Who Was MVP of Packers’ Victory Over Steelers?

Sunday was National Tight Ends Day, and Packers tight end Tucker Kraft celebrated with a career game.

“He was a beast. He was a man possessed,” is how coach Matt LaFleur described Kraft after his team rallied to a 35-25 win at the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Kraft had one of the best games of his career and was a catalyst for the offense in the second half. He set career highs for receptions (seven) and yards (143) and tied his career high with two touchdowns. He also had the longest play of the season for the Packers, a 59-yard catch and run on a third-down pass thrown by Jordan Love as he was being hit.

We highlighted Kraft before the game as one of the most important players due to his ability to run after the catch. He exceeded expectations with the ball in his hands, recording a career-high 128 yards after the catch. He only recorded 2.1 yards before the catch per reception, according to Pro Football Reference.

At the beginning of Week 8, Kraft was 12th in the NFL in YAC. Now, he’s fourth overall and first among tight ends. His 30 receptions are tied for only 39th but he’s 21st with 469 yards and ninth with 15.6 yards per catch.

“Anytime I get the ball in my hands, all I’m thinking about is north-south,” Kraft said. “How can I squeeze every amount of yards out of this play? Those opportunities came to me today, and I just executed.”

Kraft leads all tight ends in receiving yards per game and has established himself as a top player at the position.

“We’d be crazy not to” build the passing game around Kraft, LaFleur said.

Kraft was targeted 22 times in the first five games but 19 in the last two, a sign that a passing attack predicated on spreading the ball to its playmakers is honing in on Kraft as the premier player.

“Certainly, we want to get everybody involved,” LaFleur said on Monday. “But the bottom line is, it’s about winning. It’s about moving the football. It’s about scoring points. And a lot of times you can’t dictate what coverages teams are going to play, and that certainly dictates where the ball’s going to end up going.

“Within every game plan, we try to put in things for each individual. I just can’t guarantee where the ball’s going to go unless we’re calling a jet sweep or a screen to a guy. But that was not a good team to run those types of plays against, because they were so wide with their edges. What was more effective was actually dropping back and throwing the football, kind of like what Cincinnati did.”

Kraft had a good first half with 49 yards and a touchdown, but he became a monster in the second half. He had 94 yards and his second touchdown. Three of his second-half receptions came on third or fourth down.

While Kraft had an incredible performance and is the first Packers player to be our MVP in multiple games, there were several players who earned honorable mentions against the Steelers.