Good morning, everyone. On Sunday afternoon, the Green Bay Packers took on the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. As always, I am here to give you my thoughts on what happened in this rainy and snowy game. Without any delay, let’s get started.
The Packers defense forced a three-and-out on the Giants’ first offensive drive after Kenny Clark stuffed Saquon Barkley on third and 1. After the punt, the offense went down the field for the first touchdown of the day. During the drive, Aaron Rodgers connected with Allen Lazard for a 43-yard pass that went to the Giants’ 22 yard line. A few plays later, Rodgers threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Davante Adams that gave Green Bay a 7-0 lead. Unfortunately, the Giants went down the field for their own touchdown to tie the game at 7-7. During the drive, they converted both a third and short and a fourth and 5. 3 plays after the fourth down conversion, QB Daniel Jones connected with Sterling Shepard for an 18 yard touchdown pass. The 7-7 tie was not for long, as the Packers took just 5 plays to take the lead once again. 2 plays after Aaron Rodgers converted a third and 5 with his legs, he connected with a wide-open Allen Lazard for a 37-yard touchdown through the air. The touchdown gave the Packers a 14-7 lead with 1:15 left in the first quarter. The defense came up with their first turnover of the day after a Daniel Jones pass was intercepted by Kevin King (his fourth of the season). The offense almost turned that turnover into a touchdown on their next drive. On third and 8 from the Giants’ 29 yard line, Aaron Rodgers threw to Marquez Valdes-Scantling for a potential TD. The receiver could not get the catch in the end zone, resulting in the Packers settling for a 47-yard field goal by Mason Crosby. On the Giants’ next possession, they went down the field for a potential score while taking up 9 and a half minutes off the game clock. During this drive, they converted two fourth and shorts with a QB sneak by Daniel Jones. They got all the way to the Green Bay 9 before the defense forced them to a field goal. Even with the long drive, the Packers still had 2:31 left before halftime. The bad news was that they failed to get anything done on the drive after an offensive holding penalty on Elgton Jenkins. After the punt, the Giants ran a couple of plays to run out the clock. At the halfway point of the game, the Packers only had a 17-10 lead over the Giants.
The offense had the ball first in the second half, but they couldn’t do anything noteworthy after a 23-yard pass from Rodgers to Allen Lazard. For some reason, Lazard was put on the sidelines in favor of Geronimo Allison, who did not get a deep pass from Rodgers. After the third and 13 was not converted, the ball was punted back to the Giants. During the possession by New York, Daniel Jones connected with Cody Latimer for a 43-yard pass that put the Giants in scoring position. 3 plays later, Za’Darius Smith pressured Daniel Jones into throwing an incompletion on third and 10 from the Green Bay 27. The resulting field goal decreased the lead to 4 points. The offense finally got another touchdown after a 14-play, 75-yard drive that had a lot of ups and downs. Facing a fourth and 10 from the Giants’ 35 yard line, the Packers decided to go for it. Aaron Rodgers connected with Geronimo Allison for a 15-yard pass that moved the chains. During this play, Rodgers had a defender in his face. Like he always does, he finds a way to get the ball off for a great play. I also want to give credit to Allison for his catch on the play. A few plays later, they had first and goal from the one after a defensive holding penalty against Antoine Bethea. On first down, Aaron Jones was stuffed for -3 yards. On second down, Jones got a touchdown run (plus a snow angel in the end zone). Unfortunately, the touchdown was called back due to a holding penalty called against Robert Tonyan. After a pass play that went for -3 yards on second and goal from the 14, they faced a long third and goal from the 17. Aaron Rodgers once again took advantage of a free play (catching the Giants defense with 12 men on the field) and found Davante Adams for a 17-yard touchdown pass. The touchdown gave the Packers a 24-13 lead at the start of the fourth quarter. The Packers defense got their second turnover of the day during the Giants’ next offensive drive. After Daniel Jones got lucky with a fumbled snap (recovered by Da’Mari Scott), he threw a pass right into the hands of Darnell Savage for an interception. Savage returned the pick 28 yards to the Giants’ 38 yard line, where he was pushed out of bounds. The offense turned that interception into their fourth touchdown of the day, but not before facing two third downs. Geronimo Allison caught a 5-yard pass to convert the first one, and a defensive pass interference gave the Packers the second one. 2 plays after the penalty, Aaron Rodgers found tight end Marcedes Lewis for a 1-yard touchdown pass. It was Lewis’ first touchdown catch as a member of the Packers. After that touchdown, the Packers had a 31-13 lead over the Giants. Daniel Jones threw his third interception of the day to Tramon Williams, who made a great over the shoulder catch for the pick. After the offense did pretty much nothing of note and punted away, the Giants had the ball at their own 6. They once again got into scoring range, trying to make the score more respectable. On fourth and 4 from the Green Bay 17 yard line, Daniel Jones threw an incomplete pass intended for Sterling Shepard. After 2 kneel-downs by Tim Boyle, the game was over with the Packers winning 31-13 over the Giants.
The victory improved the Packers’ overall record to 9-3 on the season. It is once again awesome to see the Packers win another game in the elements, which included snow and rain (mostly snow). The crowd at MetLife Stadium was mostly Packers fans, from what I heard on videos. There were plenty of “Go Pack Go” chants from the crowd, especially near the end of the game. Offensively, the run game was not very efficient despite a 22nd ranked run defense for the Giants. Aaron Jones only ran for 18 yards, while Jamaal Williams had 41 yards on the ground. Aaron Rodgers threw for 243 yards and 4 touchdowns, posting a 125.4 passer rating in the process. He had plenty of great throws in the elements on Sunday, including the touchdown to Allen Lazard and the fourth down conversion to Geronimo Allison. Davante Adams caught 6 passes for 64 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Allen Lazard caught 3 passes for 103 yards and 1 touchdown. It was good to see Marcedes Lewis get his first touchdown catch as a Packer. Geronimo Allison caught a couple of clutch passes, including the 4th and 10 pass that kept the third TD drive alive. What helped all of this happen was the offensive line protecting Aaron Rodgers all day. I have to give major credit to Bryan Bulaga, who played on Sunday after the MCL injury last week. Despite the margin of victory, the Packers did not perform great at times on Sunday offensively. To be specific, the two drives in between halftime were not good at all for Green Bay. The game was close until the Packers scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
On the defensive side of the football, the Packers still gave up plenty of yards. Other than the one touchdown, the Packers defense made the stops when they were needed. They have to get better in getting off the field on third and fourth down. They can’t let teams convert fourth downs like they did against the Giants. Despite not getting a sack, Za’Darius Smith was all over the place on Sunday with 5 QB hits and 4 tackles. The defense picked off Daniel Jones 3 times, making it the second time that the defense had 3 picks in the same game (the first was Week 5 against the Cowboys). Special Teams had a good game on Sunday for the Packers. JK Scott had 2 punts that went inside the 20 yard line after none last week. Mason Crosby made all of his kicks (1 field goal, 4 extra points) despite having a heavy heart. For context, he lost his sister-in-law to cancer on Friday. He was given the game ball by head coach Matt LaFleur before heading back to Texas to see his brother. There was a punt return that went for positive yardage (3 yards), which is progress for Green Bay. The best part was that the Packers did not turn the ball over at all on offense or Special Teams.
Overall, the Packers took care of business against a Giants team that entered the game at 2-9 on the season. It is up to Green Bay to keep the momentum going over the last 4 weeks of the regular season in order to win the division and keep up with the other top NFC contenders. Next up for the Packers is a matchup with the Washington Redskins at Lambeau Field. Even though it is at home, the Packers need to come into this game prepared for any challenge Washington might throw at them. For right now, it is 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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