Good evening, everyone. On Sunday September 15th, the Green Bay Packers hosted the Indianapolis Colts at Lambeau Field. For the Packers, they had to play this game without Jordan Love, who is recovering from the MCL sprain that he suffered against the Eagles in Week 1. He may be out for another couple of weeks. In the meantime, the Packers got an ugly win against the Colts at home. Let’s get into detail on how this game went down.
The Packers started the game on the offensive side of the ball at their own 30 yard line after a touchback on the opening kickoff. From there, they went on an 8-play drive that focused on the run game outside of a 15-yard pass completion from Malik Willis to Tucker Kraft. The offense was able to get to the Colts’ 28 yard line before the drive stalled on a third down pass that went for nothing. The kick from Brayden Narveson was good from 46 yards out, giving Green Bay a 3-0 lead with 10:30 left in the first quarter. The defense forced the Colts to a three and out on their first drive thanks to an incomplete pass on third and 7 from the Indianapolis 33 yard line. The punt was fair caught by Jayden Reed at the Green Bay 18 yard line. From there, the Packers went down the field in the hopes of scoring their first touchdown. An 11-play, 82 yard drive that lasted a bit under 6 and a half minutes culminated in a 14-yard touchdown pass from Willis to Dontayvion Wicks, who proceeded to do a Lambeau Leap after the touchdown. The extra point by Narveson was good, increasing the lead to 10-0 with 3:18 left in the first quarter. The Colts tried to answer back during their next drive, but Anthony Richardson threw a deep pass that was intercepted by Xavier McKinney, who returned the pick to the Green Bay 31 yard line. From there, the Packers offense looked to increase their lead even more. At the end of their drive, which took another 5 minutes and change off the clock, Josh Jacobs fumbled the ball right before the goal line. The fumble was recovered by the Colts for a touchback, denying the Packers of a touchdown. After that, neither team did anything of note for the rest of the half. What was frustrating was that the Packers got the ball with 1:42 left and did nothing with it. Therefore, the score stayed at 10-0 at halftime.
The Colts’ first third quarter drive didn’t go so well, as the Colts turned the ball over on downs after an incomplete pass from Anthony Richardson to Jonathan Taylor on fourth and 4 from the Indianapolis 46 yard line. The Packers then put up points on the board after this turnover on downs by adding another field goal by Brayden Narveson. This time, Narveson made it from 42 yards out. The Colts were able to answer back with a field goal of their own. Matt Gay made his kick from 34 yards out after the Colts offense were kept from scoring a touchdown on their drive. After the Packers went three and out on their next drive, the Colts went down the field in the hopes of decreasing the lead again. They were able to get into field goal range, but their kicker Matt Gay missed his kick to the left from 50 yards out. The Packers responded by adding another three points on the board with a 34-yard field goal by Brayden Narveson. With that kick, the lead was increased to 16-3 with 10:50 left in the fourth quarter. The Colts once again tried to answer back with another score, but their next drive ended when Anthony Richardson was picked off by Eric Wilson, who was named the captain for Special Teams this week. After the pick, the Packers proceeded to go down the field for a score to ice the game. They got to the Indianapolis 26 yard line before the drive stalled. Unfortunately, the kick by Narveson was wide right, keeping the score at 16-3 with 4:10 left. This time, the Colts were able to get their first touchdown of the day. Their drive, which included a 4th and 11 conversion by Anthony Richardson, who ran for just enough to convert the fourth down. On the next play, he found Alec Pierce for a four yard touchdown pass that, with the extra point, cut the lead to 16-10 with 1:47 left in the game. Thankfully, the onside kick was recovered by Evan Williams. After that, the Packers were not able to run the rest of the clock out and had to get their defense back onto the field. On the first play of the Colts’ desperation drive, Quay Walker had an interception bounce off his hands. The ball landed in the hands of Alec Pierce for a first down. After a 21-yard scramble by Richardson and an incomplete pass, it all came down to one final play. Richardson’s desperation heave was intercepted by Evan Williams, sealing the Packers’ first win of 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.)
This game was a clinic in terms of running the football down the defense’s throats. Vince Lombardi would have been proud of how well the Packers ran the ball against the Colts. Josh Jacobs led the team with 151 yards on 32 carries, while Malik Willis added 41 yards on 6 rushing attempts. It was a bummer that Jacobsen fumbled the ball right before he would’ve scored the Packers’ second touchdown of the game. That touchdown pass from Malik Willis to Dontayvion Wicks was not the only passing highlight that Willis had. During the drive that ended in the 34-yard field goal by Brayden Narveson, Willis threw a pass that went for 39 yards to Romeo Doubs, who made a spectacular catch on the play. Despite only throwing for 122 yards, Willis did his job well of managing the game and not turning the ball over. Kudos to the offensive line for playing great, even when Jordan Morgan exited the game with a shoulder injury. A weird moment in the game was when Malik Willis decided to run on a third down play when he realized that center Josh Myers had a puking accident on the field. In his defense, it was a toasty 85 degrees at Lambeau Field during the game. So maybe it was a result of the heat getting to him at that point. It was annoying that the offense didn’t do that much scoring in the second half to put the game away, but I am glad that they didn’t make too many mistakes against the Colts. Regardless of who the starting quarterback is, mistake-free football is the name of the game. If the Packers continue to do that, then they can get another win in Love’s absence.
On defense, the Packers played a fantastic game. Like the previous game against the Eagles, the Packers defense was able to force three turnovers against the Colts. All three of them were interceptions. Xavier McKinney, Eric Wilson, and Evan Williams were the recipients of the interceptions by Anthony Richardson. In addition to that, they were able to keep the Colts’ ground game in check and didn’t allow a rushing touchdown. I wish that they kept the Colts scoreless throughout the whole game, but at least the Packers defense played great. Kudos to defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley for getting his players ready for the home opener. There are still some things to fix on defense, including limiting the rushing attack better and avoiding dropped picks. Next week (and beyond), the Packers need to keep their turnover streak going. Hopefully they don’t get called for a bad penalty like Lukas Van Ness did for a bogus “roughing the passer” penalty.
On Special Teams, the Packers thankfully did not make a lot of mistakes. The only bad thing was that Brayden Narveson missed one of his field goals for a second straight game. I’m hoping that he makes each kick from here on out. No kicks or punts were blocked, and the Packers didn’t surrender any huge plays to the Colts. Daniel Whelan punted three balls inside the Colts 20 yard line, which was good. I am relieved that nothing went catastrophically wrong on Special Teams. I still hope for a kickoff return TD at some point.
It was ugly for some of the game, but I am glad that the Packers were able to hold down the fort at home without Jordan Love, who is expected to miss another couple of weeks. My prediction is that he’ll come back for Week 4 against the Vikings, who are surprisingly 2-0. As for the upcoming week, I am expecting Malik Willis to start for Green Bay against the Tennessee Titans in Nashville. As for right now, I am glad that the Packers, led by head coach Matt LaFleur, got the win. One important thing to note is that this win marks the 800th regular season win for the Packers in their history. I’m happy about that. With all of that said, I hope you have a great week ahead. Go Pack Go!
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