The Green Bay Packers walked away from the Super Bowl XLV rematch victorious once again. The Packers won 27-17 over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday to improve their record to 3-1. The Steelers, unfortunately for them, fall to 1-3. Packers coach Matt LaFleur called the game a “mature win,” which is understandable as Green Bay withstood numerous injuries, but still walked away with a win. Not every game is pretty, but there were quite a few takeaways to be had, which we’ll look at now.
Randall Cobb
One of the takeaways was one of Aaron Rodgers favorite weapons. After being used sparingly throughout the first few weeks, Randall Cobb emerged as a legitimate weapon in this Green Bay offense. Cobb accounted for 69 yards receiving and two touchdowns, the second touchdown being Rodgers 420th career touchdown pass, which ties him with Dan Marino for sixth all time. The biggest takeaway from Cobb’s performance this season is he has been targeted six times on third downs. Cobb has caught all six of those for 91 yards and a touchdown. He has more than enough chemistry with Rodgers. As a result, they’ll look to continue to rekindle that old flame now that Marquez Valdez-Scantling is on IR.
AJ Dillon
Running back AJ Dillon AKA “Quadzilla” certainly made his presence felt on Sunday. After only having 15 attempts on the season, he carried the ball 15 times for 81 yards. In the second half alone, he accounted for 11 carries for 56 yards. This included a 25 yard run that brought the ball down to the one yard line. Take a look at this game log, simply glorious.
It should be noted, this is Aaron Rodgers’ 10th consecutive regular season game where he threw for under 300 yards. However, they are 9-1 in that stretch. This offense is filtered through the running game. Leaning on Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon will only help this team moving forward.
Rashan Gary
.@RashanAGary WILL NOT BE DENIED.
📺 CBS pic.twitter.com/b38epliRYX
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) October 3, 2021
We absolutely must talk about this sack. How incredibly strong must one person be to jump over a defender, and still bring down the quarterback? This sack came on first down, and if it happened on a third down to end a drive, we would be talking about it for days. Just a superhuman effort, and something you hope the Packers defensive line can build on. Also a nice little shout out for Kingsley Keke on forcing an early fumble that really swung things in the Packers favor.
Offensive Line
For the second week in a row, Yosh Nijman had himself quite an impressive game. Not only was the running game having success, but Aaron Rodgers was only sacked three times. One of those was an obvious tripping call that was missed. Shoutout to all of the offensive line though, because without David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins, Green Bay has dropped back to pass 77 times, and only allowed 15 pressures. The 49ers and Steelers have elite pass rushes, and they were ineffective against Green Bay.
Jaire Alexander
On a down note, the injuries are starting to add up. Jaire Alexander was carted off the field during the game. Matt LaFleur wouldn’t rule out that it could be season ending, which would be devastating for this defense. In general the defense has been making a lot of strides. However, with Za’Darius Smith already out and Preston Smith banged up, you would hate to lose your star cornerback so early in the season. Not to mention, cornerback Kevin King has missed the last two games with a concussion. Hopefully the diagnosis isn’t as bad as it looks.
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