The Packers suspended Romeo Doubs for this game.  They elevated CB Robert Rochell and FB Andrew Beck from the practice squad.  The inactive players due to injury were WR Christian Watson, DL Devonte Wyatt, DB Jaire Alexander, and OL Jordan Morgan, while the healthy scratches were Edge Brenton Cox and OT Travis Glover.  QB Malik Willis and TE Luke Musgrave were active but did not play.

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN:

The offensive line was adequate.  The running backs averaged 3.88 yards per carry (25 for 97 yards) but with runs by Reed and Love included, the average rose to 4.2-yards, roughly league average for a team.  If the line isn't great at moving defenders, it manages to open enough holes.  Sean Rhyan has improved now that he has settled into the right guard position.  I see no reason to disturb this line unless Jordan Morgan makes a clear case for being the starter during practice.  The line allowed just 3 quarterback hits and 2 sacks.  This is a good pass-blocking unit.

QUARTERBACKS:

Love completed 15 of 26 (57.7%) for 224 yards (8.62-yards/attempt), 2 touchdowns and 1 horrible pick-six interception.  Love also had another awful play when he threw a pass backwards that resulted in a loss of yards and a runoff of 10 seconds on the clock.  He was afforded good protection for the most part.  He had receivers drop at least 3 passes (2 by Wicks - at least- and 1 drop by Reed); had those passes been caught his completion percentage rises to 69.23%.  He had a 95.7 passer rating.

The Packers converted just 1 of 8 third down opportunities, and that was when Love scrambled for 12 yards on a 3rd and 10.  The other 7 third down plays resulted in sack, incomplete (Reed), completion to Kraft for 5 (needed 14), Interception, completion to Wicks for 10 (needed 26 but the 10 was important as Narveson made a 46-yard field goal), completion to Emanual Wilson for minus 9 (needed a positive 15), and an incomplete/drop to Wicks deep right for what would have been a first down.  Those third down plays were pretty ugly.

RUNNING BACK:

Jacobs gained 73 yards on 19 carries (3.84-yards/carry) and a touchdown.  The touchdown run was all Jacobs (and the blocking by receivers): there was no hole where the run was designed to go but Jacobs bounced it outside and beat the defenders to the corner.  Jacobs also caught his only target for 21 yards.  Wilson gained 24 yards on 6 carries.  They both ran hard.  

TIGHT ENDS:

Kraft caught 4 of 5 passes for 88 yards and 2 touchdowns, with a long of 66.  Kraft's development as a blocker has meant that LaFleur can open his playbook all the way, since Kraft can block defensive backs in space and edge players in-line.  Kraft's nimbleness and surprising speed, plus an effective stiff-arm, have made him into an excellent yards after the catch guy.  Ben Sims had no targets.  

WIDE RECEIVERS:

Jayden Reed caught 4 of his 6 targets (he had a drop) for 78 yards, a 19.5 yard average, with a long of 53.  He has blossomed into a big-play receiver, though he is not as yet a volume receiver.  Reed had 2 carries for 19 yards, as well.  There is no doubt that he is a large part of what makes the Packers' offense go.  Wicks once again led the Packers in targets with 7 because he is so often open.  Wicks caught 2 passes for 20 yards, but it should have been over 60 yards.  He dropped at least 2 passes that were right to him, including a deep pass down the right side that would have "iced" the game.  There were two other passes where Wicks was wide open but the pass intended for him was not close to him.  He and Love were not on the same page but it isn't clear if Wicks ran the route incorrectly or if Love was inaccurate.  The Packers should continue to apply WD-40 to Love to knock off the rust and should stop applying WD-40 to Wicks' hands.  Pro Football Focus listed Wicks with 4 drops coming into this game, so it would appear that he now has 6 drops on 29 targets, a 20.7% drop rate.  I, and many fans, have Wicks with 8 drops, good for a 27.6% drop rate. 

Malik Heath caught 2 of his 3 targets for 14 yards and Melton caught 1 of 2 targets for 12 yards.  All of the wide receivers show great effort and effectiveness blocking for others.  Heath and Wicks are particularly tenacious.  Wicks threw a tremendous block to spring Kraft for his touchdown catch and, if I remember correctly, Reed had a nice block that helped Jacobs turn the corner for his touchdown run.   

DEFENSIVE LINEMEN:

The Packers allowed the Rams to gain 134 yards on 28 carries for a 4.8-yard average against a team missing it top two wide receivers.  Since the Rams just put their starting left guard and starting center on IR, that result is disappointing.  The Rams tossed out Logan Bruss, a 2023 third-round pick who missed all of 2023 on IR and who was starting just his third NFL game, at left guard and a rookie sixth-rounder from Wisconsin at center, and they held up in the run game well and were pretty good at pass blocking until late.  The Packers did have 10 quarterback hits and 3 sacks, but the immobile Stafford generally had very good time to throw the ball.

Slaton had 3 solo tackles and a quarterback hit.  Brooks had 2 tackles (1 solo), but he came up with 3 QB hits and a sack and a half.  Clark had 2 tackles (1 solo) and 2 quarterback hits, though one hit was due to some kind of miscommunication as Clark was wholly unblocked and Stafford had to just throw the ball away.  Wooden had 3 assisted tackles.  Clark (and Gary) were often double-teamed.  

EDGE:

Van Ness had 5 tackles (3 solo) but never sniffed the quarterback.  Preston Smith had 4 assisted tackles and a half sack.  Enagbare had 3 tackles (1 solo), a quarterback hit and a big forced fumble.  Gary had 2 tackles (1 solo).  All of the outside linebackers looked like they play contain very well.  10 quarterback hits and 3 sacks are respectable pressure numbers, but less so when the opposing quartback drops back 45 times.  Indeed, I suspect that most of those QB hits came on perhaps 5 to 7 of Stafford's 45 drop backs (he did not scramble).  The Packers cannot get pressure while rushing four.  It is bad enough that I took a peek at the contracts of all the defensive players making big money.  

LINEBACKERS:

Walker and McDuffie each had 9 tackles (6 and 3 solo, respectively).  Walker had a tackle for loss.  McDuffie just got enough of the Ram running back to prevent what looked like an extremely long run.  Cooper had 5 tackles (2 solo) and 2 quarterback hits, including a sack.  Eric Wilson had 1 assisted tackle.  This position group is moving in the right direction.  McDuffie is a nice player to have on one's team due to his physicality, but it is good that Cooper is starting to eat into his snaps.  I have not been a fan of Quay Walker (I hated the draft pick), but he is roughly an average starting linebacker now.  I would not mind if Cooper started to get some of Walker's snaps at some point even though Cooper is a little undersized to play "mike" but there is no reason to put too much on Cooper's plate right now.  Hopper's injuries in training camp have set him back.  

SECONDARY:

Evan Williams and McKinney started at safety with Bullard moving to the slot.  Nixon started as one perimeter cornerback while Stokes and Valentine rotated on the opposite side.   A lot of people were calling for Bullard to move to the slot.  The Packers hit a home run when they signed McKinney but drafting Bullard and Williams look like excellent decisions.  A lot of people scratched their heads when the Packers traded picks 126 and 190 to move up to pick 111 in order to select Williams after taking Bullard with pick 58.  The safety room should be set for some time to come.    

I am not as sanguine about the corners.  The Packers made rookie 7th-round draft pick Jordan Whittington look very good, and I thought several of his catches came against Stokes.   I am not sold on Nixon as a perimeter corner, but I do like his physicality.  Once again he did not even make a pretense of getting his head turned aroound; maybe Nixon can get away with that against Tutu Atwell but Justin Jefferson is a different matter.  I like Valentine but he can get handsy at times, as evidenced by his pass interference penalty in the end zone.  It will be interesting to see who moves where when Alexander returns.

McKinney intercepted one pass and returned it 28 yards, and he broke up another pass and recovered a fumble.  He had 3 tackles (2 solo). Evan Williams made a lot of nice plays against both the run and the pass.  He had 10 tackles (4 solo) and he also broke up 2 passes.  Bullard had 7 tackles (4 solo).  Nixon had 5 tackles (4 solo), a tackle for loss and a passed defensed.  That is a good stat line.  Valentine had an assisted tackle but he also had a solo tackle that does not show up in the regular stats because it was on a 2-point conversion.  Nevertheless, his tackle on Tutu Atwell to deny the 2 points was big.  Valentine only got a hand on Atwell, but that's the probablem with 165-pound wide receivers - they go down as easily as Luke Musgrave.  That kept the Packers ahead by 5 instead of narrowing the lead to 3.

SPECIAL TEAMS:

Narveson made all of his extra points and was right down the middle from 46 yards out on his field goal attempt.. Whelan again came back down to earth by punting 4 times for a net of 37 with one inside the 20.

WR: 2.78

RB 1.05

TE: 1.17

DL: 1.97

Edge: 2.03

LB: 2.01

DB: 4.98

Photo courtesy of Robert Hanoshiro - Imagn Images