Packers winners and losers: Xavier McKinney saves Jordan Love, Josh Jacobs in Week 5 win

Things didn't look good for the Packers when Jordan Love threw the first pick-six of his career to give the Rams a lead over Green Bay in the second quarter on Sunday afternoon. Instead of dooming his team to an ugly loss, Love's mistake galvanized his squad and spurred them on to a 24-19 road victory.

As usual, the news for the Packers is mostly positive after a win. Several members of head coach Matt LaFleur's team had excellent performances against the Rams. Only a few guys on the roster really struggled in Los Angeles.

Green Bay fans interested in who might have raised their stock in the big win should keep a close eye on the following stars.

Packers winner No. 1: Tucker Kraft

The Packers haven't leveraged their talented tight ends as much as many fans expected this season but Tucker Kraft broke out in a big way in this victory. He managed to catch four passes for 88 yards including an explosive 66-yard reception. Perhaps more importantly, the veteran managed to find the end zone on two occasions to power his team to victory.

The hope is that Kraft can use this game as a jumping off point to become a bigger part of Green Bay's offense in future weeks. He has the ability to stretch opposing secondaries down the seem which creates a lot of space for Green Bay's receivers on the perimeter. That kind of balance could make Love even mroe efficient as the season goes along.

Packers winner No. 2: Xavier McKinney

Forcing turnovers is an immensely valuable skill in the modern NFL and Xavier McKinney has excelled at it during the first five games of the regular season. The talented safety intercepted a pass for the fifth game in a row and added a fumble recovery to round out his performance against the Rams.

McKinney's interception streak is going to stop sometime soon, but it doesn't diminish the fact that he's one of the premier ballhawks in the NFL. He baits quarterbacks to take ill-advised chances down the field on a regular basis. He earns the interceptions he gets from the safety position.

This week he did his damage against one of the league's most experienced signal-callers — Matthew Stafford. McKinney doesn't just feast against rookies and backups. He has the talent and savvy to force turnovers against any quarterback.

Packers winner No. 3: Jayden Reed

Jayden Reed is not getting a lot of national attention for the thins he does for the Packers offense, but fans in Green Bay see just how valuable he is. He was a bit overshadowed by Kraft's production against the Rams, but he still managed to reel in four catches for 78 yards incudling one big 53-yard reception.

Reed also chipped in two rushing attempts for 19 yards which demonstrates just how hard the Packers coaching staff is working to get him the ball. He's a threat to turn a routine play into a touchdown any time he's given the opportunity to work against opposing defenses in space. Reed is quickly becoming a receiver that occupies a place on the top of opposing scouting reports.

The key for Reed moving forward is to continue to increase his volume while maintaining the same level of efficiency. He is the most dynamic receiver the Packers have and needs to see his target share increase. His ascension to being a Pro Bowl caliber receiver is a big reason why Romeo Doubs is so unhappy with his role within the Packers offense this year.

Packers loser No. 1: Rashan Gary

Rashan Gary is supposed to be the premier edge rusher for the Packers. He was largely anonymous this week against the Rams and his overall play on the season hasn't been much better. He only has one sack to his name through five games and his PFF average grade of 56.1 accurately illustrates how bad he's been in 2024.

The Rams neutralized Gary with ease on Sunday. He only managed to notch two tackles and he was no threat to Stafford on the edge. 2023 sixth-round pick Karl Brooks managed to rack up 1.5 sacks on Sunday to be the team's most productive pass-rusher. Green Bay needs Gary to get back to his best if they are going to field a defense worthy of being a problem for opposing offenses. He has the talent to be an All-Pro but his mediocre play this season should have defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley thinking about reducing his snap count.

Packers loser No.2 : Josh Jacobs

Slowly but surely Jacobs is starting to look like the player the Raiders let go in free agency. He showed some quality burst in the opening weeks of the season, but his poor average of 3.8 yards per carry in this game weighed down the Green Bay offensive attack.

In fairness to Jacobs, he did not get great blocking in front of him against the Rams surprisingly feisty defensive line. It's still imperative for a running back with his salary to show the ability to make people miss. Jacobs didn't do that in Week 5 and it piled too much pressure on Love and the team's passing attack.

If Jacobs continues down this road it will be hard for LaFleur to justify allowing him to maintain his status as the team's unquestioned No. 1 running back. MarShawn Lloyd can't get healthy enough for this team. They need a running back to inject dynamism into their offensive backfield and the chances of Jacobs being that guy are diminishing by the week.