Packers Snap Counts: Williams shines with more opportunities

Having Jamaal Williams as a backup is a great luxury for the Green Bay Packers.

When a weapon like Aaron Jones is out his absence can be felt on offense. But with Williams in, the Packers moved the ball just as well, picking up 379 yards which is just under their season average of 393.7 total yards.

Williams played 55 of the Packers’ 62 offensive snaps (89%) — that’s a higher percentage than Jones has had in any game this year. Jones appeared in 71.0% of the snaps in Week 3 at New Orleans but has been below 60% in every other game. In fact, in 2019, Jones’ high in snaps was 85.2% in the season finale.

The fourth-year player out of BYU has played well for Green Bay in the past when his name was called upon and did the same Sunday, finishing with 19 carries for 77 yards and a touchdown, a testament to Williams and the Packers’ offensive line that was without Pro Bowl left tackle David Bakhtiari. The Green Bay running back also reeled in four catches for 37 yards.

While Williams’ touchdown in the fourth quarter was his first score of the season, he has found ways to help out the Packers offense in other games, too. He rushed 18 times for 63 yards in Green Bay’s 42-21 win over the Detroit Lions in Week 2 and caught eight balls for 95 yards in the Packers’ 30-16 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football in Week 4.

His snap counts have grown each week. He hovered around 30-40% in the first three games of the season, then jumped up to 57% of offensive snaps against Atlanta and played 51% against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Williams has been a key cog in Green Bay’s offense all season and illustrated his value even more against the Houston Texans.

Other notes from Sunday’s snap counts:

— The new-look offensive line gave up zero sacks without Bakhtiari. Regular right tackle Billy Turner filled in for Bakhtiari on the left side and played all 62 snaps. Rick Wagner played 100% of snaps at right tackle. The only offensive lineman not to play every snap was left guard Elgton Jenkins, who was replaced by Jon Runyan for two snaps.

— Even though Malik Taylor caught his first-career touchdown pass against Houston, he saw more significant playing time in three other games so far. Taylor played ten snaps (16%) against the Texans but was on the field for 21% of snaps against the Lions, 71% against the Falcons and 51% against the Buccaneers.

— Jace Sternberger, who also caught his first-career touchdown pass Sunday, played basically the exact same amount of time against Houston as he did against Tampa Bay. He was on the field 20 times in both games, which equated to 32.2% against the Texans and 31.7% of plays against the Buccaneers since Green Bay had one more offensive play against Tampa Bay.

— Cornerback Josh Jackson replaced Kevin King and safety Will Redmond played in Darnell Savage’s absence. Both played all 66 defensive snaps.

— Rookie linebacker Kamal Martin made his NFL debut after coming off injured reserve. He started and played 29 snaps (43%), recording six tackles.

— Seventh-round draft pick Vernon Scott was only on the field for 13 plays (19%) and made a huge tackle on third-and-goal, which happened to be his only tackle of the game. A day after he was activated from the practice squad, safety Henry Black got in for six defensive snaps (9%) and made two tackles and forced a fumble. Not a bad debut.

WEEK 7 — AT HOUSTON (OFFENSE) 

WEEK 7 — AT HOUSTON (DEFENSE)