National Football League

Packers report card: Win over Jets shows grit, flaws

Published Sep. 15, 2014 11:30 a.m. ET

foxsports

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Handing out grades following the Green Bay Packers' 31-24 win over the New York Jets in Week 2 of the 2014 season:

Passing Offense: B-plus

It was an ugly start, with Aaron Rodgers fumbling the first snap from Corey Linsley, which was recovered by the Jets. The next drive wasn't much better, with Derek Sherrod letting Quinton Coples get by him for a sack, followed two plays later by another New York sack when no Packers player picked up Demario Davis on a blitz.

Midway through the second quarter, a dropped pass near the goal line by Jarrett Boykin had Rodgers less than pleased with the third-year former undrafted wide receiver. That may have been the moment that Davante Adams became Green Bay's primary No. 3 receiver, with Boykin falling to No. 4.

When it seemed like the Packers might not be able to move the ball as well through the air as many thought, Rodgers orchestrated a 97-yard touchdown drive in 1 minute, 44 seconds right before halftime. Aside from an 11-yard scramble rush by Rodgers, the rest of those yards came on passes. It was still startling to see Rodgers with 30 passing attempts already at halftime.

Jordy Nelson had a breakout third quarter with 124 receiving yards in just that 15-minute period alone. That included the go-ahead (and eventual game-winning) 80-yard touchdown catch from Rodgers in which Nelson beat 2013 first-round pick cornerback Dee Milliner in coverage, then got by 2014 first-round pick safety Calvin Pryor near the sideline and outran everyone for the score.

Rodgers finished the game having completed 25 of 42 passes for 346 yards with three touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer rating of 109.8. Rodgers would have thrown an interception late in the third quarter, but it seemed like he knew the Jets had 12 men on the field and that it was a free play.

Nelson had a career-high 209 receiving yards and for the second consecutive game to start the season saw a heavy dose of passes thrown his way with 16 targets. Randall Cobb only had 39 receiving yards, but he caught two touchdown passes. Green Bay tight ends as a group had just one catch (that being from Andrew Quarless) on three targets (two to Quarless, one to Richard Rodgers) for eight yards. Brandon Bostick was active but did not play on offense.

Rushing Offense: C-minus

At halftime, Eddie Lacy had five rushing yards. Head coach Mike McCarthy noted after the game that the Jets clearly wanted to focus on taking Lacy out of the game, and they successfully did that, especially early on. But even Lacy's full-game numbers of 13 carries for 43 yards is not the type of performance that made him the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year last season.

Rodgers led the Packers in rushing yards throughout much of the game, finishing with four scrambles for 30 yards (not including his two kneel-downs for a total of minus-2 yards).

It's not clear if James Starks was benched or what happened, but he didn't factor in the game whatsoever. Cobb lined up in the backfield and had two carries for six yards and fullback John Kuhn had one rush for three yards.

Green Bay's offensive line was pushed around too often by a very good Jets front. Totaling just 80 rushing yards in the game (and having more than one-third of that come from Rodgers) is not good enough for a Packers team that has the personnel to perform much better in that area.

Rushing Defense: B

After Week 1, New York led the NFL in rushing yards. Yes, it was just one game, but it still showed that the Jets are capable of being a great running team. Quarterback Geno Smith, speedy Chris Johnson and bulldozing Chris Ivory make a dangerous trio.

After Week 1, Green Bay ranked 31st in the league in rushing yards allowed. Yes, it was just one game and it was facing Marshawn Lynch and Percy Harvin, but it was obviously not a great start.

Given that, everything considered, the Packers did a fairly good job stopping New York's rushing attack. Johnson was held to just 21 yards on 12 carries (1.8 average) and Ivory led the team with 43 yards on 13 attempts (3.3 average). Smith added 26 yards on seven rushes, including one QB draw.

Despite those respectable numbers for the Jets' main three runners, New York still had 146 rushing yards. That's in part due to a large number of carries (37), but it's also because the Jets picked up 39 yards on one play from Jeremy Kerley on an option from Smith.

Green Bay blew up two plays in the backfield for a loss, one coming from Mike Daniels for minus-6 and one from Mike Neal for minus-1, both when Johnson had the ball.

Passing Defense: B

Smith has a long way to go to be near the top of the list of NFL's best quarterbacks, but he did a lot of things well against the Packers. Smith made a great throw on a touchdown pass to Eric Decker with Sam Shields in one-on-one coverage along the left sideline, giving New York an early 14-0 lead. With Smith's speed and elusiveness, it's also not surprising that Green Bay was only able to sack him once, that being from Daniels. (Michael Vick played one snap and was sacked by Clay Matthews, giving the Packers a total of two in the game.)

For most parts of the game, Green Bay's secondary performed quite well. Tramon Williams had a couple good plays in coverage, beginning with a pass breakup on what otherwise would've been a catch for Decker. Later, with pass rush from Daniels leading to a QB hit on Smith, Williams had an interception near the goal line that was a big play in the Packers' comeback.

After not playing at all in Week 1, Davon House was on the field for a lot of snaps and performed at a very high level with two passes defensed. One was in coverage on Decker to force a Jets punt. Morgan Burnett, though he missed tackle early, had a nice pass breakup.

It's also important to note that every Green Bay player said they heard the whistle for a New York timeout before allowing what would've been a game-tying deep touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. Yes, a few Packers players kept going after hearing the whistle, but they claim it was with the knowledge that it was likely a dead play.

Special Teams: A-minus

Mason Crosby was one of the stars of the game for Green Bay. His 55-yard field goal would have been good from around 65 yards out. It gave the Packers three points late in the second quarter when they really needed a big play. Crosby also connected on field goals from 20 yards and 31 yards.

On the down side, a surprise onside kick from Green Bay was not close to being recovered and gave the Jets good field position. Also, Micah Hyde was injured while returning a punt. That's of course the risk of putting an important player in return duty. Hyde did not return to the game due to a knee injury.

Overall: B

It was the biggest comeback in Rodgers' career. While many Packers fans seemed to go into the game expecting a blowout win, that was never likely to be the case. New York has a very good run defense and rushing offense and can be tough for any team with Rex Ryan as head coach. The performances of Rodgers, Nelson, Cobb, Daniels, Williams and House were all very much needed to make sure it wasn't a 0-2 start to the season.

The issues that led to Green Bay getting down 21-3 can't be overlooked, though. The defense couldn't deliver in an adversity situation after the Linsley/Rodgers fumble and ended up allowing three touchdowns on the Jets' first three drives. The offense had a costly turnover to put the defense in a bad situation and didn't score a touchdown until the final seconds before halftime.

It was described as a character-building win by Rodgers, McCarthy and many other Packers, with the team also frequently using the word "grit" to define the comeback. If it's what gets Green Bay rolling as it enters a difficult stretch with three divisional games in a row (with the first two being on the road), then perhaps those terms are exactly what it was. But it could also be a sign that the Packers are a team that will struggle with consistency and have a lot of things to fix.

Follow Paul Imig on Twitter