Green Bay Packer 23, New York Giants 16
Here are the top-graded players and biggest takeaways from Packers 23-16 win over the Giants:
Quarterback grade: Eli Manning, 34.8
Manning earns third-consecutive below-average grade
Eli Manning recorded another poor performance on Sunday, with this one coming as his lowest-graded game of the year. Manning didn’t throw an interception, but he did have two dangerous passes that easily could have been picked, along with two fumbles on the night. Manning also failed to balance out the poor plays with good ones; he did not complete any of his five passes targeted 20+ yards downfield, and nearly 70 percent of his 191 passing yards came after the catch, the second-highest percentage of the week.
Top offensive grades:
G Justin Pugh 77.8
G John Jerry, 76.6
TE Will Tye 76.6
WR Odell Beckham Jr. 75.6
HB Bobby Rainey 72.5
Tackles struggle in pass protection while interior line plays well
It was a rough night for Ereck Flowers and Bobby Hart in pass protection, regardless of who lined up across from them. Hart allowed a sack, two hits, and four hurries, while Flowers allowed seven total pressures of his own. Flowers also had another sack and hurry nullified by penalties on the plays; otherwise, he would have had nine pressures allowed in 42 snaps in pass protection. The interior linemen fared better, allowing just two hurries between the three of them. The Giants once again struggled to run the ball, gaining just 42 yards on 14 carries, with 25 yards coming after contact. Bobby Rainey’s 14-yard run was the only one over six yards, and outside of that run, the Giants barely averaged 2 yards per carry.
Top defensive grades:
LB Keenan Robinson, 89.1
CB Janoris Jenkins, 85.0
DT Jonathan Hankins, 73.1
CB Eli Apple, 68.7
CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, 65.6
Coverage outstanding in tough situation
It’s difficult in the NFL to cover for two seconds, let alone four or five, but the latter is what the Giants' secondary was consistently asked to do with a dismal pass-rush in front of them. Janoris Jenkins got picked on the most, giving up five catches for 60 yards, but he also made the most plays, intercepting two balls and breaking up another. Maybe the most impressive performance, though, was that of linebacker Keenan Robinson, who was targeted four times and didn’t allow a single catch. Heading into the game, he had allowed 12-of-14 targets on the year to be caught, and didn’t have a single pass breakup.
Quarterback grade: Aaron Rodgers, 79.0
Rodgers gets plenty of help from O-line
Rodgers definitely wasn’t sharp Sunday night, but for the most part, the good outweighed the bad. He was given an incredible amount of time from the Packers' offensive line, but the majority of his best plays came in rhythm. On 19 throws (including plays negated by penalties) coming in 2.5 seconds or less, Rodgers completed 12 attempts, gained 158 yards, and had a passer rating of 103.2. On 29 throws coming after 2.5 seconds, Rodgers completed 13 attempts, gained 151 yards, and had a passer rating of 40.9.
Top offensive grades:
WR Randall Cobb, 88.5
C J.C. Tretter, 86.5
FB Aaron Ripkowski, 84.0
RG T.J. Lang, 82.7
LT David Bakhtiari, 82.3
Pass protection on another level
I’m not sure I’ve seen a modern NFL game with an offensive line as dominant in pass protection as the Packers' on Sunday night. On 50 dropbacks, the Green Bay starting five allowed a grand total of seven pressures between them. And it’s not because Rodgers was back there working quick passes and screens; no, the Packers' quarterback had the longest average time to throw of any QB in the league this week, at 3.28 seconds. That’s an eternity in the NFL, and the difference in offensive-line play was the difference in the game.
Top defensive grades:
OLB Kyler Fackrell 82.3
OLB Nick Perry 80.1
DE Mike Daniels 79.7
S Micah Hyde 77.7
DE Letroy Guion 76.3
Packers’ pass-rush gets to Manning, secondary slows down receivers
Green Bay had four different defenders with three or more pressures, led by Nick Perry and rookie Kyler Fackrell. After not living up to his first-round draft status his first four years, Perry is finally coming into his own this season. With six pressures on the night, he now had 22 in four games for the third-highest pass rushing productivity rating among 3-4 outside linebackers. Fackrell had a sack, a hit, hurry, and a forced fumbled on just 12 pass-rush snaps. In the secondary, even without Sam Shields and Damarious Randall, the Packers’ held Odell Beckham Jr. in check with five catches for 56 yards.
PFF Game-Ball Winner: Packers WR Randall Cobb
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