Green Bay Packers v. Vikings: Behind the Numbers

The Green Bay Packers lose a tough one to Minnesota on a last second field goal. The Packers fall to 8-3 on the season, but still in control of the NFC North and sitting well in the NFC playoff picture overall.

As we do after every game, it’s time to go Behind the Numbers, taking a look at the stats and figures that defined this game for Green Bay.

97

Not that there was ever a concern, but AJ Dillon handled the RB1 responsibilities beautifully on Sunday. While there weren’t always these huge running lanes, Dillon would still average almost 5.0 yards per carry on his 11 rushing attempts. 

And remember when his pass-catching ability was questioned coming out of Boston College? Well, that’s a thing of the past. Dillon had six targets — the third most on the team — and caught all six of them for 44 yards while looking like a natural pass-catcher in the process.

“What surprised me is, you might not see it much during games, but you go to practice, and you see him running routes and see him catching the football. And he’s got real good hands,” said Packers college scout Mike Owens following the 2020 NFL Draft via Packers Wire. “His receiving game is actually further along than you might believe. That’s just an added element to his game. He does have pass-catching ability.”

8

Mason Crosby now has eight missed field goals this season–the most since he missed 12 during that horrendous 2012 season. Now, not every miss has been 100 percent on Crosby. There has been bad blocking, wild snaps, and poor holds, but this certainly hasn’t been the Crosby of recent years either–and something has to change.

“If it wasn’t my job and I wasn’t in the middle of it, you’d almost kind of be like, ‘Man, just everything that could’ve gone wrong in a few of these situations kind of did,” Crosby said via SI.

8 for 92

The Green Bay Packers entered the game as one of the least penalized teams in football but were called for eight penalties for 92 yards against Minnesota. Several of these penalties were committed by the offensive line, forcing the offense to dig out of a 1st and 20 hole. Obviously, converting the first down in those situations becomes much more difficult, but it also makes it more challenging for Matt LaFleur to find a rhythm as a play-caller, and the team becomes pass-heavy.

0

Kirk Cousins tried to gift this Green Bay Packers’ defense several turnover opportunities, but they just couldn’t convert. Darnell Savage would intercept a pass in the red zone, but it was taken away due to a roughing the passer penalty on Kingsley Keke. On another play, Vikings WR Adam Thielen turned into a defender as he broke up what could have been another interception by Savage. And then, on the final drive, Savage failed to maintain possession through the ground.

In addition to these turnover opportunities, there were a couple of other questionable passes by Cousins that would hit the turf as well. Had Green Bay come away with at least one turnover, the end result of this game may have been different. 

10

Kenny Clark had another fantastic and downright dominant performance on Sunday. He bullied Vikings center Mason Cole and finished the game with 5 pressures, oftentimes finding his way into the backfield. In addition to Clark, Preston Smith was also highly productive, forcing 5 pressures of his own, including two sacks and a forced fumble, along with two tackles for loss. In Rashan Gary’s absence, both Clark and Smith came up with some impressive performances. Overall, the Packers defense generated 21 pressures. 

231

In previous weeks, we’ve seen Joe Barry go heavy with his lightbox usage to provide the secondary with some additional help. But on Sunday, in an effort to contain Dalvin Cook, Green Bay played with more box defenders than what they had recently. 

This meant less help for the cornerbacks against Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen, which, unfortunately, showed. Eric Stokes, Kevin King, and Rasul Douglas would give up 14 total receptions on 18 targets for 231 yards and two touchdowns, according to PFF. 

303

It was a slow start once again for this offense. We saw Aaron Rodgers holding on to the ball and really trying to push the ball downfield early on. But in the second half, we saw this offense find their rhythm as they relied more heavily on the quick passing game; we also saw a much better run/pass mix and some pre-snap motion to help keep the defense off balance.

According to NFL NextGen Stats, when Rodgers threw “in rhythm” — meaning he got rid of the ball between 2.5 and 4.0 seconds — he completed 16 of his 19 pass attempts for 303 yards and two touchdowns. 

7 and 34

Unfortunately, injuries have been a big part of this 2021 Green Bay Packers season, and it looks like the team will now have to finish the year without Elgton Jenkins, who according to Ian Rapoport, may have torn his ACL–although there will be further testing to confirm.  

Not only have the Packers had to deal with injuries or missed time, but they’ve had to get by without thier best players. According to Matt Schneidman of The Athletic, the Packers had seven Pro Bowlers in 2020, and that group has missed a combined 34 games so far this season, with each player missing at least one game.

3.9

Dalvin Cook may not be as dominant this season as he was a year ago when he rushed for over 1,500 yards, but he still entered Sunday’s contest averaging 4.7 yards per rush. But the Green Bay defensive front did a good job of containing him and making sure that he did not take this game over–something that we’ve seen him do in the past. Cook finished the day averaging 3.9 yards per carry on 22 attempts with a long of 13. 

Very little

The lack of practice time for Aaron Rodgers and his receivers is one of the bigger reasons why the offense isn’t quite clicking like they did in 2020. This past Friday was Rodgers’ first practice since the Arizona game. It was also his first practice with Davante Adams since prior to the Washington game and his first with Marquez Valdes-Scantling since Week 3 against San Francisco. 

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like there will be a whole lot more practice time this week either. Following the game, Rodgers mentioned that his toe injury was “very, very painful,” which again could result in minimal practice time–something that is greatly needed.

“We’ve got to get back out on the practice field,” said LaFleur via SI. “We need those guys to continue to work on the timing portion, making sure that the details of our route depths and our assignments are on point because, I think right now if you just look at as a whole, there is opportunity out there for us.”