Good afternoon, everyone. On Sunday, the Green Bay Packers faced off against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Lambeau Field. Before the game, I thought that Green Bay was going to win against Jacksonville in convincing fashion. After all, the Packers were heavily favored against a Jaguars team that has won only 1 game so far. It’s safe to say that it was not a blowout win for the Packers on Sunday. They even trailed a couple of times during the game. In the end, the Packers won a very ugly game by a score of 24-20. Let’s go into detail about what exactly transpired in this game.
For the first time this season, the Packers did not score on their first offensive possession of the game. They went three-and-out after a pass thrown by Aaron Rodgers intended for Robert Tonyan fell incomplete (partially due to wind). An 18-yard punt return by Keelan Cole gave the Jaguars the ball at their own 38 yard line. From there, Jacksonville went down the field for a score. They got to the Green Bay 33 before the defense forced them to settle for a field goal. Even with the wind, the field goal attempt from 52 yards out was good. The field goal by Chase McLaughlin gave the Jaguars an early 3-0 lead. The second possession for Green Bay’s offense was going better than the first drive, but a chop block penalty against Billy Turner (he was pushed into it) stalled the drive. On third and 17, Rodgers threw a screen pass to Jamaal Williams that went for 10 yards, which was not enough for the first down. JK Scott’s punt pinned the Jaguars at their own 5 yard line. After allowing James Robinson to run for 26 yards on the first 2 plays combined, the Packers defense forced Jacksonville to punt 3 plays later. Unfortunately, the punt pinned the offense at their own 4 yard line. On the next drive, Green Bay went three and out after a dropped pass by Davante Adams (the defender knocked the ball out of his hands). The defense responded by forcing the Jaguars to go three and out on their next possession, giving the offense another chance to score. Pinned at their own 9, the Packers offense went down the field for a touchdown rather quickly. On the first play of the second quarter, Rodgers found Marquez Valdes-Scantling for a 78-yard touchdown pass that gave Green Bay the lead. During the catch and run by MVS, one of the defenders knocked over an official. That official helped block the defenders and let MVS go all the way for the score. The extra point by Mason Crosby gave the Packers a 7-3 lead.
The defense forced Jacksonville to punt after only a few plays, giving the Packers offense another chance to put up points. The problem was that they went three and out and punted back to Jacksonville. Kellan Cole took the ensuing punt 91 yards for a touchdown, giving the Jaguars a 10-7 advantage. During the return, there were at least 5 Packers players in one area and far away from the returner. Also, JK Scott was not able to tackle the returner during the play. The Packers got the ball back with 10:06 left in the second quarter, looking for a response to the Jaguars’ latest score. During the drive, they faced a third and 6 from their own 23 yard line. Rodgers completed a pass to Adams that went for 11 yards and a first down. The first down was nullified due to Illegal Formation against Jace Sternberger. Matt LaFleur threw a challenge flag because of a possible Too Many Men penalty on Jacksonville that would offset the Illegal Formation penalty and make it 3rd and 6 again. After review, there was a too many men penalty on the Jaguars, which resulted in offsetting penalties. After that, Rodgers found MVS for a 22-yard pass completion that converted the third down. A few plays later (including 2 more third down conversions), Rodgers rolled to his right and ran it in from 5 yards out for his first touchdown run of the season. The extra point following the TD gave the Packers a 14-10 lead. On the next Jaguars drive, QB Jake Luton threw a pass right into the hands of Adrian Amos for an interception. Amos returned the pick 23 yards to the Jacksonville 26 yard line, giving the Packers offense prime field position for another score before halftime. The offense had to settle for a field goal after a holding penalty against Billy Turner nullified a wonderful touchdown catch by Davante Adams. The field goal by Mason Crosby gave Green Bay a 17-10 lead at halftime.
The Packers defense got to a good start in the second half, forcing the Jaguars to punt after a sack of Jake Luton by Za’Darius Smith. The offense got pinned at their own 2 during the ensuing punt by Logan Cooke. On the first play of the drive, Aaron Rodgers connected with Davante Adams for what looked like a big play. The problem was that Adams was stripped of the ball by CJ Henderson during the play. The fumble was recovered by Myles Jack, who returned it to the Green Bay 16 yard line. 3 plays later, Luton found Keelan Cole for a 16-yard touchdown pass that tied the game at 17-17 (another terrible use of three man rush by the Packers defense). With the game tied, the Packers had a chance to score on their next possession. During the penalty, Rodgers was sacked by Josh Allen for a 10 yard loss. Because of the way that Rodgers was hit, Allen was called for roughing the passer, which gave the Packers a free first down. The drive resulted in a turnover on downs after Rodgers was pressured to throw the ball away on fourth down. The defense responded by keeping the Jaguars out of field goal range and forcing them to punt. This time, the punt went into the end zone for a touchback. The offensive possession for Green Bay ended in 4 plays due to Rodgers throwing a terrible interception to Sidney Jones. The pick helped set up a 31-yard field goal by Chase McLaughlin that gave the Jaguars a 20-17 lead. With the Packers trailing again (in a game that should not be this close), it was up to Aaron Rodgers to lead the offense down the field for a touchdown. 7 plays and 75 yards later, the Packers retook the lead on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to Davante Adams. The play-action fake by Rodgers was a thing of beauty that fooled the Jaguars defense. Adams left high for the touchdown catch that gave Green Bay the 24-20 lead. A mess up on the kickoff return (plus an illegal block penalty) forced the Jaguars to start their next drive at the 7 yard line. With that scenario, I thought that the Packers defense would stop them early. Instead, the defense let Jacksonville get to midfield during the drive. 3 incomplete passes later, Jacksonville was forced to punt back to Green Bay, giving the Packers a chance to seal the game. Unfortunately, the Packers went three and out after Aaron Jones was stuffed on third and 1 from the Green Bay 23 (wrong RB to run that straight line rushing play). Luckily, the defense sealed the game with back-to-back sacks of Jake Luton (one sack each by Rashan Gary and Preston Smith) and a great pressure on fourth and 26 from the Jacksonville 48. LaFleur called timeout before the fourth down play after seeing only 3 men at the line of scrimmage. After 2 kneel-downs, the game was over with the Packers winning by a score of 24-20. With the win, the Packers are now 7-2 on the season.
For most of the game, the Packers looked like a team that did not play with intensity on all sides of the football. Maybe it was a case of looking ahead to next week or some other reason. Regardless, the Packers need to be focused on the team in front of them. Because of the lack of intensity, they let Jacksonville play them tight all the way to the very end in a game where it should have been a blowout. On offense, there were times where they went three and out, including on their first possession of the game. They also committed 2 inexcusable turnovers during the game: a fumble by Davante Adams and an awful interception by Aaron Rodgers. Despite those issues, they did what they had to do to get the win. Rodgers threw for 325 yards and 2 touchdowns (plus a rushing touchdown) on Sunday at Lambeau Field. Marquez Valdes-Scantling led the receivers with 4 catches for 149 yards and a touchdown. His 20 yard rush on a toss play helped set up the go-ahead TD catch by Davante Adams (who finished with 8 catches for 66 yards). Other than one sack, the offensive line protected Rodgers very well against the Jaguars. That O-Line will have David Bakhtiari for 4 more years after he signed a contract extension with Green Bay. One thing is for sure: the Packers will have a tough task next Sunday against the Colts defense. I have hope that the Packers will fix their offensive issues before that game.
For most of the game, the defense did not play with a lot of intensity. James Robinson ran for 109 yards on 23 carries during the game. The defense got lucky that 2 touchdown runs by Robinson were nullified by holding penalties. It was good to see Adrian Amos get an interception on Jake Luton, but the Packers should have gotten at least one more turnover. I was not pleased when a three man rush was used in the red zone again by defensive coordinator Mike Pettine. Including Sunday’s game, a three man rush resulted in 4 touchdowns by the opposing team in the red zone. I was happy to see the defense pressure Jake Luton on the very last drive of the game, including getting 2 straight sacks and sending 4 men to rush him on fourth and 26. Like the Packers offense, the defense will have a tough challenge next week against the Colts. Hopefully they get the job done, especially in crunch time. On Special Teams, the only positive things were Mason Crosby making all of his kicks and no turnovers. The Packers let a few punts get downed deep in their own territory on punts and they allowed a 91-yard punt return for a touchdown. It’s safe to say that mistakes like that can’t happen against better teams. Hopefully the Packers fix those miscues before the next game.
Overall, it was not a pretty win for the Packers on Sunday. Regardless, it is a win and the Packers need to move on to the following game. Next up for the Packers is a road matchup against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Packers need to bring all of their energy for this game and for the rest of the season from here on out. In the meantime, here’s to a Victory Monday for the Packers. Have a great day, everyone, Go Pack Go!
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL's YouTube page.)
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