time, McDuffie had seven tackles vs. five for Cooper. McDuffie’s tackles limited the Cardinals to a combined 19 yards.

Ty’Ron Hopper got three snaps when Walker was out and paired with Brinson to drop Zonovan Knight for a loss of 2 on first-and-goal in the fourth quarter, a drive that ended with a Micah Parsons sack that led to a field goal.

Cornerbacks: Keisean Nixon and Nate Hobbs went the distance, with Carrington Valentine limited to two snaps on defense and one on special teams. Hobbs gave up three catches for 82 yards, according to Next Gen Stats. Hobbs and Nixon also were guilty of 5-yard penalties.

Safeties: Xavier McKinney played every snap. Evan Williams usually does, too, but he was on the sideline for 14 snaps. Javon Bullard usually plays only in the slot but he got some run at safety and finished with a season-high 61 snaps.

Williams had good coverage on an 18-yard completion on third down during the opening series and was guilty of a 21-yard penalty for interference on third-and-5 in the third quarter but recovered a fumble on the next play. McKinney batted down the game-ending Hail Mary.

Who else but Micah Parsons? There’s a reason why the Packers sent two first-round picks to the Cowboys and $188 million to Parsons’ checking account. The Packers acquired him to make game-winning plays, and he did exactly that.

He is fast, physical and relentless. Asking right tackle Jonah Williams to handle Parsons one-on-one at crunch time should be a fireable offense. Parsons made them pay. With the Cardinals in position to take a 27-20 lead, Parsons’ pressure on second-and-10 forced a throwaway and his sack on third-and-10 forced a field goal. On the final drive, his sack thwarted the Cardinals’ drive toward the end zone.

Parsons had a career-high three sacks. Next Gen Stats credited him with 10 pressures, tied for the most of any defender in Week 7.

“When it’s time to win the game, something just switches,” Parsons said.

This offseason, the Packers signed Nate Hobbs in free agency. With the Raiders, Hobbs had some injury issues and was only a part-time starter. With the Packers, he’s had some injury issues and perhaps shouldn’t be a starter.

After landing on Friday’s injury report as questionable with a knee injury, Next Gen Stats charged Hobbs with three completions in four targets for 82 yards. While it wasn’t his coverage responsibility, he was run over by tight end Trey McBride on McBride’s second touchdown catch.

With a four-year, $48 million contract, some key decisions await with better quarterbacks coming up on the schedule.

There are a lot to choose from, but Rashan Gary’s sack/strip might have been the difference between a 16-6 deficit or even a 20-6 deficit and a 13-13 tie.

After a 21-yard pass-interference penalty on Evan Williams, the Cardinals had a first down at their 46 about 3 minutes into the second half. Colby Wooden destroyed center Hjalte Froholdt at the snap and chased Jacoby Brissett out of the pocket. That allowed Rashan Gary to get free of right tackle Jonah Williams to hit Brissett from behind to force a fumble, which Williams recovered.