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Week 4 Game Recap: Green Bay Packers 23, Minnesota Vikings 16
What you need to know
| Green Bay Packers |
Brett Favre played like his old self on the day he broke one of the biggest records in all of pro football. Early in the first quarter, he hit Greg Jennings in the end zone for his 421st career touchdown pass, breaking Dan Marino's old mark of 420. After a brief in game celebration, Favre went on to efficiently carve up the Vikings defense for 344 yards and two touchdowns.
Favre hit ten different receivers on this historic day, with the Donald's being the biggest benefactors. Donald Lee was a frequent underneath target finishing with a team high 66 yards on four receptions. Donald Driver lead the Packers with seven receptions that went for 58 yards. James Jones and Greg Jennings caught the touchdown passes.
The Packers never attempted to establish a running game throughout the afternoon. They only had 20 rushing attempts, four of which were Brett Favre scrambles. DeShawn Wynn lead the team with ten rushes for 20 yards.
| Minnesota Vikings |
The Vikings showed a little more offense spark this week on offense, but more often then not stopped themselves with mistakes before being able to finish a drive. Kelly Holcomb played more efficiently in his second start for the Vikings, finishing with 258 yards, a touchdown and an interception, but he still made numerous mental mistakes that prevented the Vikings from putting together many extended drives.
Adrian Peterson was the star of the offense, but surprisingly finished with just 13 touches on the day. He rushed for 112 yards on 12 carries, and added 6 more yards on a reception. Peterson was the primary kick returner on the day, and gave up several plays to Chester Taylor on long returns. Taylor managed 40 yards on eight carries, and had one reception for 11 yards.
Bobby Wade lead the Vikings receivers with 83 yards on five receptions. Sidney Rice had his biggest day as a Viking yet with six receptions for 75 yards and scored his first touchdown.
What you ought to know
| QB Brett Favre, Pass: 32 - 45 - 344 - 2 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 4 - 1 - 0 |
On the day the Minnesota Vikings wore throwback uniforms, Brett Favre played like a throwback of himself. He repeatedly dissected the Vikings secondary, finishing with 344 yards, two touchdowns and completing 71% of his passes. The Packers never tried to establish a running game all day, as Brett Favre was able to move the Packers up and down the field. As good as Favre numbers were, the lack of running game hurt his final totals as the Packers were unable to convert a handful of short third down conversions that could have potentially given Favre more opportunities to throw the ball.
| RB DeShawn Wynn, Rush: 10 - 20 - 0, Rec: 2 - 10 - 0 (2 targets) |
Wynn was the primary ball carries for the Packers, but the Packers lack of enthusiasm for the running game prevented him from any opportunity for a productive day. He never found much running room, evidenced by the fact that his longest carry on the day was for 3 yards. He also caught two short passes for ten yards.
| RB Vernand Morency, Rush: 1 - 2 - 0, Rec: 3 - 33 - 0 (3 targets) |
Morency made his return from injury, but did not make much of an impact on the game. He never appeared in the game for any extended length of time, and only touched the ball four times.
| WR Donald Driver, Rush: 1 - -1 - 0, Rec: 7 - 58 - 0 (10 targets) |
Driver was a frequent target of Favre all afternoon. Most of his targets were quick slants or crossing routes. His longer receptions were the result of being able to make a move on his defender and turning it upfield for yards after the catch.
| WR James Jones, Rec: 4 - 49 - 1 (7 targets) |
Jones was targeted several times this afternoon, mainly on quick slants and crossing routes. He did make the most of his one deep opportunity of the game, beating his defender up the sideline and was hit by Brett Farve in stride for a 33 yard touchdown.
| WR Greg Jennings, Rec: 3 - 43 - 1 (6 targets) |
Jennings, like a handful Packers receivers, had many opportunities in the passing game today. Jennings was the most frequently targeted receiver deeper than ten yards, including his 16 yard touchdown. In addition to his six official targets, he was also the intended receiver on Brett Favre's first pass 60+ yards downfield that was intercepted by Darren Sharper. This play was called back on a defensive illegal contact penalty.
| TE Bubba Franks, Rec: 4 - 30 - 0 (6 targets) |
Franks was a frequent target in the short passing game, his longest reception was 12 yards. He also had two drops of passes that he could have caught and made his final line even better.
| TE Donald Lee, Rec: 4 - 66 - 0 (5 targets) |
Lee was Favre's most consistent deep threat for the game. Lee caught passes of 27, 27, ten, and two yards. However, he did fumble after his second 27 yard reception.
| PK Mason Crosby 3 - 3 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 11 points |
Crosby did convert on both extra points, and all field goal attempts. His field goals were of 28, 44, and 33 yards.
| GB Rush Defense |
The Green Bay rush defense looked porous when Adrian Peterson was on the field, giving up 112 yards on just 12 carries to Peterson. However, they looked much better when Chester Taylor was on the field whom had 40 yards on eight carries, though had 37 of them on just one carry. For the game, the Packers gave up 155 yards on 22 carries (over seven yards per carry).
| GB Pass Defense |
The Packers pass defense played better than the 258 yards they gave up to Kelly Holcomb. The Vikings receivers were well covered all afternoon, and except for one long pass to Bobby Wade, did not give up anything deep.
| QB Kelly Holcomb, Pass: 21 - 39 - 258 - 1 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 1 - 0 - 0 |
Kelly Holcomb played marginally better with an additional week or work with the first unit. He did make several mental mistakes during the game, including holding the ball far too long in the pocket resulting in four sacks. He also continued to miss several receivers deep, or in one instance, lead Troy Williamson out of bounds. He did hit Bobby Wade deep one pass that went for 40 yards. Otherwise, most of his success was on short passes in long yardage to go situations, or check downs to backs and tight ends.
| RB Adrian Peterson, Rush: 12 - 112 - 0, Rec: 1 - 6 - 0 (2 targets) |
Peterson was the focus of the Vikings offense early in the game, but did not get enough touches for his yardage totals to be as impressive as his play. The Packers did have him bottled up several times, but he always seemed to manage to fall forward to pick up a couple yards on a play that looked to be going nowhere. His best run of the day was off tackle to the right where he made untouched going through the hole. He made a nice cutback on a defensive back and turned on the speed down the middle of the field, but was eventually tackled by Nick Collins after a 55 yard gain. Peterson was the primary kick returner, and came out of the game after a couple long returns. With Chester Taylor in the game, the Vikings were not as successful maintaining drives, so by the time Peterson was ready to get back into the game, the Vikings were almost ready to punt. Peterson was not a factor in the passing game with only two targets. One of which was a throw-away by Holcomb avoiding a sack.
| RB Chester Taylor, Rush: 8 - 40 - 0, Rec: 1 - 11 - 0 (4 targets) |
Taylor was the official starting running back for the game, but Adrian Peterson was the focus of the offense. Taylor had 8 carries on the game, but had success on just two of them. One was a five yard gain, and the other went for 37 yards. Outside of those two carries, he had six carries for negative two yards. He was targeted four times, but only managed one 11 yard reception.
| WR Sidney Rice, Rec: 6 - 75 - 1 (9 targets) |
Rice was the most targeted receiver for Holcomb on the afternoon and has started to assert himself as a reliable third down receiver. Rice was targeted deep twice early in the game, but Holcomb failed to hit him both times. Rice then asserted himself on third down, making two big third down conversions. Rice best play of the game was his first touchdown reception of his young career, jumping high in the end zone and reaching over the defensive back for the grab.
| WR Bobby Wade, Rec: 5 - 83 - 0 (8 targets) |
Wade was the second most targeted receiver for Holcomb on the afternoon. Wade managed to pull in five of his eight targets, including one of the rare successful deep passes for the Vikings on the season. Wade beat his defender and got a step behind him, and Holcomb hit him in stride for a 40 yard gain. Wade also had a nice 18 yard reception late in the game, but otherwise was targeted mostly on short routes. He finished with career highs in both receptions (six) and yards (75).
| TE Visanthe Shiancoe, Rec: 4 - 38 - 0 (5 targets) |
Shiancoe made several nice receptions, pulling in four of his five targets for 38 yards. He looked like he continued to build chemistry with Holcomb, and while he was not as targeted as much as the receivers, he converted most of his chances.
| PK Ryan Longwell 3 - 3 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 10 points |
Longwell was perfect on the day, converting on his only extra point and field goals of 44, 35 and 48 yards.
| MIN Rush Defense |
The Vikings rush defense was stout, but relatively untested for the game. The Packers only attempted 15 rushes by their running backs, with Brett Favre adding four scrambles and Donald Driver trying a reverse. The Packers had good reason not to test the Vikings front four any further, managing just 46 yards on their 20 attempts.
| MIN Pass Defense |
The Vikings were unable to stop Brett Favre all game long. The Packers used the short passing game as a substitute for their lack of running game, and with few exceptions the Vikings were unable to make plays to stop them. Had the Packers had any semblance of a running game to help convert a few more third downs, the Vikings defense would have been on the field all game.
