Good evening, everyone. On Sunday September 22nd, the Green Bay Packers went to Nashville, Tennessee to play the Tennessee Titans. This game was the second game played without Jordan Love under center. For Malik Willis, it was a chance for him to play well against his former team. Thankfully, the Packers were able to get the win on Sunday. Let’s get into detail on how this game went down.
The Packers started this game on the offensive side of the ball. After the opening kickoff went for a touchback, the Packers offense was able to move the ball down the field with ease. A couple of big plays during this drive were a pass from Malik Willis to Jayden Reed that went for 30 yards (most of those yards being after the catch) and a leaping catch by Christian Watson that set up a first and goal for Green Bay. The drive ended with a Malik Willis RPO play that Willis kept for a 5-yard touchdown run. The extra point by Brayden Narveson was good, giving the Packers a 7-0 lead with 12:25 left in the first quarter. That lead was short lived, as the Titans were able to go down the field for their own score. Late in the drive, Rashan Gary’s sack of Will Levis was nullified by an offsides penalty on Preston Smith. The Titans converted the third and three and then got the touchdown on a short pass from Levis to Nick Vannett. The extra point was good, tying the game at 7-7 with 7:15 left in the quarter. After the kickoff went for another touchback, the Packers were able to move the ball down the field for another score. Malik Willis was able to scramble for plenty of yards to set up a first and goal at the Tennessee 2 yard line. Unfortunately, the Packers were not able to punch it in after that. On the third and goal play, there was some miscommunication between Malik Willis and Jayden Reed resulting in an incomplete pass. Reed wanted the ball on him, not in front of him. Thankfully, that play did not result in a turnover and Narveson was called upon for the field goal. The kick was good, giving Green Bay a 10-7 lead with 1:05 left in the first quarter. On the ensuing drive for the Titans, Will Levis threw a pass directly into the hands of Jaire Alexander, who took the pick 35 yards for his first career pick six. The extra point after the pick six was good, increasing Green Bay’s lead to 17-7 with 51 seconds left in the first quarter. After that, there were three drives that ended in punts, with two of those punts by Tennessee. With 6:02 left, the Packers had an opportunity to add some points to their lead. They were able to do so, with the field goal by Narveson being set up by a big play where Christian Watson got 37 yards on a catch and run play. The kick was good from 26 yards out as the clock expired, increasing the lead to 20-7 at halftime.
The Titans were desperate for a score on their first second half possession, but their drive ended when Will Levis was stopped on 4th and 2 from the Tennessee 37 yard line. The Packers capitalized on this opportunity by scoring a touchdown on their first second half drive. On second and 15 from the Titans 30 yard line, Emanuel Wilson took a short pass from Malik Willis and ran all the way for the touchdown. The extra point was good, increasing the lead to 27-7 with 8:25 left in the third quarter. That lead was decreased when the Titans were able to move the ball down the field for a touchdown. That touchdown was an 11-yard pass from Will Levis to DeAndre Hopkins, who fought his way into the end zone for the score. The extra point was good, decreasing the lead to 27-14 with 4:55 left in the third quarter. The score stayed that way for the majority of the time left in the game. The Packers offense weren’t able to get anything going on their drives and had to punt the ball away. Thankfully, the defense was able to make Will Levis’ life miserable with plenty of sacks and turnovers. There was a strip sack of Levis by Kingsley Enegbare and a fumble recovery by Lukas Van Ness in the third quarter and an interception late in the fourth quarter by Xavier McKinney. The game ultimately ended in a 30-14 victory that improved the Packers’ record to 2-1 on the season (2-0 without Jordan Love).
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL’s YouTube channel. Click on “Watch on YouTube”)
On offense, they were productive for the most part and didn’t turn the ball over. The running game was a bit less productive against the Titans, but they still ran well at times. Malik Willis was able to use his legs well to the tune of 73 yards on 6 carries, which included the first touchdown of the game. Willis threw for an efficient 202 yards on 13 of 19 pass attempts. The offensive line played well, other than having a couple of penalties and allowing a couple of sacks. It wasn’t perfect on offense, as there was another mishap in the red zone in the first half. Against tougher opponents, the Packers need to execute those red zone possessions and score touchdowns. For the majority of the second half, the Packers were not really productive on offense. Basically, they wanted to make sure to run as much clock as possible and get out of Nashville as soon as possible. To be fair, the temperature was in the 80s for a second straight game. Still, what the Packers did on offense was good considering the circumstances. Jordan Love did practice this past week, but the Packers wanted to make sure he was fully healthy to play. He should be able to come back for Week 4 at Lambeau against Minnesota, who went to 3-0 after winning their game against Houston. With the coaching that he has done for these past two weeks, I believe that Matt LaFleur is an early favorite for the Coach of the Year award.
Other than allowing a couple of touchdown drives, the Packers came to play on the defensive side of the football. They kept the run game in check and made Will Levis’ life miserable for a majority of the game. Levis was sacked a whopping 8 times by the Packers defense, with Devonte Wyatt and Preston Smith each getting two sacks. Kingsley Enegbare forced one of the three turnovers when he strip-sacked Levis in the third quarter and Lukas Van Ness recovered the fumble. The other two turnovers were two interceptions, one each by Jaire Alexander (his first ever pick six in the NFL) and by Xavier McKinney. McKinney has had an interception in each of the three games so far this season. I’m loving this free agent signing even more by the week. Major kudos to Jeff Hafley for getting his players ready to play and dominate the Titans for the majority of the game. There are still some things to clean up, including penalties. Thankfully, there’s plenty of chances left for this defense to do just that, starting with next week against the Vikings at Lambeau Field.
On Special Teams, the Packers thankfully didn’t screw up their chances of winning. Each kick by Brayden Narveson was made this time, though a miss was nullified by a penalty. Daniel Whelon had one of his punts go inside the 20 yard line. No field goal attempts or punts were blocked on either side. There were no huge kick or punt returns allowed by either team. Most of the kickoffs went for a touchback, including all of them intended to be received by Green Bay. At the very least, there were no game-changing plays that shifted the momentum in the Titans’ favor. As long as the Packers keep limiting the mistakes, they should be good to go for the rest of the season.
Overall, it was a great win for the Packers. Even with Jordan Love out for a second straight week, the Packers took care of business against an inferior opponent. Much kudos to everyone involved for winning these two games in Love’s absence. Love should be back for the next game, which is suddenly a battle for first place in the NFC North. Thankfully, that game against the Minnesota Vikings is at the friendly confines of Lambeau Field. Anything can happen in these division games, which means that the Packers need to be ready for anything. I’ll be back for the recap of that game next week. For now, I am celebrating another win for Green Bay. Have a great week, everyone. Go Pack Go!
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