The Green Bay Packers got big nights from Jordan Love, Christian Watson, Tucker Kraft and Brenton Cox Jr. in beating the Carolina Panthers at Lambeau Field on "Thursday Night Football" to open Week 8.
Based on grades from Pro Football Focus, here are the best and worst players from the Packers’ Week 8 win over the Panthers (note: grades are subject to change based on review, per PFF):
Top 5 offense
- TE Tucker Kraft: 87.3
- QB Jordan Love: 81.6
- WR Christian Watson: 74.6
- LT Jordan Morgan: 73.4
- WR Matthew Golden: 66.2
Kraft caught all six of his targets for 53 yards, including a touchdown on third down, and he had a 22-yard catch-and-run negated by a penalty. Love's passer rating was 143.1 when targeting Kraft. Love was elite from clean pockets, threw fast to negate pressure, killed the blitz and was excellent in the intermediate areas, although a late interception hurt his grade.
Morgan didn't allow a single pressure over 43 pass-blocking snaps. Watson caught eight of his 10 targets for 113 yards, including a 53-yard bomb, and he averaged a ridiculous 4.71 yards per route run. Watson also caught three of his four contested opportunities. Golden dropped two passes, and he was targeted on Love's interception, but he still averaged 2.14 yards per route run and was wide open for a touchdown.
Top 5 defense
- EDGE Brenton Cox Jr.: 90.4
- S Evan Williams: 79.4
- EDGE Barryn Sorrell: 77.9
- S Xavier McKinney: 76.5
- CB Brandon Cisse: 75.4
Cox produced five pressures, including a sack and a hit, and he created a stop against the run. Williams had 10 tackles, three stops and a hurry, and he gave up only one catch for four yards in coverage. Sorrell had a sack and a run stop. McKinney made two stops, broke up a pass and didn't allow a completion into his overage. Cisse allowed nothing more than one catch for 11 yards on three targets into his coverage, and he batted a pass. Dani Dennis-Sutton and Lukas Van Ness both had five pressures.
Bottom 5 offense
- C John Williams: 41.2
- LG Aaron Banks: 45.3
- WR Bo Melton: 50.9
- WR Savion Williams: 51.2
- RT Anthony Belton: 53.9
Williams allowed four pressures, earning a 30.5 pass-blocking grade. He also had a bad snap and committed a penalty. Banks allowed four pressures and earned the lowest run-blocking grade (39.5). Melton didn't get a target over nine routes run and was poor as a blocker. Williams caught only one pass for five yards despite running 23 routes, and he committed a holding penalty, but he did have an 18-yard run on a gadget play. Belton didn't allow a pressure, but he was below average as a run blocker, and his penalty negated Tucker Kraft's big gain late in the fourth quarter.
Bottom 5 defense
- DB Javon Bullard: 34.3
- LB Ty'Ron Hopper: 44.0
- DL Devonte Wyatt: 47.0
- DL Anthony Campbell: 48.0
- DL Karl Brooks: 49.8
Bullard missed a tackle, gave up the 26-yard touchdown pass on fourth down and had a drive-extending penalty. Hopper had five stops, four pressures, an interception and a pass breakup, but he also missed a tackle, earned a poor run defense grade (27.7) and allowed nine completions into his coverage. Wyatt had a sack, but he also missed a tackle and was poor against the run. Campbell had two pressures, including a hit, but his grade wasn't good against the run. Brooks missed two tackles.
Special teams
Bo Melton had a tackle covering a punt and finished with the top special teams grade (68.8). Barryn Sorrell and Nick Niemann also had tackles. Kamal Hadden had two tackles but also missed three tackles. Coleman Owen fumbled away a kickoff return. Trey Smack went 3-for-4 on extra points, and the Panthers' average starting field position after kickoffs was the 31.6-yard line. Daniel Whelan's net punting average was only 38.8 yards.
Quarterback play
- Jordan Love: 81.6
Love was elite from kept clean, completing 24 of 28 passes for 243 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions from clean pockets. He was under pressure on 13 dropbacks (31.7 percent), in large part because he averaged 2.29 seconds from snap to throw. When the Panthers blitzed Love, he completed 15 of 21 passes and tossed two touchdowns. PFF credited Love with two big-time throws and two turnover-worthy plays, and Matthew Golden had two more drops, including a dropped touchdown. The Panthers mostly limited throws down the field, holding Love to 2-for-8 passing on throws over 20 yards in the air. Love was best attacking the intermediate area, completing all five passes for 77 yards and a score on throws between 10-19 yards down the field.
Stats to know
Panthers quarterback Bryce Young was under pressure on 46.8 percent of his dropbacks, and he took six sacks, completed only seven passes for 58 yards when pressured and had six throwaways. Because of the pressure, Young completed just one pass thrown over 10 yards down the field and didn't have a single attempt over 20 yards. Of his 23 completions, 22 came under nine yards in the air. Pressure forced Young to dink and dunk.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Packers PFF grades: Best, worst players from Week 8 win over Panthers
