Studs and Duds, Joe Flacco survives another day (Bengals at Packers):

[George Cumby]

Go.

[Joemailman]

Studs:

Josh Jacobs
Matthew Golden - Can't wait to see him and Christian Watson together.
Romeo Doubs - Seemed every catch was a crucial one.

Duds:

Interior D-line gets little pressure without Wyatt in there.

[MadtownPacker]

Winners:
Other than sliding too early and not getting that first down at the end of the 4th Love played solid and seems to be keeping his cool in crucial moments. Didn’t even have Skinbasket diss him today which means everything to all of us .

Show me the money Doubs is showing why he should be paid like the #1 he is. Made some ugly throws look good and keeps the chains moving when it’s needed the most.

New guy kicker also came thru and we are now official my spoiled when it comes to FGs and XPs.

Not winners:

The defense wasn’t great as it can be but was good enough and got the stops needed to get this mission critical win in the books. Can’t say anyone stood out much but none were losers IMO.

[texaspackerbacker]

Most of the time in a win, there are plenty of studs and few or no duds, but this really didn't feel like much of a win.

Yeah, Love was really good - with those couple of exceptions. I wouldn't say he had an above average game considering his quality as a player. Doubs and Golden deserve the stud label, probably Craft too. I can't think of anybody on D who was good enough to label a stud. Jacobs was damn good too most of the time, although probably because of the lameness of the O Line, this was not his best game.

There weren't a lot of true duds either, but there were a helluva lot of mediocres out there. I didn't like the way Quay played. I think they sorta misused Cooper. A not very good Bengal O Line handled our D Line both in the running game as on passes. Was Wicks hurt or something? He basically disappeared. Musgrave somehow never makes plays like Craft - why? It's hard to say. The kicker did what he was paid to do and looked calm and normal doing it. Maybe he doesn't have a very strong leg. If he did, you'd think he'd be somebody's full time kicker.

[Joemailman]

Best, worst PFF grades:

Top 5 offense

WR Matthew Golden: 90.4
RB Josh Jacobs: 83.6
RT Zach Tom: 75.5
QB Jordan Love: 73.0
WR Romeo Doubs: 72.1

Golden caught three passes for 86 yards, averaging 28.7 yards per catch and 3.74 yards per route run, and he forced three missed tackles with the ball in his hands as a receiver or runner. Jacobs forced six missed tackles, had four runs of 10 or more yards and caught five passes for 57 yards. Tom gave up one hurry but was the team's highest graded run blocker along the offensive line. Love hit four passes of at least 20 yards in the air, was excellent from clean pockets and used his legs to scramble five times. Doubs made five catches, including one contested catch, and his blocking was solid.

Top 5 defense

DL Warren Brinson: 84.8
DE Micah Parsons: 78.4
S Evan Williams: 76.4
LB Edgerrin Cooper: 73.6
DL Colby Wooden: 73.2

Brinson, is his first regular season game, held up fine in the run game and produced two hurries as a pass-rusher while playing 21 snaps. Parsons produced four hurries, finished with a 74.8 pass-rush grade and generated two run stops. Williams had a tackle for loss and allowed just two catches for nine yards in coverage. Cooper had a team-high four stops, didn't miss a tackle and was effective in both run defense and coverage. Wooden was in on four tackles and earned the defense's second best run defense grade while playing 32 snaps.

Bottom 5 offense

TE John FitzPatrick: 51.7
WR Malik Heath: 55.4
LG Aaron Banks: 55.6
TE Luke Musgrave: 57.4
RB Emanuel Wilson: 57.4

FitzPatrick was the offense's third worst run blocker and didn't have a catch across 11 snaps. Heath was excellent in the run game but wasn't targeted on 16 routes. Banks struggled in the run game and gave up a hurry. Musgrave was decent in the run game (third best grade) but managed just one catch for seven yards on 11 routes run. Wilson caught one pass for negative yards and managed just 11 rushing yards on thre carries.

Bottom 5 defense

DE Kingsley Enagbare: 47.7
DL Karl Brooks: 50.6
CB Keisean Nixon: 55.7
LB Quay Walker: 58.0
CB Nate Hobbs: 58.1

Enagbare struggled setting the edge, didn't have a pressure over 10 pass-rushing snaps and also missed a tackle. Brooks generated nothing more than two hurries over 41 pass-rushing snaps. Nixon allowed five catches on nine targets for 45 yards and a touchdown, and he was penalized three times. Walker gave up six catches and a touchdown pass and missed a tackle. Hobbs allowed four catches on five targets and was penalized once.

Special teams

Ty'Ron Hopper, Evan Williams, Xavier McKinney and Zayne Anderson all had tackles covering kicks or punts. Hopper had a penalty for unnecessary roughness after making a tackle and Bo Melton had a holding penalty on a kickoff return, while Chris Brooks missed two tackles. Melton and Savion Williams averaged 33.0 yards per kickoff return. Lucas Havrisk made all five of his kicks, while Daniel Whelan put a punt inside the 20-yard line but had a season low hang time of 4.46 seconds.

Quarterback play

Jordan Love: 73.0

Love completed 4 of 5 passes thrown over 20 yards in the air for 111 yards, and he was nearly perfect from clean pockets, completing 17 of 21 passes for 232 yards, one touchdown pass and one big-time throw. He was under pressure on just nine of 34 dropbacks, a marked improvement, but he did throw his interception while pressured on third down. Off playaction, Love completed 5 of 8 passes for 74 yards and his lone touchdown pass. While excellent throwing deep, Love was just 1 of 5 passing between 10-19 yards. His five scrambles, a season high, helped the Packers convert in a few big spots.

Stats to know

-- Packers pass-catchers produced 110 yards after the catch, including big gains on explosive plays from Matthew Golden, Josh Jacobs and Tucker Kraft.

-- Joe Flacco was under pressure on just 26.1 percent of his 46 dropbacks. He completed 5 of 11 passes for just 16 yards when under pressure but didn't have a turnover worthy play.

-- Lukas Van Ness and Rashan Gary combined for four quarterback hits.

[call_me_ishmael]

I don't have a ton to add other than they look really close to being very good. Reminds me so much of two years ago. I suspect after Thanksgiving they'll be cooking.

[texaspackerbacker]

It could be that we sorta lucked out on the scheduling. We've had mostly lesser teams lately and more of those to come. Ideally, by the time we start to play the better teams, the Packers are up to where they are supposed to be. Or maybe what we've seen the last three games is the real team - not very good/a lot of flaws. I guess we'll find out going forward.

[MadScientist]

Secondary problems are hard to fix during the season. Packers are not playing tight coverage, probably because they aren't good enough to do so. That is leaving them vulnerable to a quick passing game. Other teams have figured out how to gum up the pass rush long enough, do they can March down the field at will.

The Oline should improve a bit as players get healthy and can work together.

[George Cumby]

Jordan Love is a Near-Stud in this one.

He's not quite there because of the pick and slide when he could've gotten the first, which would have ended the game.

So, a couple of brain farts, but goddamn, he makes some lights out throws. The toss to Golden was an absolute dime.

He may never be the master of improv that Brent and K-aaron were, but he makes a ton of throws LOTS of other QB's can't.

[bobblehead]

Love had a bad pick and another bad throw. I thought Morgan would have made top 5, as I didn't see any breakdowns. His run blocking was decent as well. I expect they move him to a new position next week.

Seriously though, they drafted him to play RG, he has taken most of his snaps and practice reps at RG so I'm not shocked he is playing RG pretty well. I wonder though....what happens at LT next year?? If the plan is to plant Morgan at RG (which it really seems to be), then do we pay Walker? Move Tom to LT and hope Belton is ready for RT? As always, this teams plans on the OL confuse the hell out of me.

[Joemailman]

Love had a bad pick and another bad throw. I thought Morgan would have made top 5, as I didn't see any breakdowns. His run blocking was decent as well. I expect they move him to a new position next week.

Seriously though, they drafted him to play RG, he has taken most of his snaps and practice reps at RG so I'm not shocked he is playing RG pretty well. I wonder though....what happens at LT next year?? If the plan is to plant Morgan at RG (which it really seems to be), then do we pay Walker? Move Tom to LT and hope Belton is ready for RT? As always, this teams plans on the OL confuse the hell out of me.

I'm not so sure they drafted him to play RG. At the time they drafted him, I don't think they were convinced Walker was a legit LT. I believe the plan this year was to let Morgan compete for the LT position in training camp. But injuries to Banks and Jenkins forced him to fill in at G positions. I still think he's the most likely LT in 2026. I would love to see them move Tom to LT though. I've always thought his footwork made him a natural for LT.

[Fritz]

I don't have a ton to add other than they look really close to being very good. Reminds me so much of two years ago. I suspect after Thanksgiving they'll be cooking.

Agreed here. It was one of those "meh" wins - you can't complain too much cuz they won, and there were none of those blocked-extra-points-uh-oh-the-game-just-turned moments (thank you Luke Havrisak for making those kicks and The Flower for putting starters in on ST). So it was fine. Not exactly the impressive blowout we'd like, but good enough.

I thought Warren Brinson played well. He's got some energy.

I know they're playing Musgrave more, but he just seems like a guy without a place or a role on this team. He can't block for shit, and they have so many outside guys that he doesn't quite get enough outside looks, either. Love did miss him on a pass over the middle early on, but all in all, a man without a country.

The defense doesn't look like it's swarming to the ball like it did the first two games, so maybe that's why the dink-and-dunk stuff is starting to work for opposing offenses. That and the opposing teams' running games are picking up. I did read that Stackhouse got most of or all of his snaps on that Cinci ten minute drive coming out of the half. So maybe he's part of the problem.

Outside of Love's two brain farts, which George mentioned, he played well. The offensive line didn't protect him super great, but when he had time, he delivered.

Wicks seems to be becoming the odd man out on the receiving side. The ankle injury won't help.

And I still think they need to target Kraft more, especially in the red zone and in those third-and-fives and such.

Packers will be targeting offensive linemen and corners next draft, with their, what, five draft picks? Maybe they can trade Musgrave and get a fifth rounder next spring. They need some picks.

[George Cumby]

Agreed here. It was one of those "meh" wins - you can't complain too much cuz they won, and there were none of those blocked-extra-points-uh-oh-the-game-just-turned moments (thank you Luke Havrisak for making those kicks and The Flower for putting starters in on ST). So it was fine. Not exactly the impressive blowout we'd like, but good enough.

I thought Warren Brinson played well. He's got some energy.

I know they're playing Musgrave more, but he just seems like a guy without a place or a role on this team. He can't block for shit, and they have so many outside guys that he doesn't quite get enough outside looks, either. Love did miss him on a pass over the middle early on, but all in all, a man without a country.

The defense doesn't look like it's swarming to the ball like it did the first two games, so maybe that's why the dink-and-dunk stuff is starting to work for opposing offenses. That and the opposing teams' running games are picking up. I did read that Stackhouse got most of or all of his snaps on that Cinci ten minute drive coming out of the half. So maybe he's part of the problem.

Outside of Love's two brain farts, which George mentioned, he played well. The offensive line didn't protect him super great, but when he had time, he delivered.

Wicks seems to be becoming the odd man out on the receiving side. The ankle injury won't help.

And I still think they need to target Kraft more, especially in the red zone and in those third-and-fives and such.

Packers will be targeting offensive linemen and corners next draft, with their, what, five draft picks? Maybe they can trade Musgrave and get a fifth rounder next spring. They need some picks.

On point.

It was a team they should have beaten and they did. Maybe not the beat-down so many fans wanted, but, personally, IDGAF. Ain't no style points, the other team gets paid, too.

Cincy has the arguably the best 1-2 combo at WR in the league, those kids are gonna' catch the ball, especially with a savvy fucker like Flacco chucking it. BUT, no big chunk plays, IIRC, their longest play was 25 yards? We can live with that. I actually thought our corners were in good position most of the game.

Musgrave just looks lost, Fitzpatrick looks more serviceable, at least as a blocker.

Agreed, CB is a priority in next year's draft.

[bobblehead]

I'm not so sure they drafted him to play RG. At the time they drafted him, I don't think they were convinced Walker was a legit LT. I believe the plan this year was to let Morgan compete for the LT position in training camp. But injuries to Banks and Jenkins forced him to fill in at G positions. I still think he's the most likely LT in 2026. I would love to see them move Tom to LT though. I've always thought his footwork made him a natural for LT.

Tom has put on weight and he is a master technician, but he is still small for LT. That said I think he can play it just fine. Morgan is a tad small for LT as well. I know its not the popular thought, but I won't be shocked if they pay Walker, or franchise him.

[bobblehead]

On point.

It was a team they should have beaten and they did. Maybe not the beat-down so many fans wanted, but, personally, IDGAF. Ain't no style points, the other team gets paid, too.

Cincy has the arguably the best 1-2 combo at WR in the league, those kids are gonna' catch the ball, especially with a savvy fucker like Flacco chucking it. BUT, no big chunk plays, IIRC, their longest play was 25 yards? We can live with that. I actually thought our corners were in good position most of the game.

Musgrave just looks lost, Fitzpatrick looks more serviceable, at least as a blocker.

Agreed, CB is a priority in next year's draft.

Wasn't CB a priority in the last 3 drafts? I haven't looked ahead, but if next year is a super weak CB draft I would think Gutes drafts 3 of them. Its his way after all.