GREEN BAY – The Packers defeated the Panthers, 27-19, on Thursday Night Football at Lambeau Field to improve to 5-3 on the season.
Here are five takeaways from the triumph:
1. The Packers overcame sloppy play early and late but built a comfortable lead in between.
Coleman Owen fumbled the opening kickoff. The offense had an ugly three-and-out. Trey Smack missed an extra point. Christian Watson fumbled after a short catch. That all happened in the game's first 17½ minutes.
Then in the fourth quarter, there was an interception and two more three-and-outs (one with multiple penalties) that prevented the game from being put on ice.
The rest of the night was how the Packers would prefer to look, as QB Jordan Love was on his game while building a 27-10 advantage. He wound up 30-of-41 for 288 yards with three TDs, but the one INT knocked his passer rating down from the 130s to 106.6.
"Outside of that play, can't say enough great things about him because he's carrying the burden of everything right now, just dealing the ball and throwing a lot of great passes," Head Coach Matt LaFleur said.
Four different players – Watson, Matthew Golden, Tucker Kraft and Josh Jacobs – had at least six receptions each, with Watson totaling 113 yards and the other three each catching a TD pass.
2. The defense came to play and stopped two big fourth downs.
Carolina drove 65 yards for a touchdown as the first quarter came to a close but finished the first half with just 87 total yards.
QB Bryce Young was sacked six times and intercepted once. WR Jalen Coker's fourth-and-3 reception that ruptured into a 26-yard TD in the fourth quarter was the Panthers' only play longer than 20 yards despite their offense being among the league leaders in explosive plays.
"I just like the aggressive style," LaFleur said of the defense, referring to coordinator Jonathan Gannon as a savant and crediting the unit for "saving the day" when the offense struggled late in the game. "It was just the relentless pressure."
The defense got two fourth-down stops in the second half, both at midfield. The first one came on fourth-and-2 when rookie DT Chris McClellan stuffed RB Chuba Hubbard, and Green Bay's offense capitalized with a TD drive to go up 27-10.
The second one came on fourth-and-5 with just under three minutes left and the Panthers trailing by just eight points. Young was flushed out of the pocket and came up short on a pass over the middle.
3. LB Ty'Ron Hopper was the defensive star.
The third-year pro got the defense's lone interception by deflecting a pass to himself at the line of scrimmage on a third down in the second quarter. The turnover set up a touchdown drive that gave the Packers a 20-10 halftime lead.
Hopper, a 2024 third-round draft pick whose playing time has increased greatly with fellow linebackers Zaire Franklin and Edgerrin Cooper injured, broke up three passes in all while recording a zero-yard sack, two QB hits and eight total tackles.
"What a great performance," LaFleur said, describing Hopper's emergence as "something that we did see coming" in the preseason.
4. Watson was "resurrected" after a round trip in an ambulance.
On the next drive after his early fumble, Watson caught a 53-yard bomb but landed on the ball and was slow to get up. He walked off on his own but was coughing up blood on the sideline, so he was taken to a local hospital in an ambulance for precautionary tests.
Those came back clean, except for a broken rib, and he returned to the game in the second half to finish his 113-yard outing, generating quite the cheer as he re-emerged from the Packers' tunnel.
"I didn't know what was happening," Love admitted. "I see Christian running out and he was just resurrected. To see him come back out and have him finish the game was amazing."
Added LaFleur: "The grit to go back in the game, he had a heck of a night. I can't imagine what (stats) he would've had, had he not missed so much time."
5. The run game is still a major struggle.
Jacobs had a rushing score to go with his receiving TD, but he managed just 39 yards on the ground on 21 carries (1.9 avg). Outside of an 18-yard gain by Savion Williams on a reverse, the running game as a whole produced 48 yards on 25 attempts.
The offensive line took on a new look again, with a healthy Aaron Banks getting inserted at left guard and Laken Tomlinson moving from there to right guard. The pass protection improved, as Love wasn't sacked or hit on 40-plus dropbacks, but the absence of a run game hindered the offense's ability to put the game away.
"We gotta figure it out," LaFleur said of the ground game. "Because it's not good enough."
