National Football League

Packers report card: Rodgers peerless in dominant win

Published Oct. 20, 2014 10:40 a.m. ET

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GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Handing out grades following the Green Bay Packers' 38-17 win over the Carolina Panthers in Week 7 of the 2014 season:

Passing Offense: A

Aaron Rodgers was nearly perfect. There's no better passer rating than 158.3, and after 19 attempts, Rodgers was at that mark. Though an incompletion dropped him down to 154.5, it was still the second-best passer rating of his career as Rodgers completed 19 of 22 passes for 255 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.

Rodgers is almost always efficient, but his 86 percent completion rate was the highest of his career (with a minimum of 20 attempts) and is the third-best percentage in Packers history. By not throwing any interceptions for the sixth consecutive game, Rodgers tied Bart Starr's 50-year-old franchise record. It also joined Rodgers with 2007 Tom Brady as the only two quarterbacks to record four consecutive games with three touchdowns and zero interceptions in one season.

Unlike the first six games of this season, Rodgers spread the ball around, throwing passes to nine different targets. Randall Cobb led the way with six catches for 121 yards and his eighth touchdown of the season, Jordy Nelson had four receptions for 80 yards and a touchdown, while rookie Davante Adams's one catch went for 21 yards and got him into the end zone, too. Adams was one of six players with one reception.

Rodgers got a lot of help from his receivers getting yards after the catch, too. On Nelson's 59-yard touchdown, 39 of it came after the ball arrived. Nelson beat Antoine Cason in coverage and then made safety Roman Harper miss in the open field. Later in the game, Cobb racked up 31 yards after the catch on a 33-yard gain and another 35 YAC on a 47-yard play. On those three plays alone, the legs of Nelson and Cobb accounted for 105 yards, which was more than 41 percent of Rodgers' total passing yards.

The pass protection from the offensive line was good. Rodgers was sacked twice, but he doesn't think either will be attributed to the offensive line. The first sack of Rodgers came on the third play of the game and was a missed block by tight end Andrew Quarless.

Rushing Offense: A-minus

Unlike the Packers' Week 6 game in Miami, Eddie Lacy was back to being more of a featured runner. He started the game as usual, but instead of giving way to James Starks for the second drive, Lacy stayed in. Starks didn't see his first action until Green Bay was already up, 14-0. There was a brief wrinkle thrown in, with Cobb and Kevin Dorsey (two wide receivers) manning the backfield on the Packers' fourth series, which resulted in a three-and-out. Then it was back to Lacy on a nine-play, 94-yard touchdown drive.

Lacy and Starks both played very well. There was one play backed up near the goal line where Lacy needed to be more decisive and just run, but that was really the one exception to an otherwise strong performance for him. He was running hard and, even on one play in which he had no room, Lacy broke four tackles en route to a carry that only gave him two yards. He was ridding himself of Panthers defenders routinely. Lacy's touchdown run was impressive in a different way, cutting hard to the right and bouncing it outside to walk into the end zone.

Starks' touchdown run was a 'wow' moment for him. On a play that seemed designed to go right, Starks would've been met near the line of scrimmage. So instead, he stopped and tried the other way. With one Carolina player directly behind him and four more closing in from different angles, Starks ran hard and lowered his shoulder at the point of contact to earn himself the touchdown.

The one significant negative was a Lacy fumble that he was fortunate to have Bryan Bulaga recover. Also, Starks had to leave the game with a left ankle injury.

Rushing Defense: A-minus

Green Bay didn't let Cam Newton have a big day on the ground. One week after Newton had 107 rushing yards and dominated with the read-option, the Packers held him in check. It certainly helped Green Bay's defense that its offense took a commanding early lead. But it meant a more one-dimensional Carolina offense, and that was more than manageable for the Packers to stop.

The moment of the day for the run defense came on the Panthers' first series of the second half. Facing a third-and-1 near midfield, Green Bay stopped Jonathan Stewart for no gain and then didn't let Newton sneak it across the first-down marker on fourth down. Any momentum that Carolina built up by gaining 38 yards on three plays to begin the third quarter was lost with that defensive stop by the Packers.

Clay Matthews immediately made an impact in the game with a three-yard tackle for loss on Stewart. Sean Richardson actually got a chance to play a meaningful defensive snap in the first quarter and delivered with a stop on third-and-1 to force a Panthers punt.

Carolina rushed for 108 yards total, but a lot of it was long after the game was decided. Stewart began the fourth quarter with three consecutive rushes that totaled 32 yards. Prior to that, Stewart had just nine carries for 23 yards (2.5 average).

Passing Defense: B-plus

Newton completed 17 of 31 passes for 205 yards with one touchdown and one interception for a passer rating of 72.6. It was by far the lowest passer rating of this season for Newton, who's averaging 89.3.

Green Bay nearly forced Newton into three interceptions. Casey Hayward had the one that counted, but Matthews would've had a pick-six on a pass broken up by Tramon Williams that was ruled defensive pass interference, and Williams later had a diving near-interception.

The Packers got a lot of pressure on Newton, too. They finished with three sacks, led by Julius Peppers with 1.5. The one shared sack from Peppers was with Matthews, who was called for taunting after the play. The first Green Bay sack of the game was courtesy of Nick Perry, who bull-rushed right tackle Nate Chandler backwards on a third-down play.

Ha Ha Clinton-Dix had one great tackle, but he also had a missed tackle (a rarity, only his second of the season) on the second play of the third quarter that led to a 12-yard pass. Jamari Lattimore -- who surprisingly came off the bench with Sam Barrington getting his first career start -- led the second half off with a missed tackle of his own.

Greg Olsen got loose and is another tight end this season with more than 100 receiving yards against the Packers. Rookie wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin showed how great he could become with a catch over Williams. Benjamin had three receptions for 61 yards and a touchdown.

Special Teams: B-plus

Tim Masthay's 55.2 yards per punt average was a season high. Mason Crosby made his only field-goal attempt, connecting from 34 yards out late in the third quarter. DuJuan Harris' only kickoff return was brought back just nine yards, with Green Bay having to then begin its drive at the 11-yard line. Cobb had two good punt returns, one for 24 yards and another for 14 yards. The Packers allowed Philly Brown to return one kickoff 31 yards, while Brown and Brenton Bursin both had punt returns of at least 11 yards.

Overall: A-minus

Like Green Bay's win over the Minnesota Vikings at Lambeau Field earlier this season, this was one NFL team just destroying another NFL team. The score was 21-0 before Carolina even got a first down. That's about as one-sided as it gets. And this wasn't a pushover opponent, either. Yes, the Panthers' defense has taken a significant step back from last season, but they remain the leader in the NFC South (albeit a somewhat surprisingly weak division) in the standings even after this game.

Rodgers played like the NFL MVP, the running game was very good and the defense controlled the situation until the score became out of reach at 38-3. It wasn't an all-around perfect performance (a few missed tackles, the defense not finishing the game well and too many yards for Olsen), but the Packers were up by so much that Rodgers didn't play in the fourth quarter. That's when you know a game was completely controlled by Green Bay.

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