Here’s the tale of the tape from the Packers’ 31-3 win over Cleveland on Sunday:

Breaking through

There’s no point having a big back if he can’t break tackles, which is why RB Ryan Grant’s performance was so encouraging.

Yes, the blocking was better, and no, the Browns don’t have much up front besides NT Shaun Rogers. But it was the way Grant accelerated on contact, fell forward in traffic and beat safeties one-on-one that made this performance stand out, as he racked up 91 of his 148 rushing yards (61.5 percent) after contact.

♦ Photos: Packers 31, Browns 3, gallery 1
♦ Photos: Packers 31, Browns 3, gallery 2
♦ Photos: Packers 31, Browns 3, gallery 3
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That included 26 on Grant’s long run, on an inside zone play he broke to the edge for 37 in the fourth quarter. The sustain up front from RG Josh Sitton and RT Allen Barbre was tremendous and FB Quinn Johnson picked off ILB Eric Barton, allowing Grant to get square, hit his aiming point and find the crease. From there, Grant sprung himself with an outside move to shake S Brodney Pool’s arm tackle, and he might have had a 42-yard touchdown if he hadn’t aimed too high with a stiff-arm on S Abram Elam at the 10.

It was Grant’s longest run since the 2008 opener and featured the second-level maneuvering the Packers haven’t seen often enough since 2007. Grant gained at least 3 yards after getting hit 11 times in 27 carries (40.7 percent), a majority of which went right behind Sitton and Barbre.

The Packers needed it, too, because the Browns played more press coverage to take away the backside slants that torched Detroit the week before. QB Aaron Rodgers didn’t throw on a run-pass option play until the fourth quarter, when he bookended the 99-yard TD drive with two — an 18-yard slant to WR Greg Jennings and a back-shoulder strike to WR James Jones for a 5-yard score.

Coaches can only hope Grant runs with so much resolution against the better defenses coming up on the schedule.

Goal-line stood

Bad Browns offense or not, the Packers gave themselves a lot on which to build with two more goal-line stands.

The first was as much about Cleveland’s ineptitude as anything, capped by a fumbled snap and a terrible read by QB Derek Anderson, who threw into triple coverage on third-and-goal. The second was all about the Packers’ defense, which refused to surrender a touchdown for a second straight week.

On first-and-goal from the 1, rookie DL B.J. Raji — who finally looks healthy and played his best NFL game so far — got underneath veteran LG Hank Fraley and drove him back a yard, impeding RG Floyd Womack’s pull. Buck ILB A.J. Hawk exploded through the resulting hole and dropped RB Jamal Lewis for a 2-yard loss.

CB Al Harris got a great jam on WR Mohamed Massoquai, forcing a second-down fade to sail over his head, and SS Atari Bigby read shotgun draw all the way on third to wrap up Lewis, who fell forward to the 1. That left the Browns facing fourth-and-goal, and Harris got another good jam on Massoquai, who made a lame attempt to draw a flag as Anderson’s pass whizzed past him.

It’s sequences like those that should give a defense confidence when it needs to stand tall in the future.

Playmakers

♦ The Packers’ success stopping the run (2.8 yards per carry) allowed DC Dom Capers to dial up a ton of pressure — 18 extra-man rushes in 34 dropbacks (52.9 percent) — and the Browns’ grade-school simple answer was repeatedly heaving the ball deep to Harris’ side. In 11 balls targeted toward Harris’ man, Cleveland completed only one for 22 yards when the Packers tipped a zone pressure and drew one illegal-contact penalty.

♦ All in all, LT T.J. Lang held his own in his first NFL start, doing his best work in the run game and allowing only one hit on Rodgers. That came against a blitz on the Packers’ first pass, with OLB Kamerion Wimbley getting by Lang with a speed move and dropping Rodgers just after he released a pass to TE Jermichael Finley that gained 16. The Packers kept in extra protection on nine of 22 dropbacks (40.9 percent) and chipped on five others, but a lot of the help was inside and/or against the extra rushers Cleveland sent 11 times (50 percent).

Play breakers

♦ A week after going 1-for-5 in the red zone, the Packers were 2-for-3 — but even their first successful chance was an adventure. It took six plays and a timely pass-interference call, in large part because they were running left to avoid Rogers and couldn’t get any movement. DE Robaire Smith got the better of LG Daryn Colledge on all three runs, and Grant scored on third-and-goal by rolling in after landing on ILB Kaluka Maiva. The failed drive stalled when C Scott Wells, who was solid most of the day, misfired a shotgun snap on third-and-goal, throwing off the timing of a slant to Grant and allowing Barton to make a saving tackle at the 1. It didn’t help that the loss of Finley left the Packers without the personnel to run their regular goal-line offense.

♦ After losing all but one running down in the first half, the Browns adjusted at halftime and ran their first five plays of the second half at the “open” side of the Packers defense — away from the strong safety or fifth linebacker — with success, including gains of 11 and 16 yards. The Packers responded after that and didn’t allow another run longer than 5.

♦ The strategy probably was correct, but the execution left something to be desired on kickoffs against stellar KR Josh Cribbs. In six kickoffs, PK Mason Crosby had two touchbacks and a third covered well despite WR Brett Swain’s knee injury on the play. But two angled boots out of bounds and another returned 41 yards — when Swain’s replacement, S Nick Collins, got too wide from teammate Jarrett Bush and Cribbs bounced outside — gave Cleveland three of its five possessions starting at its 40 or better. That won’t cut it against better teams.

♦ The failed QB sneak that ended the Packers’ opening drive was a mess. Smith shot between Colledge and Lang to grab Rodgers’ left ankle, Rogers went over Wells’ submarine attempt and Sitton and Barbre didn’t move DE Kenyon Coleman until it was too late.

Dot … dot … dot …

Cleveland got four of its 12 first downs on Packers penalties. … Tramon Williams seemed to have a lane on one of his three punt returns (2.0 average), but he juked too much and went nowhere. His blockers didn’t do him many favors all day. … QB Matt Flynn played the final 11 snaps and completed 1 of 2 passes, on a run-pass option slant to Jennings for 12. … Hawk’s eight credited tackles, including three for loss, came on a day he played 33 of 55 snaps (60 percent) as Capers extensively employed his base and “Big Okie” defenses against Cleveland’s base personnel. … LOLB Aaron Kampman played 12 snaps from a four-point stance and was credited with three QB hits. One of the hits came out of a new alignment with mack ILB Nick Barnett as a third down lineman. … OLB Jeremy Thompson made his first appearance on defense in a regular-season game, playing three snaps in the fourth quarter.