Stock Report: Packers Pass Rush Buries the Vikings

Minnesota’s second series in the second half was wrecked almost entirely by Parsons as well. A first down run was stuffed in the backfield by Evan Williams, and Parsons took it from there.

Parsons beat Darrisaw again, this time on the edge to sack McCarthy and set up a third-and-16. Minnesota’s third down play never stood a chance as Parsons blasted through Minnesota’s interior offensive line, which freed up Devonte Wyatt to sack McCarthy in the shadow of his own goal line.

Parsons’ second sack of the game put him in double digits for the season. He’s also the first Packers’ pass rusher to get to 10 sacks since Za’Darius Smith in 2020.

The Packers ask Parsons to wreck games and close them out. He did both on Sunday, and it’s fair to wonder where the defense could be without his brilliance.

Stock Up: OL Anthony Belton

The Packers’ second round pick has been out of sight and out of mind in recent weeks. When the Packers have gone to their packages with six offensive linemen, it has been Darian Kinnard playing instead of Belton as the extra tackle on the line.

This week, however, a nugget from Offensive Line Coach Luke Butkus came when he said that Belton was repping at guard.

“Well, you guys know as well anybody right now, if you’re not a starter, you’re going to have to be able to do a little bit of everything. We give him some reps and we try to cross-train him, like we do everybody, to be able to help out in any way possible,” Butkus said.

Belton did most of his work during the summer at tackle. The Packers have insisted they like him at tackle, and he rotated there early in the season when Zach Tom was injured. With his size, a move inside to guard could be what’s best for him in the future.

In Sunday’s game, there was a noticeable change. Belton entered the game at right guard for the team’s second offensive series. Rotating offensive linemen has become normal in Green Bay. It used to be that Jordan Morgan was rotating with Sean Rhyan at right guard as someone who was trying to push Rhyan out of the lineup.

Now, it appears that Belton is starting to push Morgan for more opportunities at guard, as he rotated through the first half before taking the right guard job outright for the duration of the second half.

Stock Up: RB Emanuel Wilson

With Josh Jacobs on the sideline, the backfield went into the hands of a backup who has been in Green Bay for three years, but never started a game due to being an understudy of Aaron Jones and Jacobs.

Sunday, it was Emanuel Wilson’s time to shine. With Minnesota’s propensity to blitz opposing quarterbacks, keeping them off balance was a key component to playing offense.

Wilson scored the team’s first touchdown, powering through Blake Cashman for a one-yard score to give the team a 7-3 lead on the team’s opening possession.

The Packers had not scored a touchdown on their opening drive since a 40-point outburst in the fourth game of the season.

Those slow starts have put the Packers in close games against inferior opponents.

After Green Bay’s first possession of the second half stalled, Daniel Whelan’s punt was touched by Minnesota’s return man Myles Price at the Minnesota five yard line. The fumble was recovered by Zayne Anderson, and put the Packers in position to go up two scores in the second half.

Who was Matt LaFleur going to call? Wilson, of course. Two carries, five yards, one touchdown, and the Packers had a 17-6 lead in what was Emanuel Wilson’s first career multi-touchdown game.

For better or worse, Matt LaFleur wants to lean into his ground game. Emanuel Wilson was asked to fill some massive shoes on Sunday. He responded by becoming the Packers’ first 100-yard rusher this season.

Stock Up: LB Isaiah McDuffie

Sunday’s game was built on the backs of Parsons and replacement players. Emanuel Wilson was the star on offense filling in for Josh Jacobs.

Defensively, it was Quay Walker sidelined with a stinger and replaced by Isaiah McDuffie. McDuffie covered up JJ McCarthy for half a sack, and stuffed a third-and-1 run by TJ Hockenson who snuck in for an attempt at a quarterback sneak. In the second half, he was credited with an interception after Rashan Gary beat replacement left tackle Justin Skule.

McDuffie has been a role player throughout his career, but the Packers have always spoken highly of him. If Walker is unable to play in Thursday’s tilt in Detroit, they have some comfort with McDuffie’s ability to fill in.

Stock Up: Evan Williams

The Packers’ defense has been begging for takeaways. They found one last week out of five passes that hit their defensive backs in the hands.

This week, they had more opportunities with JJ McCarhty’s league-high turnover rate playing quarterback for Minnesota. As the Packers’ lead ballooned, the chance for making plays on the ball rose with each passing attempt.

Isaiah McDuffie caught one in the fourth quarter after Rashan Gary pressured McCarthy for the first turnover of the game.

The second, came from Evan Williams who caught a pass that McCarthy airmailed in desperation mode into the waiting arms of Williams.

Wiliams now leads the team with three interceptions on the year. For good measure, Williams was a catalyst for a drive that was ended by Micah Parsons with a tackle for loss on a first-and-10 run in the third quarter as well.

Williams has been excellent for most of the season, and is starting to get some numbers in the box score to show it.

Stock Down: Run Defense

Minnesota’s game plan was obvious to any innocent bystander. The Vikings wanted to run the ball and run it some more against Green Bay’s defense.

With the struggles they have had at quarterback, it makes sense to want to keep the ball out of his hands as much as possible.

Green Bay’s defense knew the situation coming into the game as well. They wanted to make JJ McCarthy beat them by playing quarterback.

Green Bay’s run defense was good in totality last week against the New York Giants. They did not make any impact plays though, which kept the Giants in favorable downs and distances.

The numbers in totality were not as good today.

At the end of the first half, both Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason were averaging at least five yards-per-carry.

Had it not been for the Vikings muffing a punt to start the third quarter, they likely would have been able to stay in their preferred game script.

Since they couldn’t, the run defense got a respite from the tandem of Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones running repeatedly at them.

The final numbers look good thanks to the score differential being what it was for most of the second half, but the Detroit Lions will present a much stiffer test for this group for four quarters.

Stock Down: Passing Game

Jordan Love and the passing game were going to be tested in Sunday’s game with Brian Flores’ blitz-happy scheme. The Packers did good enough handling Minnesota’s blitz schemes. Jordan Love was rarely under immediate pressure.

Despite that, there were not a lot of plays made in the passing game. Love finished the game 14-for-21 for a measly 139 yards and

Most of their passing attempts were within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage.

Their leading receiver was Christian Watson, but he only was able to muster 49 yards on five catches.

Perhaps the offense focused on not getting Love hit due to an injured left shoulder which hampered him. Perhaps they were understanding the situation in the fact they were playing a team with quarterback issues.

Regardless of what the reason behind their gameplan, the passing game is not going to be able to take that kind of backseat against the better teams Green Bay is set to face on its schedule.

They’ll need to be much better in four days when they face the Detroit Lions.