Instant Takeaways from Green Bay Packers Win Over Cleveland

It was another close game in the final minutes of the game, but the Green Bay Packers came away with the win over Cleveland to improve to 12-3 on the season.

Here are my instant takeaways from the Green Bay Packers performance.

– All Rasul Douglas does is make plays.

– I can’t believe the Browns stopped running the ball in the final minute with three timeouts left and them moving the ball on the ground with such ease.

– Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but despite all the injuries along the offensive line, they again held up really well. The run game averaged almost 5.0 yards per rush and Aaron Rodgers was rarely pressured.

– We rarely heard Myles Garrett’s name. We don’t know how much his groin injury affected him but we did see quite a bit of TE help for Yosh Nijman.

– I’m a bit surprised I’m saying this, but the special teams play was adequate. In fact, the Browns were actually worse. Juwann Winfree did a nice job as a gunner as well.

– Turnovers defined this game. Cleveland was able to move the ball with relative ease but three turnovers led to three Packers touchdowns and the fourth ended the game.

– More soft coverages from the secondary. Even at their best this season, some of the advanced metrics such as DVOA weren’t as high on Green Bay, and in the last month, the play of this defense is proving those stats to be correct.

– This defense also had no answer for Nick Chubb, and as a team, the Browns averaged almost 9.0 yards per rush. I was curious if we’d see Joe Barry utilize more players closer to the line of scrimmage, which they did, but it didn’t help much. Just a rough performance by this run defense unit.

– Chubb was the first 100-yard rusher that the Packers have allowed this season.

– Alright, last bit of info on the defense, the Green Bay Packers have actually been a solid tackling unit this season. However, that wasn’t the case today.

– The Cleveland TEs weren’t huge factors in the passing game, but as we discussed leading up to the game, they were on the field often with a heavy dose of two and three tight end sets.

– Another game, and another instance when the Green Bay Packers were down by a touchdown early on.

– The Green Bay Packers were able to log five sacks, but upon the initial viewing, it didn’t feel like the pass rush generated many pressures otherwise. Although it’s worth mentioning that Baker Mayfield and the Browns did utilize the quick passing game often.

– A week after the Ravens doubled and even triple-teamed Davante Adams, for some reason, the Browns oftentimes chose to single cover him—and they paid dearly for that decision.

– Tyler Davis is going to continue to earn more snaps. In a small sample size he’s been a very effective blocker.

– In Randall Cobb’s absence, Allen Lazard has regained his previous form after a slow start to the season. He’s been targeted heavily by Rodgers and made some big receptions.

– Green Bay’s red zone offense has also been much better over the last month. At one point, they ranked in the bottom third of the NFL in that category.

– This was the second game that the Green Bay offense had the opportunity to put the game away late by stringing together some first downs, but they were unable to.

– Mason Crosby hasn’t missed a field goal or extra-point attempt since Green Bay returned from the bye week. Overall the operation looks much more sound.

– The Browns were efficient on third downs, which allowed them to extend drives. The Packers, however, were not.

– The Packers are now 30-0 under Matt LaFleur when they win the turnover battle.