Henry Black, Vernon Scott, Malik Taylor are names you might expect to hear in August. Same with Jace Sternberger given how little he has done from September through December in his short NFL career.
On Sunday, you heard those names in an important, Week 7 game for the Green Bay Packers.
In between Aaron Rodgers' big throws and Davante Adams' 13 catches for 196 yards and two touchdowns, former practice squad members such as Taylor and Black, plus late-round picks such as Scott -- among others -- made key plays in a 35-20 bounce-back victory at the Houston Texans a week after the Packers (5-1) lost in blowout fashion to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
"That definitely lit up the bingo card, I'm sure, from training camp," Rodgers said. "Sternberger touchdown, Malik Taylor touchdown, Henry Black forced fumble, that's pretty special right there. That's a credit to those guys. There were a lot of guys we knew this week that were gonna get a chance to play."
That the Packers won, and won easily, without top running back Aaron Jones, All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari, offensive gadget Tyler Ervin plus starting defensive backs Kevin King and Darnell Savage -- all inactive because of injuries -- and in the process saw linebacker Krys Barnes (shoulder) and safety Raven Greene (oblique) drop out, might have meant more than the big days of Rodgers and Adams.
Here's a look at some of the lesser-known contributors -- what they did and, in some cases, who they are -- from the "bingo card" on Sunday:
Malik Taylor: The former undrafted free agent from Ferris State spent all of last season on the practice squad before he surprisingly survived the final cut at the end of training camp this year, edging out fan favorite (and Rodgers' favorite) Jake Kumerow for the last receiver spot. Before Sunday, he had been targeted just twice this season with one catch for 20 yards in Week 4 against the Falcons despite being active for every game. He moved up the depth chart after Allen Lazard's Week 3 core muscle injury.
Taylor played 10 snaps on Sunday and made the most of them. His first catch was his first career touchdown, a 1-yarder that gave the Packers a three-score cushion at halftime. Though he finished with just 6 yards on his two catches, he left the field clutching that touchdown ball even after Rodgers bear-hugged him in the end zone. "I know Malik was holding on to that pretty tight," Rodgers said of the touchdown ball.
Jace Sternberger: With all the hype over Robert Tonyan after his three-touchdown game against Atlanta and the early-season excitement over rookie Josiah Deguara's versatility, the second-year tight end looked lost in the shuffle. Plagued by dropped passes and mental errors, the former third-round pick had just three catches for 36 yards coming into Sunday. Still, Rodgers went to him on second-and-goal from the Texans' 3 early in the second quarter. On a play that personified coach Matt LaFleur's motion and misdirection, Sternberger leaked out and snagged his first regular-season touchdown (he had one in last year's NFC Championship Game).
"He's had his ups and downs, but I think that it shows a lot about who he is to go through that and go through some of the media [criticism], the outside noise, and still push through and make plays for us," Adams said of Sternberger. "It's going to be big for us, and it's a big reason we drafted him as high as we did."
Jamaal Williams: Most already know Williams as the reliable backup to the ultra-productive Jones, but no one got more praise coming into this season from Rodgers than Williams did. Rodgers regularly brought him up unprompted, raving about how Williams toned his body in advance of his fourth season. When Adams came up with a sore calf late last week, this turned into Williams' game. He finished with 114 total yards from scrimmage (77 rushing with a touchdown on 19 carries) and (37 receiving on four catches). Like Jones, Williams is in the final year of his contract, and if the Packers don't want to pay the big money Jones is sure to command, then Williams stated his case to stay as the No. 1 back next year.
"I've said this a lot, but I'm bringing it up time and time again because I just think he deserves so much credit for what he did in the offseason to get himself in this position," Rodgers said of Williams. "He's such a talented guy. ... He's an important, important part of what we're doing."
Billy Turner and Rick Wagner: How many teams can play without an All-Pro left tackle and let their quarterback get hit only one time? The Packers did in part because Turner made the switch from the right side to the left and Wagner held up fine in place of Turner at right tackle. J.J. Watt managed a pair of tackles for loss but never got to Rodgers.
"I'm really happy the way those guys played," Rodgers said of his tackles. "I think Matt did a really good job this week of setting a game plan that could get those guys comfortable from the start of the game. We wanted to run the ball early and wanted to give those guys some help. Obviously, J.J. is such a talented player, we didn't want to let him get going and be able to kind of tee off."
Henry Black: The undrafted rookie safety from Baylor was elevated from the practice squad on Saturday with no promise of making it past Sunday. He might have earned another elevation -- especially if Savage (quad) and Greene aren't back this Sunday against the Vikings -- with his big play to seal the game. After the Texans recovered an onside kick with 1:33 remaining, Black jarred the ball away from running back David Jackson, sending it flying in the air to be recovered by fellow Packers safety Adrian Amos. It was one of two tackles for Black in just six defensive snaps. His nickname is "Jackpot," and his teammates celebrated his big play like they all hit one on Sunday.
"I said to him early, I said, 'Man, you had three plays, two tackles and the forced fumble,'" Amos said. "He came in and played very well for what he had to do. That's what you expect. We all trust one another, and we don't flinch."
Vernon Scott: The seventh-round pick from TCU made some flashy plays in training camp but hadn't found a regular role on defense. He had a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit in five defensive snaps against the Lions in Week 2 but then didn't get any defensive work (only special teams) in two of the next three games. On Sunday, he made an open-field tackle on a screen pass to running back Duke Johnson for a 3-yard loss on third-and-goal in the fourth quarter, forcing a field goal.
"You just gotta prevent them from getting seven; those times are important," Amos said. "You gotta be great down there in the red zone, and we haven't been up to par to where we want to be in the red zone. So it was important to get those stops, and we gotta continue to grow in that; negative plays are what usually do it in the red zone."