Packers victory over Bengals: The bad: Special Teams (again), run blocking, Eric Stokes, Darnell Savage
The (un)special teams struck again on Sunday. And again, and again, and again. I’m probably missing a few more again’s. Their miscues this week included a shanked punt, a 40-yard kickoff return, a missed extra point and three missed field goals. Ouufta.
The Packers’ depleted offensive line held up fairly well in pass protection, but weren’t very good at creating holes for their running backs. Thankfully, Jones and AJ Dillon were tremendous at making guys miss. The interior of the line struggled the most and they’ll benefit from Elgton Jenkins and Josh Myers hopefully returning next week.
It was a rough week for rookie Eric Stokes, who was picked on in his matchup with Ja’Marr Chase. Stokes had one nice breakup, but was otherwise torched throughout this contest. He and Darnell Savage combined to give up more than 160 receiving yards in the game.