Good afternoon, everyone. On Sunday, the Green Bay Packers took on the Oakland Raiders at Lambeau Field. I am here to give my thoughts on what happened in this high-scoring game. Let’s get into it.
The Packers started this game on defense. Despite giving up a 42-yard run to Josh Jacobs during the drive, the defense held Oakland to a 45-yard field goal. The Packers’ first offensive possession went very well, as they got a touchdown thanks to a great throw by Aaron Rodgers and a great catch of 21 yards by Aaron Jones. After the defense forced a three-and-out, the Packers had a chance to increase their lead. Unfortunately, the drive ended in a punt because Aaron Rodgers was sacked on third and 10 from the Green Bay 42. When the sack was complete, Maxx Crosby mocked Aaron Rodgers’ belt celebration. After the Packers punted, the Raiders went down the field to grab their only lead of the game. QB Derek Carr threw a 10-yard touchdown to tight end Foster Moreau to make it a 10-7 game in the Raiders’ favor. The lead didn’t last long, as the Packers marched down the field for another touchdown. The 2-yard TD pass to Jamaal Williams was set up by a defensive pass interference call against Oakland, which put the ball at the 3. The Raiders were once again driving down the field for another score. However, Derek Carr made a crucial mistake inside of the two-minute warning. He fumbled the ball in and out of the end zone for a touchback, giving the Packers a chance to put points on the board before halftime. They did just that, as Aaron Rodgers threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to Jake Kumerow. I give kudos to Kumerow for keeping his feet inbounds during the run along the sideline to the end zone. The touchdown gave Green Bay a 21-10 halftime lead.
The Packers started the second half on offense. They quickly went down the field for another touchdown. The first play of the drive was a pass play to Marquez Valdes-Scantling that went for 59 yards. 4 plays later, Aaron Rodgers ran it in for a 3-yard touchdown that gave the Packers a 28-10 lead. That lead went down to 11 after the Raiders answered back with a touchdown of their own. Derek Carr threw a 7-yard TD to tight end Darren Waller. The Packers answered back with their 5th touchdown of the game. The 3-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham was set up by Allen Lazard’s leaping 26-yard catch that put the ball at the 3. The touchdown gave the Packers a 35-17 advantage. Once again, the Raiders were going down the field to catch up with the Packers in terms of scoring. They got all the way to the 1-yard line. On fourth and goal, Josh Jacobs was stopped short of the goal line by a combination of B.J. Goodson and Jaire Alexander. After the Packers went three-and-out, the defense stopped the Raiders again in scoring position. Derek Carr forced a throw to Darren Waller, which was tipped by Adrian Amos and picked off by Kevin King in the end zone. The offense put things out of hand for good after their 6th touchdown of the game. On third and 4 from the Green Bay 26, QB Aaron Rodgers threw a short pass that Marquez Valdes-Scantling took 74 yards for a touchdown. After that, the game was in the books. The Raiders scored a touchdown in garbage time, but the Packers got the win in the end by a score of 42-24. The victory improved the Packers’ record to 6-1 on the season.
It turns out that the mocked belt celebration was for naught, as Aaron Rodgers had a fantastic game. He threw for 429 yards and 5 touchdowns on the day. He also ran for one touchdown in the contest. It was the first time in Rodgers’ career where he had a perfect passer rating of 158.3. In fact, it‘s the first time in Packers history that a quarterback finished with a perfect passer rating. What helped was that he spread the ball around to 8 different receivers. Marquez Valdes-Scantling led the receiving corps with 133 yards on just 2 catches. One of those 2 catches was the 74-yard touchdown that put the game away in the fourth quarter. Aaron Jones redeemed himself after the drop last week with a touchdown catch to open up the scoring for the Packers. Jamaal Williams and Jimmy Graham also got a touchdown catch from Rodgers. Jake Kumerow managed to keep his feet inbounds on his touchdown catch and run. All of these touchdowns helped Rodgers become the fastest player in NFL history to reach 350 career touchdown passes. All of this was possible thanks to the offensive line giving Rodgers a clean pocket all game long, other than the one sack.
I know that the defense gave up 293 passing yards to Derek Carr and 124 rushing yards to Josh Jacobs. However, they got the stops when they were needed the most. There was the fumble for a touchback by Carr (which was forced by Blake Martinez), the goal-line stand, and the Kevin King interception in the end zone. It was the first time since 2004 that the Packers defense stopped the Raiders from scoring anything in the red zone 3 separate times. The unfortunate thing was that the defense had zero sacks of Derek Carr. It doesn’t help that Carr got rid of the football quickly. There were times where Carr was throwing to wide-open receivers. That won’t cut it later in the season against tougher opponents.
On Special Teams, there weren’t any major mistakes. JK Scott had two punts that went 57 yards, essentially flipping the field. Mason Crosby made all of his extra point kicks after each touchdown. Unfortunately, there were no big kick returns or blocked kicks in Green Bay’s favor. The good news was that the unit didn’t need to be used in critical times, as the game was won handily.
Hopefully this win is a sign of things to come with the offense. When Davante Adams gets back into the fold, I think that everything will be flying on all cylinders for the offense under head coach Matt LaFleur. The defense still has to fix a few things, but I am sure they will make the right adjustments for future opponents. Next up for the Packers is a primetime showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. For now, it’s time to celebrate another Packers win. Have a great day, everyone. Go Pack Go!
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