Studs And Duds - Packers vs Colts

[Joemailman]

Studs

Josh Jacobs - The fumble hurt, but his running, especially in the 1st half, enabled the Packers to establish the gameplan of taking pressure off Willis.

Offensive Line - When you rush for 261 yards and don't surrender a sack, that's a great job.

Romeo Doubs - 3 catches for 62 yards, including an awesome 39 yard reception.

Malik Willis - Not asked to do too much.. But he played error-free football which may have been the difference.

Xavier McKinney - Another INT, and sems to be doing a great job of coordinating the secondary.

Devonte Wyatt - Had the game's only sack, 2 TFL's, and pressure all day.

Duds

Brayden Narveson - 2nd week in a row he missed a 40+ yard FG that really changed the complexion of the game in the 4th quarter.

[Anti-Polar Bear]

Dog Fucker, err, fuckdoggle candidate, Eric Wilson, deserves the stud denotation. Single-handily annihilated an option play by covering BOTH the QB and RB and had a nice pick.

[Fritz]

Wilson does deserve that. And Nards is . . . shrinking. I saw a stat last night that the Houston kicker only missed three field goals ALL YEAR.

Dude needs to get his shit straight this week or he’ll be working next to Warm Carlson at Famous Footwear pretty soon.

The bits I saw of clips - Willis looked reasonably accurate. I was pleasantly surprised.

Man, Taylor gashed the Packers.


Quay Walker is just not developing into the type of linebacker you expect when you use a first-round pick on him.

[texaspackerbacker]

They said that Houston kicker was the first guy in NFL history to make 5 from 50 or more in the first two games. Then he went ahead and made a 6th one. I remember him not being all that good in the past. I wouldn't be too down on Narveson. 6 out of 8 is decent if not great. His form looks good (unlike Carlson for example), and there's a good chance he improves over time.

[Joemailman]

Wilson does deserve that. And Nards is . . . shrinking. I saw a stat last night that the Houston kicker only missed three field goals ALL YEAR.

Dude needs to get his shit straight this week or he’ll be working next to Warm Carlson at Famous Footwear pretty soon.

The bits I saw of clips - Willis looked reasonably accurate. I was pleasantly surprised.

Man, Taylor gashed the Packers.


Quay Walker is just not developing into the type of linebacker you expect when you use a first-round pick on him.

Defense is definitely a work in progress so far. Run defense is 23rd in the NFL. We'll see if they look any better when they're not facing Saquon Barkley or Jonathan Taylor.

[smuggler]

I actually think the unpredictability of true LB prospects is why they don't get drafted high.

[Upnorth]

With the switch on d I was expecting our run d to finally look ok. Honestly I bought into the hype train and expecting top 10.
Some day I will learn.

I think Malik will get better and better each week. But hopefully we don't need to see him anymore thus season.

On the dud side I'm starting to want to put our special teams coach, rich bisaccia, for not showing gute what he needs in a kicker. Or gute for the same reason.

[Joemailman]

PFF Best/Worst Grades.

Top 5 offense

1. RB Josh Jacobs: 77.2
2. WR Romeo Doubs: 74.4
3. WR Dontayvion Wicks: 73.9
4. LG Elgton Jenkins: 70.2
5. QB Malik Willis: 69.6

Jacobs gained 126 yards after first contact, forced six missed tackles and had four runs of 10 or more yards. He fumbled at the goal line but also created eight rushing first downs. Doubs caught all three of his targets, averaged 20.7 yards per catch and made a contested 39-yard catch on third down. Wicks caught three of four targets, including two conversions on third down. Jenkins didn’t allow a pressure for the second straight week and was solid in the run game. One of Willis’ two incompletions was a throwaway, and he didn’t have a turnover play.

Top 5 defense

1. LB Eric Wilson: 99.4
2. S Javon Bullard: 78.3
3. CB Jaire Alexander: 70.7
4. CB Eric Stokes: 69.1
5. CB Carrington Valentine: 65.9

Wilson helped create a third-down stop and also had an interception of Anthony Richarson on just eight snaps played. Bullard broke up a pass, had five total tackles without a miss and didn’t allow a catch into his coverage. Alexander gave up just one catch on 39 coverage snaps. Stokes played only 24 snaps but didn’t give up a catch over 17 coverage snaps. Valentine had four tackles and a pass breakup.

Bottom 5 offense

1. RG Jordan Morgan: 48.5
2. WR Bo Melton: 52.6
3. RB MarShawn Lloyd: 53.3
4. RT Zach Tom: 55.8
5. WR Christian Watson: 56.3

Morgan graded out poorly in the run game and left the game after 20 snaps with a shoulder injury. Melton rushed twice for eight yards but graded out poorly as a run blocker. Lloyd turned seven touches into 18 yards. Tom committed two penalties and earned an average grade as a run blocker. Watson played 41 snaps but didn’t receive a touch or a target.

Bottom 5 defense

1. LB Quay Walker: 40.1
2. DE Kingsley Enagbare: 43.7
3. DE Rashan Gary: 45.5
4. DE Lukas Van Ness: 47.2
5. DL Kenny Clark: 48.6

Walker missed two tackles, gave up four catches in coverage and was poor against the run overall. Enagbare played 23 pass-rushing snaps but didn’t have a pressure. Gary played 24 pass-rushing snaps but didn’t have a pressure. Van Ness played 15 pass-rushing snaps but had just one hurry. Clark had three hurries but graded out poorly against the run for the second straight week.

Special teams

The Packers didn’t have a tackle on special teams — there were no returned kickoffs or punts. The special teams also weren’t penalized. Brayden Narveson made his first three field goals but missed from 45 yards. Daniel Whelan pinned all three of his punts inside the 20-yard line, including two inside the 10. Jayden Reed did get dinged for a muffed punt. Eric Wilson led the way with 17 snaps on special teams.

Quarterback play

Malik Willis: 69.6

Willis had an adjusted completion percentage of 92.3 (one throwaway) and didn’t have a turnover worthy play. He scrambled three times. He got the ball out in 2.53 seconds on average. Seven of his 12 completions produced first downs or touchdowns. Willis also rushed for 41 yards. He was 2/3 for 44 yards on passes thrown over 10 yards in the air.

Stat to know

The Packers forced 10 missed tackles, gained 177 after first contact, created nine runs of 10 or more yards and five of 15 or more yards and produced 13 first downs in the run game against the Colts.

[bobblehead]

I actually think the unpredictability of true LB prospects is why they don't get drafted high.

Sort of. Its because like RBs, instinct trump athleticism. There are a lot of heady LBs that aren't blazing fast. Very few come along that have both aspects like say...Payton Wilson. But I digress.

[run pMc]

I actually think the unpredictability of true LB prospects is why they don't get drafted high.

I have a sneaking suspicion that ILBs are often like TEs in that they take a few years to develop as a pro. A lot of TEs don't take off until the last year of their rookie contract.
ILBs also get picked on a lot by defenses with motion, play action, and various forms of deception that requires instincts over athleticism. You can find decent ILBs later in the draft.

[run pMc]

Wow those stats on Willis are impressive for a backup.

Willis had an adjusted completion percentage of 92.3 (one throwaway) and didn’t have a turnover worthy play. He scrambled three times. He got the ball out in 2.53 seconds on average. Seven of his 12 completions produced first downs or touchdowns. Willis also rushed for 41 yards. He was 2/3 for 44 yards on passes thrown over 10 yards in the air.

[Joemailman]

Zach Kruse
@zachkruse2

#Packers QB Malik Willis on third down vs. the Colts:

7/8 for 94 yards, 4 passing first downs and a TD
Rushed 3 times for 27 yards and a first down

Converted via completion/scramble:
3-5
3-5
3-9
3-4 (TD)
3-5
3-5

[run pMc]

the third down conversions were impressive. I was glad to see he didn't hold onto the ball -- big knocks against him are a high sack-to-pressure percentage, and high average time to throw. I was hoping MLF would give him easy reads and it seemed like he did. His arm is strong enough to make throws to the outside -- seemed like quick outs were a thing -- so if the corners are playing off that should be easy yards.

[Vincenzo]

Naverson has been pretty much down the middle except for those 2 misses. But on the other hand we can’t have those misses.
It just feels like he’s gonna really cost us one of these games.

[RashanGary]

Quay Walker has no clue what he’s doing out there.

[Joemailman]

Quay Walker has no clue what he’s doing out there.

Sometimes it seems that way. This defense has different responsibilities than what he's used to. If he's a less than instinctive player, it may take him longer to adjust than it would some others.

[bobblehead]

Zach Kruse
@zachkruse2

#Packers QB Malik Willis on third down vs. the Colts:

7/8 for 94 yards, 4 passing first downs and a TD
Rushed 3 times for 27 yards and a first down

Converted via completion/scramble:
3-5
3-5
3-9
3-4 (TD)
3-5
3-5

I don't know if anyone reads my garbage, but this is a classic example of staying ahead of the chains so 3rd down is manageable. I may have mentioned it being the reason an effective run game is crucial.

[George Cumby]

Stud: Tom Mutha' Fucking Clements.

[Fritz]

Good point, George. The game plan was simple enough for the kid to execute it, and execute it he did.

Let's see if they can pull another rabbit out of the hat this week.

And Christian Watson needs to make an appearance on the stat sheet, I think. Man, he's your speed burner - don't you have to launch one or two to him, just to keep defenses honest? Or do they not trust Watson going up and getting the fifty-fifty ball?

Devonte Wyatt should get a mention as a stud. He outplayed Clark that game. It'd be nice if he turned into a stud, so that whole 2022 first round doesn't turn into a wet poop pile.

[SudsMcBucky]

Sometimes it seems that way. This defense has different responsibilities than what he's used to. If he's a less than instinctive player, it may take him longer to adjust than it would some others.

Quay needds to be playing the Will, not inside.

[Joemailman]

Quay needds to be playing the Will, not inside.

Problem is I think they drafted Cooper to play will.

[Sparkey]

the third down conversions were impressive. I was glad to see he didn't hold onto the ball -- big knocks against him are a high sack-to-pressure percentage, and high average time to throw. I was hoping MLF would give him easy reads and it seemed like he did. His arm is strong enough to make throws to the outside -- seemed like quick outs were a thing -- so if the corners are playing off that should be easy yards.

His 2.53 secs ave in the Colts game is not high. Last years league average was 2.80

[Tony Oday]

Stud:

1st half MLF for a great game plan

Dud:

2nd half MLF for almost losing the game with his game plan.

[run pMc]

His 2.53 secs ave in the Colts game is not high. Last years league average was 2.80

Agree it's not high... but historically Willis has held the ball for 3+ seconds. My point was having him get rid of it in 2.5 is very good, much faster than normal for him.

[Sparkey]

Agree it's not high... but historically Willis has held the ball for 3+ seconds. My point was having him get rid of it in 2.5 is very good, much faster than normal for him.

Gotcha, you were referring to his past play. Honestly, that is a flaw of most rookie qb's. Seeing the D and processing reads is a learned skill that few college QB's are great at their first few year in the NFL.

[Fritz]

Willis needs to work on speeding up the calls and getting the ball hiked before Myers pukes on it.

[smuggler]

I just realized no one has yet nominated Whelan for stud status. I know he only had the three punts, but he was perfect for us in those three plays. I can't speak to his holding, but I don't think he was the cause of the 45-yard miss.