Good evening, everyone. On Sunday October 27th, the Green Bay Packers took on the Jacksonville Jaguars at an Everbank Stadium that was filled with Packers fans. Entering this game, the Packers were looking to add to their winning streak and keep up with the Lions and Vikings in the division race. It had to come down to the wire against a Jaguars team that has struggled a lot this year, but the Packers were able to get the win and improve to 6-2 on the season. Let’s go over this chaotic game, shall we?
After the opening kickoff went for a touchback, the Packers started their first possession at their own 30 yard line. It started well with the Packers getting into Jaguars territory, but a 16-yard run by Josh Jacobs on third and 3 from the Jaguars 48 was called back because of a holding penalty on Sean Rhyan. On third and 9 from the Green Bay 46, Jordan Love threw an incomplete pass to Josh Jacobs. Zach Tom was penalized for holding, but the penalty was declined due to the incomplete pass. Daniel Whelan was able to punt the ball deep into Jaguars territory. The punt return was only 8 yards, forcing Jacksonville’s offense to start at their own 17. The Packers defense was able to force the Jaguars to go three and out after Eric Wilson stopped Trevor Lawrence from scrambling for the first down on third and 4 from the 23. The punt by Logan Cooke went all the way down to the Green Bay 2 yard line before going out of bounds. The drive for Green Bay ended with a three and out after Jayden Reed dropped Jordan Love’s pass on third and 5 from the 7 yard line. The punt by Daniel Whelan only went to midfield, where the Jaguars started their next drive. They had a manageable third and 3 from the Green Bay 43 when Gabe Davis committed a false start penalty. On third and 8 from the 48, Trevor Lawrence threw it deep to Brian Thomas Junior only for the pass to go incomplete. After the punt was fair caught by Jayden Reed, the Packers started their next drive at their own 8 yard line. From there, they were able to go on a methodical drive that should have resulted in points. A healthy mix of run and pass plays helped get the Packers into scoring range. They were able to get a first down on third and 8 from the Jacksonville 20 yard line due to a hands to the face penalty on Jacksonville. Two plays after the penalty, disaster struck when Jordan Love threw an interception to end the drive with no points. Fortunately, Xavier McKinney gave the Packers offense another chance when he picked off Trevor Lawrence at the 28 yard line. The Packers were able to take advantage of this opportunity by getting a touchdown on their ensuing drive. On third and 6 from the 24 yard line, Jordan Love threw an incomplete pass intended for Romeo Doubs. However, Montaric Brown was called for pass interference, keeping the drive alive. On first and goal from the 3 yard line, Josh Jacobs took the handoff from Love and went into the end zone for the touchdown. The extra point was good, giving Green Bay a 7-0 lead with 11:31 left in the second quarter. After the Packers defense forced a three and out, the offense got the ball back at their own 20 with the hopes of adding to their lead. On the second play of the drive, Jordan Love ran to his right and corked a deep pass to Tucker Kraft, who took the pass all the way down to the Jacksonville 9 yard line. During that pass, it looked like Jordan Love was limping a lot (he got hurt earlier in the game, but came back). Once that big play was done, the Packers did nothing with the goal to go situation. An illegal shift penalty by Tucker Kraft was followed by three plays that went basically nowhere. Brandon McManus was called upon for the 31-yard field goal attempt, which he made. That field goal gave Green Bay a 10-0 lead with 6:03 left in the first half. That lead was decreased to 10-7 after the Jaguars went on a six-play drive that ended with a 6-yard touchdown run by Trevor Lawrence, who got some help from his teammates. After the ensuing kickoff went into the end zone for a touchback, the Packers started their next drive at their own 30 with 2:37 left in the half. Jordan Love started the drive with a 12-yard pass completion to Christian Watson. Two plays later, Love threw a great pass that was followed by a great catch by Romeo Doubs for a 25-yard gain. Three plays later, the Packers had to settle for a field goal after Love threw an incomplete pass intended for Bo Melton. On fourth and 5 from the Jacksonville 28 yard line, there was a timeout due to the line not being arranged correctly. Then, the Jaguars somehow committed a defensive delay of game penalty. Even with the fresh set of downs, the Packers still didn’t get a touchdown and kicked a field goal anyway. The kick by McManus was good from 38 yards away, increasing the lead to 13-7 with 54 seconds left in the half. Unfortunately, the defense allowed the Jaguars to get into field goal range right before the half ended. However, Jacksonville played it safe and settled for a field goal to trail by 3 at halftime.
The Packers defense got off to a good start in the second half when they forced the Jaguars to go three and out. During the first drive of the second half for the Packers, Jordan Love got more banged up due to a classless hit by Travon Walker. Love had to go to the sidelines to get looked at. After that, Malik Willis had to be brought in for the rest of the game (Love suffered a groin injury). Willis scrambled for a couple of yards on third and 9 from the Green Bay 35, forcing Green Bay to punt back to the Jaguars. From their own 7 yard line, the Jaguars had no issue moving the ball down the field (it didn’t help that Evan Williams suffered a hamstring injury). They were even able to convert a fourth and one with a QB sneak. The 10-play drive ended with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Trevor Lawrence to Brian Thomas Junior. The extra point kick was good, giving the Jaguars a surprising 17-13 lead with 5:10 left in the third quarter. The Packers offense with Malik Willis at the QB spot was able to answer right back with a touchdown of their own. On an 8-play drive in which 7 of those plays were run plays, the Packers were able to move the ball well. On first and 10 from the Jacksonville 38 yard line, the drive ended with Josh Jacobs running past the defense (thanks to some great blocking) for the touchdown. The extra point kick by McManus was good, giving the Packers a 20-17 lead with 21 seconds left in the third quarter. The Packers defense forced another turnover when Edgerrin Cooper strip-sacked Trevor Lawrence on third and 7 from the Jacksonville 14 yard line. Devonte Wyatt pushed a Jaguars O-Lineman out of the way in addition to recovering the fumble at the 5 yard line. 2 plays later, Malik Willis found Tucker Kraft for an easy 3-yard touchdown pass that, with the extra point kick by Brandon McManus, increased the lead to 27-17 with 14:06 left in the fourth quarter. After two drives that ended in punts (one by each team), the Jaguars had the ball at their own 20 with 9:40 left in the fourth quarter. They went down the field and got into scoring range. They almost had a turnover when there was a bad snap on third and 3 from the Green Bay 27. Trevor Lawrence recovered the fumble, which set up Cam Little’s 47-yard field goal attempt. The kick was good, decreasing Green Bay’s lead to 7 points with 5:36 left in the game. The Packers did nothing on their next drive and punted back to the Jaguars. From their own 13 yard line, the Jaguars started their next drive with the hopes of tying the game. They were successful in doing so, completing the drive with a 14-yard TD pass to Evan Engram. Jaire Alexander got banged up on the play (hopefully it’s not too serious). With the game tied at 27-27 and with a minute and 48 seconds left in the game, it was up to Malik Willis to lead the Packers offense down the field for the game winning score. On second and 6 from the 34 yard line, Malik Willis found a wide open Jayden Reed on a beautiful play designed to get the ball to Reed. Reed took the pass all the way to the Jacksonville 15 yard line. Two plays later, Chris Brooks sacrificed scoring a touchdown by going down at the four yard line. From there, the Packers were able to run out the rest of the clock until there was only enough time for Brandon McManus to kick the game winning field goal from 24 yards out. The kick was good, giving the Packers a 30-27 win. With this win, the Packers are 6-2 on the season.
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL’s YouTube page. Click on “Watch on YouTube”)
Offensively, the Packers were a mixed bag. With the Jaguars as one of the worst teams in terms of giving up yards and points, especially in the red zone, I was hoping that Jordan Love and the offense were going to be very effective and score a lot of points. The first half was not like that at all. There were missed opportunities in the red zone, too many instances of running outside rather than going between the tackles, penalties that messed up a couple of drives, and Jordan Love throwing an interception in scoring range. Speaking of Jordan Love, he had a rough day in Jacksonville. Not only because he threw another pick, but because he was banged up for most of his time on the field. His knee got hurt again and he had to go to the medical tent for a bit in the first quarter, but he came back and tried to tough it out. He did have some good throws, including a 25-yard laser to Romeo Doubs and a great pass on the run to Tucker Kraft (kudos to Kraft for his yards after catch on that play). Early in the third quarter, Love received an unnecessary hit by Travon Walker that hurt Love even more. He had to leave the game due to a groin injury, which turned out to be just a groin sprain. Hopefully he gets to play against the Lions next week. Thankfully, Malik Willis helped lead the Packers to a win in Love’s absence. Even though Willis didn’t get any starting reps during the week leading up to this game, he did what needed to be done. Josh Jacobs led the Packers rushing attack with 25 carries for 127 yards and two touchdowns. On his second touchdown run, he evaded a defender and ran past the rest (thanks to great blocking) for the score. Tucker Kraft led the receiving corps (on National Tight Ends Day, no less) with 3 catches for 78 yards and 1 touchdown. Romeo Doubs wasn’t far behind with 3 receptions for 72 yards, including a 25-yard catch from Jordan Love on a tight window throw. Jayden Reed was the recipient of Malik Willis’ play action pass that got the Packers into field goal range (beautiful play design on that pass). Right after that big pass to Reed, Chris Brooks (who did some good pass protection on a few snaps) sacrificed an opportunity to score a touchdown to make sure the Packers run out the rest of the clock. That was a smart play because it made Jacksonville use their last timeout and let the field goal by Brandon McManus be the last play of the game. The offensive line did well as they didn’t allow either Love or Willis to be sacked once. A lot of things need to be fixed before the Packers play the Lions next week at Lambeau Field, including some play calls and execution on third downs and in the red zone. Some of those errors could get them in serious trouble against Detroit. Whether it’s Love or Willis starting against the Lions, the offense needs to get to a hot start. Hopefully that is the case next week.
On defense, the Packers played well at times. For most of the first half, the Packers were able to keep the Jaguars offense from doing anything huge. However, once rookie safety Evan Williams left the game with a hamstring injury (which is thankfully not too serious), the Jaguars were more successful in moving the ball down the field and scoring points. Tank Bisby had 18 rushing attempts for 78 yards, and it was tough for the defense to tackle him at points. I felt bad for Javon Bullard, but he struggled on Sunday. Overall, the defense had a total of 19 missed tackles against Jacksonville. Even when the Jaguars lost two of their receivers in Brian Thomas Junior and Christian Kirk, the Jaguars didn’t have an issue in the second half (other than a couple of failed drives and a lost fumble). Part of the Packers’ defensive struggles in the second half was due to the humidity in Florida getting to the players as the game went on. I was hoping that the defense would have gotten another stop in the fourth quarter, but they allowed Jacksonville to tie the game. On that touchdown to Evan Engram, Jaire Alexander came out of the field hopping on one leg. It turned out to be a knee issue, but it was a minor issue and won’t be long term (thank goodness). There were some great moments on defense, including Xavier McKinney getting his sixth interception of the season and Edgerrin Cooper strip-sacking Trevor Lawrence. Cooper also made a great play by breaking up a deep pass that would have given Jacksonville a huge gain. Devonte Wyatt came back on Sunday after missing a couple of games. Wyatt made a beeline for the ball after Cooper sacked Trevor Lawrence. He even pushed an offensive lineman on his way to the ball. Hopefully there are chances for big plays (sacks and turnovers) and key stops against a Lions team that is playing extremely well this year on offense. Jeff Hafley’s unit needs to be ready for anything on Sunday, and I believe that they can get the job done at Lambeau Field.
On Special Teams, there was thankfully no crazy mistakes made by Green Bay. A close call was when there was a messup on the line during a field goal attempt in the first half. Because of that mishap, the Packers had to call timeout to avoid a major screw-up. Every other field goal attempt was good in terms of line setup. To make it better, Brandon McManus made each kick on Sunday, including the game-winner from 24 yards away. The snaps were good by Matt Orzech and Daniel Whelan secured each hold in addition to punting well. There were no big punt or kickoff returns, but at least there were not any turnovers. However, there was a punt by Jacksonville that made the Packers start a drive at their own 2 yard line. Kudos to Logan Cooke for that punt. Hopefully Daniel Whelan can have one of those punts in the future. I’m just glad that the Special Teams unit was good enough to avoid a disastrous mistake.
Overall, I was relieved that the Packers escaped Jacksonville with a win. I’m also relieved that the Packers avoided major injury concerns with Jordan Love, Josh Jacobs, Evan Williams, and Jaire Alexander. Green Bay needs everyone as healthy as possible for the rest of the season. There is one more game for the Packers to play until their bye week. That game is for the NFC North division lead against the 6-1 Detroit Lions, who just blew out the Titans at home. Anything can happen in these division games, and the Packers need to be ready for anything that the Lions do. I’ll be back for my recap of that game next week. Have a great week, everyone. Go Pack Go!
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