Packers Stock Report From Upset Loss to Panthers

The Green Bay Packers played their first noon game at Lambeau Field on Sunday, and just their second on the season.

In those games, Matt LaFleur has said the Packers need to wake up with warm bodily fluids. Instead, the Packers came out cold in a 16-13 loss to the Carolina Panthers.

Here’s our weekly risers and fallers from the Packers’ second loss of the season.

Falling: Matt LaFleur

Matt LaFleur is a good coach. His regular-season record would certainly point to that.

Why does his team so often fail to meet the moment against teams like these Panthers?

The Packers were coming off an inspiring win on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers, while the Panthers were blown away by the Buffalo Bills.

It didn’t matter.

The Panthers looked like the team that had more juice. They were more inspired, and they executed better against LaFleur’s offense which could not find the end zone until late in the fourth quarter.

When the offseason began, Brian Gutekunst said his team needed to up their sense of urgency and start competing for championships.

That urgency was missing against a Carolina team that finished with just 102 passing yards.

Again, LaFleur is a good coach, but sometimes good can be the enemy of great.

Can the Packers put together enough good performances in the playoffs with him at the helm?

Can he be trusted to make the right decisions in critical situations?

He botched a situation today when he decided to forgo a short field goal to pull the score within 13-9.

LaFleur kept his offense on the field, and the result was no conversion.

Those three points certainly would have come in handy, and Josh Jacobs’ touchdown run in the fourth quarter would have given them a lead as opposed to just tying the score.

LaFleur cannot answer the questions that are being asked of him now. That can only happen when the games become more important.

For now, any lack of faith in that happening would be justified.

Falling: WR Savion Williams

Williams was a guy the Packers brought in to get some manufactured touches because of his ability to make plays with the ball in his hands.

He has had some flashes early in his career, but they’ve been few and far between.

The Packers continue to try and get him involved on offense, and on their first drive of the game today it cost them.

Green Bay had penetrated deep into Carolina territory looking to take an early 7-0 lead against an inferior Panthers team.

They ran a swing pass to Williams after an explosive run from Josh Jacobs got them inside Carolina’s 20 when Williams forgot to bring the ball with him.

The ball was punched out and recovered by Carolina safety Nick Scott, ending Green bay’s first drive of the game.

To Williams’ credit, his first opportunity with a kickoff return, he would return the ball 33 yards to Green Bay’s 42, but his mistake early in the game was one that set the Packers up for the type of game that transpired from there.

Falling: Interior Offensive Line

Jordan Morgan has continued to start at right guard, but really struggled in the first half of today’s game.

He gave up one pressure on the first drive of the game, which Jordan Love completed to Tucker Kraft for a first down.

After Christian Watson caught a 52-yard pass from Love in the second quarter, Morgan was beaten for a sack that essentially ended any chance of Green Bay scoring a touchdown to open the game.

Morgan was in a competition this offseason to be the starting left tackle with Rasheed Walker.

Walker won that competition, and Morgan has been relegated to interior duty ever since.

There was not an opportunity to see if Morgan had to rotate with Sean Rhyan today due to an injury to left guard Aaron Banks put Rhyan in at left guard

Rhyan was called for a holding penalty in Green Bay’s two-minute offense. Elgton Jenkins was penalized twice in the first half.

Morgan was beaten badly several times in the run game. Jenkins and Rhyan did not move a lot of people there either.

Next week they face a much more formidable defensive front with the Philadelphia Eagles and Jalen Carter coming to town.

Falling: Top-Ranked Run Defense

Green Bay’s run defense came into the day ranked third in the NFL, and spent time last week ranked at the top of the league.

They had yet to allow an individual running back to top 100 yards in a single game this year.

This week’s challenge was a little different with the dynamic Rico Dowdle coming out of Carolina’s backfield.

Carolina had a beat up offensive line coming into the day, but that did not matter.

The offensive line which was held together mostly with scotch tape and bubble gum consistently played on Green Bay’s side of the line of scrimmage in the first half.

Dowdle racked up 66 yards on 12 carries in the first half alone. Dowdle would add a five-yard touchdown to give the Panthers a 7-3 lead just before halftime.

To add injury to insult, the team lost Colby Wooden, its best run defender who earned the nickname “The General” was lost to a shoulder injury late in the first half, and did not suit up for the second half.

With a thin defensive line in the second half, Carolina’s ground game continued to chew up Green Bay’s highly ranked run defense.

Dowdle became the first individual rusher to top 100 yards against Green Bay this season.

The real back breaker was on second-and-10 on Carolina’s final possession of regulation.

Dowdle broke a 19-yard-run to put the Panthers in comfortable field goal range.

Dowdle finished the day with 130 yards on 25 carries.

What’s coming up next week?

The Philadelphia Eagles dynamic ground game led by its offensive line and Saquon Barkley.

Falling: K Brandon McManus

Last year, McManus was the man who saved Green Bay’s kicking game, and looked to give the team some stability at that position.

He was rewarded with a 3-year $15.3 million contract in the offseason.

He followed that up with a strong training camp, where he was nearly automatic.

He has had two kicks blocked this season, and missed two games due to injury.

In his absence, Lucas Havrisik made all of his kicks, including a franchise record 61-yard field goal against the Arizona Cardinals.

McManus returned last week and missed two field goals against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

He missed another today, this time a 43-yard field goal that would have given them a 9-7 lead in the second half.

If Havrisik had not been perfect in McManus’ absence, there probably is not a conversation to be had here.

With McManus struggling for what has now been half a season, and Havrisik being perfect, could the Packers look to make a move at kicker?

That seems unlikely, but the fact that McManus has even made that a conversation is proof his season has been a disappointment.

Rising: S Xavier McKinney

Green Bay’s start to the game was sluggish, and it looked like their defense was destined to give up points after Bryce Young, Rico Dowdle and Tetairoa McMillan had driven the Panthers deep into Green Bay’s red zone.

On first-and-10 from the Packers’ 18, McKinney was sent on a blitz, and forced a fumble from Young.

Perhaps appropriate for what Green Bay’s day had looked like to that point, the fumble was recovered by Panthers’ running back Chuba Hubbard for a gain of six yards.

Two plays later, McKinney would be part of another big play, but this time, he got the takeaway he was looking for.

Young loaded up to throw a go ball down the sideline to Xavier Legette with Keisean Nixon in coverage.

Nixon had Legette walled off, but Young missed the throw badly to the middle of the field.

McKinney, as he did so many times in 2024, ran the ball down like a center fielder, intercepting the ball and taking points off the board for the Panthers.

Rising: WR Romeo Doubs

Doubs is a bit of a forgotten man in Green Bay’s pass catching group.

With all of the attention surrounding Tucker Kraft, Matthew Golden, and Christian Watson, Doubs has been a steady presence all year long.

Today, he was the entire offense through the first three quarters.

Of Love’s 197 passing yards in the first three quarters, Doubs had 86 of them, including a 30-yard gain on a free play late in the third quarter.

Doubs may not be the most explosive player, but he’s a reliable target.

Any offense could use guys like that. That’s especially true in Green Bay whose offense almost lends itself to variance with as many guys as they rotate in and out of the lineup.

By the end of the game, that reliability was almost a necessity.

Matthew Golden, Tucker Kraft, Dontayvion Wicks, and Christian Watson all were either inactive, or left the game due to injury.

Rising: TE Luke Musgrave

Musgrave has become a forgotten man in Green Bay’s offense thanks to Tucker Kraft’s ascension to stardom.

Today, however, Kraft left the game with a knee injury in the third quarter and did not return.

He was later joined by Matthew Golden, who left the game with a shoulder injury.

It was time for the next man up in the passing game.

That man, was Musgrave.

With the Packers trailing 13-6 in the fourth quarter, they needed to put together a drive to tie the game.

The first play from scrimmage was a play-action pass that dialed up a corner route to Musgrave, which was a completion for 21 yards.