Thanks for the numbers and the comments in between- a must read every week. The biggest surprise to me is Valentine not having any snaps but on teams- not sure this is a good development…

Always appreciate your " Snap Counts " summaries!

Appreciate too, your comments and quick analysis by position groups as well as the reminders as to who was inactive for the game or, who was newly rostered for the game!

overall a good game nicely helped along by the Cardinals. the only thing that had me yelling at the tv was how easy it was for Arizona to complete passes to the the tight end with Walker always it seems either not quite in the right place or without even modest coverage abilities. but how nice it is to see good safety play.

Thanks, TGR.

Myers was the only O-line that was called out for whiffing on a block during the broadcast, but I was worried about depth when they said he was down. I never heard what happened to him, however. Was surprised when they had Jenkins move over (though I shouldn't have been) and they got Morgan back healthy just in time. As soon as that happened, they got their best run up the middle of the game.

Unless I'm not understanding, fix this typo, TGR. "Bullard had 7 tackles (6 solo). Bullard had 4 solo tackles (including 1 tackle for loss) and a fumble recovery."

Two games in a row where the D gave up only 13 and some of that on a short field. I'll take that all season, sacks or no sacks. I didn't realize Alexander only played about 3/4s of the snaps. Was he on a snap count coming off injury?

Good to see that Edgerrin Cooper played 66% of snaps. Last week I think he was at 38%, which was his highest percentage of the season to that point.

The biggest surprise with the defensive backs is that Nixon played every snap. A lot of them were on the perimeter, and as you noted, he held up pretty well there. I'm still not confident he would hold up against better receivers, but I give him credit for playing well. I wonder if the coaches now prefer him to Valentine on the perimeter or if maybe Valentine is not fully recovered from his injury.

Javon Bullard did not recover a fumble. The fumble recoveries were by Brooks, Alexander, and Clark.

Josh Myers returned to the game after his injury. Watch the highlights, and you will see him back in there. I heard that he had a stinger.

I don't consider Love's long TD throw to Doubs inaccurate or turnover-worthy. You can throw that pass as long as your receiver knows it might be coming--which unfortunately was not the case when he threw one of those to Wicks in the loss to the Vikings.

I was surprised to see Morgan splitting snaps with Rhyan again (pre Myers injury). I thought Rhyan was playing well when Morgan was out. I guess the coaching staff wants to see Morgan get his share of development time. I also thought I saw Myers back in the game late in the fourth quarter. I will have to rewatch the game - maybe I was hallucinating.........

I was also very surprised at Nixon getting so much time on the perimeter at the expense of Stokes and Vallentine. I understand why Hafley wants to get both Bullard and Williams in the game (Bullard at slot), but I am not convinced Nixon is better on the perimeter than Vallentine or Stokes. The Cards don't have good WRs. Better teams do and that may spell trouble if Nixon is still outside.

Edit: I see that GregC also saw Myers back in late in the game. Maybe I wasn't hallucinating........

As always, a big fan of snap counts. Thanks TGR!

With the game largely in hand, I would've liked to have seen more regulars sitting late. There was one point in the 4th quarter where Love was out in front of a ball-carrier throwing a pretty weak block, and my thought was, "I hope nobody takes his head off".

I think it was a no-brainer for Jenkins to slide over to C when Myers got dinged--especially with Rhyan having worked broadly across the IOL positions in camp. With Dillard inactive (healthy scratch), it also seems to confirm that Jenkins is the swing tackle, as well. I do think Myers returned to the game, though. The OL is getting better every week, but AZ was not a big test. Houston will challenge this team next week, especially in the passing game.

I said it yesterday, and I'll say it here, too: Jacobs brings a physical style, but he has balance--something that AJ Dillon seems to lack. There was one run in the second quarter where Jacobs sorted through trash at the LOS, did a little spin, immediately jumped over a rolling defender, and went for like 12 of 15 yards. Dillon never seemed to make those runs. Wilson is starting to remind me a lot of Maurice Jones Drew.

The Watson TD was a great route adjustment and Love putting the ball where Watson was the only one who could get it. This is a WR room that rotates pretty freely. Missing Wicks will hurt some, but there's plenty of depth to use. Kraft had a big game last week, and could've had a better game yesterday...Love just missed him a couple times.

Packers are clearly starting to see the strength of this defense is playmakers at S, and they're leaning harder into those guys each week. When was the last time we could say that?

I was at the game yesterday and noticed Stokes on the sideline most of the contest.

Has be been replaced by the grouping of Nixon and the 3 Samurai's at Safety...moving Bullard to slot, Williams alongside X, Nixon to the perimeter opposite Alexander?

Nixon is relatively new to playing consistently as a DB starter. Last season he showed he can play effective DB. He's playing even better this season. Stokes and Valentine seem to be more backups right now.

Also...some semantics, TGR. You continue to divide up the DL into "DL" who actually play DT...and "Edge" who play DE....3-4 terminology. I consider them all DL in the 4-3...and all are attacking one gap and penetrating. Before the DTs were asked to control two gaps and clog the middle. Meanwhile the DBs are all lumped together? The Safeties are playing far different roles under Hafley vs Barry. And it seems 3 of them will be on the field most snaps now. (maybe I am picking at nits)

“The offensive line had a good day run blocking as well, as the Packers gained 179 yards on 38 carries (4.7-yard average).”

No! Even a cursory look at the source of yards and ypc trashes that assertion—against a known-to-be-weak and injury weakened run D as well.

The OL did very well in pass pro—though against a team that has mostly had success through blitzes not from linemen coming in. The OL had a poor first quarter run blocking, was worse in quarters 2 & 3 and only showed some life in the 4th.

Of our first 3 quarters yards, most came either through Melton—certainly the average ypc boosting ones (27 on 2 carries at 13.5 ypc) and those were around the edge by a wide margin.

The bulk of our RB yards and plus YPC contribution all came from Wilson (7 for 54 at 7.7 ypc) and even Brooks (21 on 4 at 5.2 ypc). All of Brooks and most of Wilson’s opportunities and contributions came in the 4th quarter.

I’m not sure if Myers going out was the main catalyst, fatigue on the part of the AZ D, or some other adjustment, but to say we blocked well is preposterous, particularly inside. It’s certainly strange that an OL with 2 players both in that otherwise we insist on platooning was more effective than before Myers went out.

Jacobs made some hard yards early and looked less effective after he got dinged in the second quarter, but with little help. Despite squeezing through some minuscule cracks early, he averaged only 3.4 ypc despite running hard and decisively. He got very little help.

So of the 179 yards on 38 attempts (adding in Reed’s 1 for 0, Love’s handful and Krafts’ 2 yard direct snap), 90 plus came in the 4th or from Melton on 10 or 11 attempts. All that against a team that has been consistently bad defending the run, had injuries and added to them in game.

If the OL can’t do significantly better than that, and more so over the first 3 quarters then it won’t cut it against average or better run defenses. It’s going to make next week very difficult if we don’t improve dramatically. Against the Texans, establishing the run will be key to blunting their rush and also to keeping Stroud off the field and Mixon from pounding our D.

At some point the Packers need to, and we should, be more honest with ourselves about our interior OL based on actual performance. Until we learn to run block better or face up to personnel changes, we will always run the risk of being a good team only till we play one.

Walker had a good game.
He got boxed in a couple of times.
But the speed has returned.
Cooper had 38. ( 2nd)
They will get better and Better.

how much more of Cooper does Hafley have to see before he makes him a starter?