The Green Bay Packers couldn’t protect Jordan Love or stop the run during a 34-20 loss to the Detroit Lions on Thursday night. Not surprisingly, the one-sided performance at the line of scrimmage told the story of the NFC North showdown at Lambeau Field.
Based on grades from Pro Football Focus, here are the best and worst performers from the Packers’ Week 4 loss to the Lions:
Top 5 offense
1. WR Samori Toure: 76.6
2. WR Romeo Doubs: 71.6
3. RT Zach Tom: 71.0
4. QB Jordan Love: 68.1
5. WR Jayden Reed: 67.6
Toure caught his lone target, a 35-yarder in a contested catch situation. Doubs caught nine of 13 targets and made another contested catch. Tom allowed six pressures but was the offensive line’s highest-graded run blocker. Love was excellent from clean pockets and two big-time throws, but struggled under pressure. Reed caught three of five targets and had the 44-yard catch to end the third quarter.
Top 5 defense
1. OLB Rashan Gary: 82.4
2. S Rudy Ford: 73.4
3. DL Colby Wooden: 71.6
4. CB Corey Ballentine: 70.1
5. LB Eric Wilson: 66.7
Gary delivered four more pressures, including a quarterback hit, over just 14 pass-rushing snaps. He’s up to 17 pressures on 59 pass-rushing snaps this season. Ford intercepted a pass on Detroit’s first possession and made eight tackles without a miss. Wooden had a quarterback hit and a run stop over 19 snaps. Ballentine played 46 snaps as a perimeter corner and didn’t give up a catch. Wilson had a pair of tackles over 10 snaps at linebacker.
Bottom 5 offense
1. LG Royce Newman: 42.7
2. WR Dontayvion Wicks: 51.4
3. RB Aaron Jones: 54.5
4. TE Luke Musgrave: 54.8
5. TE Tucker Kraft: 55.3
Newman gave up five pressures, including a sack and a quarterback hit, and was the team’s lowest-graded run blocker. Wicks ran 24 routes as a receiver but had just one target and zero catches. Jones dropped a pass and gained just 14 total yards on six touches. Musgrave caught one target before exiting with a concussion. Kraft caught two passes for five yards but was poor as a run blocker.
Bottom 5 defense
1. OLB Lukas Van Ness: 46.1
2. OLB Kingsley Enagbare: 46.4
3. CB Keisean Nixon: 48.8
4. CB Carrington Valentine: 51.8
5. S Darnell Savage: 51.9
Van Ness didn’t record a pressure, graded out poorly against the run and gave up a completion on third down in coverage over 37 snaps. Enagbare didn’t have a pressure and was the defense’s third-worst player against the run. Nixon gave up four catches against his coverage and missed two tackles. Valentine allowed a 26-yard catch and missed a tackle. Savage allowed a 23-yard catch and missed a tackle.
Special teams
Linebackers Isaiah McDuffie (two) and Eric Wilson (one) combined for three special teams tackles and were the team’s two highest-graded special teams players. Corey Ballentine and Jonathan Owens both missed tackles. Four players committed special teams penalties: Josiah Deguara, Kingsley Enagbare, Dallin Leavitt and Quay Walker. Walker’s penalty was the most costly. Anders Carlson made both field goals. Whelan averaged 51.0 yards per punt with a net of 45.0.
Quarterback
Jordan Love: 68.1
Love completed 17 of 22 passes for 198 yards, a touchdown and two big-time throws when kept clean in the pocket. He also completed 2-of-3 passes thrown over 20 yards. But Love was under pressure on 47.6 percent of his dropbacks, and his 22 pressured dropbacks resulted in just 48 passing yards and five sacks. His adjusted completion percentage was 70.6, his best of the season.
One stat to know
The Packers starting offensive line gave up 22 pressures, and Jordan Love was under pressure on 20 of his dropbacks. Four of the five offensive linemen were charged with at least one sack. The fifth, Zach Tom, gave up a team-high six pressures. Overall, Love was under pressure on almost 50 percent of his dropbacks.
Another stat to know
The Packers missed a season-high 13 tackles on defense, including four by Devonte Wyatt and two others by Keisean Nixon. Overall, nine different defensive players missed at least one tackle. The Packers also missed two tackles on special teams.
