Here are the top takeaways and highest-graded players from the Packers' 35-18 Wild-Card win over the Redskins.
Green Bay Packers
–After the turnstiles at left tackle the past few weeks without David Bakhtiari, J.C. Tretter and his +.4 overall grade was exactly what the offense needed. The early safety the left tackle ceded wasn’t a particularly bad beat, and after that he didn’t allow a single pressure the rest of the game. The offensive line as a whole allowed a mere four pressures the entire game in what was as dominant a pass blocking effort as I’ve seen all year.
–Even though Green Bay put up 35 points, it wasn’t because Aaron Rodgers (-1.9) suddenly fixed his inaccuracy issues. The QB had nine of his 33 passes arrive off target, a very high rate. He struggled throwing the corner route in particular. Outside of the gimme touchdown to Davante Adams, Rodgers overshot three open corner routes to Randall Cobb. The big difference in the offense was their playmakers living up to that namesake. James Jones (+3.1), Randall Cobb (+1.8), and Davante Adams (+1.0) all graded positively for the first time since week 9.
–The newfound offense will grab the headlines, but the Green Bay secondary was the real story of this game. Casey Hayward (+3.2), Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (+3.5), and Quinten Rollins(+2.0) combined to allow 39 total yards on 6-12 targets. Hayward himself totaled five defensive stops to lead all defenders in the game. Micah Hyde (-2.6) was the only member of the secondary to truly struggle after he drew the short straw of having to guard Jordan Reed all day.
Top performers:
FS Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (+3.5)
CB Casey Hayward (+3.2)
WR James Jones (+3.1)
LG Josh Sitton (+2.8)
RG T.J. Lang (+2.3)
Washington
–It certainly wasn’t a pretty day from Kirk Cousins (-4.7). His accuracy down the field was night and day from the quarterback we’ve seen the past few weeks. On passes targeted between 10-20 yards down the field, Cousins was only 2-of-10 passing for 36 yards. Green Bay forced check down after check down from Cousins and continually made the play. 17 of Cousins 29 completions came between the numbers and within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage.
–Jordan Reed (+2.5) was seemingly the only person on the Redskins offense capable of making plays Sunday. Even he had his miscues though, with an early drop on third down and a false start penalty late in the game. The good considerably outweighed the bad for him though, as he saw a third of the Redskins targets (15) and turned them into over a third of the Redskins receiving yards (120).
–After being a solid replacement for so much of the season, Will Blackmon (-4.4) chose the wrong time to play his worst football of the season. The corner allowed 6-10 targets for 88 yards and a touchdown. His effort on the Packers two point conversion was also less than stellar. The struggles in the secondary were at least in a way tied to the complete lack of a pass rush. No player on the Redskins had a pass rushing grade higher than +.1 and only four total players even recorded pressures.
Top performers:
TE Jordan Reed (+2.5)
RG Brandon Scherff (+2.5)
RT Morgan Moses (+1.7)
ILB Mason Foster (+1.6)
FS DeAngelo Hall (+1.3)
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