Next men up continue to step up for Packers’…

In the third quarter, St. Brown’s 11-yard end-around set up first-and-goal from the Minnesota 10. Rodgers hit Davante Adams for a touchdown on the next play.

On the next drive, which also ended with an Adams touchdown reception, St. Brown caught a short pass from Rodgers and took it 26 yards on first-and-10 from the Green Bay 36. It was his longest regular-season catch since a 34-yard reception as a rookie against the New York Jets on Dec. 23, 2018.

“EQ’s a heck of a player, man,” said receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who was drafted the same year as St. Brown in 2018. “It’s good to see him get some opportunities and go out and make those plays. He’s an asset for our team. He’s been doing really well on special teams all year … so I’m just happy to see him out there and making some plays on offense as well.”

With the Packers deep at receiver, St. Brown was among the team’s final cuts at the end of August. He returned as a member of the team’s practice squad before being signed back to the 53-man roster last month.

“I’m really proud of EQ,” Rodgers said. “I got ahold of him and had a nice conversation with him at the end of training camp when he was released. I just felt like there was gonna be an opportunity for him at some point during the season. But today, what he did, especially on those two catches, the end-around, that was pretty awesome.”

Digging deep: With Rashan Gary out with an elbow injury, Preston Smith responded with one of his best games in a Packers uniform.

The seventh-year linebacker was responsible for both of Green Bay’s sacks of Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins and three of the Packers’ five quarterback hits, along with six tackles and a forced fumble.

Gary’s absence led to former seventh-round pick Jonathan Garvin getting his first NFL start, while Oren Burks and Tipa Galeai rotated in behind them.

“It could have been better,” said Smith, when asked about the pass rush. “We didn’t win, so of course there’s a lot of things we can fix to improve for our upcoming game against the Rams. They played well tonight, protecting Kirk, and we had to do a whole lot better and not let him be comfortable in the pocket and make those throws.”