The Green Bay Packers defense did its best to give the game away, but a 33-point performance by Jordan Love and the offense and another game-winning drive kept the Packers playoff hopes alive on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers.
Whether good, bad, or ugly, here are my instant takeaways from the Packers’ performance.
— This felt like an Aaron Jones game and it very much was. The Packers were short-handed at receiver, Jones was a full-go off the injury report, and the Panthers run defense ranked 31st by DVOA. Jones finished the game with over 125 rushing yards at over 6.0 yards per carry. He became the first Packers skill position player this season to surpass 100 yards.
— Facing statistically one of the worst offenses in football, this defensive performance by the Packers may be worse than what we saw the last two weeks. Bryce Young came into the game averaging just 5.5 yards per pass but averaged nearly 8.0 yards today. The Panthers also hadn’t scored more than 15 points in eight weeks and posted their first 30-point game of the season. Young came into this week with only four games of 200-plus passing yards, today he surpassed 300. I could go on and on and on.
— The Packers did contain Chuba Hubbard, holding him to under 3.0 yards per rush. He had totaled nearly 300 rushing yards over the last three games. When the Packers did generate pressure, Young was mostly disrupted by it, but as the game went on, he settled in quite well and once again, very few passes were contested.
— There is really no faith in this Packers’ defense right now. I have no words for those final 19 seconds. As I said last week, the longer performances like this are allowed the more it reflects negatively on Matt LaFleur, who at the end of the day, is the one in-charge.
— The numbers for Jordan Love aren’t going to leap off the page but it was another all-around sound performance by him, especially without his top pass catchers. There were a few instances where he rushed the throw and was inaccurate, but for the most part, he was in control, accurate, went through his progressions, and handled any pressure well. The fact that today’s performance has become somewhat ho-hum for him shows the immense amount of growth he has had.
— This is now the third time in the last six games that Love has led a drive to give the Packers the lead with fewer than two minutes left in the game.
— Shorthanded at receiver with Christian Watson and Jayden Reed ruled out before the game and Dontayvion Wicks leaving during it, Tucker Kraft and Bo Melton were two key factors in the passing game. Melton has emerged as a target for Love the last two weeks, in part because of injuries, but he’s really progressed and begun to stand out in practice.
— When needed, Romeo Doubs came up with some big plays as the “veteran” of the pass-catcher group today.
— Green Bay added two more special teams penalties to their league high total. Anders Carlson would miss another extra point as well. With that said, while we never quite know what to expect from Carlson, he knows how to bounce back and has done that consistently all season long.
— Looked like Anthony Johnson had a rough go of it starting at safety. A few missed tackles and looked to be out of position. Darnell Savage has had his ups and downs but I think where the defense is missing him the most is with his pre-snap communication.
— I’ll be curious to see the snap counts, but looked like Sean Rhyan again played a larger role at right guard. Last week, the two had nearly a 50/50 split of snaps, whereas previously, the rotation was still taking place but Runyan dominated the playing time.
— Green Bay entered the game having converted just four of their last 10 red zone attempts into touchdowns, but the Panthers provided a get-right opportunity for them. Opponents had scored on a league-high 71 percent of their red zone trips against Carolina this season and Green Bay went 3-for-3.
— The good news for the Packers playoff hopes is that they won – duh – and the Vikings lost. However, Atlanta and Seattle won as well. According to the New York Times playoff predictor, Green Bay’s playoff odds sit at 30 percent.