The Green Bay Packers improved to 4-2 with a convincing and comfortable victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at Lambeau Field. Matt LaFleur’s team jumped out to a 24-0 lead in the first half, took a counterattack from the Cardinals, and then finished the job with three takeaways and productive play throughout the game.
The Packers recorded more first downs, total yards, passing yards, rushing yards and third-down conversions while winning the turnover battle.
Here are the stars, studs and duds from the Packers’ Week 6 victory over the Cardinals:
Stars
QB Jordan Love: If it weren’t for a really bad interception when Bo Melton went down, Love’s passer rating would have been 132.8, which would have been a better reflection of his forceful play. Love was great on third or fourth down, completing three touchdown passes and totaling seven conversions. When he wasn’t being tackled, Love was slicing and dicing the Cardinals, averaging nearly 10 yards per attempt. Even with the pressure, he found Romeo Doubs for a touchdown against a snail-paced running back. Love fired a deep running shot to Christian Watson, who consistently hit the mid-to-intermediate target. His throw to Watson after the fourth attempt – a perfectly placed ball into the smallest window – was amazing. Love made passes to nine different players, made three positive tackles and was not sacked.
Sr. Evan Williams: The rookie safety killed two drives with elite plays. In the first half, Williams took the quarterback on a zone read and made a phenomenal open tackle tackle on Kyler Murray behind the line of scrimmage, forcing a punt. Then his hit – perfectly timed and exact to the ball – forced the Cardinals to scramble for the lead. Williams combines early reliability with an impact game.
Heels
RT Zach Tom: Another quietly dominant performance. Tom hasn’t allowed pressures above 38 pass-blocking snaps per PFF.
DE Rashan Gary: This might have been Gary’s best game of the season. He created three pressures, including one near sack and a quarterback hit. Gary also had two stops before breaking away, and his rushing discipline helped keep Kyler Murray in the pocket.
CB/PR Keisean Nixon: He saw action on the Cardinals’ first scrimmage since scrimmage. He broke up a third down pass in the first half, forcing a punt. He returned a punt 39 yards, turned it over for a touchdown. He even returned two kicks. Nixon finished the game with a season-high 99 return yards.
RB Josh Jacobs: He made an explosive run on the Packers’ first touchdown, consistently gained forceful yards between receptions, caught all three targets for 28 yards, forced five fumbles and had a total of four first downs. His 90 yards were a team-high.
DL Karl Brooks: His loss was a fantastic individual play. Brooks read the screen, followed the ball and stripped James Conner before recovering from the fumble. Without Devonte Wyatt, Brooks has consistently made great plays.
LB Edgerrin Cooper: The rookie linebacker stuffed Trey Benson on a 1-yard gain and made a tackle that covered the kickoff. He flew around the pitch, showing speed and aggressiveness. The Packers want more consistency in their offense, but his talent cannot be kept off the field. Cooper played 38 snaps.
Jumper LB Ty’Ron: In 15 special teams snaps, Hopper made three tackles – two solo and one assisted – in his first games.
Duds
K. Brayden Narveson: Another longing. In the second half, Narveson’s 44-yard field goal went wide. The rookie has not missed a miss in four of six games this season and leads the NFL with five misses in six weeks. He was perfect in terms of extra points.
