Figures from victory over Jaguars

Nothing comes easy for the Green Bay Packers.

They went all out with the Jacksonville Jaguars, who had two wins entering Sunday’s game.

They built two 10-point leads and lost both.

They lost their starting quarterback.

They also lost two key members of the secondary.

Luckily, they didn’t lose Josh Jacobs and traded for Malik Willis in late August.

Jacobs helped the Packers regain the lead in the third quarter. Willis ensured the Packers would escape from Jacksonville with a victory.

They received high marks on our weekly Packers report card after a 30-27 win.

Pass foul

According to the opponent passer rating, Jacksonville’s defense came into the game as one of the worst in NFL history.

Jordan Love’s performance was disappointing, to say the least, considering that fact. He left the game with a groin injury after going 14-for-22 with another interception.

This game felt like a prime opportunity for the Packers to get their passing attack on track before they face the gauntlet in November. Instead, Love left the game, and now his status is up in the air for next week’s showdown against the Detroit Lions.

When Love left the game, Willis saved the day.

Willis has won all three games in which he was asked to play an extended period.

His first three completions totaled 5 yards as the Packers leaned into their run game. His final completion, however, was his biggest blow: a 51-yard strike to Jayden Reed to set up the winning field goal.

Coach Matt LaFleur was almost at a loss for words to describe how well Willis has played.

“It was damn impressive,” LaFleur said.

LaFleur’s game plan and lack of lean in his passing game against a poor defense were surprising.

So did the Packers blowing a 27-17 lead.

In the end, none of it will come back to haunt them because of Willis’ heroics.

Grade: B

Urgent violation

Most of the attention is on Willis for his important completion for Reed. This is a passing competition. Quarterbacks and receivers get all the attention.

The hero of this game, however, was the running back who, according to ESPN’s Bill Barnwellhad been a disappointment.

Maybe Jacobs has heard of it. Maybe not. The reality is that he took his team to a 20-17 lead after Love left the game with an injury.

Jacobs finished the day with 25 carries for 127 yards and two touchdowns. He was the best player on the field.

The Packers needed Jacobs in Willis’ first start against Indianapolis and they needed him in Jacksonville. Jacobs delivered both times.

The Packers are thrilled to have him, and they should be.

Chris Brooks also earns high marks for his football IQ. Late in the game, the Jaguars tried to let Brooks score as a way to get the ball back instead of letting the Packers win the game on a chip shot field goal.

Brooks has never scored a touchdown in the regular season, but his unselfish play all but guaranteed the win.

His final play puts the icing on the cake of the highest mark of the day.

Grade: A

Pass defense

Safety Xavier McKinney’s interception and linebacker Edgerrin Cooper’s sack/strip scored 14 points for the Packers.

But even then star rookie Brian Thomas Jr. and explosive veteran Christian Kirk out with injuries, the Jaguars came back from a 27-17 deficit.

The fact that Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence was able to march down the field twice with backup receivers to tie the game was disappointing.

Prior to their late-game struggles, the Packers were excellent situationally. The Jaguars missed their first eight third downs. They didn’t convert a third down until their final drive of the game, when they scored the tying touchdown.

Lawrence’s 308 passing yards and two touchdowns would have made more sense if Kirk and Thomas had been able to finish the game. Since they didn’t, it’s a little more disappointing.

They’ll need to be better next week against Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown and an explosive Lions offense.

Grade: C

Emergency defense

Jaguars running back Tank Bigsby is tough to beat. He entered the game second among running backs in yards per carry and first in yards after contact per carry.

Bigsby had a nice day, but only finished the day with 78 yards on 18 carries. He largely did it alone against sloppy tackles.

The lowest moment of the day came during Lawrence’s touchdown run. Cooper whiffed at the 5 and Lawrence dragged three defenders into the end zone for the Jaguars’ first touchdown of the game.

Ultimately, the Packers were solid, if unspectacular against Jacksonville’s run game.

Next week they face a much tougher test against the Lions’ dynamic run game.

Grade: B

Special teams

No real mistakes were made on special teams.

Daniel Whelan had a bad kick from the shadow of his own end zone in the first half. He later made up for it with a 63-yard punt that was capped off by an excellent tackle from Bo Melton to force the Jaguars to go the length of the field to tie the game.

Brandon McManus was perfect again. There were no opportunities to return the kickoff, nor any blunders in the kick return game.

Most of the time you’re just asking to go unnoticed by the special teams. For the most part, that’s what happened.

Until the very end, of course, when McManus made his second game-winning field goal in as many weeks. This one was much shorter than last week’s. His 24-yard field goal as time expired helped the Packers snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Grade: B

Coaching

To call LaFleur’s game plan strange in the first half might be an understatement.

LaFleur faced the worst pass defense in the NFL.

All of his receivers were healthy and ready to play. Yet for some reason he continued to use heavy formations to put Jacksonville’s linebackers on the field.

This was at the expense of having to put more defensive forces on the field.

His play-calling to end the first half was also interesting.

On a field goal that made the score 10-0, LaFleur essentially made two plays that had no chance after a pre-snap penalty from Christian Watson made the first and goal on the 14th.

His decision to take the ball first after winning the toss has also backfired in the last two weeks. Sean Rhyan’s holding penalty ended a promising opening drive. Such mistakes continue to plague this team.

If they don’t turn the ball over, they commit penalties. If they don’t commit a normal penalty, it’s a pre-snap penalty. If not, they won’t take advantage of the other team’s mistakes or score touchdowns in the red zone.

There’s also his quarterback’s feast-or-famine nature, which has yet to correct itself, as Love threw another interception. This one came against a defense that had one interception all season, got into the red zone and took points off the board.

Or in Sunday’s case, it could be all of those things, coupled with a game plan that didn’t seem designed to take advantage of the opponent’s biggest weakness.

Perhaps he had to compensate after Love was injured during the opening sequence.

LaFleur also became too conservative late in the game. His final sequence with a 27-20 lead consisted of two uninspired runs, followed by a pass that looked hopeless. It led to a punt and the Packers defense was asked to save the day, which it couldn’t.

LaFleur’s been as successful as they come in the NFL, but this wasn’t his best day.

Even defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley got a little beat up.

After giving up fewer than 10 second-half points every week since the season opener, the Packers’ defense gave up 17 points in the second half, including a tie where Lawrence and the Jaguars just scraped through the game with backup receivers marched. field.

The crunch time failure overshadows what had been a mostly excellent game up to that point.

The Packers won their first eight third downs and forced two turnovers.

The reality is that the way the Packers played at the end of the game was inexcusable. The offense didn’t do its job and the defense gave up a whopping eight completions of more than 20 yards.

This would have been one that would have kept the coaching staff awake all week if they had let it get away. Thanks to the heroics of Willis, Jacobs and McManus, they have nothing to worry about.

Grade: D

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