The Green Bay Packers have had players step up all season long. It was a much closer game that expected, but they were able to pull out a 24-22 victory on Christmas Day. Both history and mistakes were made, as we highlight in this week’s edition of studs and duds.
Three Studs
Aaron Rodgers
Entering the Christmas Day matchup, Aaron Rodgers was tied with Brett Favre for the most touchdown passes in Green Bay Packers’ history with 442. While he did not practice this week, he did make sure to make some fans’ Lambeau Field tours extra special:
Aaron Rodgers passed Brett Favre on the Packers’ all-time touchdown pass list with a first quarter 11-yard pass to Allen Lazard. After the score, a video message from Brett Favre played on the scoreboard. In the video, Favre congratulated Rodgers on breaking his record and hold him: “Go win us another Super Bowl.”
Rodgers finished the day with three touchdown passes and no interceptions.
Davante Adams
Another milestone reached today was that Davante Adams and Aaron Rodgers broke the record for most touchdown passes/catches between a quarterback and wide receiver in Packers’ history. Rodgers shared the old record with Jordy Nelson who caught 65 touchdowns from the future Hall of Famer. With two touchdowns today (and 114 yards), Adams brought his total touchdowns from Rodgers to 67.
The question is: how many more will there be?
Rasul Douglas/Rashan Gary
The Green Bay Packers defense may have had rough day, but Rashan Gary and Rasul Douglas stood out as some bright spots. Rashan Gary had two sacks and three quarterback hits. Rasul Douglas had two more interceptions, including the one that iced the game for the Packers late in the fourth quarter. Since joining Green Bay from the Arizona Cardinals practice squad, Douglas has five interceptions, including two that he returned for touchdowns.
Earlier this week, both players were also named as alternates to the NFL Pro Bowl.
Three Duds
“Prevent” Defense
The Green Bay Packers may have had a statistically good day. They forced three interceptions and sacked Baker Mayfield five times. However, they consistently allowed the Browns to remain in the game. The defense allowed prolong drives that took a lot of time off of the clock. The Browns did not even punt until about halfway through the fourth quarter. Much of this was because they Packers allowed large, consistent gains, particularly on third down. It was almost as if they were just banking on Mayfield making another mistake at some point.
The Packers gave up 408 yards of total offense and 6.2 yards per play. Simply put, that is not going to get the job done on most days. They were fortunate for Mayfield’s miscues.
Injuries at Left Tackle
The Green Bay Packers have battled through injuries all season, especially on the offensive line. David Bakhtiari has yet to return from a torn ACL suffered in practice towards the end of last season. Elgton Jenkins suffered a torn ACL earlier this season. Yosh Nijman has been stellar filling in for both players at left tackle, but came up limping in the fourth quarter. Ben Braden, the fourth string left tackle, was sent in.
Hopefully Bakhtiari is able to return soon and Nijman is not out for long.
Run Defense
Nick Chubb is a fantastic football player. However, the Green Bay Packers defense came into the game as one of the best run defenses in the NFL. Allowing Chubb to get huge chunks of yards every time he touched the ball was inexcusable.
In actuality, the real dud here should be the Browns’ offensive play calling for not giving Chubb the ball all game long. Green Bay simply had no answer for him.
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