That felt good.
Heading into the season, you would’ve been happy with the Green Bay Packers winning one of these first two games. They were in a tough spot, playing two formidable opponents in five days to start the season.
However, both of these games were at home, and after the dominant Week 1 performance, I wanted to see the team continue the momentum and build on the success — and they did.The Packers were dominant from start to finish against a really good team with Super Bowl aspirations. However, this game was much closer than it should’ve been.
This team has been so damn dominant but wait till they play complete game. pic.twitter.com/fToVlqApMe
— John Kuhn (@kuhnj30) September 12, 2025
I am not a huge fan of Thursday night games, and I am especially not a fan of early-season Thursday night games. It’s early-season slop on top of short-week slop. However, this was a highlyanticipated matchup between two outstanding teams, coming off dominant Week 1 performances, with two extremely exciting quarterbacks. Still, that didn’t stop this from being a sloppy affair.
My keys to this game were which offensive line could hold up better. Green Bay’s line was beat up, with Aaron Banks and Zach Tom sustaining injuries that would hold them out this week. Meanwhile, despite a victory last week, Washington showed someweaknesses along the line against a strong New York Giants defensive front.
We saw that manifest for both teams. To many people’ssurprise, Anthony Belton was the starting right tackle for Green Bay after Darian Kinnard was the first one off the bench in last week’s game when Tom got injured.
However, Belton and Kinnard ended up rotating throughout parts of the game. I’m happy Belton got some game reps in a situation that didn’t cost them. Still, the offense felt muchmore functional when Kinnard was out there in the first half. However, Belton settled in and ended with a solid performance.
Packers' right tackles tonight:
Darian Kinnard – 17 snaps (8 in pass block): 0 pressures, 0 penalties
Anthony Belton – 51 snaps (28 in pass block): 0 pressures, 1 penalty.
Not bad.
— Wendell Ferreira (@wendellfp) September 12, 2025
Washington couldn’t block anything. The Packers’ front was gettingconsistent pressure andconsistent push all game. Green Bay’s defense had four sacks, 12 QB hits, and held the Commanders to just 19 carries for 52 yards. Micah Parsons ended with eight pressures.
Green Bay’s offense was able to move the ball consistently, but the defense is really what won this game. Washington had no answers for the Packers D.
Let’s get into some other takeaways.
The offense moved the ball but left too many points on the field
Green Bay completely dominated the first half. However, a hot start on the first drive was stalled by mistakes. After first downs to get the ball into Washington’s side of the field, the drive stalled. Josh Jacobs false-started, Belton held on a beautiful touchdown pass to Jayden Reed, and Kingsley Enagbare had a premature substitution. Finally, Love underthrew a would-be touchdown to Golden on fourth down.
Later, Green Bay was driving up 14-3 with a chance to go up three scores. They crossed midfield on a first-down run by Jacobs, but a questionable hold brought the play back. That led to a punt, giving Washington a chance to score before half after a great return.
Green Bay’s defense held strong and forced them into a long field goal that missed. That gave Jordan Love and the offense another chance to go up three scores before half. They executed perfectly, setting up a 48-yard attempt, but McManus hit the post.
The game should’ve been nearly over by then. Instead, in a game that Green Bay had completely dominated, Washington had to have felt good going into halftime down just 11 points and getting the ball to start the second half.
In the second half, the Packers had another great drive stall inside the 10. Luckily, their defense kept getting stops, and the offense finished enough of their drives to make this game mostly stress-free.
Doubs, Golden and Wicks combined for 284 air yards and only 72 receiving yards. There was also a deep TD catch by Jayden Reed (the play he got injured) called back.
It's crazy to think that the Packers left that much opportunity on the field and the offense was still very good.…
— Timo Riske (@PFF_Moo) September 12, 2025
Special teams
It’sstill a problem. Green Bay gave up multiple big returns, both on punt and kick coverage. Had multiple penalties. Brandon McManus missed a makeable field goal (though he bounced back later with a 56-yarder), and Daniel Whelan had a punt go into the end zone with the chance to pin the Commanders deep.
Injuries continue to mount for the offense
Despite a training camp marred by a foot injury, Jayden Reed came into the season looking healthy. Unfortunately, he suffered abroken collarbone on an awesome throw and catch that was negated by a penalty. He isexpected to miss six to eight weeks. Fortunately, the offense didn’t miss a beat after he left the game, and at least now he has time to rest the foot.
Game balls
Matt’s
Full team effort pic.twitter.com/DWKvAua5Jr
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) September 12, 2025
Keisean Nixon
Keisean Nixon wasabsolutely outstanding last night. Finishing with five pass breakups, that is more than anyone had all of last season. Now, most of those were against Noah Brown and Jaylin Lane, but they came in huge moments when the Packers needed them. It was a true CB1performance.
Keisean Nixon had one of the best single-game performances I've ever seen from a CB pic.twitter.com/fiRchUMhsk
— Eli Berkovits (@BookOfEli_NFL) September 12, 2025
Tucker Kraft
I can’t say enough about this guy, I love him. He’s the offense’s No. 1 option until further notice. He finished the game with six catches for 124 yards and a touchdown. It should’ve been much less, but he refuses to be tackled.
Kraft even left the game, seemingly due to cramps, but came back and continued to dominate. He did all that, and all he cares about is gettingback to practice on Monday.
Prayers to everyone who benched Tucker Kraft tonight 😭 pic.twitter.com/146Tql12oE
— Sleeper (@SleeperHQ) September 12, 2025
My bonus two
Jordan Love
Love has stacked two games in a row where he made defenses look like Swiss cheese. His final stat line, 19 of 31 for 293 yards and two touchdowns, could’ve looked even better if he connected with Matthew Golden on just one of the two deep shots where he was wide open.
However, I’m not going to complain about Love’s performance. He was awesome.
Obviously didn't count but this angle of Jordan Love's deep ball to Jayden Reed.. pic.twitter.com/0aLTosbEga
— Football Digest (@FoootballDigest) September 12, 2025
Devonte Wyatt
I can’t write a story about this game without mentioning Wyatt. He had just one sack on the stat sheet, but it felt like more. Wyatt was consistently getting a push in the middle of the line and ended with a career-high six pressures, nearly had two interceptions, and attempted a third.
Devonte Wyatt tried to intercept the spike 😅 pic.twitter.com/z5FTSk41eq
— NFL (@NFL) September 12, 2025
He and Lukas Van Ness appear to have taken the leaps we had hoped for.
Play of the Game
MALIK HEATH??!
Malik Heath keeps the toes in. What a grab 🙌
📺: WASvsGB on @ESPNAusNZ @7Sport @NFLonDAZN pic.twitter.com/ehlJiOe9p4
— NFL Australia & NZ (@NFLAUNZ) September 12, 2025
This play was so unbelievable that it wasn’t called a catch at first. I still can’t believe that Heath caught it. The throw was only where he could catch it, the ball tracking was outstanding, and the footwork was unreal.
Jordan Love's 37-yard pass to Malik Heath had a completion probability of 7.9%, the third-most improbable completion in the NFL since 2018.
🔸 Air Distance: 51.2 yards
🔸 Target Separation: 1.5 yards
🔸 Sideline Distance: -0.3 yards
Powered by @awscloud pic.twitter.com/pBxN4MFdGe
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 12, 2025
Honorable Mention
Jordan Love
Jordan, it was awesome to see you channel your inner Marshawn Lynch, but please never do this again.
Jordan Love running through a MFers face 😤😤pic.twitter.com/U0IWa3XNnT
— Packerfan Total Access- Clayton (@packers_access) September 12, 2025
You couldn’t have asked for a much better start to the season for the Packers. Everything seems to be gelling at the same time, and the players we hoped could make a leap are making that leap. The schedule lightens up these coming weeks, but they can’t lose focus and need to continue stacking wins.