Thoughts on Week 9 (2026): Green Bay Packers at New England Patriots

What a satisfying win that was on Sunday. Entering his game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium, the Green Bay Packers were looking to add another win and improve to 6-3 on the season. In addition, they were hoping to keep up in the very competitive NFC North, which could have every team in the playoffs when all is said and done. Fox was building up the hype around Tom Brady calling his first game as a broadcaster in Foxborough only for him to see his former team get thoroughly dominated on Sunday. With that introduction out of the way, let’s go over this game.

The Patriots had the ball first, but not for long. Two plays into the drive, Patriots QB Drake Maye threw a deep pass that was picked off by Xavier McKinney, who was able to return the pick to the New England 14 yard line. 2 plays later, Jordan Love made a play with his legs and scrambled for a 13 yard touchdown. The extra point kick by Trey Smack was good, giving the Packers a 7-0 lead not even 2 minutes into the game. The Packers defense forced New England to go three and out on their next drive after Drake Maye was sacked on third down by Isaiah McDuffie. The punt was downed at the Green Bay 14 yard line. From there, the Packers offense had no problem moving the ball down the field. On second and 7 from the Green Bay 17, Jordan Love found Matthew Golden for a 16 yard pass completion. On the next play, Love found Golden for a 49 yard pass completion that got the Packers into scoring range. 2 plays later, a defensive pass interference penalty on CB Christian Gonzalez negated what would have been a pick by Love. 3 plays after that, Matthew Golden caught Jordan Love’s 100th career touchdown pass from 5 yards out. The extra point kick was good, increasing the lead to 14-0 with less than 8 minutes left in the first quarter. The Patriots were able to get into Green Bay territory on their next drive, but they were unable to get into field goal range and were forced to punt. The Packers had to start their next drive at their own 2 yard line after the nice punt coverage by New England. Even with that awful field position, the Packers offense was able to get into scoring range on their ensuing possession. The biggest play of the drive was a 43 yard pass completion from Jordan Love to Matthew Golden that got the Packers to the New England 19 yard line. Unfortunately, the drive stalled thanks to Jordan Love getting sacked on third and 5 from the 14 yard line. Trey Smack made the field goal from 41 yards out, increasing the lead to 17-0 with over 13 and a half minutes left in the second quarter. The Patriots’ drive was short lived as Drake Maye threw another deep pass that ended up being picked off. Brandon Cisse tipped the pass and Evan Williams finished the job by picking the ball off while keeping his feet inbounds in the process. That interception made his mom excited as all heck (Fox showed Evan Williams’ mother on the broadcast, which was great to see). The Packers offense did nothing with the opportunity. After a missed deep shot to Christian Watson, Jordan Love was sacked for an 8 yard loss and the Packers ran a give up play on third and 18. Daniel Whelan punted to the New England 32, where the Patriots took over. New England finally got on the board when Drake Maye found RB Rhamondre Stevenson for a 30 yard TD pass. The extra point was good, decreasing the lead to 17-7 with less than 9 and a half minutes left in the half. The Packers had a chance to convert a fourth and 1 with their special sneak play involving Tucker Kraft taking the snap, but Jordan Love was called for a ticky tack false start, forcing the Packers to punt back to New England. Thankfully, Drake Maye threw his third interception of the first half on New England’s ensuing drive. Xavier McKinney picked off Maye for the second time, setting the Packers up for another scoring opportunity. Matthew Golden caught a 24 yard pass to open up the drive. Christian Watson then caught a deep pass that went 43 yards to the Patriots’ 2 yard line. Mike Vrabel threw the challenge flag to no avail. Even if the pass was ruled not a catch, there would have been a pass interference penalty on the defense anyway. Kaleb Johnson ran it in from 2 yards out to complete the drive. The extra point was good, increasing the lead back to 17 points with less than 5 minutes left in the half. That lead was quickly changed back to 10 points after the Patriots scored their second TD of the day on an 8 yard pass from Maye to Efton Chism and the PAT was made. The Packers tried to get another score before halftime, but they turned the ball over on downs after two badly executed plays in a row. On third and 2 from the New England 42, there was a backwards pass to Savion Williams that went nowhere due to Williams being indecisive. Then, Williams failed to get the catch on the fourth down pass. At least the defense was able to keep the Patriots from scoring any more points before halftime, keeping the score at 24-14 in Green Bay’s favor (could have been 31-14 if Kamal Hadden did not drop a potential pick six).

The Packers got the ball first to start the second half, and they did not mess around. They got into New England territory thanks to a 28 yard pass from Jordan Love to Christian Watson. 2 plays later, they got into the red zone thanks to a 10 yard run by Kaleb Johnson on second and 5 from the New England 23. 3 plays after that, Savion Williams made a great contested catch for a 10 yard touchdown. The extra point kick was good, increasing the lead to 31-14 with just under 11 minutes left in the third quarter. The Patriots were forced to go three and out on their first third quarter drive. Karl Brooks sacked Drake Maye for a loss of 6 yards on second and 5. Efton Chism caught a pass that went for 8 yards on third and 11. Rather than risk going for it, New England punted back to Green Bay. Coleman Owen returned the punt to the Green Bay 22. From there, Green Bay’s offense took over as they looked to extend their lead even further. They got into New England territory thanks to a 33 yard pass to Christian Watson. 3 plays later, the drive stalled after a missed deep shot to Tucker Kraft that would have been a TD. The field goal attempt by Trey Smack was good from 51 yards out, increasing the lead to 34-14 with over 5 minutes left in the third quarter. The Packers quickly got the ball back after Isaiah McDuffie forced Rhamondre Stevenson to lose the ball. McDuffie recovered the fumble at the New England 39. Jordan Love then found Christian Watson for a 39 yard touchdown that basically sealed the game. Rather than take the extra point, the Packers went for 2 and got it with a Jordan Love scramble. After that score, the game was essentially in garbage time. The Packers did add 3 more points thanks to a Trey Smack field goal, thus setting the new record for most points scored by an opposing team in Gillette Stadium’s history. The Patriots did make the score more respectable in the final quarter, but the Packers still ended up victorious by a score of 45-27. With the win, the Packers improve to 6-3 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 great against the Patriots defense. There were a few bad moments, including 2 false start penalties on a potential tight end sneak play and Jordan Love being sacked a couple of times (3, to be exact). However, those bad moments did not matter in the end as Green Bay scored 5 touchdowns on Sunday, with 3 of them coming through the air and 2 on the ground. Jordan Love accounted for 4 of those TDs (3 passing, 1 rushing) as he torched the Patriots defense for 372 yards in an MVP performance. Love even got some MVP chants by the Packers fans who made the trip to Gillette Stadium, which was great for him to hear. Both Christian Watson and Matthew Golden topped 150 receiving yards each, with Golden getting 164 and a TD on 10 catches and Watson getting 171 yards and a TD on 7 catches (plus, they did backflips together after Watson’s TD in the third quarter). There was a missed opportunity for Tucker Kraft in the second half, which was a bummer. Still, Love had a great day on Sunday. The running game finally topped 100 yards on the ground for the first time this season, with Kaleb Johnson leading the way with 68 yards and a TD on 14 rushing attempts. I’m glad that Johnson was able to come back after being punished for his fumble in Tampa Bay a few weeks ago. Other than allowing a couple of sacks, the offensive line did a solid job on Sunday. Aaron Banks being benched for Kevin Zeitler (who should be starting now on the O-Line) definitely helped in the second half, especially in the run game. There are still some things to clean up, but I was happy to see the Green Bay offense torch the New England defense on Sunday. Hopefully that great play continues from week to week.

On defense, the Packers held the Patriots in check on Sunday, outside of garbage time stuff. Drake Maye was sacked 4 times, with Karl Brooks getting two of those sacks. Maye was lucky to be only sacked 4 times as he got out of some sacks by getting the ball out of his hands before going down to the ground. Maye was picked off three times, with Xavier McKinney getting two of the picks and Evan Williams getting one of them (with help from Brandon Cisse). There were a couple of missed opportunities for a turnover, including Kamal Hadden dropping a potential pick six just before halftime. Even with the great job the Packers did on defense, they were unable to avoid the injury bug. Both Ty’Ron Hopper and Isaiah McDuffie left the game due to injury. Hopefully both of those situations aren’t the worst case scenario. There was also a scare with Evan Williams, but he turned out ok. Yes, it was a bummer that the Packers allowed some points in garbage time. Even with that and a couple more injuries to add to the list, the Packers defense played well enough to hold on to the double digit win. Hopefully Jonathan Gannon’s unit keeps up this great play as they wait for Micah Parsons to make his return to play (he practiced this week, but I would expect to see him to play after the bye week).

On Special Teams, the Packers did not make any crucial mistakes on Sunday. Trey Smack made all of his kicks, including the 51 yard field goal attempt in the second half. Daniel Whelan punted well, though I wish his last punt went out of bounds instead of rolling into the end zone for a touchback. Most importantly, no kicks or punts were blocked and no scores were given up on kickoff and punt returns. Also, no fumbles occurred for Green Bay, which was a relief. Yes, the Packers won by double digits, but I’m always relieved when no major mistakes are made on Special Teams regardless of the margin of victory. Hopefully they keep this solid ST play consistent from week to week, especially the field goal kicking.

Overall, it was a very satisfying win for the Packers on Sunday on all sides of the football. It wasn’t all perfect, as there were some mistakes made. Still, it was great to see the Packers dominate the proceedings on the road against the Patriots, who are one of my most hated teams ever. Tom Brady had to stand there and witness this butt kicking of his former team, as did Rob Gronkowski, who was added to the Patriots Hall of Fame recently. Anytime the Patriots lose is a good thing, and I’m happy that the Packers won in Foxborough on Sunday. Next up for the Packers is their last game before their bye week, which is a home game at Lambeau Field against the Minnesota Vikings. Hopefully the Packers get the win at home and enter the bye week at 7-3. I’ll be back for the recap of that game next week. In the meantime, I’m celebrating yet another Victory Monday. Have a great day, everyone. Go Pack Go!