Green Bay Packers vs. Minnesota Vikings: Full Report Card Grades for Green Bay
I think Eddie Lacy needs a new nickname—The Sandman.
That’s Mariano Rivera’s nickname, the future Hall of Fame pitcher widely regarded as the greatest closer of all time.
With consecutive carries of three, five, four, five and 10 yards on the offense’s final drive, Lacy closed out the Minnesota Vikings (4-7) at TCF Bank Stadium 24-21 on Sunday to ensure the Green Bay Packers (8-3) their seventh win in eight contests.
"In his last 3 games vs. #Vikings, Eddie Lacy has 125, 105 and 110 yards. Those are 3 of his 4 100-yard games during that period. #Packers
— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) November 23, 2014"
Minnesota’s defense came to play against the pass, playing primarily with two-deep safeties to take away the shots downfield. It worked, as Aaron Rodgers averaged just 7.2 yards per attempt, far below his 8.8-yard average for the season.
Quarterback
1 of 10
Sunday’s win showed that it doesn’t take a Herculean effort from Aaron Rodgers to win games in this league.
Rodgers’ 209 passing yards were the fourth-fewest he’s had in 11 games this season, but the MVP front-runner added 34 yards on six scrambles. Facing 3rd-and-6 with 11:29 remaining and nursing a 17-13 lead, Rodgers’ season-long 18-yard scramble extended a drive that ended with Eddie Lacy’s 10-yard touchdown reception, the game’s winning score.
Vikings safety Harrison Smith, arguably their best defender, nearly snatched his fifth interception of the season when Rodgers threw wide of intended receiver Andrew Quarless.
"That might've been the worst pass Aaron Rodgers has thrown this season. Just missed that one. Fortunate the interception was dropped.
— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) November 23, 2014"
But aside from the aforementioned errant throw, Rodgers played very well. His one-yard touchdown throwback to Richard Rodgers displayed the quarterback’s ridiculous arm talent and field vision.
Grade: A-
Running Back
2 of 10
Feed Eddie Lacy.
Feed him.
With the Vikings playing with a six- and seven-man box for the majority of this game, Mike McCarthy fed his second-year back with a season-high 25 carries, including 10 in the deciding fourth quarter.
"55 of Eddie Lacy's 125 rushing yards came in the fourth quarter. Caught a TD pass in the fourth and picked up two late first downs. Closer.
— Zach Kruse (@zachkruse2) November 23, 2014"
It’s hard enough to defend the Packers when Eddie Lacy runs the ball as well as he has been. Now the running back is showing his versatility in the passing game.
"Eddie Lacy (@Lil_Eazy_Ana_42) is 1st @Packers RB w/ 100+ scrimmage yards & TD catch in 3 consecutive games
— Randall Liu (@RLiuNFL) November 23, 2014"
It says a lot about the team’s faith in Lacy and this running game when you’ve got the best player in the world at quarterback and you run it five straight times to end the game.
James Starks fumbled on his only carry, a four-yard loss. Yank.
Grade: A+
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
For just the second time this season, the Green Bay wide receiving corps did not haul in a touchdown pass (Week 3 at Detroit was the other). That has more to do with the solid play from Minnesota’s defensive backs, though.
Randall Cobb was Rodgers’ No. 1 target on third downs, hauling in 29- and 13-yard conversions on drives that ended in a touchdown and field goal respectively. He made his hay in the middle of the field against Vikings nickel corner Captain Munnerlyn.
Andrew Quarless’ season-long 34-yard reception set the table for Green Bay’s second touchdown, a ridiculous one-yard score by Richard Rodgers, his first NFL TD.
The Packers ran play action on 1st-and-goal from the 1-yard line with Quarless lined up tight to the right side of the formation and running to the pylon at the back-right corner of the end zone. Vikings defenders swarmed in that direction, leaving Rodgers all by his lonesome at the opposite end.
"#Packers' McCarthy, on A-Rod's TD pass to Richard Rodgers: "It's the longest 1-yard touchdown throw I've ever seen, Aaron really sold it."
— Todd McMahon (@ToddMcMahon23) November 23, 2014"
Jordy Nelson had a tough matchup with Xavier Rhodes and was held to just 8.5 yards per catch, his second-lowest number of the season.
Davante Adams caught just one of his four targets and at times was not on the same page as Rodgers.
Grade: B+
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
Every offensive lineman who plays in the NFL relishes the opportunity to execute a four-minute drill. The defense knows you’re going to run the football, and you do it anyway, imposing your will on the men lined up inches in front of you.
"Josh Sitton... “It’s not the NBA. It’s not Major League Baseball. You’ve got to grind every week."
— Tyler Dunne (@TyDunne) November 23, 2014"
And grind they did.
The offensive line excelled in both the run and the pass game, with Rodgers taking just two hits behind the line of scrimmage, each from Vikings left defensive end Brian Robison. Minnesota’s most active defensive lineman, right defensive end Everson Griffen, barely registered on the stat sheet with just four tackles.
T.J. Lang came out for a few plays after the first play of Green Bay’s second offensive possession and had his left ankle attended to on the sideline. He was replaced by Lane Taylor but quickly re-entered the game on the following drive.
Grade: A
Defensive Line
5 of 10
Mike Daniels had as many quarterback hits (two) as the entire Vikings team.
His sack of Teddy Bridgewater after dominating right guard Joe Berger forced Minnesota’s punt on its first second-half possession.
Minnesota’s longest run of the day went for 11 yards—a Bridgewater scramble—evidence that the defensive line wasn’t letting the ball-carrier get to the second level.
We saw some “Penneltration” from rookie defensive tackle Mike Pennel.
Letroy Guion was less than spectacular against his former team, but at least he's steady.
Josh Boyd had an active first quarter but was invisible for the final three.
Grade: B+
Linebacker
6 of 10
With Nick Perry inactive, Clay Matthews played more on the outside along with Mike Neal and Jayrone Elliott. Elliott in particular was effective rushing against Vikings left tackle Matt Kalil, who continued his miserable 2014 season with a nightmarish day.
"Three penalties for Matt Kalil for 35 yards.
— Ben Goessling (@GoesslingESPN) November 23, 2014"
Julius Peppers had a quiet day with just two solo tackles a week after recording his second pick-six of the season.
Matthews came off the field quite a bit on third downs.
"#Packers limiting Clay Matthews' snaps early. May be concerned about the groin injury they said they weren't concerned about.
— Jason Wilde (@jasonjwilde) November 23, 2014"
Grade: B
Secondary
7 of 10
It’s a blessing that the Packers were playing a mediocre quarterback with a below-average receiving corps.
Bridgewater missed wide-open receivers on more than one occasion, and the receivers contributed with a handful of drops as well. Similar to the game last week against the Philadelphia Eagles, a better quarterback hits those throws, and this game could be a lot different.
Micah Hyde’s game looks great on the stat sheet—a sack, interception, tackle for loss and pass defensed—but a defensive holding penalty wiped out a Morgan Burnett interception and led to a Vikings touchdown. He got steamrolled by backup running back Joe Banyard for six yards on a 3rd-and-6 but made up for it with the interception a play later.
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix made a play reminiscent of a former No. 21 who wore green and gold when he jumped over Greg Jennings and batted away Bridgewater’s pass.
Sam Shields should have given up at least one touchdown but was bailed out by Minnesota’s offensive ineptitude. His coverage and tackling were not worthy of his huge contract.
Tramon Williams got embarrassed by Charles Johnson on the receiver’s 22-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
"Plain and simple, Tramon Williams got beat by Charles Johnson on that TD. He was looking at the ref but nothing there.
— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) November 23, 2014"
Grade: C
Special Teams
8 of 10
Field position was a big part of this game that didn’t feature a whole lot of offense. Tim Masthay had a healthy 42.3 gross average with two punts downed inside the 20, and the Vikings returned just one punt for five yards.
Mason Crosby nailed his lone field-goal attempt—a 48-yarder near the end of the third quarter—but did not have a great day on kickoffs. Five of his kicks were returned, with Cordarrelle Patterson breaking off 42- and 33-yard runbacks.
Rookie defensive back Demetri Goodson had the bonehead play of the day, drawing a 15-yard penalty for interference with opportunity to catch in the third quarter. He lumbered into the punt returner, and the ball ended up whacking him in the helmet. Not the best look.
Micah Hyde’s 17-yard punt return set up the Packers with great field position on their third possession, and it paid off with Lacy’s one-yard score to put the first points on the board.
Grade: B-
Coaching
9 of 10
It’s not necessarily cause for concern, but Mike McCarthy is zero for his last five on coach’s challenges after unsuccessfully challenging a Kyle Rudolph 16-yard catch. His last successful challenge came in last year’s Week 16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, a span of 336 days.
Minnesota’s running backs did a nice job picking up the blitzes dialed in by Dom Capers, and I’m curious as to why we didn’t see more different looks (i.e., loading one side of the formation, cross dogs, etc.).
Kudos to McCarthy and Rodgers for taking what the defense gave them. It would be easy to get impatient and take shots downfield, but instead they rightly fed Lacy the ball when the box-count numbers dictated to do so.
Grade: A-
Final Grades
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Overall Grade |
| Quarterback | A- |
| Running Back | A+ |
| Wide Receiver and Tight End | B+ |
| Offensive Line | A |
| Defensive Line | B+ |
| Linebacker | B |
| Secondary | C- |
| Special Teams | B- |
| Coaching | A- |
| Cumulative Grade | B |
When I predicted an 18-point Green Bay win in my Packers/Vikings preview, a few commenters opined that they’d be mad if it was that close.
That is just silly.
Winning is hard, and winning on the road against divisional opponents is even harder. Sure, it’s fun to win by 30-plus and get human victory cigar Matt Flynn a few snaps in the fourth quarter, but it’s games like this one and the win over the Miami Dolphins that truly test your mettle.
But the Packers won’t beat the New England Patriots next Sunday if they play the way they did on this Sunday. Tom Brady doesn’t overthrow wide-open receivers, and Bill Belichick has 20 years of head coaching experience compared to Mike Zimmer’s one.
Thankfully the game is to be played at the friendly confines of Lambeau Field and not Gillette Stadium.
Follow me on Twitter @PeterSowards.
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