Stock Report: Packers Drop Another Big Game

That play aside, the reality is Love did not play well enough to win on a night where his defense held a powerful Philadelphia offense to just 10 points.

In a game where points were at a premium, Love made a critical mistake at the end of the first half.

Love had pressure in his face, a constant throughout the night, and failed to take care of the ball.

He tried to find an outlet and get a pass to Josh Jacobs.

Love fumbled while trying to make that play, which took points off the board for Green Bay.

Those three points were the difference in tonight’s game.

Those are small mistakes in real time, but they add up in games like these where the margins are slim.

Falling: WR/DB Bo Melton

It was not a good night to be the Packers’ two-way player, Bo Melton.

Melton was pressed into wide receiver duty tonight with the Packers being short handed at the position.

He made three plays of note on the night, and none of them were in favor of his team.

First, the Packers were faced with a fourth down late in the third quarter that LaFleur kept his offense on the field to try and convert.

Jordan Love had time, and found a receiver streaking open across the middle of the field and delivered a ball that hit Melton in the chest.

The ball would bounce off Melton’s chest and fall harmlessly incomplete.

The team’s next possession featured Melton lining up incorrectly, resulting in an illegal formation penalty that wiped out a chunk play to Christian Watson which would have had the Packers deep into Eagles’ territory.

Two plays later, the Packers punted, and Melton stepped into the end zone on the play, wiping out a ball that was downed in the shadow of the Eagles’ goal line if he had not stepped into the end zone.

Melton was a nice story during training camp, but tonight was not his best moment.

Rising: LB Edgerrin Cooper

Before nearly every game since he has become a Packer, Edgerrin Cooper likes to share a picture of fictional slasher Michael Myers of the Halloween series.

Tonight, Cooper, like Myers came to hunt.

The Packers looked like they were going to be facing another early deficit when the Eagles’ first possession, which started at their own nine yard line, drove deep into Green Bay territory.

A third-and-8 looked like it had been converted when Jalen Hurts ran behind Lane Johnson for a quarterback draw.

Hurts picked up the first down, but as he was going to the ground, Edgerrin Cooper made a play to save Green Bay’s bacon.

Cooper executed a perfect punch of the football, which was recovered by Keisean Nixon.

Nixon returned the ball to Packers’ 36.

The Packers’ offense did not do anything with the ball once they got it, but if nothing else, Cooper took points off the board.

Later in the game his speed was on display as he tracked Saquon Barkley from the middle of the field to the sideline to hold a Barkley run for zero yards.

Cooper’s speed is evident whenever he’s on the field, but he looked charged up for the challenge in tonight’s game.

Rising/Falling: CB Keisean Nixon

A rare appearance on both lists for the Packers’ cornerback.

The defensive backfield has been a pressure point for most of the season, and the Packers are clearly looking for help by hosting Asante Samuel Jr. on a free agent visit last week.

Nixon has been part of a secondary that has been up-and-down at best.

With a matchup against Devonta Smith and AJ Brown, the Packers simply needed Nixon to play well with Nate Hobbs sidelined with a knee injury.

If nothing else, the Packers did not have anymore bodies at cornerback that had any experience.

Bo Melton and Kamal Hadden were the next men up coming into the night.

Nixon had a big play in the first half, with Jalen Hurts loading up trying to find his big tight end Dallas Goedert in the middle of the field.

Goedert was blanketed on the play by Nixon, who knocked the ball away.

The Eagles would throw incomplete on the next pass and be forced to punt.

The pass breakup was Nixon’s 12th of the season, which is second in the NFL behind Cincinnati’s DJ Turner.

Nixon was also the man who recovered Edgerrin Cooper’s forced fumble on the opening possession of the game, which helped take points off the scoreboard.

Perhaps Nixon showed one of the issues of the secondary’s up-and-down play on the Eagles’ first possession after the Packers scored a touchdown to make it 10-7.

He made an incredible play to be in position on Dallas Goedert on second-and-12, which set up a long third down.

Green Bay’s pressure did not get home on Hurts, and he found AJ Brown on the next down with Nixon in coverage.

It was the worst possible time for Nixon to get beat. Which is appropriate for how the secondary has played this season.

Some stability in the secondary could go a long way toward Green Bay’s defense becoming the dominant group that Jeff Hafley envisions.

Rising: LB Quay Walker

Much like Cooper, Quay Walker was one of the best players on the field on Monday night.

His biggest play may have come on the first drive of the second half.

The Eagles were moving the ball, penetrating Green Bay’s red zone when they dialed up a run to Tank Bigsby on second-and-5.

The play was immediately snuffed out by Walker, who came downhill in the blink of an eye.

The result was a three-yard loss, and an emphatic roar of the crowd.

One penalty later, the Eagles essentially conceded the drive was over, running a draw to Will Shipley on third-and-13.

Defensive coordinators talk about four-point plays all the time, otherwise known as the difference between a touchdown and a field goal.

With the Eagles’ penchant for being able to run the tush push in short yardage situations, Walker’s play was a big one to make third down more difficult for an Eagles’ offense that has struggled in that department all season.

Walker finished the night with five solo tackles and two tackles for loss.

He was excellent in the middle of Green Bay’s defense.

Rising: RB Josh Jacobs

Josh Jacobs is the heartbeat of Green Bay’s offense.

Maybe their run game should not be the focal point of their offense, but that is to no fault of Jacobs.

Jacobs is often earning all of his yards the hard way, and tonight’s game was no different.

Green Bay’s offense was lifeless for most of three quarters, but finally found paydirt with 5:49 left in the fourth quarter.

Why?

Well Josh Jacobs, of course.

Jacobs smells blood once he gets into the red zone.

The play Jacobs scored on was probably blocked for two yards.

He gained six, and more importantly got the ball over the goal line for Green Bay’s first touchdown of the night.

Jacobs’ final stat line is pedestrian.

He ran for 75 yards on 21 carries, but they all came the hard way.

Jacobs was the only thing that was constant for Green Bay’s offense on this night.