The Green Bay Packers came into their Week 3 game against the Cincinnati Bengals as touchdown favorites despite having a number of injured players, including seven listed as inactive. While the Packers struggled despite being favorites in the game, they came back to win in overtime – the first time Aaron Rodgers had won an overtime game in his NFL career. They did this while missing starters and picking up huge games from their replacements. Here is a look at how the Packers replacement players were able to step up and help the Packers earn a crucial home win.
The Offensive Line
The one area of the Green Bay Packers team that needs all the help it can get is the offensive line. Offensive tackle David Bakhtiari missed the game, and Bryan Bulaga returned after missing the first two games of the 2017 NFL season with an ankle injury. Bulaga’s return wasn’t enough. The Cincinnati Bengals defense sacked Aaron Rodgers six times in the game and limited the Packers rushing offense to 64 yards (3.7 yards-per-carry). Luckily, a number of young Green Bay Packers stars made up for it.
Geronimo Allison
Wide receiver Randall Cobb missed the Cincinnati Bengals game with a chest injury. Replacing Cobb in the starting lineup was Davante Adams while Jordy Nelson, who left the Week 2 game with a quad injury started as well.
Nelson was his normal self, catching six passes for 52 yards and two touchdowns. Adams had three catches for 60 yards. However, the star in the receiver corps was second-year receiver Geronimo Allison, who caught six passes for 122 yards, including the big 72-yard reception in overtime to set up the winning field goal.
Josh Jones
Rookie safety Josh Jones was going to get more playing time no matter what, but the loss of Kentrell Brice pushed him into the starting lineup for the Green Bay Packers in the Nitro linebacker role as well as covering receivers out of the slot. With Brice (seven tackles) out for the game, Jones came in and made a statement.
Jones finished the game with a team-high 12 tackles. He had 11 solo stops and three for a loss. He also had two sacks, both on third down. Joining Jones as a star in this game was rookie Kevin King, who started in place of the injured Davon House. King had seven total tackles in the game.
Blake Martinez
The Green Bay Packers biggest loss on defense was outside linebacker Nick Perry (broken finger). Add in inside linebacker Jake Ryan, and that really delivered a shot to the depth of the Packers linebackers corp. Veteran Ahmad Brooks stepped in to start over Ryan and Ryan gave way to Morgan Burnett. However, it was Blake Martinez who stepped up to cover for the loss of his teammates. Martinez had the best game of his two-year NFL career, with 11 tackles, seven of them solo. With his stop of Joe Mixon in overtime, Martinez joined Jones and King to ensure the Packers could overcome the Bengals for the victory.
