Good evening, everyone. On Sunday November 24th, the Green Bay Packers took on the San Francisco 49ers at the friendly confines of Lambeau Field (which has a bit too much red in the stands). Entering this game, the Packers were looking to add to their winning streak and increase their chances of making the playoffs. The 49ers have been a team that has had the Packers’ number over the past few years, especially in the playoffs. Yes, there were plenty of guys out for the 49ers, including Brock Purdy, Trent Williams, and Nick Bosa. However, the Packers did not feel bad for them at all as they took care of business at home and improved to 8-3 on the season. Let’s get into detail on how this game went down.
The Packers started their first drive at their own 33 after Corey Ballentine took the opening kickoff to that position on the field. On the second play of the drive, there was a play where the offense faked an end around and Josh Jacobs got the handoff. Jacobs spun around a defender and gained 18 yards on the play. Jacobs then added 2 more runs for a total of 12 yards, giving the Packers first and 10 at the San Francisco 37 yard line. After Jacobs got stuffed for no gain, Jordan Love made two straight completions to Jayden Reed, with the second one converting a third and 4 from the 31 yard line. Three run plays later (two by Jacobs, one by Emanuel Wilson), the Packers had a first and 10 at the 14 yard line. A holding penalty on Elgton Jenkins nullified a 4-yard end around play by Christian Watson. Even with that penalty, the Packers were still able to score a touchdown on this drive. On first and 20, Love found Reed on a short pass that went for 13 yards. On second and 7 from the 11 yard line, Jordan Love threw a pass to Tucker Kraft in which Kraft went through defenders and got into the end zone for the Packers’ first touchdown of the game. The extra point by Brandon McManus was good, giving Green Bay a 7-0 lead with 7:35 left in the first quarter. The Packers forced the 49ers offense, led by backup QB Brandon Allen, to a three and out on their first drive. The 49ers suffered a false start penalty after a 9-yard pass to George Kittle on the first play. Then on second and 6, Christian McCaffrey ran for only one yard, setting up a third and 5 from the San Francisco 35 yard line. On that third down play, Rashan Gary strip-sacked Brandon Allen, who recovered the ball and then lost 2 yards on the play. As a result, Pat O’Donnell (who used to punt for Green Bay) was called upon to punt to Green Bay. The punt was fair caught by Jayden Reed at the Green Bay 19 yard line. From there, the Packers started their second drive of the game. After a 2-yard pass to TE John Fitzpatrick (who got to Green Bay from Atlanta’s practice squad), the Packers went to the run for a few straight plays. Both Josh Jacobs and Emanuel Wilson got some good yards against the 49ers defense, with the biggest run being 19 yards from Wilson on first and 10 from the Green Bay 48 yard line. After that big run, the drive stalled and the Packers had to settle for a 51-yard field goal attempt. McManus made the kick, increasing the lead to 10-0 with 11 seconds left in the quarter. The Packers defense nearly got a turnover on the next drive after Quay Walker dropped an interception on second and 15 from the SF 25 yard line. Thankfully, the defense was able to force a three and out after tackling George Kittle short of the first down marker on third and 15. Jayden Reed tried to make a big play on the punt return, but he only got 7 yards on the return before going out of bounds at the Green Bay 29 yard line. From there, the Packers offense went on a scoring drive that nearly lasted 7 minutes of game time. Three times on this drive, Jordan Love found Romeo Doubs to convert a third down and keep the drive alive. When they got to the San Francisco 10 yard line, Jordan Love caught the 49ers defense with 12 men on the field and tried to make a play. He got picked off, but the interception was nullified by the too many men penalty and (for some reason) an illegal shift penalty on Jayden Reed. After all of that, it was still second and 7 from the 10 yard line. But then, the 49ers defense was flagged for 12 men on the field for a second straight time, giving the Packers the free 5 yards and setting up a second and 2 from the 5 yard line. Josh Jacobs finished the drive with two runs totaling the remaining 5 yards. Jacobs punched it in from one yard out on first and goal and celebrated with a Lambeau Leap. The extra point was good, increasing the lead to 17-0 with 6:33 left in the first half. The Packers defense was unable to keep the 49ers off of the scoreboard on their next drive. Brandon Allen was able to complete some passes during this drive with relative ease to the likes of Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Kyle Juszczyk, Jauan Jennings, and George Kittle. Kittle was the one who finished the 5 and a half minute drive with a three-yard TD catch in the back of the end zone. The extra point kick by Jake Moody was good, cutting the lead to 17-7 with 1:02 left in the half. The Packers offense still had time to get points before halftime. After the kickoff went into the end zone for a touchback, the drive started with 2 runs by Josh Jacobs that totaled 21 yards and gave Green Bay a first and 10 at the SF 49. On that play, Jordan Love threw a beautiful pass that would have been a touchdown that broke the 49ers’ spirits. Instead, Christian Watson dropped the pass and ruined that beautiful throw. Instead of relying on Josh Jacobs and getting into field goal range, the Packers instead went on two straight deep passes that went incomplete, forcing them to punt away to the 49ers. A kneel down ended the half with the score being 17-7 in Green Bay’s favor.
The 49ers’ drive started at their own 21 yard line after a holding penalty nullified a huge kickoff return by Deebo Samuel that would have given the 49ers a first and goal at the Green Bay 8. Lukas Van Ness was called for defensive offside, giving the 49ers 5 free yards. Then, the 49ers did three straight run plays, with the longest being Jordan Mason for 16 yards on second and 6 from the SF 37. After that big run play, the Packers defense was able to get a stop. On fourth and 2 from the Green Bay 39, Xavier McKinney (who was on Brandon Allen on the previous scramble play) broke up a pass that was intended for Christian McCaffrey. The Packers did nothing with that momentum as they went three and out. Jordan Love was close to throwing another interception, but Christian Watson broke that pass up. On the third down play, Jordan Love ran into the pressure and got sacked as a result. The 49ers started their next drive at their own 10 yard line after a holding penalty during the punt return by Ricky Pearsall. The 49ers tried to go down the field on this drive, but their hopes were dashed when Brandon Allen threw a pass that bounced off Samuel’s hands into the hands of Xavier McKinney for an interception. McKinney returned the interception (his 7th of the year) to the San Francisco 26 yard line. From there, the Packers offense was able to capitalize on the turnover by scoring a touchdown on their next drive. The one-yard touchdown run was set up by a pass interference penalty on San Francisco that gave the Packers first and goal at the one yard line. Unfortunately, Romeo Doubs got a concussion during the play was resulted in that penalty. The touchdown, plus the extra point, increased Green Bay’s lead to 24-7 with 4:28 left in the third quarter. The 49ers offense was able to move the ball down the field on their next drive, but the Packers defense made sure that the only points that they got were 3 points via a Jake Moody field goal. The kick was good, decreasing the lead to 24-10 with 2:12 left in the third quarter. What followed were three straight drives that ended in a three and out, with two of those three and outs by Green Bay’s offense. With 12:37 left in the fourth quarter, Lukas Van Ness got past Christian McCaffrey and strip-sacked Brandon Allen. Kenny Clark recovered the fumble at the San Francisco 16 yard line. 3 plays later, Josh Jacobs punched it in from one yard out for his third touchdown of the game. The extra point by Brandon McManus was good, increasing the lead to 31-10 with 10:59 left in the game. The Packers immediately got the ball back when Keisean Nixon of all players stripped Christian McCaffrey of the ball during a big catch and run. The fumble was recovered by Karl Brooks at the Green Bay 44 yard line. From there, the Packers offense went on their final scoring drive of the game. Josh Jacobs was given the rest of the game off as the run plays were by Emanuel Wilson and Chris Brooks. The drive ended with a beautiful goal-line fade touchdown pass from Jordan Love to Malik Heath, who celebrated with a Lambeau Leap. The extra point was good, increasing the lead to 38-10 with 4:14 left in the game. After that, the game was basically over. The starters were benched to keep everyone healthy for the next game, which was a good thing. Most importantly, the Packers were able to make the home crowd happy with the 38-10 win. With this win, the Packers improved to 8-3 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 curious.)
On offense, the Packers played a great game against the 49ers defense. Right from the first drive on, the Packers dominated the time of possession battle. For the first time in 55 game, the 49ers gave up a 100-yard rusher as Josh Jacobs finished the day with 26 carries for 106 yards and 3 one-yard touchdown runs. Everyone deserves credit for Josh Jacobs’ great day, including the offensive line and the receivers who blocked their tails off for him. In a sense, the Packers beat the 49ers at their own game in terms of running the football down the defense’s throats. Emanuel Wilson added 41 yards on 9 carries, with his longest run being 19 yards. Jordan Love had a good game as he threw for 163 yards and 2 touchdowns (thankfully no picks this time, though he was close at times). He made some good throws that were caught, including the two TDs to Tucker Kraft and Malik Heath and the three straight third down conversions to Romeo Doubs. Doubs led the receiving corps with those three catches for 54 yards, with most of those yards being after the catch. Unfortunately, he did suffer a concussion and might not play on Thanksgiving night. Hopefully it’s not too serious for him. I feel bad for Christian Watson. He had a great day against the Bears with 4 catches for 150 yards, yet he did not have a catch on Sunday against the 49ers. Watson had a beautiful pass thrown to him near the end of the first half that should have been a touchdown. He had some good separation from the nearest defender, yet he let the ball bounce off his hands. It was not a perfect day by the offense as they went three and out a couple of times and had some miscues, but going 5 for 5 in the red zone was fantastic given the struggles the Packers have had scoring touchdowns inside the opposing team’s 20 yard line. There’s six games left in the regular season. Hopefully the offense peaks at the right time, starting with Thanksgiving night against Miami.
On defense, the Packers played great as they gave up only 10 points and forced three turnovers. There were some moments of frustration, including a couple of long drives by the 49ers. They did better at covering George Kittle after he got that touchdown near the end of the first half, and they limited Christian McCaffrey to only 31 yards on 11 carries. Some much maligned players stepped up on defense, including Quay Walker, Keisean Nixon, and Lukas Van Ness. Quay Walker played better against the run than in previous weeks. I just wish he held on to the pick that was definitely his. Lukas Van Ness was responsible for the strip-sack that resulted in the fumble recovery by Kenny Clark. Keisean Nixon was the one responsible for the fumble during McCaffrey’s catch and run, which was awesome to see along with Van Ness’s strip-sack. I was glad that those players made those impact plays in a game where the Packers were without Jaire Alexander and Edgerrin Cooper. Xavier McKinney continues to make his claim as a front-runner for Defensive Player of the Year with two straight key plays that stopped a 49ers drive and his 7th interception of the season. I hope that Jeff Hafley’s unit is ready for another test against a Dolphins team that is a bit healthier than the 49ers.
On Special Teams, they dodged a major bullet when a holding penalty on San Francisco nullified a huge kickoff return by Deebo Samuel that would have given the 49ers a first and goal at the Green Bay 8 yard line. Even with the penalty, the Packers coverage unit did an awful job trying to tackle him, with one player desperately throwing his shoulders at him. Hopefully every kickoff goes into the end zone for a touchback from now on. On the other side, there were once again no huge kickoff returns for Green Bay, but at least there were no turnovers on any kick or punt returns. Brandon McManus made each kick, including a 51-yard field goal in the first quarter. Daniel Whelan was a solid holder as always, and he punted well on top of that. All of his punts landed inside the 20 yard line of San Francisco, even though they were returned past the 20 by Ricky Pearsall (a couple of returns were nullified due to penalties). I’m just glad that the Packers Special Teams unit avoided a major mistake due to San Francisco’s lack of discipline. Hopefully they don’t have to rely on penalties to stop big plays.
Overall, it was a great win for the Packers over the 49ers on Sunday. I know that the 49ers were banged up to heck, but I did not feel bad for them as I was watching the Packers blow them out. There was a bit of nervousness at the end of the first half, but I was relieved when the Packers took care of business in the second half and blew the game open. They don’t have much time to celebrate this win as they play on Thanksgiving night against the Miami Dolphins. Thankfully, the game is at Lambeau Field, but the Packers have to be ready for anything regardless. I’ll be back to cover the Thanksgiving game on either Friday or Saturday. In the meantime, I hope that you all have a great week ahead. Go Pack Go!
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