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Designating
blue chips, red chips and cow chips is our way of analyzing each game's
winners and losers for the Packers. So without further ado...
- Spencer Havner -- Sunday's performance was just what the Packers were hoping they would get out of Havner as a triple threat, offense, defense and special teams player. When Jermichael Finley went down with an injury, Havner was there to pick up the slack. He'll never be the receiving threat that Finley is, but he helped fill the void at least for a day. He had two receptions for 59 yards including one that went 45 yards for a touchdown. He also had two special teams tackles to boot, one of them directly followed his touchdown in which he fought through a double team of blockers.
- Aaron Kampman -- Two things happening at once are leading to an increased level of production from Kampman over the past two weeks. For starters, he's becoming increasingly more and more comfortable with the 3-4 defensive scheme instituted by Dom Capers. But Capers, likewise, is utilizing Kampman to his strength as a down rusher in both nickel and dime situations in three and four man fronts. Kampman had five tackles including two for a loss, a sack and three quarterback hurries against the Browns.
- A.J. Hawk -- After seeing his role on the team decrease and receiving criticism in the media, Hawk responded in stunning fashion on Sunday. He led the team in tackles with eight, but three of them went for losses. More than anything, he seemed to be in the right spot at the right time. In the past, when he would get swallowed up by would be blockers, he was shedding those blocks and getting to the ball carrier. Hawk is always at his best in short yardage situations, and he continued that trend versus the Browns.
- Ryan Grant -- A Browns rush defense ranked 30th out of 32 teams will help just about any NFL running back, but Grant deserves an "A" for his performance yesterday. Coming into the game averaging less than 4.0 yards per carry, Grant had 27 carries for 148 yards, good for 5.5 yards per carry. He also had a touchdown. Grant was aided by an improved performance by the offensive line, but he also showed good burst off tackle. Case in point was his 37-yard scamper up the right sideline in the fourth quarter, his longest rush of the day.
 - Tramon Williams -- Williams showed a penchant for returning punts in previous years, so a better performance was expected from him in the return game. He returned three punts for a total of six yards. Worst of all, he looked to be dancing his way around tacklers instead of heading north and south. It's only a small sample size, but Williams needs to have better production in future weeks.
- Penalties
-- Eight penalties was an improvement over the 13 the Packers had the previous week against the Detroit Lions, but it was still too many. Considering the pass protection was improved at least for one game, penalties are the biggest problem hurting the Packers this moment. The personal foul on Atari Bigby hitting an opposing player out of bounds was particularly egregious. Yes, the hit wasn't very hard, but there was no reason for such a move when the Packers had the game in the bag.
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