2022 Packers Stock Report: Week 3

Take a look at the stock report for the Green Bay Packers after a 14-12 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 3.

A win is a win, no matter how pretty (or ugly) it is.

At least, that's what I'm telling myself after Sunday's defensive showdown at Raymond James Stadium.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a good team that will be a playoff contender down the road when healthy. So the fact that the Packers earned a win on the road against a quality team this early in the season is a promising sign.

So let's get into the stock report for the Green Bay Packers after a 14-12 win over the Buccaneers in Week 3.

BUY

Pat O'Donnell- I'm going to say it: Pat O'Donnell has been a great addition so far for the Green Bay Packers. The former Bears punter has been consistent through three weeks. He put up a stellar performance on Sunday, which was needed due to the Packers' offensive slump in the second half. He routinely made the Buccaneers have to travel a long distance for scores, pinning their offense inside the 20-yard line on five separate occasions. He was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance.

Allen Lazard- The former Iowa State standout isn't the most flashy guy on the field, but Packers players, coaches and fans can't get enough of him. The perfect teammate (as Aaron Rodgers called him on the Pat McAfee Show), Lazard has been excellent catching passes and delivering blows as a blocker. Also, for the haters out there, Allen Lazard has the same amount of receiving touchdowns (2) as Davante Adams on one less game played. Buy.

Keisean Nixon- When Jaire Alexander went out early in the game due to a groin injury, Keisean Nixon answered the call and didn't miss a beat. Normally a special teams ace, Nixon filled in and played nicely on defense. He recorded seven total tackles, forced a fumble and downed a punt at the 2-yard line. With Jaire Alexander potentially missing some time in the near future with the injury, buy Nixon's stock now.

David Bakhtiari- That's it, I'm going to buy him. Although he rotated every series with Yosh Nijman, David Bakhtiari looked solid already in his first extended action since tearing his ACL over 20 months ago. Bakhtiari looked good in the run game and even better in the pass game, posting the top pass blocking grade of the Packers offensive line according to PFF. As long as recovery from this weekend went according to plan, I don't see any reason not to buy him now. He will continue to get better with more playing time and more practice during the course of the season.

SELL

Second-half struggles- The Green Bay Packers have scored a whopping 10 second half points between the first three games of the season. Sunday's second half performance was the worst of the season so far, with six drives ending in a punt and one ending with an interception. Give credit to the Buccaneers' defense - it is one of the best in the league. However, the team from Titletown will need to get second half offensive issues fixed in order to be as good of a football team as it can.

HOLD

Robert Tonyan- I'm still holding out hope that Robert Tonyan will come on in a big way later in the season. However, it has been a bit surprising how the Packers have used him to this point. It seems the coaching staff is not afraid of using more of a "tight end-by-committee" approach up to this point in the season. Outside of Marcedes Lewis in a blocking role and Josiah Deguara in more of a utility role, which was to be expected, Tyler Davis has actually seen some playing time in what is normally more of Tonyan's job as a pass catcher. I know he's also coming back from an ACL tear, so I still think he'll end up getting more targets and opportunities down the road. For now, it's a hold from me.

Jaire Alexander- When Jaire Alexander took himself out of the game for a groin injury on Sunday, we all held our breath. Good news for us, early reports say that it's not a long-term injury. Does that mean he'll be back out on the game field right away this weekend? I would be surprised if that was the case. For now, I'm putting a hold on Alexander's stock.

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Gunnar Davis is a lifelong Packers fan and a recent graduate of Simpson College, where he was a 3-year letterwinner on the offensive line and graduated with a degree in multimedia communications. You can follow him on Twitter at @Gunnar57Davis.

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Comments (10)

Fan-Friendly This filter will hide comments which have ratio of 5 to 1 down-vote to up-vote.
Leatherhead's picture

September 28, 2022 at 12:37 pm

I'd buy the defense. You just held Tom Brady to 12 points on his home field. How many times has that happened? Not very often. And you did it without your #1 CB for a big part of the game.

I'd buy the starting Oline. We finally, for the first time since the 2020 season, have all five of our preferred starters on the field in decent health. Bakhtiari and Jenkins is a pretty good pair of tackles, Runyan-Myers-Newman is a decent interior, and we've got two guys (IMO) on the bench in Nijman and Tom who we could put on the field without them embarassing themselves. This is the best our offensive line situation has been in almost 22 months. I'm hoping we're not going to need contributions from Mt. Caleb, Walker, Rhyan or Hanson on offense this year.

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splitpea1's picture

September 28, 2022 at 01:02 pm

Buy: Bisaccia: Getting the job done with his keen eye for the difference-makers.

Buy: Campbell, K. Clark--no need to elaborate.

Buy: O-line. The Pats do have a pass rush, so we'll need another round of good pass protection.

Buy: Run defense. I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised even though the Packers didn't have to worry as much about the Bucs' passing game. I believe we only had one missed tackle.

Buy: Doubs--really no choice in the matter.

Hold: MLF. Much has been made of the second-half play-calling. So does Moses LaFleur have the entire offensive game plan carved on a stone tablet? Or did he simply not want to get too cute with a depleted/inexperienced WR corps (i.e., Winfree and Doubs bumping into each other)? I mean, the last thing you want to do is give the Bucs defense any more INT opportunities in your end when you can rely on your ST and defense to play the field position game.

Miscellaneous: If we beat the Pats, 3-1 with two tough road games out of the way isn't bad at roughly the quarter mark.

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T7Steve's picture

September 28, 2022 at 01:29 pm

Campbell and Clark is a good add. Not enough has been mentioned about Clark. The D-line as a whole just got pushed into a great defensive win.

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splitpea1's picture

September 28, 2022 at 03:13 pm

Agreed about Clark; he may be on track to share a first team All-Pro spot with A. Donald if he keeps it up.

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T7Steve's picture

September 28, 2022 at 01:24 pm

Copying other peoples' comment format here because it make so much sense.

Buy: Pat O'Donnell. Loved it! Hope our offense can keep him off the field so he won't wear his leg out.
Agree with LH above that the O line is getting closer. It should start getting the run game going and of course that will help the passing game.

Sell: Gunnar you hit the nail on the head. Would move to "HOLD" if they could add one extra quarter of offense. I think it will get better at home this week.

Hold: Any more injuries and comeback stories. We've had so many that media doesn't even account for that when the Packers play. Jaire didn't sound bad and now he might not play this weekend?

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LLCHESTY's picture

September 28, 2022 at 02:36 pm

Interior OL needs to improve their consistency and fast. They had some good moments but all three have had more downs than ups so far this year. Runyan has had a very poor start compared to last year. Hopefully he settles in once the platooning at LT stops. Myers has had some outstanding run blocks but has been rag dolled a few times too. Newman has struggled with pass pro and it's not just on stunts this year.

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jannes bjornson's picture

September 28, 2022 at 06:41 pm

Using Deguara as a FB will not help against inside pressure either.

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Guam's picture

September 28, 2022 at 04:21 pm

I'd buy Romeo Doubs right now. With both Watkins and Watson out, Doubs stepped up well beyond what we should expect from a rookie fourth round wide receiver. A few more games like this and he will become a trusted Rodgers target along with Lazard and Cobb. He may be the best player Gute drafted this year.

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jont's picture

September 29, 2022 at 03:28 pm

Yeah, I'm becoming a believer in Doubs too. We all liked him in pre-season, but now he's looking real as opposed to being a nice kid with some promise.

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Coldworld's picture

September 28, 2022 at 06:44 pm

Selling Matt LaFleur. The HC who doesn’t bring anything to the table.

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