The New England Patriots suffered a 45-27 loss to the Green Bay Packers in Week 9 and struggled to keep pace with Green Bay's offense throughout the contest.
New England's secondary was unable to slow down the Packers' passing attack, as Jordan Love completed 23 of 29 passes for 372 yards and three touchdowns. Christian Watson finished with seven receptions for 171 yards and a touchdown, while Matthew Golden added 10 catches for 164 yards and a touchdown. Green Bay consistently found success attacking downfield, leaving the Patriots without consistent answers in coverage.
Elijah Ponder led the way for New England defensively with 1.5 sacks, two quarterback hits and a tackle for loss, while Christian Barmore added a sack, tackle for loss and quarterback hit in
the game. However, Christian Gonzalez had the worst performance of his career, allowing 187 receiving yards to Watson and Golden combined when lined up against them.
Despite holding Green Bay's top rusher Kaleb Johnson to 68 rushing yards in the game, New England was not able to find a way to slow down the Packers offense overall. The Patriots ultimately had no answers for Green Bay's production, resulting in the crushing 18-point defeat.
Here are the highest and lowest graded defensive players for the Patriots in their Week 9 loss to the Packers, per Pro Football Focus:
Top five PFF graded players
- LB Darius Muasau - 87.8
- DT DaQuan Jones - 81.1
- LB Christian Elliss - 80.8
- LB Erick Hunter - 77
- LB Namdi Obiazor - 76.3
Bottom five PFF graded players
- CB Christian Gonzalez - 25.6
- DT Christian Barmore - 40
- DT Cory Durden - 47.2
- DL Leonard Taylor III - 51
- CB Karon Prunty - 51.6
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This article originally appeared on Patriots Wire: Best and worst defensive PFF grades for Patriots in loss to Packers
