The Geren Bay Packers got an elite performance from rookie Matthew Golden, the season’s best pass-blocking and run-blocking performance from the offensive line and a mostly solid showing from the defensive front to power a 27-18 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday at Lambeau Field.
Golden created three explosive plays and was hard to tackle, Jordan Love was deadly again from clean pockets, the Packers run game came alive and the defensive front made life difficult on Joe Flacco and the Bengals run game.
Based on grades from Pro Football Focus, here are the best and worst players from the Packers’ Week 6 win over the Bengals:
Top 5 offense
- WR Matthew Golden: 90.4
- RB Josh Jacobs: 83.6
- RT Zach Tom: 75.5
- QB Jordan Love: 73.0
- WR Romeo Doubs: 72.1
Golden caught three passes for 86 yards, averaging 28.7 yards per catch and 3.74 yards per route run, and he forced three missed tackles with the ball in his hands as a receiver or runner. Jacobs forced six missed tackles, had four runs of 10 or more yards and caught five passes for 57 yards. Tom gave up one hurry but was the team’s highest graded run blocker along the offensive line. Love hit four passes of at least 20 yards in the air, was excellent from clean pockets and used his legs to scramble five times. Doubs made five catches, including one contested catch, and his blocking was solid.
Top 5 defense
- DL Warren Brinson: 84.8
- DE Micah Parsons: 78.4
- S Evan Williams: 76.4
- LB Edgerrin Cooper: 73.6
- DL Colby Wooden: 73.2
Brinson, is his first regular season game, held up fine in the run game and produced two hurries as a pass-rusher while playing 21 snaps. Parsons produced four hurries, finished with a 74.8 pass-rush grade and generated two run stops. Williams had a tackle for loss and allowed just two catches for nine yards in coverage. Cooper had a team-high four stops, didn’t miss a tackle and was effective in both run defense and coverage. Wooden was in on four tackles and earned the defense’s second best run defense grade while playing 32 snaps.
Bottom 5 offense
- TE John FitzPatrick: 51.7
- WR Malik Heath: 55.4
- LG Aaron Banks: 55.6
- TE Luke Musgrave: 57.4
- RB Emanuel Wilson: 57.4
FitzPatrick was the offense’s third worst run blocker and didn’t have a catch across 11 snaps. Heath was excellent in the run game but wasn’t targeted on 16 routes. Banks struggled in the run game and gave up a hurry. Musgrave was decent in the run game (third best grade) but managed just one catch for seven yards on 11 routes run. Wilson caught one pass for negative yards and managed just 11 rushing yards on thre carries.
Bottom 5 defense
- DE Kingsley Enagbare: 47.7
- DL Karl Brooks: 50.6
- CB Keisean Nixon: 55.7
- LB Quay Walker: 58.0
- CB Nate Hobbs: 58.1
Enagbare struggled setting the edge, didn’t have a pressure over 10 pass-rushing snaps and also missed a tackle. Brooks generated nothing more than two hurries over 41 pass-rushing snaps. Nixon allowed five catches on nine targets for 45 yards and a touchdown, and he was penalized three times. Walker gave up six catches and a touchdown pass and missed a tackle. Hobbs allowed four catches on five targets and was penalized once.
Special teams
Ty’Ron Hopper, Evan Williams, Xavier McKinney and Zayne Anderson all had tackles covering kicks or punts. Hopper had a penalty for unnecessary roughness after making a tackle and Bo Melton had a holding penalty on a kickoff return, while Chris Brooks missed two tackles. Melton and Savion Williams averaged 33.0 yards per kickoff return. Lucas Havrisk made all five of his kicks, while Daniel Whelan put a punt inside the 20-yard line but had a season low hang time of 4.46 seconds.
Quarterback play
Jordan Love: 73.0
Love completed 4 of 5 passes thrown over 20 yards in the air for 111 yards, and he was nearly perfect from clean pockets, completing 17 of 21 passes for 232 yards, one touchdown pass and one big-time throw. He was under pressure on just nine of 34 dropbacks, a marked improvement, but he did throw his interception while pressured on third down. Off playaction, Love completed 5 of 8 passes for 74 yards and his lone touchdown pass. While excellent throwing deep, Love was just 1 of 5 passing between 10-19 yards. His five scrambles, a season high, helped the Packers convert in a few big spots.
Stats to know
— Packers pass-catchers produced 110 yards after the catch, including big gains on explosive plays from Matthew Golden, Josh Jacobs and Tucker Kraft.
— Joe Flacco was under pressure on just 26.1 percent of his 46 dropbacks. He completed 5 of 11 passes for just 16 yards when under pressure but didn’t have a turnover worthy play.
— Lukas Van Ness and Rashan Gary combined for four quarterback hits.
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