Thoughts on Week 8 (2026): Green Bay Packers vs. Carolina Panthers
It’s always a good thing when the Green Bay Packers win. Entering Thursday night’s game against the Carolina Panthers at Lambeau Field, the Packers were looking to get back to winning after losing to Detroit the previous Sunday. Things weren’t pretty at times, but the Packers were able to get the job done at home and improve to 5-3 on the season. Let’s go over the details of how the game went down.
Things looked bad when Coleman Owen fumbled the ball on the opening kickoff. The fumble was recovered by the Panthers, who had a great opportunity to get points. Thankfully, the Packers defense made sure that the Panthers only scored a field goal. Bryce Young was sacked on third and 8 from the Green Bay 15 by Devonte Wyatt, which forced Carolina to kick a field goal. The kick by Ryan Fitzgerald was good from 39 yards out, giving Carolina a 3-0 lead with under 12 minutes left in the first quarter. The Packers went three and out on their first offense drive. It didn’t help that Matthew Golden dropped a pass on second and 6 from the Green Bay 37. The third down pass to Josh Jacobs went for 3 yards and the Packers sent out Daniel Whelan to punt. Bo Melton was able to tackle Trevor Etienne at the Carolina 12. Ty’Ron Hopper deflected a pass on third and 6 from the Carolina 16, resulting in the Panthers punting back to Green Bay. From their own 44, the Packers were able to move the ball down the field. Yes, there was help due to a pass interference penalty. 3 plays later, Christian Watson caught a pass and ran 24 yards to the Carolina 12. 3 plays after that, Tucker Kraft was able to make the catch for Green Bay’s first touchdown of the night. Of course, Kraft went to the stands for a Lambeau Leap. The extra point kick by Trey Smack loudly bounced off the left upright, resulting in the score being 6-3 in Green Bay’s favor with a little over 5 minutes left in the first quarter. That lead was short lived as the Packers defense was unable to stop the Panthers from scoring a touchdown on their next drive, which lasted a little over 5 minutes of game time. There were a couple of key third down conversions for Carolina as the drive continued. The drive ended with a 1 yard run by Chuba Hubbard, who was inexplicably able to do a Lambeau Leap. The extra point was good, giving Carolina a 10-6 lead at the start of the second quarter. The Packers tried to answer back on their next drive, but Christian Watson fumbled the ball in Carolina territory. Thankfully, the Packers defense kept Carolina in check and forced a punt. From their own 10 yard line, the Packers started their next drive with 11:20 left in the first half. The biggest play of the drive was when Jordan Love threw a deep pass to Christian Watson, who was able to catch the ball for a 53 yard gain. Watson had to leave the game for a little bit after that play due to a chest/rib issue. Savion Williams got the handoff on a trick play and ran for 18 yards to the Carolina 8 yard line. 4 plays later, Josh Jacobs made something out of a bad O-Line situation and ran it in from 1 yard out (not a fan of him scoring at all). The extra point kick by Trey Smack was good this time, giving Green Bay a 13-10 lead with about 6 and a half minutes left in the half. The Panthers’ drive ended quickly when Ty’Ron Hopper tipped a pass and got the interception in Carolina territory. The Packers offense took advantage of this situation by scoring their third touchdown of the half. Matthew Golden caught a 24 yard TD pass from Jordan Love that, with the extra point kick by Smack, increased the lead to 20-10 with less than 2 minutes left in the half. Nothing was done by either team before the end of the half, resulting in the 20-10 score being the case at halftime.
The Panthers were hoping to start the second half on a positive note, but the drive ended when a fourth down run by Chuba Hubbard was stuffed short of the line of scrimmage by Chris McClellan. The Packers took advantage of the situation by increasing their lead to 17 points. Jordan Love found Josh Jacobs (yuck) for a 4 yard TD pass that, with the extra point, made the score 27-10 with about 7 and a half minutes left in the third quarter. The Panthers were able to make it to scoring range on their next drive. During that drive, Christian Watson got back to Lambeau Field and ran out of the tunnel out of a WWE event. The drive ended when there was a third down sack of Bryce Young by Lukas Van Ness, which forced Carolina to settle for a field goal. Ryan Fitzgerald made the kick from 50 yards out, decreasing the lead to 27-13 with a little over 4 minutes left in the third quarter. On the first play of the ensuing drive, Jordan Love tried to find Christian Watson on a deep pass, but the pass went incomplete, which was a bummer. After that, the Packers were able to get into scoring range. Unfortunately, the Packers got no points when Jordan Love missed a wide open Watson and threw a bad interception. 2 punts later (one by each team), Carolina was able to make it a one score game when Jalen Coker caught a 26 yard TD pass from Bryce Young. Rather than kick the extra point, the Panthers tried to go for 2 and failed to do so, resulting in the score being 27-19 in Green Bay’s favor with under 6 minutes left in the game. Thankfully, that score was kept that way over the last few minutes of the fourth quarter, resulting in the Packers winning the game and improving their record to 5-3 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 were solid at times, other than having 2 turnovers. I’ll get this out of the way though: the running game is atrocious. Against the worst run defense in the NFL, the Packers running backs combined for a meager 48 yards. The run blocking is bad, which results in quite a number of runs that went for no yards or negative yards. It was a miracle that Josh Jacobs scored a rushing TD behind the O-Line. Speaking of the O-Line, they did much better in pass protection, allowing no sacks on Thursday night. Kevin Zeitler was activated, but did not play because of Aaron Banks. Zeitler was signed a few weeks ago, so why hasn’t he played yet? I’m not sure why that is, but it’s getting ridiculous that he hasn’t played yet. At some point, let him start and see what happens. At least John Williams played solid at center for a second straight game. Other than that awful interception in the fourth quarter, Jordan Love played great against the Panthers defense. He made some great throws, including that 53 yard bomb to Christian Watson that set up a rushing TD. Speaking of Watson, it was great to see him come back to the game in the second half after that chest/rib injury. I’m hoping he is ok in the long run. Matthew Golden was able to redeem himself after dropping a TD by catching a TD that helped the Packers get a double digit lead at halftime. There are still a lot of things to clean up from drops to pre-snap penalties to run blocking issues, but at least the Packers have a few extra days before their next game to work things out.
On defense, the Packers played great against Carolina. They did allow a couple of touchdowns and a few chunk plays. However, they once again got the stops when they were needed the most. Even in situations when the Packers were put at a disadvantage, including after the opening kickoff fumble, the defense got the job done and forced them into either a field goal or a punt. Bryce Young was sacked a total of 6 times by the Packers defense, with Devonte Wyatt, Lukas Van Ness, Dani Dennis-Sutton, Barryn Sorrell, Brenton Cox Jr, and Ty’Ron Hopper each getting one sack. Hopper also had a couple of tipped passes, including one that he caught for an interception. Hopper got a game ball from head coach Matt LaFleur after the game, which was well deserved. I have to once again give credit to Jonathan Gannon for his job as DC. Despite missing some key players, his defense is still making plays and getting big stops. Micah Parsons coming back soon (he should practice starting this next week) will only make this defense better for the stretch run. Hopefully they keep this momentum going next week and beyond.
On Special Teams, the Packers were not perfect. Obviously, things started off badly when Coleman Owen fumbled on the opening kickoff. In addition to that, Trey Smack missed his first extra point when his kick hit the left upright loudly. Smack did make his PAT kicks afterwards, but it is concerning that he has missed a lot of short kicks this season. I’m not sure what is going to happen between now and Week 9, but I hope that he gets these rookie yips out of the way. At least no kicks were blocked, which would have been disastrous. Daniel Whelan punted well, but he was not happy on the last one when Bo Melton failed to down the ball inside the 5 yard line in the final seconds. There was one long kick return allowed, but at least the Packers didn’t allow any TDs on special teams. The return game was not great as Skyy Moore is still sidelined due to injury. I’m relieved that there were no other turnovers after that first fumble. Hopefully Cam Achord’s unit gets some things cleaned up before the next game.
Overall, I’m glad that the Packers got the win on Thursday night. There was a lot of celebrating at Lambeau Field. First, the Milwaukee Brewers, who won their first World Series ever against the Tampa Bay Rays, made the trip to Lambeau Field to root for the Packers and have some fun. There was even a little Sausage Race on the field (which is a tradition at Brewers home games). Second, Bob Harlan’s name was revealed on the Lambeau Field facade at halftime, with his son Kevin saying a few words to the crowd. Without Bob Harlan, the Packers wouldn’t be where they are today as an organization. Hopefully he will be posthumously inducted in Canton someday. Thankfully, the Packers kept the good vibes going, despite a lot of mistakes. Next up for the Packers is a matchup against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on November 8th. Even with the Patriots banged up due to a number of injuries, including ones to AJ Brown and former Packer Romeo Doubs, the Packers need to be ready for anything in Foxboro. I’ll be back for the recap of that game. In the meantime, I’m celebrating a Victory Friday and a stress free football weekend. Go Pack Go!
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