The Green Bay Packers reached a new low Monday night after losing to the Las Vegas Raiders 17-13 and falling to 2-3 on the season.
Hindered by three interceptions from Jordan Love, the offense struggled to move the ball consistently or put up points against a team that entered the week ranked 18th in total defense and 24th in scoring defense.
Buy Packers TicketsAnd yet, despite costly mistakes from their quarterback, the Packers still had a chance to win in the final two minutes when the defense forced the Raiders to kick a 52-yard field goal. Daniel Carlson’s attempt hit off the right upright and set Love up for a potential game-winning drive. However, after moving the ball to the Las Vegas 35-yard line, Love looked for Christian Watson, who had gotten behind the defense but underthrew the ball and saw his final pass intercepted by corner Amik Robertson in the end zone.
With 44 seconds left and only one timeout, that was the dagger.
There were still some head-scratching moments from Joe Barry’s defense, but overall, they did enough to win the game. Las Vegas’ top playmakers on offense, Davante Adams and Josh Jacobs, combined for just 134 yards. Unfortunately, losing the turnover battle 3 to 1 was the deciding factor.
Green Bay showed promise early in the season but is heading into the bye week with a ton of issues and no clear answers on how to fix them. Their next shot at redemption won’t be until October 22, a road game against the 1-4 Denver Broncos. Between now and then, the Packers will look at the tape to try and right the ship, but in the meantime, let’s try to find some positives by identifying some standouts from their latest loss to a bad Raiders team.
RB AJ Dillon
When Aaron Jones was ruled out before kickoff, the Packers had no choice but to roll with Dillon as RB1 once again.
Dillon responded with a season-high 76 yards on 20 carries (3.8 avg) and was the driving force behind the offense’s lone touchdown drive. After being set up with a short field thanks to an interception, Green Bay turned to their bruising running back. Dillon carried the ball six times for 34 yards and capped off the series with a five-yard touchdown run to tie the game 10-10.
The Packers weren’t always efficient but made a concerted effort to run the ball against a struggling run defense. Though his numbers weren’t flashy, Dillon provided some tough running en route to his best game of the season.
S Rudy Ford
Ford was responsible for Green Bay’s only takeaway when he jumped a pass intended for Jakobi Meyers to start the second half. The play resulted in Ford’s second interception in as many weeks and set up Dillon’s touchdown.
Ford has been a steady contributor on defense for the past three games and currently ranks second on the team in tackles after adding nine to his season total against the Raiders. He will need to keep playing well, especially after starting safety Darnell Savage exited Monday’s game with a calf injury.
CB Rasul Douglas
Douglas was the highest-graded player on defense by Pro Football Focus, with an elite grade of 90.9. And while PFF grades aren’t the final authority on player performances, Douglas was certainly impactful against Las Vegas. He was targeted four times in coverage and allowed just two catches for 11 yards. Douglas also broke up two passes and logged four tackles.
OLB Kingsley Enagbare
After a strong preseason, it appeared Enagbare was ready to make a significant jump in Year 2. That never came to fruition through the first four weeks of the season, but the 2022 fifth-round pick had a couple of splash plays Monday night.
Enagbare broke up a trick play during the second quarter to record his first sack of the year against Josh Jacobs. He then had a nice stop in the run game, tackling Jacobs behind the line of scrimmage for a three-yard loss.
Enagbare finished with three tackles in total and also had a QB hit.
OLB Preston Smith
Smith took over as the Packers’ oldest defensive player in 2023 and was off to a slow start before finding some footing in Week 5.
He ended the Raiders’ second drive of the game when he beat offensive tackle Kolten Miller and brought Jimmy Garoppolo down for a 7-yard sack. It was his first sack of the season, forcing a punt on fourth down.
When he wasn’t being asked to cover Davante Adams, Smith had arguably his best game of the year. He had a couple of stops against the run and led Green Bay with four pressures, per PFF.
