The Green Bay Packers had their best and most complete game of the year, beating the Arizona Cardinals 34-13 at Lambeau Field and improving to 4-2 in the regular season. The offense was much more efficient and clean, while the defense had the most solid down-to-down and drive-to-drive performance under Jeff Hafley. Kicker Brayden Narveson missed his fifth field goal of the season, but in general there are many more reasons to be optimistic.
Spreading the ball around
Matt LaFleur stressed to Romeo Doubs how important it was for the offense to count on everybody, to have a varied offense and several different targets. That’s exactly what the Packers did on Sunday, and Doubs was the big beneficiary of that approach.
When the Packers offense works, several receivers touch the ball. This is what happened on Sunday, with Jordan Love targeting multiple players for positive plays. Only in the first half, eight different pieces had receptions (Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Ben Sims, Jayden Reed, Emanuel Wilson, Josh Jacobs, Tucker Kraft, and Dontayvion Wicks). Only Reed had more than two receptions, and the variety included touchdowns from the three top receivers, Reed, Doubs, and Watson. Doubs, by the way, had a second receiving touchdown in the second half.
Bo Melton also had a reception in the second half, and fullback Andrew Beck was targeted.
Jordan Love had by far his best game of the season. He had an interception, but it wasn’t a turnover-worthy play, but Bo Melton slipped. Love was calm and in total control of the game, a day that included four touchdown throws. By the way, Jordan Love became the first Packers quarterback to throw four touchdown passes in two consecutive home games since Brett Favre did it in 1995.
Secondary rotation
The defensive backfield had an interesting rotation of players. In base, Javon Bullard was the safety alongside Xavier McKinney, but Keisean Nixon moved to the boundary, with Eric Stokes on the bench.
In nickel package, though, Evan Williams was the second safety. And let’s talk more about the fourth-round rookie, because he played a hell of a game once again.
In the first half, he identified a read option from Kyler Murray on a third down, making a huge tackle to end the drive. In the third quarter, Williams forced a fumble from Greg Dortch when the Packers badly needed it, and Jaire Alexander recovered it.
Javon Bullard would go to the bench in some of these nickel situations, with Nixon moving back to the slot and Stokes playing opposite Jaire Alexander. There were some interesting snaps in big nickel, with Bullard playing in the slot.
Run defense
The Packers entered the game as sixth in rush EPA in the entire NFL, certainly a much different reality than it had been under Mike Pettine and Joe Barry. Against the Cardinals, the effectiveness against the run was evident from the get go.
Sure, after the Packers opened a solid lead, it was hard for the Cardinals to run the ball much — and when they did late in the game, the Packers were comfortable with that approach. But even considering efficiency and not volume numbers, it was a solid performance by the Packers defensive front.
Running back James Conner rushed seven times, getting only 24 yards — 3.4 yards per carry. Kyler Murray was also fairly contained, getting six yards in three rushes. Trey Benson and Emari Demercado had better efficiency numbers, but they came when the Packers opened the box to keep the lead.
Rookie linebacker Edgerrin Cooper was one of the reasons for the effective performance, playing in the middle for the first time in his NFL career with successful results.
Early in the third quarter, the Packers decided to bench Cooper for no apparent reason, and the Cardinals started to get throws over the middle and some positive runs.
But overall, it was a consistent game from the defense, generating more pressure and getting stops even when the turnovers were not there — and, well, the turnovers were still there with two fumble recoveries.