Once again the Packers did not elevate anyone from the Practice Squad.  Minnesota earlier in the week offered a roster spot to ILB Jamin Davis, and he signed a contract with the Vikings.  The Packers had an open roster spot so they could have matched Minnesota's offer.  Perhaps they did - all we know is that Davis is now with the Vikings.  Jaire Alexander, Edgerrin Cooper, and Romeo Doubs were inactive due to injury.  OG Jacob Monk was once again a healthy scratch.  QB Malik Willis and TE John FitzPatrick did not play.

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN:

Once again the offensive line was very good with their pass blocking.  The line allowed no sacks and just 3 quarterback hits.  The run blocking was adequate.  At least there were very few negative run plays.  The were several explosive runs, as well.  Most of the runs consisted of a lot of very hard running through modest holes.  Emanuel Wilson, Chris Brooks, and Jaylen Reed gained 71 yards on 6 carries.  Josh Jacobs gained 43 yards on 19 carries for a 2.26-yard average, with 1 touchdown and a long run of 11 yards.    

RUNNING BACKS:

The Packers really leaned on Josh Jacobs this week.  He got 78% of the snaps this week versus the 53% he got last week.  Brooks got a lot more playing time than Wilson although the carries were similar.  Brooks gained 28 yards on 3 carries (9.33-yard average) and Wilson gained 20 on 2 carries with a long of 15.  Jacobs caught all 4 of his targets for a whopping 74 yards, including a 49-yarder which set up a field goal.  Brooks caught passes of 5 yards and minus 4.  

TIGHT ENDS:

Kraft 6 of his 7 targets for 78 yards with a long of 17.  Kraft continues to gain a lot of yards after the catch and his blocking has improved.  SFitzPatrick, after getting to play 19 percent of the snaps last week did not play, not even on special teams.  

QUARTERBACKS:

Love completed 21 of 28 passes (72.4%) for 274 yards (9.79 yards/attempt) and 2 touchdowns.  He had a passer rating of 129.2.  Love nice was accurate and did well when he was pressured.  I thought he had several excellent throws into tight windows.  There were a couple of passes where the defensive back tried to make a play on Love's pass but I would not describe those passes as turnover worthy.  4 of Love's passes were broken up.  

WIDE RECEIVERS:

With Doubs out, the Packers decided to lean on their top receivers rather than give the receivers at the end of the rotation more snaps.  Watson played 94% of the snaps with Wicks getting a whopping 89% of the snaps, and that is after he flat out dropped his first target.  Watson caught 2 of his 4 passes for 67 yards with a long of 46.  Watson clearly give the Packers a legitimate deep threat.  On one deep pass, Love threw it a little short; the defensive back bumped into Watson for what could have been defensive pass interference.  Watson looks a little iffy when he tries to catch over-the-shoulder passes, so perhaps that awkwardness is why the officials decided not to throw a flag.  

Wicks caught 4 of his 5 targets for 30 yards with a long of 10.  Reed caught 3 of his 6 targets for 24 yards with a long of 12, but 2 of his receptions were for touchdowns.  Melton and Heath had no targets.  Melton did not recover the muffed punt but he was in the mix.

DEFENSIVE LINEMEN:

The Packers held Miami to 14 rushing yards on 7 carries in the first half.  And that is despite runds of 13, 9 and 3 yards  by Miami in the first half.  That led to a number of negative plays, which put Miami in difficult down and distance situations.  Miami committed a lot of dumb penalties to further shoot themselves in the foot.  The Packers would be credited with 9 tackles for loss.  For the game, the Packers held Miami to 39 yards on 14 carries, a 2.79-yard average.   The Packers had their share of dumb penalties; they lined up offside multiple times and took sacks off the board due to their own penalties. Gary and Clark went back to playing a lot of snaps.  Wooden went from 43% of snaps to 24%.

Clark had 1 solo tackle, a sack and a quarterback hit.  Wyatt had an assisted tackle and Brooks had no tackles and he batted down a pass.  Slaton had no statistics other than an offside penalty.   Enagbare had 5 tackles (4 solo) and a sack.  He also had a sack wiped out when Gary lined up in the neutral zone.  Gary had 1 solo tackle and a quarterback hit.  Van Ness had 2 solo tackles, 1 hustle sack, and 2 tackles for loss.  Cox had 2 tackles (1 solo) and a sack.  Mosby had 1 solo tackle, a tackle for loss when he did not bite on the inside fake.  

LINEBACKERS:

Green Bay took McDuffie off of special teams, probably due to the lack of available linebackers, though they kept Eric Wilson on teams.  Hopper, who got 7 snaps last week, played only on special teams this week.  The Packers appeared to be dropping back into a lot of zone with a deep drop for the linebackers.   They seemed to be trying to clog the middle so as to stop Tyreek Hill (and Waddle) from catching intermediate crossers in space. 

They did a good job on Hill and Waddle for the most part, though it meant that TE Jonnu Smith was usually open for a check down in the middle of the field on a pretty regular basis.   Smith caught 10 of 11 targets for 113 yards.  It might turn out that some entity like PFF gives one or several of the linebackers terrible coverage grades, but any grades should be ignored.  The plan was to allow the catch over the middle and rally to the ball to limit the gain.  Miami is also good at setting up screens.  RB Achane caught 8 of 9 passes for 56 yards with a long of 14.  When it mattered most, WRs Tyreek Hill, Waddle, Odell Beckh8am and Washington combined for 3 receptions on 6 targets for 18 yards in the first half while the Packers built a big lead.

And rally to the ball they did.  McDuffie and Walker each had 10 total tackles (7 and 6 solo, respectively).  Walker had 2 tackles for loss and a sack, while McDuffie had a pass defensed, a forced fumble, a tackle for loss, and a big hit that continues to set the tone for physicality for this team.  Eric Wilson had 3 tackles (1 solo).  

SECONDARY:

McKinney had 9 tackles (7 solo) and Williams added 7 tackles (3 solo).  Bullard had 3 tackles (2 solo).  The Packers only allowed 1 explosive play, a 30-yard reception by Tyreek Hill in the second half.  Miami had a long of 13 on the ground.   

Nixon had 6 solo tackles and a pass break up in what looked like a very good performance watching it on television.  Stokes and Valentine split the snaps at the other cornerback spot, with Stokes posting 2 solo tackles and Valentine getting 2 tackles (1 solo).  The Packers went back to a tight rotation at safety and cornerback as only the top 6 players got defensive snaps.  After shutting down the wide receivers in the first half, things loosened up a bit.  Tua completed 22 of 27 passes in the second half and finished with 365 passing yards for the game.  Tagovailoa completed 80.4% of his passes, which would be more impressive if so many of them had not been little more than check downs and had the Dolphins managed more than a single explosive play.  Allowing just 17 points is an excellent result, espcially since Miami had been averaging 25 points per game in games started by Tagolovailo this year.

SPECIAL TEAMS:

McManus made all 6 of his kicks.  Whelan got an errant long snap down and averaged 43 yards per punt, 41.74 yards net.

RB:  1.13

TE:  1.19

WR: 2.69

DT:   2.00

DE:  2.00

LB: 2.33

DB: 4.66

Photo courtesy of Jeff Hanisch, Imagn Images