The Green Bay Packers put together a game that statistically should have been a very easy win versus the Detroit Lions, but missed field goals, turnovers, and officiating mistakes led to a very painful loss. Here’s a look at who played well and who did not in Week 5:

 

Studs:

Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Equanimeous St. Brown – Both MVS and ESB were thrust into important roles they likely weren’t ready for. I thought both played well. There were some mistakes (mostly on scramble drills), but their contributions allowed the Packers to get back into the game in the second half.

Offensive Line – The Lions knew the Packers were passing on almost every play in the second half and they still didn’t allow the pass rush to effect Aaron Rodgers. It was a really strong effort to keep Rodgers upright in challenging circumstances.

 

Duds:

Officiating – The year of the official in the NFL continues to be disastrous. A blatant missed call and failure to overturn the “fumble” on the punt return resulted in a touchdown for Detroit, and an incredibly weak taunting penalty extended another drive unnecessarily. Most NFL officials are great at what they do, but the controversy about the rules and how they are enforced is giving the league as a whole a black eye.

Mason Crosby – Crosby has been too good for too long to let that game be the deciding factor in his career in Green Bay, but he needs to recover mentally in hurry. The Packers haven’t been good enough at any facet of the game to be missing points on kicks and Crosby needs to get this turned around.

Mike McCarthy – The decision to kick a 56 yard field goal with a struggling kicker was really bad. Not playing Aaron Jones enough was worse. This team has come out incredibly flat in the first quarter all season, and at some point the finger starts to turn to the coaching staff.

 

Green Bay will look to recover on Monday Night Football against the San Francisco 49ers. They need a win in a big way to generate some momentum leading into their bye week.

Andrew Mertig is a a lifelong Packers fan and draft enthusiast. He has covered the NFL draft for radio and television stations in Green Bay. He is currently a host of the Pack-A-Day podcast and a writer for PackersTalk.com. You can follow him on Twitter @andrewmertig