GREEN BAY – It's another indication of just how odd this season has been.
In their 27-20 victory at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, the Packers possessed the ball for just 24 minutes, 4 seconds to the Giants' 35:56. That's a time of possession deficit of 11:52, Green Bay's largest such gap of the season. Yet the Packers won.
It's actually the second time this year the Packers have posted a double-digit TOP deficit, meaning at least 10 minutes fewer than the opponent, and still won the game. The other time was in Week 1 vs. Detroit at 10:50 (35:25 to 24:35).
If that seems a little crazy, that's because it is.
Over the previous four seasons (2021-24), the Packers lost the time of possession battle by more than 10 minutes a total of eight times and went 1-7. So they have more wins this year with a double-digit TOP deficit than in the last four years combined.
That lone win in those eight contests came last season, in Week 11 at Chicago, when the Packers' TOP deficit was 12:42 (36:21 to 23:39) and Green Bay won the game on a blocked field goal on the final play.
For those curious, in this five-season span being discussed, the Packers' worst TOP deficits were at home against Detroit in Week 4 of 2023 (15:56), a 34-20 loss, and at Washington in Week 7 of 2022 (14:14), a 23-21 defeat.
How about when the shoe is on the other foot? That is, when the Packers own a TOP advantage of 10-plus minutes. Well, practically speaking, Green Bay doesn't lose.
In the five-year window being looked at here (2021-25), the Packers are 13-0 when owning a double-digit TOP advantage, and they're 19-1 over the entire Matt LaFleur era. The only loss was a 37-8 blowout at San Francisco in LaFleur's first season in 2019, a game that was 23-0 at halftime, so the Packers winding up with a TOP advantage of 10:32 (35:16-24:44) was meaningless.
The largest TOP advantages the Packers have posted under LaFleur? There have been some whoppers.
The biggest was in the 2020 season opener at Minnesota (the first no-fans Covid game) at 22:32 (41:16-18:44) in a 43-34 shootout win. Second largest was just last year, Week 2 against the Colts with Malik Willis starting at QB for an injured Jordan Love. Green Bay's TOP edge was 20:22 (40:11-19:49) in a 16-10 triumph.
