The Packers did not elevate anyone from the Practice Squad.  The inactive players were David Bakhtiari (appendectomy) and four healthy scratches in Jonathan Garvin, Jonathan Ford, Caleb Jones and Shemar Jean-Charles.  Garvin is interesting because the Packers kept Krys Barnes and Rasheed Walker activated, so Garvin was the odd man out.

The Packers lost Nijman, Nixon, Watson, and Lowry to injury during the course of the game, and Aaron Jones seemed to have been shaken up for a time.


Player Snaps % STs 
Tom 66 100 
Jenkins 66 100
Myers 66 100 6 - 23%
Runyan 66 100 6 - 23%
Newman 48 73 6 - 23%
Nijman 18 27 2 - 8%
Walker 4 - 15% 
Tenuta 4 - 15%
 
Rodgers 66 100
Love DNP

Dillon 38 58 
Jones 25 38
Patrick 5 8 7 - 27%

Tonyan 38 58 
Lewis 29 44 6 - 23%
Deguara 19 29 8 - 31%
Davis 14 21 21 - 81%

Lazard 59 89
Doubs 40 68 2 - 8%
Cobb 32 48 1 - 4%
Watson 25 38 
Toure 6 9
 
21 on Offense

The Packers have a disjointed offense built mostly off of big plays.  Once again there was no one single thing the Packers could rely upon to move the ball.  That leads to the perception of hero ball by Rodgers, but that and long runs by the running backs kind of define the Packers offense.

Running backs had 5 carries in the first half for 13 yards (2.6-yard average) with a long of 6 from Dillon and a long for Jones of 4.  The other three attempts garnered 3 yards.  Rodgers completed 14 of 22 passes for 114 yards (5.18 yards/attempt) with a touchdown and no interceptions.  He had a passer rating of 84 in the first half.  The first points came after a 93 yard kickoff return by Nixon to the Miami 9.  After the Packers 3 plays that lost 9 yards, Crosby kicked a field goal.  Miami then squibbed a kickoff that Deguara knocked down and fell on at the Green Bay 46.  The Packers did put together a 10-play, 54 yard drive that featured a 20-yard pass to Watson and a 12-yard scramble by Rodgers on a 3rd and 8.  The Packers failed to convert on 3rd and goal from the 5 but Rodgers hit Marcedes Lewis on a 4th down play to score a touchdown.  After Jarran Reed stripped Tagavailoa and recovered the fumble at the Miami 49, the Packers ran 8 playes that gained 21 yards, featuring two receptions by Watson for 9 and 10 yards.  Crosby hit a 46-yard field goal to make the score 20-13.

The Packers did have a long 11-play, 78-yard touchdown drive on their opening possession of the second half to even the score at 20.  It was powered by an absolute dime from Rodgers to Marcedes Lewis for 31 yards, but also had several successful carries by Dillon, including his one-yard touchdown run.  The Packers did convert a 3rd down on this drive with a 17-yard completion to Patrick Taylor.  They failed to pick up a first down on a 3rd and 3 carry by Dillon, but a quarterback sneak by Rodgers on fourth down was successful. The Packers converted just 2 of 14 third down opportunities but converted 3 of 4 fourth down tries (3 of 5 if one includes the unsuccessful run on the fake punt).  Jaire Alexander intercepted a Tuagovailoa pass and returned it 14 yards to the Miami 23 yard line.  The Packers ran 6 plays that netted 4 yards and kicked a field goal to finally take the lead, 23-20.  After a nice interception by DeVondre Campbell, the Packers put together a 9-play, 56-yard drive that features receptions to Doubs for 22, Tonyan for 13, and an 18-yard run by Aaron Jones.  The Packers settled for a 26-yard field goal.  The Packers were only 2 of 5 in the red zone.

The running backs gained 61 yards on 17 carries, a 3.59-yard average.  In the second half, the Packers ran the ball 12 times for 48 yards, but 29 of those yards came on two carries, with the other 10 carries gaining just 19 yards.  Jones only got 8 touches (6 carries and 2 receptions on 2 targets) while Dillon got 13 (11 carries, 2 receptions). 

Rodgers was only hit 3 times and sacked twice.  Both sacks appeared to be on plays Rodgers hung on to the ball too long, particularly the first sack.  Rodgers does still move around the pocket well, and he was able to buy himself some time on several occasions or he was able to scramble.  Rodgers is on average throwing the ball on average 2.66 seconds after the snap, which ranks as the 10th fastest quarterback time.  It looked at times as though the Packers did not trust their pass protection.  The Packers played a whopping 1.51 TEs on average, including one play with 4 TEs on the field.

The Dolphins have three good pass rushers in Jaelan Phillips (7 sacks, 20 QB hits), Bradley Chubb ( 8 sacks, 18 QB hits) and Melvin Ingram (6 sacks, 10 QB hits).  Phillips played 83% of possible snaps but Chubb (42%) and Ingram (28%) may have been on snap counts after being on the injury reports this week.  Jon Runyan had some difficulties with Christian Wilkins, who is a beast.  The run blocking was a little too hit and miss.  Rodgers threw at least three dimes, but also about the same number of turnover-worthy throws.   

Player Snaps % STs
Douglas 50 100 12 - 46%
Amos 50 100 8 - 31%
Alexander 50 100 5 - 19%
Savage 32 64 8 - 31%
Ford 19 32 3 - 12%
Gaines 13 26 15 - 58%
Nixon 7 14 4 - 14%
Carpenter 3 6 10 - 38%
Leavitt 20 - 77%
Ballentine 13 - 50%
 
Campbell 50 100 5 - 19%
Walker 48 96 2 - 8%
Smith 38 76 5 - 19%
Enagbare 36 72 10 - 38%
Hollins 24 48 1 - 4%
Barnes 5 10 5 - 19%
Wilson 15 - 58% 
McDuffie 15 - 58%

Clark 40 80 5 - 19%
Reed 34 68 5 - 19%
Wyatt 24 48 2 - 8%
Slaton 20 40 11 - 42%
Lowry 7 14 4 - 15%

23 on Defense

The defense allowed just 20 points, including a field goal after a fake punt gave Miami the ball at the Green Bay 20 yard line.  After the mishap, the defense stopped the Dolphins (7 plays that netted just 4 yards) and even forced a fumble (Preston Smith) but unfortunately an offensive lineman recovered the fumble.  On the other hand, the Packers allowed 8.6 yards per play, and 4.6 yards per carry.  The Dolphins punted just one time despite having 11 possessions.  The Dolphins looked like they could do whatever they wanted to do in the first half.  They ran the ball 9 times for 58 yards (5.43 average) and Tuagovailoa completed 9 of 12 passes for 229 yards (19.08 yards per attempt), good for a 144 passer rating.  They scored on 4 of their 6 first half possessions (two touchdowns and two field goals).  The Dolphins had an offensive holding call followed by a fumble that they recovered for a loss of 5 more yards to force their only punt and their other unsuccessful possession was due to losing a fumble forced and recovered by Jarran Reed. 

The Dolphins had four possessions in the second half: missed 48-yard field goal, and three interceptions.  DeVondre Campbell stepped in front of a Dolphin receiver for a nice interception, while the other two appeared to be passes that sailed on Tuagovailoa.  The Dolphins continued to run well in the second half, gaining 26 yards on 5 carries (5.2-yard average), but they only had some 22 plays in the second half due to their turnovers.  

Adrian Amos had 7 tackles (6 solo) in the first half.  By my count, 6 of Amos' tackles came at least a dozen yards downfield.  That is not to disparage him, as several of them were done well and limited gains.  There were simply a lot of big plays allowed in the first half.  Amos finished with 11 tackles (9 solo), followed by Reed with 6 tackles (three in each half) plus a sack, two quarterback hits, a tackle for loss, a forced fumble and one fumble recovery.  Preston Smith had 5 solo tackles, 2 QB hits, and a sack.  The Packers know what to expect from the consistent Smith, unlike many of their other players.  I thought Slaton (3 tackles) and Wyatt (1 assisted tackle and 1 QB hit) had better games this week.    

Still, the defensive line struggled, particularly in the first half, despite playing 2.5 true defensive linemen per play on average.  Clark got pushed out of the play on some double teams, and Lowry and Reed were not stout.  Quay Walker had just one assisted tackle for the whole game, and Campbell managed just 3 tackles (1 solo).  The defensive backs had to make a lot of tackles.         

One should note that Savage played 32 snaps (64%) with Ford, Nixon and even Carpenter getting on the field for 19, 7, and 3 snaps.  Amos and Ford were the starters.  

 


SPECIAL TEAMS:


Nixon had a 93-yard kickoff return.  Doubs was okay with kickoff returns of 21 and an 18 yards, though neither provided good field position.  O'Donnell had one 46-yard punt with no return.  Cobb returned one punt for 2 yards.  Crosby made all of his attempts.  Miami averaged 17.4 yards per kickoff return with a long of 27.

 
WR: 2.45

TE: 1.51

RB: 1.03

DL: 2.50

ILB: 2.06

OLB: 1.98

DB: 4.48    


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