The Packers elevated LaDarius Hamilton from the Practice Squad for the game against the Titans.  It is the third time Hamilton has been elevated, which seems to be consistent with his abilities: a guy who gets promoted a few times each season.  The Packers designated Tipa Gileai to return from IR, and signed OLB Tim Ward to the Practice Squad, so I do not see any reason to sign Hamilton to the 53-man roster.  The Packers elected not to promote Kicker Ramiz Ahmed for this game.  The Titans did not hurt the Packers with their kickoff returns, so saving Ahmed for the future looks like a good idea.

Romeo Doubs, Shemar Jean-Charles and De'Vondre Campbell were inactive due to injury.  Jake Tenuta, Jonathan Ford and Rasheed Walker were healthy scratches.  Zach Tom, Sean Rhyan and Jordan Love did not play.  Caleb Jones remains on the NFI/Illness list with an undisclosed malady.

In the first half, the Titans had a tremendous advantage in time of possession, 19:35 minutes to 10:35, while running 38 plays to just 20 for the Packers.  The Packers ran the ball 9 times for just 22 yards, a 2.4 yard average, with a long of 9.  After an initial 3 and out, the Packers got on the board with an 11-play, 78-yard drive.  That drive included 2 runs up the middle by Jones for 13 yards (something that the Titans shut down after that), a deep pass to Cobb, and on a free play, a lovely 14-yard TD reception by Christian Watson during which he skied to haul in the pass.   Cobb looked healthy, leading me to believe that he could have played last week but for being on IR.  Cobb finished with 6 receptions on 6 targets for 73 yards.  There were too many rushing attempts that resulted in a loss or a very short gain.  The offensive line provided Rodgers with good protection all game.  In the first half, Rodgers completed 8 or 11 attempts for 74 yards, one touchdown, and a 121.0 passer rating, yet the Packers were down 14-6 at the half. 

The Packers won the time of possession battle in the second half.  They had the ball for 16:57 minutes to 13:03 minutes for the Titans, and ran 41 plays to just 28 for the Titans.  The Packers ran the ball marginally better in the second half, gaining 34 yards on 10 carries, with a long of 14 for Jones and 5 for Dillon.  The Packers got the ball to open the second half and produced a 13-play, 51-yard drive that ended with a short field goal.  That drive included the 14 and 5-yard runs.  The Packers ran 4 times for 25 yards but the fifth run went for -4 yards setting up a 3rd and 11, which led to an incomplete pass.  The Packers settled for a 39-yard field goal to make it 14-9. 

After the Titans scored a touchdown to make is 20-9, the Packers responded with a 7-play, 69-yard touchdown drive.  After Keisean Nixon set the Packers up at the 31-yard line with a 32-yard kickoff return, Rodgers connected with Cobb for 28 and Lazard for 23 yards while mixing in a pair for 3-yard runs by Jones and Dillon.  The drive was capped off by a 8-yard touchdown pass to Christian Watson to make the scord 20-17 due to a successful 2-point conversion on a nice run by Jones around right end.

The defense could not hold the Titans, who went up 27-17 with a quick touchdown that featured a 32 yard pass to Robert Woods.  The Packers did very little on their next four possession.  The first of those possession included an incompletion, a 3-yard run on 2nd and 10 (in other words, an unsuccessful run) and an inconpletion.  The next drive was derailed by a holding call on Yosh Nijman.  The Packers turned the ball over on downs during both of their last two drives.  The Packers were forced to pass more, but Rodgers was hit just three times and sacked just once.  He missed some passes, and there seemed to be some miscommunications on others.  

The Packers played a season-high 2.93 true defensive linemen per play on average against the Titans.  I saw Preston Smith lined up inside on a couple of downs.  The Packers devoted resources to stopping the run, and stop it, or at least hold it in check, they did.  Derrick Henry still got 28 carries, but he gained just 87 yards, a 3.1-yard average, with a long of 9.  With Rashan Gary on IR, the Packers played two outside linebackers on about 9 fewer plays than they have so far this year.  They also reduced the ILB and DB numbers, but both only by modest amounts.  Most of the runs by the Titans were positive plays, as the Packers had only 3 tackles for loss.

One possible problem was that Tannehill always seemed able to throw the ball to his first read, getting the ball out extremely quickly.  Moreover, those receivers seemed to be always very open, meaning the throws were easy and safe.  Those two factors made it difficult to get much pressure on Tannehill.  That does force the Titans to have long, deliberate drives which can be derailed by mistakes like drops and also by penalties.  This was definitely a game during which the officials swallowed their whistles.  Preston Smith and Quay Walker were held a couple times in pretty egregious fashion, but a quick look suggested that the Packers got away with a few as well.  Relying on drops or a penalty to stop a drive is an interesting defensive philosophy.  In this game Tannehill did make a couple of big-time deep throws, and if he can do that, hats off to him.  I would have preferred not playing off on the short passes and even telling the cornerbacks to try jumping a couple of those short routes to make Tannenhill beat us deep.  Most teams worry about giving up the big play or getting beat deep, but allowing Tannehill, who averaged 193 passing yards per game entering this contest to throw for 333 yards does not sound like the correct recipe to me.  Moreover, he completed 22 of 27 attempts (81.48%), and had just one interception.   

Krys Barnes led the Packers with 12 tackles (6 solo), plus a quarterback hit and a sack.  The sack was actually on a scramble on which Barnes came up with his hair on fire and made the tackle behind the line of scrimmage.  Quay Walker had a nice game, with 11 takcles (7 solo) and a half sack.  Preston Smith had a nice game and provided what pressure there was.  He had two quarterback hits and a half sack, to go with a 5 tackles (2 solo) and a tackle for loss.

Rasul Douglas had an interception/pass defensed.  That was the only pass breakup I can recall as practically all of the Titans pass attempts were not particularly contested. 

SPECIAL TEAMS:

Mason Crosby missed an extra point attempt.  Nixon had a nice kickoff return and a 24-yard punt return.  O'Donnell was okay.  It would have been good but he failed to flip the field when the Packers were backed up deep, though that is not who he is.  The kickoff and punt coverage units were good, and even downed a punt inside the 20.

WR: 2.70

RB: 1.13

TE: 1.16

DL: 2.93 (a season high for the Packers)

ILB: 1.65

OLB: 1.86 (first time this wasn't 2.0 exactly)

DB: 4.55

Photo courtesy of Dan Powers and USA Today