Thoughts on Week 11 (2025): Green Bay Packers at New York Giants

Thank goodness Green Bay got that win on Sunday. Entering the game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the Green Bay Packers were looking to end their two game losing streak and get back on track before a tough stretch of games that spans the last 7 weeks of the season. In their way was a Giants team that, even though they fired their head coach last week, was not going to go down without a fight. It was not a perfect game, but the Packers were able to get out of New Jersey with a 7-point win. Let’s get into detail on how this game went down.

The Packers started this game on the defensive side of the ball. Unfortunately, they were unable to stop the Giants from scoring a touchdown on their first possession. During this drive for the Giants, Jameis Winston (who was starting for an injured Jaxson Dart) found Wan’Dale Robinson for a 20 yard pass completion on third and 5 from the Giants’ 40 yard line. Later in this drive, there was a dropped pick by Carrington Valentine that would have been great for Green Bay. Eventually, the Giants were able to score when Devin Singletary ran it in from 5 yards out. The extra point kick was good, giving the Giants a 7-0 lead with a little over 10 and a half minutes left in the first quarter. The ensuing kickoff was returned for only 14 yards by Bo Melton (who started from the 11 yard line). As a result, the Packers started their first drive at their own 25 yard line. After an encroachment penalty on Dexter Lawrence, which gave the Packers a first and 5 from the 30, Josh Jacobs ran for 7 yards and a first down. Two plays later, Josh Jacobs ran for 15 yards and another first down. After that, the drive stalled after two deep incompletions in three plays (including a drop by Romeo Doubs on third down). The play between the incompletions was a fumble by Luke Musgrave that went out of bounds for a loss of one yard. Daniel Whelan punted the ball 34 yards to the Giants’ 15 yard line. The Packers defense was able to force the Giants to go three and out on their next possession. After the punt, Green Bay started their second drive at their own 38. During this drive, there was an end around play for Bo Melton that gained 17 yards. Two plays later, Jordan Love hurt his left shoulder during a scramble Due to that injury, Malik Willis had to step in as quarterback for a bit. Thankfully, the Packers were able to score on this possession when Willis found Christian Watson for a one yard touchdown pass. The extra point kick by Lucas Havrisik went wide right, resulting in a 7-6 lead for the Giants with a little over a minute left in the first quarter. The Packers defense was able to force the Giants to go three and out for the second straight drive. Romeo Doubs returned the ensuing punt to the Green Bay 39, but the Packers had to start at their own 16 due to a holding penalty on Kingsley Enegbare. On third and 7 from the 19 yard line, Jordan Love was able to find Christian Watson for a 12 yard pass completion that gave the Packers a first and 10 at the 31. Love them found Matthew Golden (who came back after missing the Eagles game with a shoulder injury) for a 24 yard pass play that got the Packers into Giants territory. Following a two yard run by Emanuel Wilson and a dropped pass by Dontayvion Wicks, the Packers faced a third and 8 from the Giants’ 43. Romeo Doubs was able to catch a pass and get just enough for another first down to keep the drive alive. Two plays later, Doubs caught a 22 yard pass that gave the Packers a first down at the 11 yard line. On the next play, Emanuel Wilson ran 11 yards for a touchdown that, with the made PAT kick by Havrisik, gave the Packers a 13-7 lead with a little over 7 and a half minutes left in the second quarter. That lead didn’t last for long as the Giants were able to go down the field for a touchdown during their next drive. Even a false start penalty that forced a third and 12 couldn’t stop the Giants from moving the chains. On that third and 12, Jameis Winston found Tyrone Tracy for a short pass that went for 20 yards and a first down. Later in the drive, a pass interference penalty on Isaiah McDuffie gave the Giants a first and goal at the 1 yard line. Two plays later, Devin Singletary went in for his second touchdown run of the game. The first extra point kick was nullified due to a chop block penalty. The second kick by Younghoe Koo from 48 yards out was missed to the left, resulting in the score being tied at 13-13 with a little over a minute left in the first half. Neither team did anything substantial after that, resulting in a tie game at halftime.

The Packers had to start the second half on offense without Josh Jacobs, who left the game in the first half due to a knee injury (which thankfully wasn’t too serious). Starting at their own 34 yard line, the Packers offense was able to move the ball down the field and score a touchdown. During the drive, Christian Watson converted a third and 1 with a 16 yard catch and run. Later in the drive, the Packers were given first and goal at the Giants’ 3 yard line due to a pass interference penalty on an incomplete deep pass to Matthew Golden. Two plays, Jordan Love found TE Josh Whyle for a two yard touchdown pass that was the result of a great play design. The extra point kick went wide left due to the holder, who is Daniel Whelan, somehow aiming the laces towards the kicker (plus the wind). As a result of the missed PAT, the score was 19-13 in Green Bay’s favor with 11:40 left in the third quarter. The Packers defense had to endure being on the field for the next 9 minutes and 46 seconds of game time during the Giants’ first third quarter drive. However, the defense held down the fort in the red zone and didn’t allow them to score a single point. Facing a fourth and 3 from the Green Bay 10, the Giants decided to go for it. The play ended in a 7 yard sack of Jameis Winston shared by Micah Parsons and Isaiah McDuffie. The Packers offense ended up doing nothing with the opportunity and went three and out after a deep pass to Watson went incomplete. Daniel Whelan punted the ball 60 yards to the Giants’ 15 yard line. Even with that field position, the Giants were able to go on a long drive that, unfortunately for Packers fans, ended in a touchdown. The touchdown in question was a QB sneak by Jameis Winston from one yard out. After giving up that touchdown, plus the extra point, the Packers trailed by one with 7:22 left in the game. In a “gotta have it” drive, the Packers were able to move the ball down the field for another touchdown. During the drive, they faced a third and 10 from their own 47. Thanks to some good blocking by the linemen and RB Chris Brooks, Jordan Love was able to heave it deep to Savion Williams for a 33 yard pass completion (kudos to Savion for the catch). The drive concluded with a great throw by Jordan Love and a great catch by Christian Watson for the go-ahead 17 yard touchdown. Rather than kick the extra point, they went for two and got it when Love connected with Emanuel Wilson in the end zone. Thanks to the touchdown and two point conversion, the Packers now had a 27-20 lead with 4:02 left in the game. The Giants did get into scoring range, but the Packers stopped that drive when Evan Williams picked off Jameis Winston in the end zone. The Packers offense wasn’t able to run out the rest of the clock and punted back to the Giants. Thankfully, Micah Parsons sealed the win with a strip sack of Winston as time expired. The fumble was recovered by Rashan Gary, giving the Packers two turnovers on the day as they won by a score of 27-20. With the win, the Packers are now 6-3-1 on the season.

(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL’s YouTube page. Click on “Watch on YouTube” if you’re interested. Kudos to both teams for their uniform choices.)

On offense, the Packers were able to score more than just a single touchdown this time. This game is the fourth time this season that they scored exactly 27 points. Thankfully, all four of those games resulted in a win, including on Sunday against the Giants. There were definitely some rough moments on the offensive side of the ball, including 7 dropped passes by the Packers pass catchers, 2 sacks given up to Brian Burns, a few bad penalties, and Jordan Love getting pressured by the Giants defense on some occasions. There was also an injury scare when Jordan Love missed part of a touchdown drive due to a shoulder issue. Thankfully, Malik Willis led the Packers to a touchdown on that drive and Love came back the next drive. What was a huge bummer was that Josh Jacobs left the game in the first half with a knee injury after his knee hit the MetLife turf, which should be outlawed in the NFL. A sigh of relief happened when it was revealed that the knee injury wasn’t too serious and he might not miss too much time. Despite being frustrated by the 7 drops by his receivers, plus getting pressured on some occasions, and dealing with a sore shoulder, Jordan Love played a great game on Sunday as he led the Packers on a clutch drive to get the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter. Thanks to the blocking by Chris Brooks and the linemen, Love was able to make that throw to Savion Williams, who made a great catch. Christian Watson was the one who made the great catch on not just that go-ahead touchdown, but also on the TD pass thrown by Malik Willis earlier in the game. Watson is able to make plays when given the chance, including on Sunday. Hopefully that happens consistently from week to week. Even with the mistakes made on offense, there were no turnovers by the Packers at all against the Giants. There are plenty of things to clean up before this tough stretch of games coming up. Hopefully they can correct their errors and play better at home against Minnesota. (Also a good thing to note here: ToyotaThon is back! Watch out for Jordan Love during this time, NFL!)

On defense, the Packers didn’t have a perfect game against a Giants team that had fired their head coach the week prior. In addition to that, the team has suffered a few tough injuries, including Malik Nabers’ knee injury and Cam Skattebo’s gruesome ankle injury. Jaxson Dart, who was named the starter after Russell Wilson’s disastrous start to the season, missed the game due to a concussion. Rather than start Russell Wilson, who basically can’t play consistently good anymore at quarterback, the Giants decided to start Jameis Winston. Winston can either light up a defense, turn the ball over a bunch of times, or (in some cases) both. As an example of this, his last season in Tampa Bay finished with him throwing for 33 touchdowns and 30 interceptions. On Sunday, the Packers were very close to making Winston throw a bunch of picks. Winston only threw the one pick at the end of the game because of the drops earlier in the game. There were two dropped picks by Carrington Valentine and a dumb moment when Isaiah McDuffie tackled Javon Bullard before Bullard could complete the process of catching a pick. The dropped picks were not the only mistakes that the Packers made on defense. There were missed tackles, penalties, and a few long third down conversions given up. Even with these mistakes (plus allowing three touchdown drives), the Packers defense was able to get some clutch stops, including a turnover on downs in the red zone, an interception in the end zone by Evan Williams, and a game-sealing strip sack by Micah Parsons (who is still worth that contract given to him by Green Bay). Outside of Parson’s 1.5 sack performance, there was a lack of pass rush against Winston on Sunday, which is concerning. Hopefully Lukas Van Ness’ eventual return can help the rest of the pass rush play better. A bummer from Sunday was that Quay Walker missed part of the game with a stinger injury, which hopefully isn’t too serious for him. Whoever is healthy and ready to go for the defense better be ready for this stretch of games coming up, including 5 division games. I’m hoping Jeff Hafley will get them ready to go for that stretch and beyond.

On Special Teams, the Packers were not perfect, as usual. Not even Lucas Havrisik was immune to mistakes on Sunday as he missed two of his extra point attempts. The misses were a combination of wind and, in the case of the second one, Daniel Whelan failing to have the laces facing the opposite way of the kicker (“Laces Out, Dan!” to quote the movie “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective”). Other than that mistake on the second missed PAT, Daniel Whelan punted well for the Packers, including a 60-yarder in the second half. Hopefully Havrisik can kick again for the Packers and Brandon McManus can be put on IR to rest his quad. At least none of the kicks were blocked, which is a sigh of relief. There were also no turnovers on Special Teams at all. I know that we are at Week 11, but the Packers made a mistake in letting Mecole Hardman go elsewhere (he is now with Buffalo). He should’ve had a role as the main return option for kickoffs and punts rather than the Packers trying multiple guys at those positions, including Romeo Doubs on punts and Savion Williams on kickoffs. Considering that the game was a close one on Sunday, I am relieved that the Special Teams did not mess things up this time. Rich Bisaccia’s seat is still warm for the time being. Hopefully he gets his stuff together.

Overall, I am glad that the Packers escaped MetLife Stadium with a win on Sunday. It was not perfect by any means, but a win is a win regardless. They found a way to get the job done and that’s all that matters. Next up for the Packers is a home game at Lambeau Field against the Minnesota Vikings. Division games are always tricky no matter how certain teams are doing. The Packers need to be ready for any challenges. I’ll be back for the recap of that game next week. In the meantime, I am happy that the Packers are back to their wining ways for now. Have a great week, everyone. Go Pack Go!