Packers Week 13 Snap Counts: Long drives were the norm in upset over Chiefs

The two teams combined for seven drives of 10 plays or more on Sunday night, making every possession critical.

The Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs played a highly entertaining game on Sunday night at Lambeau Field, with the Packers pulling off a 27-19 upset in front of a raucous home crowd. The game had a fascinating flow to it, however, with the teams each having just three offensive drives apiece in the first half and one of those, the Chiefs’ final drive, being just a single kneel-down to end the half.

Both teams’ first drives ate up more than seven minutes of clock, with the Chiefs kicking a field goal as time expired in the first quarter to get on the board following a 13-play touchdown drive for the Packers. All told, the teams combined for seven drives of 10 plays or more and just one three-and-out, that coming from the Chiefs in the fourth quarter. The Packers, meanwhile, picked up at least two first downs on every one of their seven offensive possessions.

That flow meant that every possession was critical, and the Packers’ ability to hold the Chiefs to field goals in the second half and get two stops in the fourth quarter was the difference in the game.

Here’s how the snaps broke down for Green Bay on Sunday night.

OFFENSE (64 TOTAL SNAPS)

Quarterback

Jordan Love 64

The Packers’ new QB1 had another tremendous game on Sunday night, posting a third straight performance with a passer rating over 100 (118.6, to be exact) and his fourth in the last five games. Love now has 8 touchdowns and no picks in his last three, and he was sacked just twice by the Chiefs’ aggressive defense.

Running Backs

AJ Dillon 40, Patrick Taylor 20, Henry Pearson 9, James Robinson 4

Dillon had a solid performance on Sunday, running for 73 yards on 18 carries to keep the Chiefs’ defense honest. His workload was split almost evenly across the first and second half, and although he had a long run of just 10 yards, he was consistently picking up between 3-5 yards on every play.

Taylor was his main relief, and both of his carries came on the final drive of the first half, when he gained 5 and 24 yards. Robinson was in briefly on that drive as well, when he got both of his touches for a net of zero yards. Finally, Pearson was used heavily early on as a fullback, moving around the formation in orbit motion and as a lead blocker.

Wide Receivers

Romeo Doubs 52, Christian Watson 47, Jayden Reed 30, Dontayvion Wicks 25, Malik Heath 11

The Packers are gradually dividing snaps up a bit more across their five receivers, as this was the first time since week 5 that Watson was below a 75% snap share. With that said, he had arguably his best game of the season with 7 catches on 9 targets for 71 yards and two touchdowns, as well as two rushing attempts for 15 yards. Unfortunately, Watson went down with a hamstring injury late that will be worth monitoring.

Doubs had just four catches, but he had one more receiving yard than Watson, thanks in large part to his 33-yard catch — a season-long for him — on the 4th-and-1 heave from Love. Wicks added three receptions for 43 yards, including a 27-yarder in the second quarter, and Reed had four catches but for just 16 yards. Heath caught one pass for a 15-yard gain, but dropped his other target.

Tight Ends

Tucker Kraft 61, Ben Sims 20

Kraft continues to impress in his audition as the Packers’ primary tight end with Luke Musgrave sidelined. He continues to block well in the run game and added three receptions for 37 yards. Meanwhile, Sims caught his first NFL touchdown, making the Packers the first team in the Super Bowl era to have three different rookie tight ends score touchdowns.

Offensive Linemen

Elgton Jenkins 64, Josh Myers 64, Zach Tom 64, Jon Runyan 57, Rasheed Walker 56, Yosh Nijman 8, Sean Rhyan 7, Royce Newman 1

The Packers only rotated Nijman and Rhyan in for one series each in this game, with Nijman coming on for the final drive of the second half and Rhyan on for the first series of the fourth quarter. Both of those drives ended in punts, and Rhyan gave up a pressure immediately to Chris Jones, who was his usual disruptive self against both Rhyan and Runyan. Still, the line did a good job in the run game, helping the Packers run for more than 5 yards per carry, and they allowed only four hits and two sacks on Love — though the QB’s creative releases and quick throws helped with that as well.

DEFENSE (67 TOTAL SNAPS)

Defensive Linemen

Kenny Clark 54, T.J. Slaton 36, Devonte Wyatt 31, Karl Brooks 24, Colby Wooden 5

The Packers struggled to contain running back Isiah Pacheco, who ran for 110 yards on 18 carries, but it ended up not being a back-breaking issue, in part because the defense held firm in the red zone in the first half. Clark and Wyatt each got into the action as pass-rushers with a half-sack apiece in that first half, while Slaton had a key pass breakup on a would-be shovel pass to Clyde Edwards-Helaire near the goal line.

Outside Linebackers

Preston Smith 42, Rashan Gary 40, Kingsley Enagbare 27, Lukas Van Ness 25

Smith and Gary each combined with one of the linemen for third-down sacks in the first half to force field goals, while Van Ness brought Mahomes down for his second sack and one of the best plays of his rookie season. In total, the edge group combined for two sacks and four hits in the game while continuing their usual roughly 60/40 rotation.

Inside Linebackers

Quay Walker 67, De’Vondre Campbell 55

The Packers had the services of both of their primary inside linebackers on Sunday, and Walker filled up the stat sheet with 4 solo tackles and 9 assists. Many of those tackles were on Pacheco 5 yards or more downfield, however.

Safeties

Jonathan Owens 67, Darnell Savage 61, Rudy Ford 7, Anthony Johnson, Jr. 6

Savage returned from injured reserve and played almost every snap, missing just six snaps for a brief injury-related absence before returning. Johnson spelled him during that short period. Meanwhile, Owens started over Ford, who in turn was the team’s dime back and is likely still working his way back up to a full workload. Owens finished tied for third on the team in tackles with five solo stops, and he laid a great — and clean — hit on Patrick Mahomes near the sideline that drew an impressively bad “late hit” flag.

Cornerbacks

Corey Ballentine 67, Carrington Valentine 67, Keisean Nixon 56

The Packers continue to play solid defense with a pair of backups at boundary corner, and Ballentine had a big role to play with a whopping 10 total tackles. It was Nixon who delivered the biggest play of the day for the defense, however, a phenomenal interception of Mahomes on which he said he knew the Chiefs’ play based on a pre-snap signal from the quarterback to receiver Skyy Moore. That turned the ball over to the Packers with a 5-point lead and allowed them to run down a ton of clock and extend their lead to 8 before the Chiefs’ final drive.

SPECIAL TEAMS LEADERS

Isaiah McDuffie 14, Robert Rochell 14, Kristian Welch 14, Eric Wilson 14, Zayne Anderson 12, Kraft 12, Pearson 12, Anders Carlson 11, Heath 11, Owens 11