Green Bay Packers 27, Philadelphia Eagles 13
Here are the top-graded players and biggest storylines from Green Bay’s Week 12 win over Philadelphia.
Quarterback grade: Aaron Rodgers, 90.0
Rodgers leads vintage Green Bay offense to win
The Packers' passing offense looked much closer to what it did at its peak a few years ago than it did earlier this season. Instead of relying on scramble routes and broken plays, we saw quick, timed passes to allow receivers to work in open space after the catch, which at times acted as a pseudo-running game. Rodgers then found success on the few shots he took deep downfield and picked up a few first downs with his legs. He finished up the day by converting a fourth down with an all-too-familiar back-shoulder throw to Jordy Nelson to effectively seal the game. In all, 25 of Rodgers’ 30 completions came at under 10 yards downfield, but his five completions over that went for 136 yards.
Top offensive grades:
QB Aaron Rodgers, 90.0
LT David Bakhtiari, 86.3
C Corey Linsley, 81.2
WR Jordy Nelson, 80.4
WR Davante Adams, 79.9
Wide receivers step up
Green Bay’s receiving corps has had its share of struggles getting open this season, but all three of their top wide receivers had good outings. Davante Adams continued his turnaround season with two more touchdowns and 113 yards. Rodgers and Nelson seem to be getting their timing back the last few weeks as Nelson has eclipsed 90 yards receiving in four of the last five games. Cobb had just 41 yards, but 40 came after the catch and he caught all six targets.
Top defensive grades:
S Morgan Burnett, 79.4
CB Quinten Rollins, 79.3
CB Ladarius Gunter, 78.7
OLB Julius Peppers, 78.6
S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix 75.7
Secondary showing signs of life
The Packers’ defense has had issues recently, as they allowed over 30 points in each of the last four weeks and over 40 points in their two most recent games. They started to turn things around against the Eagles, holding them to just 13 points and limiting big plays. While the Packers weren’t perfect, they were more than good enough to win the game with ease. The Packers secondary in particular played at a higher level, with no defensive back allowing more than 52 yards in coverage as they were able to sit back as the Eagles wide receivers did nothing to test the Packers defense deep.
Quarterback grade: Carson Wentz, 70.3
Wentz struggles under pressure
After the hot start of the season Carson Wentz has since slowed down. Against the Packers, Wentz had major issues when under pressure. He was only pressured on 34.1 percent of dropbacks but completed three passes for 22 yards, and a passer rating of 6.3. When Wentz attempted to go deep against (it happened only once when the game was still close, he had two other attempts in the last two minutes when the Eagles where already down 14 points) he was intercepted as he overthrew his tight end Zach Ertz who was tightly covered underneath and had a safety over the top.
Top offensive grades:
LT Jason Peters, 84.4
WR Jordan Matthews, 74.9
RT Allen Barbre, 72.5
WR Dorial Green-Beckham, 70.7
QB Carson Wentz, 70.3
Veterans grade well, offensive line struggles outside of LT Peters
Among the issues for the Eagles offense is that two of their best players are also two of the oldest on the offense in left tackle Jason Peters and running back Darren Sproles. Sproles had some issues in pass protection, which brought his overall grade down, but his receiving grade was the best on the team. When the Eagles were able to get him the ball in space he is still capable of making plays. Unfortunately for the Eagles, Sproles’ best play was a 41-yard screen play called back because of a Dorial Green-Beckham pass interference penalty. Peters was clean in pass protection, not allowing a single pressure and was good in the run game. Since the Eagles’ Week 4 bye, Peters has allowed just ten total pressures and one sack.
Top defensive grades:
LB Jordan Hicks, 85.9
DT Fletcher Cox, 82.6
S Jaylen Watkins, 79.3
LB Nigel Bradham, 79.1
DE Vinny Curry, 77.3
Lack of pressure puts defense in a bind
Considering the Packers offensive line had one first-year starter and was missing two other starters, the Eagles were not able to pressure Rodgers nearly as much as they should have. They did not sack him at all and knocked him to the ground just twice. Overall they pressured him just nine of 41 dropbacks, and only Bennie Logan and Vinny Curry registered multiple pressures. On the plus side, the front seven did not miss a tackle in the game.
PFF Game-Ball Winner: Packers’ QB Aaron Rodgers
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