The Green Bay Packers rode backup running back Emanuel Wilson on offense and pressured quarterback J.J. McCarthy into submission during a 23-6 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday at Lambeau Field.
This was a complete team win. At Pro Football Focus, the Packers finished with a grade on offense of 71.7, a grade on defense of 71.7 and the team’s fourth-highest special teams grade of the season.
Based on grades from Pro Football Focus, here are the best and worst players from the Packers’ Week 12 win over the Vikings:
Top 5 offense
Watson caught five of seven targets, completed his lone contested catch opportunity and produced three first downs, including two on third down. Musgrave drew a 24-yard pass interference penalty, caught a 7-yard pass in the fourth quarter and was the team’s second-highest graded run blocker (70.4) across 15 blocking snaps. Wilson created 94 yards after first contact, forced six missed tackles, had four runs over 10 yards and caught both of his passes for 18 yards. Brooks forced three missed tackles, caught one pass and played 10 pass-blocking snaps (allowed two pressures). Tom earned a team-high 84.6 pass-blocking grade after pitching a shutout over 25 pass-blocking snaps.
Top 5 defense
McDuffie had a sack, eight tackles without a miss, a team-high four stops and an interception. His coverage grade was 88.2. McKinney made two tackles, including a stop after a 4-yard catch. He played 13 snaps in the box. Parsons produced four pressures, including two sacks and a quarterback hit. Cooper had four tackles without a miss and gave up just one catch for four yards in coverage. Bullard missed a tackle, but he allowed just one catch for five yards into his coverage and broke up a pass.
Bottom 5 offense
Morgan, who rotated at right guard with Belton, earned the team’s lowest run-blocking grade at 35.5, although he did have seven clean pass protection snaps. Belton graded our poorly as a run blocker (39.5) but allowed just one pressure (a hurry) over 18 pass-blocking snaps. Kinnard’s run-blocking grade was just 54.2 over 21 total snaps as the sixth offensive lineman. Rhyan allowed four pressures, including two quarterback hits, but had a 65.1 run blocking grade. Heath didn’t have a catch and was only average as a blocker over 13 snaps.
Bottom 5 defense
Wyatt had two sacks, but he also earned a team-low run defense grade of 37.9. Valentine missed two tackles and had a run defense grade of 39.1, but he did not allow a completion over two targets into his coverage. Nixon gave up two catches for 22 yards before exiting with an injury. Wooden was in on four tackles, but he didn’t have a pressure over nine pass-rushing snaps. Hadden missed a tackle, but he gave up just two catches for 12 yards in coverage.
Special teams: 67.0 grade
Zayne Anderson, who got a game ball from coach Matt LaFleur, received a team-best special teams grade of 76.7. He had two tackles covering kicks and punts and also forced and recovered a fumble — the game’s biggest play. Ty’Ron Hopper was in on two tackles but also missed a tackle. Kitan Oladapo nearly had a strip on a tackle covering a kickoff. Brandon McManus made all five of his kicks, including all three field goals, but did kick two touchbacks. Daniel Whelan earned his second-best punting grade of the season after putting a season-high three punts inside the 20. The 67.0 overall special teams grade was the Packers’ fourth highest of the season.
Quarterback play
Jordan Love: 62.7
Love didn’t have a big-time throw and was credited with one turnover worthy play under pressure. He was only average from clean pockets, completing 8 of 12 passes for 74 yards. He was actually better under pressure, completing 6 of 9 passes for 65 yards. Brian Flores blitzed him 20 times, but Love took just one sack. The four times Flores didn’t blitz him, Love completed 3 of 3 passes for 30 yards. Love only attempted one pass over 20 yards downfield and missed it.
Stat to know
The Packers had Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy under pressure on 12 of his 25 dropbacks, or 48 percent. When pressured, McCarthy completed just 2 of 6 passes for nine yards, and he took five sacks and threw an interception. His passer rating under pressure was 2.8. His pressure to sack percentage was 41.7.
Rookie spotlight
Sixth-round pick Warren Brinson led the Packers defense with five pressures (including a sack) and a pass-rush grade of 83.5. Brinson has been up and down as a rookie, but he’s been excellent as a pass rusher in two of his five games (vs. the Bengals being the other).
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Packers PFF grades: Best, worst players from win over Vikings in Week 12
Reporting by Zach Kruse, Packers Wire / Packers Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
