The Green Bay Packers got encouraging performances from a few important offensive linemen and a couple of disruptive games from a few young defensive players, providing a handful of silver linings from an otherwise poor and disappointing performance from Matt LaFleur’s team overall in the preseason opener on Saturday night.
Based on grades from Pro Football Focus, here are the best and worst players from the Packers’ preseason-opening loss to the New York Jets:
Top 5 offense
- RT Zach Tom: 81.6
- RB Amar Johnson: 79.5
- LT Jordan Morgan: 76.5
- TE Messiah Swinson: 72.5
- WR Will Sheppard: 71.6
Tom gave up one hurry over 12 snaps but did earn an elite run blocking grade (91.7). Johnson rushed seven times for 67 yards, scored a 39-yard touchdown, forced three missed tackles and had two runs of at least 15 yards. Morgan played 36 snaps at left tackle, including 23 as a pass-blocker, and didn’t give up a pressure. Swinson was solid as both a run and pass blocker at tight end. Sheppard caught both of his targets for 20 yards while running only seven routes.
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Top 5 defense
- DE Kingsley Enagbare: 90.1
- LB Ty’Ron Hopper: 88.6
- CB Kalen King: 78.9
- LB Jared Bartlett: 73.0
- CB Carrington Valentine: 71.5
Enagbare produced two pressures, including a quarterback hit, plus a team-high four stops against the run across 32 snaps. Hopper had five solo tackles, four assisted tackles, three stops against the run and zero misses while giving up just one completion into his coverage. King broke up a pass in the end zone, didn’t give up a catch into his coverage and had one run stop. Bartlett played only 18 snaps but had two stops. Valentine produced one stop and didn’t give up a catch over 10 snaps with the first-team defense.
Bottom 5 offense
- WR Mecole Hardman: 43.0
- WR Romeo Doubs: 43.3
- OL Donovan Jennings: 43.6
- WR Malik Heath: 45.5
- QB Jordan Love: 47.5
Hardman dropped his only target and didn’t have a catch despite running 20 routes. Doubs couldn’t haul in either of his contested catches on the first drive. Jennings gave up a pressure, was flagged for holding on 3rd-and-1 and struggled mightily as a run blocker (team-worst 39.1 run blocking grade). Heath had a drop and caught only one of his four targets for four yards while running a team-high 24 routes. Love completed only 1-of-5 passes and took a sack across 12 snaps and two drives, both ending in punts.
Bottom 5 defense
- LB Jamon Dumas-Johnson: 25.3
- LB Isaiah Simmons: 29.4
- CB Isaiah Dunn: 30.1
- DE Deslin Alexandre: 35.0
- DL James Ester: 44.9
Dumas-Johnson missed four tackles and gave up two catches for 27 yards across 25 snaps. Simmons missed two tackles and was charged with giving up five catches for 76 yards, both team highs. Dunn gave up one catch for 11 yards and was fortunate he didn’t allow a deep touchdown pass (due to an overthrow). Alexander didn’t have a tackle or pressure but did miss a tackle over 11 snaps. Ester earned a poor run defense grade and didn’t have a pressure over 12 snaps.
Special teams
Linebacker Kristian Welch played a team-high 19 special teams snaps and earned the team’s highest overall grade at 87.8. He made three tackles covering punts and kicks. Johnathan Baldwin, Kitan Oladapo and Isaiah Simmons also had tackles. Jamon Dumas-Johnson had a miss, while Barryn Sorrell had a holding penalty on the opening kickoff return. Mecole Hardman muffed a punt, Brandon McManus made his only field goal attempt and Daniel Whelan averaged 52.0 yards per punt.
Quarterback play
Jordan Love completed 1-of-5 passes from clean pockets and took a sack on his only snap under pressure. Love, Malik Willis and Sean Clifford all had passing grades under 50.0 Rookie Taylor Elgersma completed 3-of-4 passes and had a position-high grade of 68.7.
Rookie spotlight
Fourth-round pick Barryn Sorrell produced two pressures and a terrific pass-rushing grade of 87.9. First-round pick Matthew Golden started, played 12 snaps and caught his lone target. Second-round pick Anthony Belton played 42 snaps at right tackle and was on the field for a team-high 20 pass-blocking snaps, but he didn’t give up a single pressure and earned the offensive line’s second-best run-blocking grade.
Stat to know
The Packers struggled making tackles. The defense was credited with missing 17 total tackles against the Jets.
