Good evening, everyone. On Sunday afternoon, the Green Bay Packers took on the New York Giants at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England. This was the first time that the two teams playing the game entered it with a winning record (both teams were 3-1). For the Packers, this was their first ever trip to London for a game since the International Series started in 2007. It felt like a Packers home game, with most of the 61,000+ in attendance wearing the green and gold (plus a few cheeseheads). What started out as a great game for the Packers turned into an embarrassing loss. Want to know what exactly happened? Let’s find out now.
The Packers started this game on offense after the Giants deferred to the second half. The drive got a big boost when Aaron Rodgers connected with Randall Cobb on a big 35 yard pass play that converted a third and 8 from the Giants 26 yard line. AJ Dillon then gave them a second first down that got them into field goal range. The bummer here was that the Packers had to settle for a field goal on this drive. On first and 10 from the NYG 27, Aaron Rodgers had either Robert Tonyan or Romeo Doubs open for a touchdown, but he instead threw incomplete to Tyler Davis. 2 plays later, the drive stalled at the Giants 22. The kick was good (after a delay of game penalty), giving the Packers an early 3-0 lead. The defense then responded with a three and out, which was followed by the first three and out by Green Bay’s offense. The defense then forced a second three and out, which almost was followed by disaster. During the punt return, Amari Rodgers lost the ball. Luckily, it was recovered by Isaiah Mcduffie at the Green Bay 40. From there, the Packers were able to score a touchdown. During the drive, Giants CB Xavier McKinney was called for defensive pass interference after an Aaron Rodgers bomb fell incomplete. Two plays later, Rodgers connected with Allen Lazard for a 4-yard touchdown that (with the extra point) gave the Packers a 10-0 lead with 3:19 left in the first quarter. The Giants were able to score some points on their ensuing drive. On the first play, Daniel Jones connected with Darius Slayton for a 26-yard pass completion. After that play, the defense was able to hold them to a field goal, though they should not have given up a 12-yard gain on second and 19 that set up the kick. The Packers’ lead was cut to 7 with 9 seconds left in the quarter. After the kickoff resulted in a touchback, the Packers offense went meticulously down the field for their second touchdown of the game. It was a wonderful mix of run and pass, with Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon getting some good yards on their touches. The drive ended with a beautiful play action fake that set up a wide open Marcedes Lewis touchdown catch. The extra point was good by Mason Crosby, giving the Packers a 17-3 lead midway through the second quarter. The Giants started their next drive at their own 14 after a bad kickoff return. The defense almost got to a fantastic start after Jarran Reed sacked Daniel Jones for a loss of 7 yards. I said almost because the sack was called back due to a defensive holding penalty on Rasul Douglas. 2 plays after the penalty, Saquon Barkley took a direct snap and ran 40 yards to the Green Bay 38. Later in the drive, the Giants faced a third and 13, which was set up by a Preston Smith sack on first and 10 from the GB 28. The defense didn’t play aggressive enough and let the Giants convert that long third down. 5 plays later, the Giants scored a touchdown via a double reverse. Jones pitched to Barkley, who then gave the ball to Daniel Bellinger. Bellinger runs in via a missed tackle for the score. With the extra point, the lead was again cut to 7 with 1:15 left. Green Bay was then able to get some points before halftime, but it was only a field goal. They had to hurry the field goal unit out onto the field after Robert Tonyan was tackled in bounds with no timeouts left (they didn’t use their timeouts wisely on this drive). The kick was good as time ran out, giving the Packers a 20-10 halftime lead.
The first defensive possession did not start well. First, there was a second sack (this time by Rashan Gary) that was nullified due to a defensive holding penalty, which was called on Darnell Savage. After the penalty, the Giants made their way down the field thanks to Saquon Barkley and a couple of first down throws by Daniel Jones. At least the Giants were held to a field goal on this drive (thanks to a false start penalty), which gave the Packers a chance to get the lead back to double digits with 8:02 left in the third quarter. The drive started at the Green Bay 12 yard line after a holding penalty on the kickoff return. Aaron Rodgers connected with Allen Lazard for a 17-yard pass completion to kick start the drive. 3 plays and a penalty later, Rodgers connected with Randall Cobb for an awesome toe drag catch that was initially ruled incomplete. Matt LaFleur challenged the ruling, which was reversed to a catch. 3 play later though, the drive ended with a punt after Aaron Rodgers (who called a bad timeout) got sacked out of field goal range by Dexter Lawrence. Keisean Nixon was able to down the punt at the Giants 9 yard line. The bad field position did not stop the Giants from going down the field on a 15-play drive that lasted for 8 minutes and 7 seconds. During this drive, Saquon Barkley was sidelined with a shoulder issue after De’Vondre Campbell tackled him for a loss on the first play. Even without Barkley, the Giants had no issue going all the way against the Packers defense. The drive ended with running back Gary Brightwell running it in from 2 yards out. The extra point was good, tying the game at 20-20 with 10:08 left in the fourth quarter. The Packers offense responded by going three and out with three consecutive incomplete deep passes. The first one went out of bounds. The second one was dropped by Randall Cobb (Rodgers should have hit Romeo Doubs on that one). The last one was almost caught by Allen Lazard. After that, the Packers almost recovered a muffed punt. Unfortunately, the ball went out of bounds at the Giants 40 yard line. On the second play of the next drive, Daniel Jones connected with Saquon Barkley on a short pass that Barkley brought all the way to the Green Bay 19. Later on in the drive, Rasul Douglas was called for a unnecessary roughness penalty after tackling Darius Slayton too hard. After the penalty, Barkley took a direct snap and went untouched to the corner of the end zone for a touchdown that gave the Giants the lead with 6:08 left. The Packers offense was able to go down the field thanks to a mix of run and pass. Amazing how that works! Anyway, they were able to get first down after first down as they made it all the way to the Giants 8 yard line. There, they faced a third and 2. Rather than giving it to either Aaron Jones or AJ Dillon, Aaron Rodgers tried to throw a pass on this play. The pass was batted in the air and was nearly intercepted. As a result, they faced a fourth and 2. It was an RPO, which meant that Rodgers had two options: hand it off to Dillon, or fake it to him and throw a short pass. On this play, Josh Myers pushed his defender to the end zone (Dillon would’ve walked in there). Also, Romeo Doubs was open to Rodgers’ left side and would have scored an easy touchdown to tie the game. Instead of those two options, Rodgers threw into the blitz. The pass intended for Lazard was batted into the air, forcing a turnover on downs. The Giants were unable for fully kneel out the clock, giving the Packers a safety and a chance to win the game with a Hail Mary. After a false start penalty on David Bakhtiari, Aaron Rodgers took the snap and tried to give the receivers some time with his feet. Just as he was about to throw, he got strip-sacked, ending the game and giving the Giants a 27-22 win. With the loss, the Packers are now 3-2 on the season.
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL's YouTube page. Click on the "Watch on YouTube link.)
Like a couple of other games this season so far, it was a tale of two halves on offense. In the first half, the Packers played good, scoring 20 points while having a healthy mix of run and pass. In the second half, however, the Packers did nothing good. Aaron Rodgers didn’t play well in particular, especially when it came to throwing deep passes. He was mostly inaccurate, with some passes just going out of bounds. The most infuriating thing on offense was the three and out after the defense got gashed on an 8 minute touchdown drive. It was all deep passes, which were incomplete and to his “buddies” in Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb. On multiple occasions, including during that three and out, Rodgers had Romeo Doubs open for some big plays. Unfortunately, Rodgers didn’t see him and threw to other guys. Another frustrating thing was the lack of touches for Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon. Each of these two backs were getting around 5 yards every time they touched the ball. 13 touches for Jones and only 6 for Dillon are not enough for an offense that should be more focused on these two. Dillon would have gotten the two yards on the fourth and 2 that resulted in a batted pass. I think that this loss is both on Rodgers and LaFleur offensively. They should’ve played much better than they did in the second half. I hope that they get that switch on sooner rather than later.
Defensively, I don’t know what to start with, but here I go. Coming into the game on Sunday, the Giants were a wounded team on offense. Daniel Jones was hobbled but still playing, his top three wide receivers were out and the only offensive weapon that was a threat (in my opinion) was Saquon Barkley. The Packers, on the other hand, had players that were ready to shut down this Giants offense and get an easy win in front of the London Cheeseheads. Instead of that, the defense let the equivalent of a practice squad offense (and Barkley) go all over them. The defense only got one sack, with two more nullified due to penalty. A hobbled Daniel Jones was able to run QB draws with ease. There were wide open crossing routes all over the place. The defensive secondary, with the exception of Jaire Alexander, didn’t play particularly well. Rasul Douglas is not good in the slot. Eric Stokes and Darnell Savage also struggled against guys that wouldn’t start for any other team. There was no instance of the defense dictating anything on the field. Joe Barry needs to learn to adjust and fast! If the defense continues to not play well against non-elite QBs, then the Packers might be in a lot of trouble.
On Special Teams, some things did not go well. Amari Rodgers probably lost his punt return duties after another fumble. After that, he was done for the day as guys like Christian Watson and Keisean Nixon took his place (Watson had a hamstring issue in the game). There was a near miracle when the Packers were unable to recover a muffed punt after the three deep passes that went incomplete. Mason Crosby was reliable once again, making each kick. Pat O’Donnell punted well in London, with one punt being downed at the 9 yard line. I’m still waiting for that big momentum changing play, which almost happened on Sunday. At least there were no turnovers on Sunday by the Special Teams unit.
Overall, it was an embarrassing loss for the Packers. I felt awful for the Packers fans who were in London for that game. They waited 15 years for the Green and Gold to play in their home country, only for them to lose in heartbreaking fashion to a wounded Giants team. Before I end, I want to give kudos to Giants coach Brian Daboll for coaching the heck out of his team. Next up for the Packers is a home game at Lambeau Field against the New York Jets, who are surprisingly 3-2 to start the year. I’ll talk more about that game later. In the meantime, I hope you all have a great week. Go Pack Go.
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