The Packers elevated QB Sean Clifford and CB Robert Rochell from the practice squad.  The Packers previously signed RB Chris Brooks to the 53-man roster while RB Marshawn Lloyd is out on the injured reserve list.  Brooks was waived injured by the Dolphins but reached an injury settlement for his concussion.  The Packers initially signed him to their practice squad and then to their 53-man roster.  Due to injury, QB Jordan Love (MCL), CB Carrington Valentine (ankle), and Jordan Morgan (shoulder), were inactive.  OL Travis Glover, Edge Brenton Cox, DE Colby Wooden, and S Kitan Olapado were healthy scratches.  Sean Clifford was active but did not play.

OFFENSIVE LINE:  

The Packers rushed for 188 yards on 37 carries, a 5.1-yard average.  The running backs gained 96 yards on 29 carries, a 3.3-yard average.  In the first half, the Packers slammed Josh Jacobs mostly into the middle of the Titans' defense, where he gained 11 yards on 7 carries.  In the 87-degree heat, the Packers had more success running up the middle later in the game as the game (and the Titans' mammoth NT, De'Vondre Sweat) wore on (or out).  Malik Willis gained all 73 of his rushing yards on 6 carries in the first half.  Still, the Packers were able to work the edges and later settled into an RPO game to provide a creditable running attack.  A couple of nice runs were taken off the board due to penalties.  I thought Jacobs' nice run wouldn't have gone anywhere but for the hold by Rasheed Walker.  Maybe Jacobs could have run through an arm tackle on that play. 

The offensive line allowed 3 quarterback hits, all sacks.  DE Jefferey Simmons had one sack, and linebacker Kenneth Murray had the other two sacks on some well-designed packages.  The line generally gave Willis ample time.  Overall, the line had a good day aside from several penalties.  Rasheed Walker had committed 4 penalties (3 holding calls and a false start) in two games entering today's contest, and added another hold.  Jenkins had a couple of penalties against the Titans.

QUARTERBACK:

Willis gained 73 yards on 6 carries, all in the first half.  He was decisive when he decided to scramble.  Willis completed 13 of 19 passes for 202 yards (an excellent 10.63-yards per attempt) with a long of 37 yards.  He had some other long completions where he let his receiver do most of the work, but he completed a 37 yard pass to Watson and an 18 yard pass to Doubs.  Coach LaFleur lowered the guardrails a bit more and let Willis explore the intermediate and deep areas.  It looked like Willis was getting to more second reads.  Willis had another very good day.  The only worrisome thing is the Packers continuing problems in the red zone.  Today, the Packers went 1 vor 3.  They had to settle for two 21-yard field goals.  Otherwise, when the backup quarterback comes in to start two games and goes 2-0 (each time contributing many positive plays), that is an A+.

RUNNING BACKS:

Emanuel Wilson gained 50 yards on 12 carries, a 4.16-yard average, and Josh Jacobs gained 43 yards on 14 carriers (3.1 average).  These are fairly modest number that do not paint a fair picture.  Each back had to slam into the middle of the Titans' defense just to keep them honest, even if there was no room to go anywhere.  It loosened up a bit in the second half, but there were several runs for no gain or minimal gains.  I thought the backs did an excellent job breaking some tackles, and yes, just running through trash, in a nice display by both Jacobs and Wilson of balance and cutting ability.  I saw both backs ignore some arm tackles and/or recover their balance after some lineman on the ground tried to grab an ankle, all the while showing some power and speed.  Wilson caught both his targets for 35 yards, including taking a short pass to the end zone after he broke the ankles of CB Jarvis Brownlee (#29) and shook off another tackle attempt.  Jacobs caught one pass for 5 yards.  I am comfortable with the pass protection of both backs.  According to PFF, Jacobs had led the league in carries entering the game, so given the comfortable lead, Wilson got quite a fiew snaps.  Chris Brooks came in during mop up operations and carried the ball 3 times for 3 yards.  He did his job: he did not fumble.

TIGHT ENDS:

Kraft caught 2 of targets for 24 yards with a long of 21.  He dropped the other target for what would have been a sure first down.  That is not flashy but the Packers love having a blocking tight end.  Kraft's blocking is night and day better than the first half of his rookie season.  Musgrave caught his only target for 3 yards.  Musgrave gets in the way effectively enough when he blocks.   It shows you how much the wide receivers and quarterbacks, indeed the whole offense, has matured when one considers Musgrave has just 2 receptions on 4 targets for 9 receiving yards in the 3 games so far this year, despite getting a substantial number of snaps.  Last Year Musgrave had 46 targets in 11 games, with the offense looking if not forcing the ball to him because he was one of the team's best match-ups.  Kraft left the game in the third quarter with a shoulder injury but he returned.

WIDE RECEIVERS:

There won't be any flashy statistics when the team only attempts 19 passes.  Reed caught 4 of 6 passes for 50 yards with a long of 30.  Reed and Kraft are the two players I would least like to be without; I think the Packers would miss Kraft because I don't see a replacement and they would miss Reed for his ability to play in the backfield (and make opposing defenses change their scheme and/or personnel) and his ability to run the ball, catch it, and gain yards after he touches the ball.  Maybe Musgrave would respond to such a challenge and perhaps Melton and Watson could do the sorts of things Reed has been bringing to the table.

Christian Watson caught both of his targets for 67 yards.  He came down with a 37-yard bomb (all in the air) after high-pointing it (what some called Randy Moss-ing the cornerback).  His other reception went for 30 yards.  Perhaps as important, Watson was really muscling the opposing secondary all day.  Doubs put in another good day at the office, catching one pass on two targets for 18 yards.  Wicks did not catch either of his targets.  It would be nice to get Wicks back on track as he has only caught 3 of 9 targets for 26 yards so far this year.  Heath had no targets, but then, he did not run any routes.  According to PFF, Doubs ran 22 routes, Reed 18, Watson 15, Kraft 14, Wicks and Musgrave 13, Melton 2 and Ben Sims had 1.

Reed has yet to play a single snaps when the Packers are use 12 personnel, per PFF.  The Packers use Doubs at one spot, with Watson and Wicks splitting the other wide receiver spot, and they use Reed in the slot (or in the backfield).  The Packers (the WRs, the RBs, even the TEs) are forcing their opponents to miss quite a few tackles, 

DEFENSIVE LINEMEN:

Yet another game playing just 4 interior defensive linemen.  This is the second game in which Wooden was a healthy scratch.  This approach is working.  After giving up 10 points last week, they held the Titans to 14 points and just 237 total yards.  The Titans converted 3 of 10 third and fourth down opportunities.  Wyatt stuffed the stat line with 4 tackles (3 solo), 2 sacks, and a total of 3 quarterback hits.  Brooks and Clark each had one solo tackle, though Brooks also had 1 quarterback hit.  Clark was penalized for offsides.  Slaton had no statistics.  

The Titans only gained 33 yards on the ground on 11 carries, with most of the yards coming from their quarterback (12 yards on 3 carries).  Their running backs gained 19 yards on 8 carries, a 2.37 yard average.  Of their 11 running plays, only three would be deemed successful runs, a 4-yard carry by Pollard on a 1st and 10, a 6-yard carry by RB Tyjae Spears and an 8-yard scramble by Levis.  The Titans could not run and the line kept the linebackers clean while getting some pressure and a push up the middle.

LINEBACKERS:

McDuffie led the Packers with 9 tackles (6 solo) and a half sack.  He made some nice open field stops.  Walker had 6 tackles and a half sack.  Cooper had 3 assisted tackles and a half sack.  I like seeing that Cooper is getting worked into the mix more even if it comes at the expense of Eric Wilson, who had a great game last week.  Wilson has an assisted tackle.  I have not been able to watch the game again.  I would just note that the Titans' running backs caught 7 of 8 passes for 69 yards with a long of 29 yards.  

EDGE:

Enagbare had 4 tackles (1 solo), 2 quarterback hits which turned into 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble on a big hit.  Preston Smith had solo tackles, 2 of which were sacks.  It is nice to see Smith come alive with his first sacks of the season..  It is great for him because he has incentives in his contracts based on the number of sacks he gets.  Gary had 2 tackles (1 solo).  Gary had a clean sacked wiped out by a neutral zone penalty on Preston Smith.  Van Ness had 1 sack.  Van Ness always hustles.  The team had 8 sacks in the game, 4.5 by the Edge group, 1.5 by the ILBs, and 2 by the defensive line (i.e., Wyatt).  Some of these sacks game in the 4th quarter when the team could tee off but 1 game on the Titans 3rd possession and 2 came on their 4th possession.  

SECONDARY:

McKinney continues his great play with another interception, this time one that he made happen, and sound tackles.  He had 4 tackles (3 solo), and took some nice angles.  Alexander had 5 tackles (4 solo) and an interception/pick 6. He undercut a little out route and took it to the house.  Stokes had 5 solo tackles.  It may be that the Titans tried to isolate on Stokes.   Williams and Rochell had tackles on special teams.  Nixon, Bullard, and Ballentine had no statistics.         

SPECIAL TEAMS:

Narveson made all three of his field goals with a long of 48.  He had a miss that was wiped out by a penalty.  Whelan came back down to earth by kicking 5 punts of a gross average of 48.8 yards, but he had 2 touchbacks and 2 others were returned for 24 yards.  

RB: 1.00

TE: 1.25

WR: 2.75

DL:  1.93

ILB: 2.25

Edge: 2.11

DB: 4.70

Photo courtesy of Steve Roberts, Imagn Images