GREEN BAY, Wis. - The Green Bay Packers earned a painful victory over the New York Jets on Sunday. Jayden Reed was carted off the field after the second snap and Zach Bako-Bewele was carted off the field after the third snap.
How dire did things get?
"Matter of fact, there was a time we were down to four O-linemen," coach Matt LaFleur said after the game. "We were talking about having to put Tucker Kraft in at tackle when (Jacob) Monk was getting evaluated. I've never been a part of anything like that."
The injuries had an obvious impact on the snap counts. Here's our weekly look at the snaps, along with one stud and one dud from the overtime triumph.
The Packers played 59 snaps on offense.
Quarterback: Jordan Love played through an issue with his throwing hand to play every snap. "I got hit in the elbow, and my hand just went numb," he said.
After finishing second in Week 1 passing with 387 yards, he struggled for 145 yards against the Jets.
Running backs: Chris Brooks for the second consecutive week led the backfield in snaps. He played 27 - or about 46 percent. Only the coaches know whether that was the plan or if it was because MarShawn Lloyd fumbled. Lloyd and Kaleb Johnson played 16 snaps apiece, their combined total of 32 being only five more than Brooks.
Johnson led the team with eight carries for 32 yards. With his acceleration and size, is he the team's best runner? Brooks' 15-yard catch in overtime, in which he broke two tackles and ended with an additional 15 yards tacked on by an unnecessary-roughness penalty, set up the winning field goal.
Receivers:Jayden Reed suffered a neck injury when he was tackled on the second snap of the game and Bo Melton dropped out after nine snaps with a stinger. So, Christian Watson (53 snaps) and Matthew Golden (51) played most of the game. Skyy Moore played 21 snaps, getting the slot action without Reed.
Golden and Watson led the team with four receptions apiece, but Love was 8-of-17 for 99 yards on their targets.
Rookie J. Michael Sturdivant played nine snaps in his NFL debut, including some important ones down the stretch. He also played 18 impactful snaps on special teams.
Tight ends:The talk of snap counts is probably over for Tucker Kraft. He played 58 snaps - all but one and right in line with his snap count from last season. He caught two passes for 15 yards, fumbled and was flagged for holding.
Mark Redman was next with 20, followed by Jonnu Smith with 13. They were not targeted in the passing game. With the end-of-camp additions of Redman and Smith, Josh Whyle played only on special teams.
Offensive line:What a disaster on the offensive line. Zach Bako-Bewele, who came out of Week 1 feeling confident following last year's season-ending knee injury , was carted off the field with an air cast on his right leg following another knee injury sustained on the third snap. So, Anthony Belton played the final 56 snaps at right tackle.
At left guard, Aaron Banks started and played the first 22 snaps before dropping out with an injured toe and giving way to Donovan Jennings , who played 14 snaps before dropping out with a hand injury and giving way to rookie Jager Burton, who played the final 23 snaps.
The next men up on the practice squad are John Williams and Travis Glover .
Left tackle Jordan Morgan , right guard Jacob Monk and center Sean Rhyan played every snap. PFF charged only one sack to the offensive line, with Morgan getting the blame.
The Packers played 74 snaps on defense.
Defensive tackles:With Warren Brinson (calf) and Javon Hargrave (concussion) inactive, Anthony Campbell made his NFL debut. He played only nine snaps, though, due to an ankle injury. Rather incredibly considering the stout play of the run defense, Campbell had the only solo tackle from this group.
With a depleted unit, Karl Brooks played 50 snaps. It was balanced, otherwise, with Devonte Wyatt playing 43, Chris McClellan playing 34 and Jonathan Ford playing 31.
Edges: Lukas Van Ness had the best game of his career. Arguably the best player on the field played 54 snaps. The rest of the playing time was divided nearly equally between Barryn Sorrell (31), Dani Dennis-Sutton (30) and Brenton Cox (30).
Van Ness led the team in tackles (nine), sacks (1.5), tackles for losses (three), quarterback hits (four) and pressures (six, according to PFF). Dennis-Sutton added four pressures, Cox had three and Sorrell had two.
Linebackers: Edgerrin Cooper and Zaire Franklin went the distance. Cooper was a menace again with eight tackles, one sack and three tackles for losses.
Isaiah McDuffie , Nick Niemann and Ty'Ron Hopper were stalwarts on special teams with 25, 25 and 20 snaps, respectively. Hopper was tied for the team lead with two assisted tackles.
Cornerbacks:Brandon Cisse and Keisean Nixon played every snap. Carrington Valentine played two.
After an excellent performance against Minnesota , the Jets went after Nixon. PFF charged him with 7-of-8 for 76 yards. He was penalized twice, as well. Cisse had a quiet day, though one of his two catches allowed was a touchdown. He played with physicality as a tackler, as well.
Safeties: Evan Williams and Xavier McKinney played every snap and Javon Bullard got 56 snaps in the slot. Kitan Oladapo played 17 on special teams.
Williams broke up two passes, including a deep shot late in the fourth quarter, and added one tackle for loss and two assisted tackles on special teams. McKinney missed three tackles, including on Breece Hall 's big play on a third-down screen, but had a big stop on a third-and-7 completion in the fourth quarter.
In nine games last season, Lukas Van Ness had 1.5 sacks and three tackles for losses. After spending most of the week in the concussion protocol, Van Ness against the Jets had 1.5 sacks and three tackles for losses. Including his sack against the Vikings, Van Ness has 2.5 sacks this season. His career high is four as a rookie in 2023.
"I just came in today and I was just focused on dominating," he said. "We were coming into the week and we knew they were going to run the ball and it was going to be a rainy game and what they were going to try to do on the line of scrimmage, so it's been a mentality all week.
"I came in with the mentality I was ready to play. Throughout the week, I was getting off of protocol and just trying to find a way to get on that field, and I'm happy I was able to, but had a lot of fun out there today."
Being thrown into the fray is never easy. After Zach Bako-Bewele suffered a knee injury, Anthony Belton entered the game at right tackle. He had all sorts of problems. Belton was charged with a team-high three pressures, according to PFF. He had two holding penalties during the Packers' pivotal fourth-quarter touchdown drive.
Last year's second-round pick might be the starter for the rest of the season. He's going to have to play much better in order for the offense to have a chance for success.
SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY PACKERS NEWSLETTER
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/packers/onsi as Snaps, Studs and Duds from Packers' Painful Win Over Jets .
