Ratings from the victory over the Jaguars

Nothing can be easy for the Green Bay Packers.

They went down to the wire with the Jacksonville Jaguars, who had two wins heading into Sunday’s game.

They built two 10-point leads and lost them both.

They lost their starting quarterback.

They also lost two key members of the secondary.

Fortunately, they didn’t lose Josh Jacobs and made a trade in late August for Malik Willis.

Jacobs helped the Packers regain the lead in the third quarter. Willis made sure the Packers escaped Jacksonville with a victory.

They received high marks in our weekly Packers report card following a 30-27 win.

Offensive pass

Based on opponent passer rating, Jacksonville’s defense entered the game as one of the worst in NFL history.

Jordan Love’s performance was disappointing, to say the least, considering that fact. He exited the game with a groin injury after going 14-for-22 with another interception.

This game felt like a great opportunity for the Packers to get their passing offense back on track ahead of the challenge they will face in November. Instead, Love left the game and now his status is up in the air for next week’s matchup against the Detroit Lions.

When Love left the game, Willis saved the day.

Willis won all three games he was asked to play for an extended period.

His first three completions went for 5 yards total, as the Packers leaned toward their running game. His final completion, however, was his biggest hit: a 51-yard pass to Jayden Reed to set up the game-winning field goal.

Coach Matt LaFleur was almost at a loss for words to describe how well Willis has played.

“It’s been pretty impressive,” LaFleur said.

LaFleur’s game plan and lack of support in his passing game against a bad defense was surprising.

So was the fact that the Packers blew a 27-17 lead.

Ultimately, none of that will haunt them because of Willis’ heroics.

Grade: B

Rushing offense

Most of the attention will be on Willis for his key pass to Reed. This is a passing league. The quarterbacks and receivers get all the attention.

The hero of this game, however, was the runner who, according to ESPN’s Bill BarnwellIt had been a disappointment.

Maybe Jacobs found out. Maybe he didn’t. The reality is that he led his team to a 20-17 lead after Love left the game with an injury.

Jacobs finished the day with 25 carries for 127 yards and two touchdowns. He was the best player on the field.

The Packers needed Jacobs in Willis’s first start against Indianapolis and they needed him in Jacksonville. Jacobs delivered both times.

The Packers are thrilled to have him, and they should be.

Chris Brooks also gets high marks for his football IQ. Late in the game, the Jaguars were trying to let Brooks score as a way to get the ball back instead of letting the Packers win the game with a field goal.

Brooks never scored a touchdown in the regular season, but his selfless play virtually guaranteed victory.

His last play puts the cherry on top of the highest score of the day.

Grade: A

Pass defense

Safety Xavier McKinney’s interception and linebacker Edgerrin Cooper’s sack/strip led to 14 points for the Packers.

However, even with star rookie Brian Thomas Jr. and explosive veteran Christian Kirk out with injuries, the Jaguars rallied from a 27-17 deficit.

The fact that Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence was able to march down the field twice with backup receivers to tie the game was disappointing.

Before their late-game struggles, the Packers were situationally excellent. The Jaguars missed their first eight third downs. They didn’t convert a third down until their final drive of the game, when they scored the tying touchdown.

Lawrence’s 308 passing yards and two touchdowns would have made more sense if Kirk and Thomas had been able to finish the game. Since they didn’t, it’s a little more disappointing.

They’ll have to improve next week against Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown and an explosive Lions offense.

Grade: C

Quick defense

Jaguars running back Tank Bigsby is tough to approach. He entered the game ranked second among running backs in yards per carry and first in yards after contact per carry.

Bigsby had a good day, but only finished the day with 78 yards on 18 carries. He did it a lot alone against poor quality innings.

The low point of the day came with Lawrence’s touchdown run. Cooper fumbled at the 5 and Lawrence dragged three defenders into the end zone for the Jaguars’ first touchdown of the game.

In the end, the Packers were solid, if unspectacular, against Jacksonville’s running game.

Next week, they will face a much tougher test against the Lions’ dynamic running game.

Grade: B

Special teams

No real mistakes were made on special teams.

Daniel Whelan had a bad first-half punt out of the shadow of his own end zone. He made up for it later with a 63-yard punt that was capped by an excellent tackle from Bo Melton to force the Jaguars to drive the entire field to tie the game.

Brandon McManus was perfect again. There were no opportunities to return kickoffs, nor errors in the punt return game.

Most of the time all you ask of special teams is to go unnoticed. For the most part, that’s what happened.

Until the end, of course, when McManus scored his second game-winning field goal in as many weeks. This was much shorter than last week’s. His 24-yard field goal as time expired helped the Packers snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Grade: B

Training

To call LaFleur’s first-half game plan strange might be an understatement.

LaFleur was facing the worst pass defense in the NFL.

All of their receivers were healthy and ready to play. However, for some reason, he continued to use heavy formations to put Jacksonville’s linebackers on the field.

That came at the expense of putting more defensive backs on the field.

His play to end the first half was also interesting.

On a field goal that made the score 10-0, LaFleur essentially ran two plays that had no chance after a pre-snap penalty by Christian Watson made it a first-and-goal at the 14-yard line.

His decision to take the ball first after winning the toss has also backfired in each of the last two weeks. Sean Rhyan’s holding penalty ended a promising opening series. Mistakes like that continue to plague this team.

If they don’t lose the ball, they commit penalties. If they are not committing a normal penalty, it is a pre-snap penalty. If not that, they aren’t taking advantage of the other team’s mistakes or scoring touchdowns in the red zone.

There’s also the feast-or-famine nature of their quarterback, which has yet to be corrected, as Love threw another interception. This one, coming against a defense that had one interception all season, reached the red zone and took points off the board.

Or in Sunday’s case, it could be all of those things along with a game plan that didn’t seem designed to take advantage of the opponent’s biggest weakness.

Maybe he had to compensate after Love was injured during the first series.

LaFleur also became too conservative late in the game. His final drive while leading 27-20 was two uninspired runs, followed by a pass that seemed to have no chance. This led to a punt and the Packers defense was asked to save the day, which they did not.

LaFleur has had all the success he can have in the NFL, but this wasn’t his best day.

Even defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley took a bit of a beating.

After allowing fewer than 10 points in the second half every week since the season opener, the Packers defense gave up 17 points in the second half, including a game-tying score in which Lawrence and the Jaguars with receivers substitutes simply marched across the field.

Failure at the decisive moment overshadows what until then was an excellent game.

The Packers won the first eight third downs and forced two turnovers.

The reality is that the way the Packers played at the end of the game was inexcusable. The offense did not do its part and the defense allowed eight completions of more than 20 yards.

This would have kept the coaching staff awake all week if they had let it go. Thanks to the heroics of Willis, Jacobs and McManus, they don’t have to worry.

Grade: D

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