5 Big Question Revisited from Green Bay Packers v. Browns

Q: How many mistakes will the Green Bay Packers special teams unit have?

A: The mistakes were minimal

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by the play of the special teams unit. The only miscue that I could find was a penalty on a kick return attempt, but other than that, they were sound.

Now, it’s not like they had any huge returns or game-changing plays, but their coverage units didn’t do anything egregious, there were no bobbled punts, the field goal unit was steady again, Steven Wirtel’s snaps appeared to be on the mark, and Corey Bojorquez was very good, among other things.

I also want to take time to mention that it looks like Green Bay may have something with Juwann Winfree as a gunner on punt returns. He was consistently winning his matchups downfield and was often right there as the returner caught the ball.

After two consecutive games where we couldn’t keep track of all the special teams errors that occurred, it was nice to see a performance like this one. Again, they weren’t great, by any means, but they weren’t awful either. In fact, the Browns actually had the worse special teams unit on Saturday.

Q: Will the Green Bay Packers be able to slow Myles Garrett?

A: They actually did

Myles Garrett entered Saturday’s game as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate, although he was battling a groin injury, and we do not know how much that hampered him–if at all. But either way, if you think back to the game, we rarely heard Garrett’s name even mentioned on the broadcast.

This wasn’t the first stud edge rusher that Yosh Nijman had gone up against this season, having already faced TJ Watt, Nick Bosa, Robert Quinn, Trey Hendrickson, and others, but Garrett may have been the toughest test. However, at the end of the day, Garrett was credited with only 3 pressures and Nijman allowed just 3, according to PFF ($$). As a unit, the Packers offensive line surrendered only seven.

Now, as has been the case for much of the season, Matt LaFleur did make sure to provide his left tackle with some assistance. On a number of the plays a tight end was lined up next to Nijman to help chip, and we also saw misdirection on some runs and quick passes from Aaron Rodgers to get the ball out of his hands.

Despite all of the injuries that have occurred, this Green Bay Packers offensive line continues to hold up well–and even doing so against some of the game’s best pass-rushers.