Grading Packers win over Patriots: A whole lot of blah

The Green Bay Packers added another notch in the win column, but aren’t satisfied with their play against the New England Patriots.

Mason Crosby kicked a game-winning field goal in overtime and Green Bay celebrated on the field. Afterward, however, the mood wasn’t as light, as the players know they have a lot of work to do. Let’s hand out grades to the units based on Sunday’s performance.

The Green Bay Packers walked away with an overtime victory over the Patriots, but the grades don’t reflect a team that is satisfied with the process.

Offense: C-

The offense put 27 points on the board (matching their season high) and racked up 443 total yards (their season high), but let plenty of opportunities go to waste. Aaron Rodgers threw just the fourth pick-six of his career and Romeo Doubs lost another fumble to continue the turnover streak they’ve been on this season (they’ve had two in three of their four games). There is a lot to clean up across the board.

Defense: C-

The defense only gave up 17 points, but was let off the hook by some very conservative Patriots’ playcalling. New England was also down to their third-string quarterback for most of the game and still had decent success. The Packers’ run defense continues to bleed yards and gave up 167 rushing yards to a team they knew would pound the rock. They had a couple of huge drives, including a stop in overtime, that saved their grade, but it was a disappointing game for this unit.

Special Teams: C

The special teams had their ups and downs like they have all season, but at least there have been some ups. Crosby hit the game-winning field goal in overtime and is 4-for-4 on the season. After a nice game last week, the punting unit wasn’t nearly as good against the Patriots. They gave up some nice returns across all coverages.

Coaching: C

The Packers seemed off on both sides of the ball, as they didn’t have solid gameplans to take advantage of New England’s weaknesses. Defensive coordinator Joe Barry continues to play extremely conservatively and his secondary still hasn’t figured out how to defend crossing routes. The offense seemed to fall in love with shot plays that continued to miss.

Overall: C

At the end of the day, the Packers walked away with a victory and are 3-1 heading into Week 5. However, it wasn’t pretty and they need to look themselves in the mirror right now to figure things out while there is still plenty of season remaining. It would’ve been another embarrassing defeat if they turned in this kind of performance against a playoff contender.