Green Bay Packers v. Seahawks: Behind the Numbers

Here are the stats and figures you need to know from the Green Bay Packers shutout victory over the Seattle Seahawks.

We have a defense! The Green Bay Packers defense led the way as the unit put together another excellent performance, this time shutting out the Seattle Seahawks. 
 
Let's take a look back at Sunday's performance by the Packers as we go Behind the Numbers. 

214

The Green Bay Packers' run game wasn't dominant by any means, but it was effective enough, and perhaps more importantly, they stuck with it. The Packer running backs would combine for 30 carries, with Aaron Jones (7) and AJ Dillon (21) accounting for 28 of them for 91 yards.
 
As a team, Green Bay would average just 3.3 yards per rush, but it was Dillon and the run game that allowed the Packers to put this game away as the offense strung together two long scoring drives to end the game. The Packers won the time-of-possession battle by nearly 19 minutes.
 
Through the air, Dillon would tally 62 receiving yards, including a long of 50, while Jones had 61 of his own, a bulk of which came on screens. When it was all said and done, the Green Bay running back duo finished with 214 all-purpose yards.

75.5

Aaron Rodgers' final numbers were decent as he completed 23 of his 37 passes for 292 yards and 7.9 yards per attempt. However, there was certainly some rust after not having played or practiced since October 28th, and his passer rating of 75.5 better reflected his performance.
 
We saw some uncharacteristic accuracy issues, a really poor decision on the interception he threw, and Rodgers looked rushed at times as well. But credit to Matt LaFleur and his play-calling as he mixed in a number of screens, boots, play-action, and RPOs to help Rodgers find some rhythm. 

2

This has been a very opportunistic Green Bay Packers defense this season as they entered Sunday's game ranked third in total turnovers with 14. Against Seattle, they would add two more, which is something that they have now done in seven of their last nine games.
 
To take it a step further, in the Matt LaFleur era, the Packers are now 18-1 during the regular season when they force two or more turnovers. Green Bay is 27-0 when they win the turnover battle and now 31-1 when they force at least one turnover.

34

34 is the number of total points that the Green Bay Packers have allowed over the last three games against Kyler Murray, Patrick Mahomes, and Russell Wilson. ESPN's Field Yates would also add that those three quarterbacks completed just 56.3 percent of their passes for 601 yards with one passing touchdown and four interceptions. 
 
That is Championship level defense. 

2/5

We feel a little better because of how the game ended with Green Bay scoring touchdowns on their final two possessions, but this is an offense that once again struggled in the red zone. The Packers would begin the game 0/3 inside the 20-yard line and finished 2/5. 
 
While the score at halftime was only 3-0, the Packers did have over 200 yards of offense and had put together two drives that brought them into the red zone--they just couldn't come away with any touchdowns or even points. Currently, the Packers rank 25th in red zone success, scoring a touchdown on 53.8 percent of their trips. 

9.8

Seattle entered this game fourth in explosive pass play rate with Russell Wilson throwing downfield (20 yards or more) at the second-highest clip this season. Tyler Lockett has been one of the best downfield targets, while DK Metcalf can hold his own as well. But with some stellar play from the Packer cornerbacks and safeties along with a heavy dose of cover-2, Green Bay eliminated those big-play opportunities.
 
The duo of Lockett and Metcalf would average just 9.8 yards per catch on their five total receptions with longs of 16 and 18, respectively. Wilson would finish the day with just 3.1 yards per pass attempt. The longest completion Green Bay gave up was 28 yards to Will Dissly, but that came on a shallow-crosser and was just a well-designed play. 

32 & 3

To put it simply, the Green Bay Packers dominated the trenches.
 
A big reason that the Green Bay secondary had success against Wilson and the Seattle passing attack was that the pass-rush was able to get home, and the Packers defensive front did an excellent job of keeping Wilson in the pocket. As we still saw occasionally, if he's able to move around and extend plays, well, that's not a recipe for success. Green Bay would finish the game with a whopping 32 pressures, according to PFF, with Kenny Clark and Preston Smith each recording eight. Rashan Gary, Dean Lowry and Whitney Mercilus would each tally three.
 
On offense, while the offensive line didn't have to deal with a massive amount of blitzes like they did a week ago, they played much better, particularly in pass-protection. Per PFF, the Packers offensive line would surrender just three total pressures--their lowest amount of the season.  

3

Unfortunately, there are three more injuries that the Green Bay Packers are going to have to deal with. Whitney Mercilus would leave with a bicep injury, Aaron Jones a right knee injury, and Rashan Gary an elbow injury. 
 
We do not know the extent of Mercilus' injury, but Green Bay did receive some good news in regards to Jones and Gary. According to Tom Silverstein, Jones suffered an MCL sprain, an injury that has occurred three other times during his career. Meanwhile, Tom Pelissero would report that Gary did not suffer a break or any ligament damage. 
 
We still do not know how long each player will be out, but trying to replace Jones' and Gary's production -- two of the more important players on this team -- will be a nearly impossible task. 

7.8

Coming into the season, my biggest concern was the depth of the cornerback unit, and that became especially true when Jaire Alexander left the Pittsburgh game. However, credit where credit is due, the likes of Rasul Douglas, Chandon Sullivan, and Kevin King, along with rookie Eric Stokes, have all been playing some very good football--and they did so once again on Sunday. The Green Bay cornerbacks were targeted a combined 21 times and allowed just nine completions at only 7.8 yards per catch with an interception and a pass breakup. 

8-2

The Green Bay Packers are 8-2 and are the current one seed in the NFC.

 

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__________________________

Born and raised in Green Bay, WI and I still call it home. After my family, watching the Packers, sharing my opinions on the team through my writing and interacting with other fans is my greatest passion. You can find me on Twitter at @Paul_Bretl. 
 

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7 points
 

Comments (17)

Fan-Friendly This filter will hide comments which have ratio of 5 to 1 down-vote to up-vote.
Cubbygold's picture

November 15, 2021 at 11:19 am

3

Since the opening drive of the Bears game, when Isaac Yiadom was pulled and replaced with Rasul Douglas, the Packers defense has allowed 3 passing touchdowns over essentially 5 full games.

17 points
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Coldworld's picture

November 15, 2021 at 01:00 pm

PFF hated Douglas’ performance, which surprised me, then again it depends on what they are looking at. Then again they hated on Lazard, including as a blocker.

3 points
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Leatherhead's picture

November 15, 2021 at 12:07 pm

I cant believe Rodgers only got pressured 3 times…..I’ll have to check that myself.

It is nice to see the defense get a long overdue pat on the back. Remember the first game under La Fleur, when we throttled the Bears on their home field? Well, we’ve held a LOT of teams under the league average since then. We haven’t been involved in shoot outs, and if a team hits 30 on us, we’ve helped them with multiple turnovers.

Despite consistently better than average play and statistical rankings, I had to listen to alleged Packer fans describe the defense as “pathetic”, “embarrassing”, “useless” etc.. it’s nice to get a break from that blather.

Maybe we’re ready for a new narrative in Green Bay.

7 points
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Coldworld's picture

November 15, 2021 at 01:15 pm

Just to muddy the waters of our shared certainties, the pressures weren’t from Newman this week. Seems it was chiefly Runyon’s side, as I thought watching. Newman got a really high rating from PFF in both pass and run protection too.

On a different topic, I will own up to being convinced Barry was going the wrong way until the Chicago game and vociferous in that opinion. Clearly it clicked for Barry after experimenting and he’s getting more from players individually and as a whole against mobile QBs and pass led Os. It has been a truly impressive stretch.

Next week we will see a different challenge with Cook leading an offense with one elite WR and a less mobile QB. If Barry can stop Cook and contain Jefferson, that will go some way to convincing me that we have D that can handle different offenses rather than one that just thrives against mobile QBs unused to being contained and disrupted,

5 points
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Swisch's picture

November 15, 2021 at 03:38 pm

Maybe Barry has done a better job than his predecessors of allowing our defenders to be more aggressive.
I think defenders thrive on going forward rather than backward.
A defense can't be overly aggressive, but it seems that in the past our defense was overly passive. At times we have to cut guys loose to make plays, which is vital to energy and enthusiasm over a long game.
The key seems to be to mix things up against any type of offense. A quarterback will pick apart predictability. Keep that quarterback guessing, though, and a good defense can have a lot of fun harassing him.
A key to mixing things up on defense seems to be getting guys to know their assignments -- and this, too, seems to have improved this season.
These are my impressions, at least. I look forward to hearing from other fans who study the games in more detail.
P.S. I wonder if Myers at center was a key to helping both guards to play better. Could he be that good as a rookie in his blocking prowess plus calling out assignments?

0 points
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2
Matt Gonzales's picture

November 15, 2021 at 08:16 pm

Interesting thought re: Meyers. Early reports were that he picked up that aspect of the center job REALLY quickly. You also have to wonder if some of that was teams trying to key in and go through Yosh vs. trying to push through the interior OL.

Given the Vikings' love of shooting the A gap, I'm very hopeful Bahk can come back and let Elgton move inside this week. This would also be big with Dillon likely starting at RB - Jenkins has been more than fine at tackle but he is an outstanding guard.

4 points
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Matt Gonzales's picture

November 15, 2021 at 08:24 pm

If we are thin on OLB you have to assume GB will play more 3 DL and/or have Preston play hand down with Garvin/Tipa on the edges if Gary can't suit up.

Tipa and Garvin are a bit smaller for bull rushers but that also means they're a bit quicker on their feet. They have to be able to react quickly and not get tangled up by OL if Cook starts bouncing outside.

If the Packers can maintain a lead going into Q4 I want to see them pin their ears back and attack Cousins. He is fairly ineffective once the threat of the run is taken away as we saw week 1 last year.

0 points
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Coldworld's picture

November 16, 2021 at 09:33 am

Garvin is a very strong guy per Bakh and not small at 6’4” and 257, though he is not Gary or Z, in the upper 270s. He’s more similar to Preston.

Galeai is far too sleight to be anything other than a designated speed rusher. That’s why a guy with his pure rush ability went undrafted and is still on the PS. Essentially they’ve used Burks in that role in a few snaps. The hope was to physically develop Galeai to a point where he can contribute. It was clear that he’s not at that point yet during camp.

It is possible we see RJ McIntosh elevated if they want an additional big OLB rather than going true DL, which they might this week: we’ve got Anderson and Alufohai on the PS, both 300 pounders. Of course, we could also see a signing now Mercillus has been lost for the year.

2 points
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Alberta_Packer's picture

November 15, 2021 at 12:32 pm

Looking ahead in the rear view mirror - I'll add 29 - as in Nov.29 - the first day of Packers bye week. The Packers may be winning the turf war but they are certainly losing the battle of attrition. It would be splendid if a refreshed team with J. Alexander, Z. Smith, Josh Meyers - perhaps A.Jones and R.Gary - could be available for the final 5 games run leading into the playoffs.

7 points
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Swisch's picture

November 15, 2021 at 07:16 pm

With the first game after the bye being December 12, it sets up some intriguing decisions on injured players as far as playing in the two games in between, or resting them for what amounts to almost a month from today.
In other words, it's a question of missing the next two games before the bye versus them perhaps being much healthier for the final five games starting December 12.
Tough calls.
***
We've been doing quite well with a lot of backups so far this season, so maybe we go with that approach for the next two games, and give our starters more time to heal. It would give these backups more experience and make us a deeper team for the playoffs.
The Packers would still play all out, with the hope of winning at least one of the next two games -- while not being devastated if we lose both.
I'm not sure about all of this, though, and a lot depends on individual players and the type of injury each is dealing with.
***
On a related matter, in the playoffs this season, do the top two teams get a bye in the first round, or only the team with the best record?
I think it should be two, but the NFL doesn't always listen to me ;-).
I think we should be more concerned about getting players healthy than getting a bye in the playoffs, but having one less game in the playoffs is a really good thing.
It's worth remembering, though, that the Packers won our last Super Bowl in the 2010 season as a 6th-seed without a bye, but with a bye in 2011 lost our first game of the playoffs despite being the 1st-seed with a record of 15-1.
As for now, so many things to consider.

3 points
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Alberta_Packer's picture

November 15, 2021 at 06:55 pm

Being prudent - I would wait until after the bye week to bring back Gary and Jones - even if they could return beforehand. They stretch run is the most important part of a race.

3 points
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barutanseijin's picture

November 15, 2021 at 07:16 pm

Only the top seed gets a pass in the first round of the playoffs.

4 points
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LambeauPlain's picture

November 15, 2021 at 12:26 pm

3.

It seemed there were more than just 3 pressures because Rodgers was running behind the LOS a lot. But it seems several may have been to extend plays with his legs due to downfield coverage. Only one sack too.

3 points
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porupack's picture

November 15, 2021 at 02:55 pm

While no one can confidently declare anything in mid season, I will have to retract criticism of Barry, and give him credit even though it might not last. He has gotten everyone playing better, or replaced them (Yiadom), despite lots of injuries and getting replacements and newly acquired players into the system adequately or better. He has journeymen showing up on highlights. That's coaching. Buen hecho, Barry.

4 points
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Reghamster's picture

November 15, 2021 at 03:10 pm

The best thing about Barry's defensive scheme versus Pettine' s is the renewed emphasis on stopping the run whether runs by mobile qbs or stellar rbs. Our personnel has improved gradually overtime and some good FAs pick ups by Gute and an aggressive FO has helped too. I wonder how we rank collectively as a team if we exempt the first debacle against NO in week one when we were obviously under prepared ? We look Superbowl bound almost in spite of Injuries . We will improve in part at least with some returning players on both ends of the ball if we can stay injury free ! STs seem a persisting weakness . I am alone perhaps in thinking outside of kicking fgs and punting the rest is secondary. Returning the ball ( minus muffed points and fumbles) at this point is irrelevant . We do flub on a few kick returns from the opposing team but nothing major there . I don't think a new coach would improve things . It Is a personnel thing decided by the coaches who have not emphasized special teams . I think too that Crosby is not the problem but the new holder and kicker . It may improve and Should over time . GPG since my time in the womb

2 points
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Swisch's picture

November 15, 2021 at 03:26 pm

As I understand it, Crosby in the first four games of this season made his first 9 field goals -- but since then, in six games, has only made 5 in 12 attempts.
What happened to cause such a stark contrast is a mystery to me.
I hope the coaches figure it out. Maybe they can even explain it to us as fans.
There's seven more games to get things right on special teams in general, plus a bye week.
Amari Rogers looked better yesterday catching the ball. I'd give him the next two games to show whether he deserves the job of punt returner. I think he's up to it.

1 points
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Since'61's picture

November 15, 2021 at 08:04 pm

Great Job Paul. the Packers defense has allowed one TD over the last 2 games and that one TD was in the 1st Q against the Chiefs. They have allowed 18 PPG including the Saints game. Take out the Saints game and the defense is allowing just 15.8 PPG. As you correctly point out that is championship defense, especially in this offense rule favored era.

32 pressures is an impressive number. That is the way to keep the opposing QB uncomfortable and force him into mistakes. Just an outstanding job by the front 7. The effective play of our secondary is the result of maintaining consistent pressure on the QB.

Good news on Jones and Gary. we should have Jones back after the bye week and Gary may return even sooner.

Our bye week can't come soon enough. If our defense continues to dominate our opponents we should be 10-2 when we reach our bye week. GPG!
Thanks, Since '61

3 points
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