Good evening, everyone. On Sunday night, the Green Bay Packers took on the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. It was a hard-fought victory for the Packers that came down to the final seconds. I am here to give you my thoughts on what exactly happened. Without further delay, let’s get right into it.
The Packers offense was on the field to start this game. On the third play of their first possession, QB Aaron Rodgers connected with WR Allen Lazard for a 42-yard pass play that got Green Bay to the 26 yard line of San Francisco. On the following play, Rodgers found RB Aaron Jones for an 11-yard pass connection that got the Packers to the 15. After that play, the drive went haywire. On first down, Rodgers’ pass was deflected by Nick Bosa. Luckily, Rodgers caught it and only suffered a 4-yard loss. On second down, Rodgers scrambled for 4 yards. However, Yosh Nijman was weirdly called for an offensive facemask penalty. As a result, the Packers faced a second and 29. After that penalty, the drive went dead and Mason Crosby was called upon for a 54-yard field goal. The kick was good, giving Green Bay a 3-0 lead with 10:06 left in the first quarter. The defense got off to a good start, getting a third down stop with Chandon Sullivan breaking up a pass from Jimmy Garoppolo to Mohamed Sanu. That stop on third and 6 from the 49ers 41 yard line forced San Francisco to punt it back to Green Bay. The Packers offense took over at their own 20 yard line. From there, they went on a 7-play drive that ended with a touchdown. During the possession, Rodgers found WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling on a pass play that went 47 yards to the San Francisco 19. 3 plays later, Rodgers connected with Davante Adams on a 14-yard pass that set up first and goal from the 1. On first and goal, there was a motion fake with Adams that confused the 49ers defense. Rodgers found Adams wide open for a 1-yard touchdown pass that (with an extra point kick by Crosby) increased the lead to 10-0 with 3:19 remaining in the quarter.
The Packers defense forced the 49ers to punt after a three and out on their next drive. After the punt was fair caught by Amari Rodgers, the Packers offense took over at their own 10. They ended up punting after only a few plays. On third and 8 from their own 43, Rodgers was sacked by Arik Armstead for a loss of 8 yards. Corey Bojorquez punted the ball to the San Francisco 14. On the following play, Garoppolo looked for TE George Kittle on a deep pass. Little did he know that Jaire Alexander was there to intercept the pass and return it to the SF 32. Just like that, the Packers were in scoring range. Unfortunately, they were not able to score on that possession. Even though they were 1 yard away from converting a fourth down at the SF 3, AJ Dillon did not get a carry on the play. Instead, Aaron Rodgers threw incomplete to Randall Cobb in the end zone. That incomplete pass gave the 49ers the ball with 10:20 left in the second quarter. The 49ers offense tried to move down the field for their first score, but Green Bay’s defense made sure that they were forced to punt. On third and 1 from the Green Bay 49, RB Trey Sermon was stopped for no gain by a combination of Dean Lowry and De’Vondre Campbell. After a delay of game penalty, Mitch Wishnowsky punted the ball to the Green Bay 13, where it was downed by San Francisco. From there, the Green Bay offense went down the field for another scoring drive. During the drive, there was a great block of Nick Bosa by Robert Tonyan on a third and 6 play that ended with a pass interference penalty against the 49ers. After the penalty, the Packers went down the field for their second touchdown of the night. On second and goal from the SF 3, Aaron Jones took it in for a 3-yard touchdown run that (along with a PAT kick by Mason Crosby) gave the Packers a 17-0 lead with just over a minute left in the first half. On the ensuing kickoff, Trenton Cannon returned the kick all the way to the Green Bay 32 before being pushed out of bounds by Mason Crosby. From there, the 49ers used the great field position to score a touchdown right before halftime. During the short drive, the refs missed an obvious grounding penalty after Jimmy Garoppolo threw the ball down to the ground near nobody. For some odd reason, head coach Kyle Shanahan brought out rookie QB Trey Lance for this one play. Lance took the snap and ran it into the end zone from one yard out. With the touchdown (plus the extra point), the 49ers cut their deficit to 10 points heading into the second half.
The 49ers offense went down the field for a touchdown on their first possession of the third quarter. From their own 17, they went on a 13-play drive that ended with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Jimmy Garoppolo to Brandon Aiyuk. The score decreased Green Bay’s lead to 17-14 midway through the third quarter. After an exchange of three and out stops by both defenses, the Packers offense took the field with 4:24 left in the quarter. During this possession (which had plenty of run plays), 49ers linebacker Fred Warner was called for defensive pass interference while defending Robert Tonyan. A few plays later, Aaron Rodgers found Marquez Valdes-Scantling for a beautiful 12-yard touchdown pass that brought Green Bay’s lead back to 10 points with 13:27 left in the game. The defense was very close to making another three and out stop of the 49ers offense. Two sacks forced San Francisco to face a third and 14 from their own 15. On that play, Garoppolo threw incomplete to Aiyuk. However, CB Eric Stokes was called for a terrible pass interference penalty that gave the 49ers a free first down at midfield. On the next play, Matt LaFleur challenged a ruling on the field regarding a catch by Mohamed Sanu. Unfortunately, the catch stood as called and the Packers lost a timeout as a result. On the following play, the 49ers got lucky by recovering their own fumble. A few plays (and penalty) later, the 49ers scored again on a 1-yard touchdown run by Trey Sermon. The Packers’ next drive was basically pointless as Rodgers threw incomplete three plays in a row. On the first of those three incomplete passes, Davante Adams suffered a helmet to helmet hit that wasn’t called as a penalty. I am glad that he was able to finish the game, but that was a terrible no-call by the officials. Thankfully, the defense was able to force a fumble after the pass rush forced Garoppolo to throw backwards. The fumble was recovered by De’Vondre Campbell, giving the Packers offense a chance to seal the game with another touchdown. After three straight runs by Aaron Jones (and a pointless timeout), the drive stalled with an incomplete pass intended for Davante Adams. That incomplete pass forced Green Bay to settle for a 6-point lead with 2:39 left in the game. Unfortunately, that lead didn’t last long as the 49ers went down the field to take the lead. The 8-play, 75-yard drive ended with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Garoppolo to Kyle Juszczyk that (along with the extra point by Robbie Gould) gave the 49ers a 1-point lead with 37 seconds left. Little did the 49ers know that they still gave Aaron Rodgers too much time. On first and 10 from the Green Bay 25, Rodgers found Davante Adams for a 25-yard pass completion (kudos to Adams for the spin jump catch). After a spike of the ball and an incomplete pass, the Packers faced third and 10 at midfield with 16 seconds left. On the play, Rodgers connected with Davante Adams again for a 17-yard completion that got Green Bay into field goal range. Rodgers was able to spike the ball with 3 seconds left, allowing Mason Crosby to attempt a game-winning field goal from 51 yards away. After a timeout by San Francisco intended to “ice the kicker”, everyone got to their position. The snap by Hunter Bradley went well, Corey Bojorquez secured the hold on the ball, and Crosby made the kick (which was inches away from getting blocked). The field goal gave the Packers a thrilling 30-28 win over the 49ers. With the win, the Packers improved their record to 2-1 on the season.
On offense, I was impressed by a number of things. First was the performance of the offensive line. Yosh Nijman did a great job substituting for Elgton Jenkins at left tackle, allowing no pressures of Aaron Rodgers all game long. The two rookies, Josh Myers and Royce Newman, are starting to hold their own in crucial situations. Major kudos to OL coach Adam Stenavich for getting the line ready to play on Sunday night against San Francisco’s defensive front (and only allowing one sack in the process). Aaron Rodgers had a great game, throwing for 261 yards and two touchdowns. He was masterful in a number of his throws, including a couple of deep shots to Allen Lazard and MVS. One of his TD passes went to MVS on a throw that only the receiver was able to touch. MVS did his part in staying inbounds while catching the pass. Rodgers once again proved that the game is not over until the clock hits 0:00. He was able to hit Davante Adams (who finished with 12 catches for 132 yards and a touchdown) twice and get into field goal range in just 34 seconds with no timeouts. I loved his celebration of the field goal that won the game because it showed that he was all-in on this Packers team. I was also impressed by the receivers’ ability to block for any play. Among them was Robert Tonyan, who made drove Nick Bosa to the ground on one play. Other than a couple of situations where they went pass heavy, I was impressed with the Packers’ insistence on running the ball down the defense’s throat. Aaron Jones ran for 82 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries, while AJ Dillon added 18 yards on 6 attempts (I wish that Dillon had more carries near the goal line). Even though it’s only Week 3, I am confident that the Packers offense will be a force to be reckoned with (as long as they stay balanced).
Other than allowing 21 points in the second half, I thought that the Packers defense played well against San Francisco. There were times when the defensive front (especially Kenny Clark) was able to get off the blockers and tackle the runner for little or no gain. Both turnovers were forced partly due to pressure on Jimmy Garoppolo. Jaire Alexander made a great play on the interception that should have been followed up by an offensive score. De’Vondre Campbell had a good game with 11 total tackles and a fumble recovery (he almost picked a pass off too). Other than being called for pass interference a couple of times, I thought that Eric Stokes had a good game on Sunday night. For a rookie CB, he played well against the 49ers receivers. I hope that he gets even more playing time as this season goes on. I hope that Krys Barnes gets back soon from concussion protocol. For the defense as a whole, I have hope that the unit will perform well in future games.
On Special Teams, there were definitely some highlights. Mason Crosby was the hero once again with his 51-yard game winning field goal, which was set up by Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams. Crosby made every kick that he attempted, as is usually the case (*knocks on wood*). He has now made 22 straight field goals, but I am sure that he will pass that mark. Every week, I am liking Corey Bojorquez more and more. As long as he continues to punt the ball deep inside the opponent’s territory, I will continue to like him a lot. The biggest mistake that the Special Teams unit made was allowing a long kick return that gave the 49ers a short field to work with just before halftime. If it wasn’t for that, I don’t think the 49ers would have been able to come back in the second half. The line protecting the field goals almost allowed a block on the game winner. Thank goodness the kick wasn’t blocked there. There’s still room for improvement, especially in the return game, but I think that the Packers will make the adjustments needed to get the unit to the next level.
Before I conclude, I want to quickly talk about the questionable calls by the officials in this game. Among the calls that shouldn’t have been called were a pass interference penalty against Eric Stokes when Brandon Aiyuk tripped and a roughing the passer call against Jaire Alexander. A couple of penalties that should have been called were intentional grounding on Jimmy Garoppolo and unnecessary roughness on Jimmie Ward for a helmet to helmet hit on Davante Adams. I am glad that the Packers were able to overcome these penalties and win the game. I just hope that the refs are able to make better calls next time.
Overall, it was a great last-second win for the Packers on Sunday night. They showed a lot of heart in this game, which I was happy about. However, it’s time for Green Bay to focus on the next opponent. That next opponent will be the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Packers will be at home for this game. I will talk about this matchup later. In the meantime, I hope you all have a good night. Go Pack Go!
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL’s YouTube page.)
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