Packers vs. Jaguars: Full Report Card Grades for Green Bay
The Green Bay Packers got off to a 1-0 start on their season Sunday as they defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 27-23 in sweltering Florida heat.
It was a hard-fought contest that featured more high-octane passing action than running; both teams combined totaled fewer than 150 rushing yards.
Aaron Rodgers and his favorite weapon, Jordy Nelson, missed a couple of steps early on, but before long the high-scoring tandem was back in action, connecting for a six-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter.
The Jaguars, led by talented young quarterback Blake Bortles, kept the Packers' defense on their toes throughout the game, but ultimately the front seven was able to get enough pressure on Bortles and the secondary was able to contain Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns, his deadly young weapons.
Let's take a look at how each individual position group fared in Green Bay's win over the Jaguars.
Quarterback
1 of 10
Aaron Rodgers looked mostly back to his old self on Sunday in Jacksonville, extending plays as he does so well and finding the end zone twice with his arm and once with his legs.
Rodgers went 20-of-34 for 199 yards, two passing touchdowns, one rushing touchdown and zero interceptions on the day and posted a passer rating of 95.1. Much of his success is owed to his offensive line, which kept him on his feet and allowed only one sack.
Rodgers kept multiple plays alive despite the Jaguars' ferocious front seven keeping the pressure turned up all afternoon, rushing four times for 16 yards and the aforementioned touchdown.
With No. 1 receiver Jordy Nelson back, Rodgers appeared to show renewed trust in his wideouts, especially Davante Adams, and the entire team was better for it.
The big negative on the day for Rodgers and the offense was the two timeouts they had to waste because they couldn't get lined up in time, and the delay of game penalty the team suffered in another instance in which they couldn't call back-to-back timeouts.
Grade: A-
Running Back
2 of 10
The Packers had a quiet day on the ground overall, rushing for just 95 yards as a team.
Of those 95 yards, quarterback Aaron Rodgers accounted for 16 and had the team's only rushing touchdown of the day.
However, even though No. 1 back Eddie Lacy didn't do a lot in the way of quantity, rushing for 61 yards on 14 carries, he looked much improved from the 2015 version of himself.
Lacy's offseason training with P90X creator Tony Horton appears to have paid off; Lacy looked quick, showed good burst and showed improved vision. On multiple occasions, Lacy kept his legs moving for yards after contact and bounced around to the outside to find a better lane with ease and finesse.
The Packers also used Randall Cobb out of the backfield three times, which resulted in 11 yards. Though Cobb's runs out of the backfield didn't amount to a lot of yards, it was yet another area of the Packers offense that the Jaguars had to spend time and manpower defending.
Grade: B-
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
The Packers' group of pass-catchers have higher expectations than, perhaps, any other of the team's units this season, and at least in Week 1 the wideouts and tight ends appeared to deliver.
In his return to the field for the first time in over a year, Jordy Nelson took about a quarter to get back into the swing of things but then did so in a big way, connecting with Aaron Rodgers on a six-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter and finishing his day with six receptions for 32 yards.
Davante Adams, who is trying to hold onto his spot as the No. 3 receiver, showed some of the same hot and cold behavior that has frustrated coaches and fans alike throughout his career. However, though Adams had a couple of drops on the day, he also made a seemingly impossible touchdown catch and finished his day with three receptions for 50 yards.
The Packers perhaps would have liked to see a little more from tight end Jared Cook, their lone acquisition in free agency. The team appears to be using a committee approach at tight end with Cook and Richard Rodgers; the former had two targets on the day, while the latter had three. But Cook's one reception for seven yards wasn't anything to write home about.
Ultimately, the pass-catchers showed Rodgers he could trust them, and two of them connected for touchdowns. But we should expect to see even bigger and better things from this group this season.
Grade: B
Offensive Line
4 of 10
Perhaps the biggest question mark heading into the Packers' season was how the offensive line would fare with the loss of starting left guard Josh Sitton.
When the team decided to release Sitton as part of its final cuts last Saturday, its best option to start at left tackle was former reserve lineman Lane Taylor, who, to this point in his career, had only started two NFL games.
Then there's JC Tretter, taking over at center for Corey Linsley as the latter remains on the PUP list.
But at least for now, questions about the Packers' offensive line can be put on hold as David Bakhtiari, Taylor, Tretter, T.J. Lang and Bryan Bulaga performed excellently against Jacksonville's tough front seven. The line allowed only one sack and three hits on Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers said after the game that he felt that the "protection...was really good," per the team's Twitter. And if No. 12 is happy, everyone's happy.
Grade: A-
Defensive Line
5 of 10
The individuals comprising the Packers defensive line didn't have standout performances, but when taken as a whole the unit performed well against the Jaguars.
Mike Daniels and Letroy Guion were on the field for almost the entire game for the Packers despite the intense heat; they also had three tackles for loss between them.
Time will tell if first-round draft pick Kenny Clark eventually gets the nod to start at nose tackle for Green Bay, but for now, it was all Guion.
The defensive line, with some help from the linebackers, did a nice job containing Jaguars running back T.J. Yeldon. The Packers limited Yeldon to 39 yards on 21 carries, for a paltry 1.9 yards per attempt.
The Packers didn't utilize a lot of interior pass-rushing against Jacksonville, which means that the defensive linemen's stat sheets are a little light this week. But a solid effort overall up front for the Packers.
Grade: B+
Linebacker
6 of 10
On the outside, the Packers certainly appeared to be limiting veteran Julius Peppers' snaps; the pass-rusher hardly appeared on the field and didn't register anything on the stat sheet against Jacksonville.
However, Green Bay is notably deep at outside linebacker and they had plenty of talent to rotate in to keep Bortles under pressure. Clay Matthews certainly thrived in his move back to the outside, registering a sack, a quarterback hit and two tackles for loss.
He was joined by fellow outside linebacker Nick Perry, who also had one sack benefited from more time on the field with Peppers limited.
Matthews was an asset in the run game, helping the front seven contain T.J. Yeldon. But he was helped greatly by the inside linebackers.
The Packers' youth at that position is notable; they're starting second-year player Jake Ryan and rookie Blake Martinez. But the two combined for 11 tackles and Ryan also had a pass defensed.
Martinez is wearing the headset to communicate Dom Capers' defensive plays to the team, and there didn't appear to be any growing pains for the rookie.
Joe Thomas, who is the third and final inside linebacker on the Packers roster, came away with an interception on the day.
Grade: B+
Secondary
7 of 10
The Packers secondary was riding the highs and lows throughout the entire game against the Jaguars. Though Damarious Randall's fourth-down stop with 16 seconds left in the game ultimately preserved the Packers' small lead and led to the final victory, it couldn't undo all the previous ills of the day.
Morgan Burnett was wildly inconsistent. Though he had a sack on Blake Bortles and another quarterback hit, he whiffed on a couple tackles and had a holding penalty that called back what could have been a game-sealing interception for Ha Ha Clinton-Dix.
Basically, Burnett performed well in the box, but less so when he dropped back into coverage.
Speaking of Clinton-Dix, the third-year safety continued his hard-hitting ways, forcing a crucial incompletion for a pass defensed and ending his day with five tackles.
However, second-year player Quentin Rollins' day could have gone better. Rollins got smoked as the Packers' slot corner and was eventually replaced by Ladarius Gunter. He got caught looking at Blake Bortles at one point and allowed Julius Thomas to come away with a big gain.
The worst news of the day for the secondary, however, was that starting corner Sam Shields left the game to be evaluated for a concussion, as Michael Cohen of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Grade: B-
Special Teams
8 of 10
The Packers had some big shake-ups on their special teams unit heading into Week 1 of the regular season.
After pitting punters Tim Masthay and Peter Mortell against one another in training camp, the team surprised many by cutting them both and signing former undrafted free agent Jake Schum.
It wasn't a perfect day for Schum. Though his first punt was 56 yards with good hang, he shanked another one in the fourth quarter to give the Jaguars good field position with the score far too close. Ultimately, he averaged 46 yards on four punts.
Kicker Mason Crosby was consistent, going 2-for-2 on field goals and 3-for-3 on extra point attempts. None of his field-goal tries were challenging; his longest was 25 yards.
As for returns, the Packers had just one: a 14-yard Ty Montgomery kick return. Hopefully the Packers' stable of speedsters will be able to show more of what they can do in the weeks to come.
Grade: B-
Coaching
9 of 10
Head Coach Mike McCarthy's relatively conservative game plan may not have sat well with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who expressed his disappointment at coming off the field on more than one occasion, but ultimately McCarthy led his squad to a win.
Of the 60 total plays the Packers ran, 34 were pass attempts and 25 were rushing attempts (Rodgers' lone sack makes 60.).
It was a game plan that, by design or not, skewed a little too heavily toward the pass, and yet there were a few moments when McCarthy chose to run the ball inexplicably, like on three consecutive occasions after 1st-and-goal.
McCarthy did win a challenge on Jacksonville having 12 men on the field.
On the defensive side of the ball, Dom Capers' game plan appeared solid and it looks like the defensive coordinator was able to accomplish what he set out to. The Packers were able to get good pressure on Blake Bortles and contain Jacksonville's rushing attack. Where the defense did have hiccups, it stemmed more from execution than from the game plan itself.
Ultimately, the coaching staff had a challenge on the table in coming away from steamy Jacksonville with a win, but did just that.
Grade: B
Final Grades
10 of 10
| Position Unit | Overall Grade |
| QB | A- |
| RB | B- |
| WR/TE | B |
| OL | A- |
| DL | B+ |
| LB | B+ |
| Secondary | B- |
| ST | B- |
| Coaching | B |
| Cumulative Grade | B |
The Packers' offensive line and quarterback Aaron Rodgers earned the best grades on the day, while we'll look for some improvement from the secondary and the running game in Week 2.
Ultimately, we haven't yet seen the Packers offense return to its most lethal form, and the defense was at times a little too bend-don't break. But overall, the win over the Jaguars was a solid and complete effort by the Packers on both sides of the ball.
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