Good morning, everyone. That was a heck of a game on Sunday between the Green Bay Packers and the Carolina Panthers. I am here to give you my thoughts on what happened at a snowy Lambeau Field. Let’s get started.
The defense got off to a good start on their first possession, forcing the Panthers to punt after 6 plays. Kevin King stopped Curtis Samuel short of the first down marker on third and 6 from the Green Bay 42. Unfortunately, the offense went three-and-out on their first drive. After a 9-yard run by Aaron Jones, there was another false start penalty on the offense (this time by Jimmy Graham). On third and 3, Allen Lazard could not hang on to the catch. As a result, the Packers punted back to Carolina. The punt only traveled 36 yards to the Carolina 47, giving the Panthers good field position. Carolina took advantage of this field position by easily going down the field for a touchdown. The 2-yard TD pass from Kyle Allen to Curtis Samuel was set up by a 38-yard completion to a wide-open DJ Moore. The 7-0 lead for Carolina did not last very long, as the Packers answered back in less than 4 minutes with their own touchdown. The 5-yard TD run by Aaron Jones was set up by 2 straight pass completions of 15+ yards by Aaron Rodgers (a 19-yard pass to Allen Lazard and a 15-yard pass to Davante Adams). With the game now tied at 7-7, the Panthers went down the field to retake the lead. The Packers defense made sure that the Panthers only got three points on the drive. On third and 10 from the Green Bay 29, Christian McCaffrey caught a screen pass that went for -3 yards. Joey Slye made the 50-yard field goal to give Carolina a 10-7 lead to start the second quarter.
The Packers went three-and-out on their next drive. On third and 2, Allen Lazard caught a 5-yard pass from Aaron Rodgers to get the first down. The problem was that Lazard was called for a terrible offensive pass interference penalty. On the resulting third and 12, the pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling fell incomplete, forcing the Packers to punt it away. The defense caught a break, as a fumbled snap to Kyle Allen was recovered by Montravius Adams. The offense took advantage of the turnover by going down the field for their second touchdown of the game. Aaron Jones ran it in from 1 yard for his second rushing touchdown, giving the Packers a 14-10 lead. The defense forced the Panthers to punt on their next drive. On third and 7 from the Green Bay 41, Preston Smith sacked Kyle Allen for a loss of 7 yards. Even though the punt resulted in a touchback, the Packers started the final drive of the first half at the 10 due to a holding penalty against Za’Darius Smith. The drive was in danger of going three-and-out, but Gerald McCoy was called for roughing the passer on third and 13. The funny part was that Rodgers caught the penalty flag after he was brought down by McCoy. 3 plays later, Rodgers connected to Jimmy Graham for a pass that went 48 yards to the Carolina 26. A few plays later, they got inside the 10 yard line as they tried to get points before halftime. After a false start penalty by Jamaal Williams backed Green Bay up to the 7 (plus an incomplete pass to Allen Lazard), Rodgers connected to Jimmy Graham for a touchdown. Unfortunately, the touchdown was called back because Graham could not get both of his feet inbounds. On the next play, Donte Jackson was called for defensive holding. The penalty gave the Packers the ball at the one yard line with 2 seconds left. I liked that Matt Lafleur had the guts to go for the touchdown rather than settle for a field goal. What I did not like was the play that was called. The run by Jamaal Williams was stuffed immediately for a loss of 3 yards, resulting in the Packers getting nothing before halftime.
Luckily, the Packers started the second half on offense. They went 75 yards in just 5 plays on the drive. The 13-yard touchdown run by Aaron Jones (his third of the game) was set up by a 38-yard pass completion to Davante Adams on second and 26, a 28-yard run by Jones, and a 12-yard completion to Jake Kumerow. With the score now 21-10, the Panthers tried to answer back with another score. They got all the way to the Green Bay 11 yard line before the drive ended with a turnover. Kyle Allen threw a pass to the end zone that was almost picked off by Adrian Amos. Luckily, Truman Williams came up with the interception of Allen. On the first play of the next drive, Aaron Rodgers threw a deep pass to Davante Adams that should have been an easy touchdown. Adams had separation on Donte Jackson, but he had to slow down because of the ball. As a result, Jackson came up with a great defensive play on the ball. After that incomplete pass, Jamaal Williams ran the ball very well against the defense. The Packers got all the way to the Carolina 23 before the drive stalled. After a holding penalty gave Green Bay a third and 20 from the 33, Rodgers was sacked by the defense for a loss of 1. The 52-yard field goal try was no good, but Carolina was called for illegal formation. The 47-yard field goal try by Mason Crosby was good, giving the Packers a 24-10 advantage. Unfortunately, the defense could not stop the Panthers from scoring their second touchdown of the game. The drive ended with a 2-yard touchdown run by McCaffrey. Weirdly, the Panthers went for 2 points after the touchdown. The pass to Greg Olsen fell incomplete in the end zone, resulting in a score of 24-16.
The Packers tried to increase their lead on their next drive, but the drive stalled after an incomplete pass to Allen Lazard that should have been another touchdown. Thankfully, the defense kept the Panthers from getting a lot of yards on the next drive. On third and 8 from the Carolina 27, Kyle Allen was sacked for a loss of 11 yards by Preston Smith. The sack forced the Panthers to punt it back to Green Bay. The Packers ended up getting nothing on the following possession. What did not help was that there was 2 delay of game penalties on the same drive. After the punt, the Panthers had the ball at their own 11. On the second play of the drive, Jaire Alexander dropped a pass that would have been a pick-six and the game-sealing play. After the dropped pick, the Panthers had no problem going down the field against the Packers defense in the snow. At the Green Bay 25, the defense forced three straight incomplete passes from Kyle Allen. After 2 timeouts (one by each team), the Panthers converted the fourth down and kept the drive alive. 4 plays later, the Panthers had another fourth down to overcome. On this fourth down from the Green Bay 4, the pass was broken up by Darnell Savage. The problem was that Preston Smith was called for offsides, keeping the drive alive once again. After an incomplete pass to McCaffrey with 8 seconds left, the Panthers had one more shot to get to the end zone. The run by McCaffrey was stopped short of the goal line by Preston Smith, with some help from Kyler Fackrell. The officials looked at the play to make sure that the ball did not cross the goal line. The play stood as called after review, resulting in a 24-16 win for the Packers.
This win gives the Packers an 8-2 mark on the season heading into the bye week. It was definitely a nail-biter, as it came down to the final play. There were plenty of missed opportunities by the offense and the defense in this game. On the offensive side of the football, the Packers left plenty of points on the board that would have given them a more comfortable lead. Aaron Rodgers under threw a few deep balls that would have been touchdowns had he thrown them with a bit more power. The offense should have called a better play than an inside run to Jamaal Williams at the end of the first half. That play was easily predictable, plus David Bakhtiari whiffed on a block during the play. There were a few pre-snap penalties on the offense, which can easily be avoided. In addition to the false starts, there were a couple of delay of game penalties against them. Even with these mistakes, I thought that the offense did some things well, specifically with the running game. The Packers rushed for a total of 163 yards on the day (led by Aaron Jones’ 93 yards and Jamaal Williams’ 63 yards). Aaron Jones rushed for 3 touchdowns for the second time this season. He is now tied with Christain McCaffrey for the league lead in touchdowns with 14 (that total includes both rushing and receiving TDs). Even though Davante Adams did not get into the end zone, he led the receivers with 7 catches for 118 yards. Jimmy Graham’s highlight was the 48-yard catch-and-run in the second quarter.
Defensively, the Packers had plenty of missed opportunities for sacks and turnovers. There were plenty of times where Kyle Allen avoided sacks by the defenders. He finished the day with 307 passing yards and 1 touchdown. There were also plenty of times where the receivers were wide open for Allen to throw to. Before the interception by Tramon Williams, there was a missed opportunity for a fumble recovery after McCaffrey was stripped of the ball by Ibraheim Campbell (who was activated from the PUP list on November 5). On the final drive of the game, Jaire Alexander nearly had a pick-six after a pressure by Za’Darius Smith. Alexander dropped the pass, which would have sealed the game. At least the Packers got the stop at the very end of the game. If the Panthers would have scored a touchdown and got the two points to tie the game and send it to overtime, that drop would have been looked at more as a “what if”. Preston Smith now has 10 sacks on the year, which is a career high for him. The interception by Tramon Williams was his first for the Packers since Week 15 of 2014 against the Bills. Kevin King had both good and bad moments in this game. He had some good defensive plays on the receivers, but he also allowed a few easy passes. That goes for the defense as a whole. The important thing is that they got the stops when they matter the most.
On Special Teams, the Packers did a bit better. The return game was non-existent after Tremon Smith exited the game with a concussion. After the first 2 punts by JK Scott went for less than 40 yards, he pinned the Panthers deep in their own territory with his next 2 punts. Mason Crosby made a 47-yard field goal while it was snowing and windy. There were a couple of times where the return coverage unit gave up a good return, but there were also times where they stopped the Panthers from getting past the 20. To be fair, one of the kickoffs was muffed by the returner. There were still a couple of silly penalties, including one on a punt that went for a touchback. The good news was that they did not turn the ball over and give momentum to Carolina.
Overall, it was a very dramatic win for the Packers on Sunday night. It was awesome to see Lambeau Field covered in snow, especially near the end of the game. At last, the bye week is here for the Packers. They definitely need it because after it, they are on the road against the San Francisco 49ers. I won’t stay dormant for the bye week. Stay tuned for future posts. In the meantime, I hope that you all have a great day. Go Pack Go!
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL's Youtube page)
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