Sunday’s victory in Arizona wasn’t exactly pretty, but a win is a win. The Cardinals have been competitive in all seven of their games this year, but they’ve had their share of misfortune. They have lost their last five games by a combined 13 points. They played Sunday’s game without their franchise quarterback (Kyler Murray) and their three top running backs (James Conner, Trey Benson, Emari Demercado). They were also missing their 2025 first round pick (Walter Nolen III). Despite all of these injuries and misfortunes, the 2-5 Cardinals outplayed the Packers in many facets.
That said, the Packers aren’t going to apologize for finding a way to win. “Here's the deal. This ain't never easy in this league. I mean, you watch across the league every week, da– near all these games are going down in the end,” said head coach Matt LaFleur. “But the bottom line is this. We did enough to win the game. Are we satisfied? No. There's a lot of stuff out there where we can get better at.”
The Packers victory in Arizona offered plenty to dissect, but there was one aspect of the game that kept resurfacing in the worst ways - third down. Prior to Sunday’s game, the Packers thrived on third-down, both offensively and defensively. The Green Bay offense had the NFL’s best third-down conversion rate, and the Green Bay defense had the sixth-best third-down conversion rate. Sunday was a different story. The Packers struggled on third-down on both sides of the ball. The offense stalled out too many times, and the defense couldn’t seem to get off the field.
Whether it be play-calling or execution, the Packers weren’t good enough on third down, and it almost cost them the game. This week’s edition of “Monday Musings” examines all of the third-down opportunities for both Green Bay’s offense and defense - the good and the bad. There were times where the execution on third-down was downright pathetic. Other times, the Packers stepped up. Unfortunately, it felt like it was more of the former than the latter. Let’s dive in to the good, the bad, and the ugly on third-down for the Green Bay Packers.
I sort of tried to get LaFleur to talk about Parsons' performance but it was clear how non-plussed he was about third down defense... pic.twitter.com/zQU4xSkFwg
— Ross Uglem (@RossUglem) October 20, 2025
Hypothetically speaking, the offense didn’t do much living on third down - it was mostly dying. The Packers ended up punting three times and going for it on fourth-down twice. That doesn’t seem awful on paper, but the Packers were only able to convert three times on third down. It put the offense in some disadvantageous situations. There were a few times the play call could have been better. There were others where poor execution by one player killed the entire play. Here’s how things went for the offense on third-down.
Green Bay’s first drive of the game didn’t go exactly how it was scripted. The Packers converted their first third-down opportunity by completing a ten yard pass to Matthew Golden. The next opportunity came on third-and-short. The Packers failed to convert after Emmanuel Wilson was tackled for a one yard loss. With Josh Jacobs on a pitch count, it was a head-scratching play call. Fortunately, Matthew Golden caught another pass on fourth-down to extend the drive. A few plays later, the Packers were faced with another third-and-short opportunity. The Packers decided to give it to Wilson again, and it was the same result - a one yard loss. This play call was even more confusing than the last. The drive ended up stalling out after the Packers failed to convert on fourth down. It was a turnover on downs, and no points for the Packers offense.
On the Packers’ next possession, they moved the ball pretty well, and they did so without facing any third-down situations. Jordan Love and the offense got the ball all the way down to the Arizona 13 yard line. But as soon as they faced a third down attempt, they failed. Jordan Love tried to complete an out to Dontayvion Wicks near the goal line. The play call was fine, but the two were unable to connect. The Packers had to settle for a field goal. The Packers ended up scoring three points, but a once-promising drive was killed after struggling to execute on third-down.
Green Bay got the ball back again with about five minutes left in the second quarter. After a short run and a pass play for negative yards, Love was facing third-and-six. Love ended up being sacked for an 11-yard loss. They were forced to punt after three plays. It was the first three-and-out for the offense, and they gave the Cardinals the ball back with about three minutes left in the first half. The Cardinals ended up scoring a touchdown right before the half to go up 13-3. Not exactly the “complimentary football” that Matt LaFleur was looking for.
A FRANCHISE RECORD 61 YARDER
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/tDbTMWsAKw
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) October 19, 2025
The Packers grabbed some momentum heading into the half after Lucas Havrisik hit a 61-yard field goal as time expired, but that momentum dissipated quickly. The Packers’ offense started the second half by going three-and-out again. A short run followed by a short gave Love a third-and-three opportunity, but Love threw incomplete intended for his tight end Tucker Kraft. The Packers were forced to punt, and the drive ended after just one minute and 41 seconds. The momentum was gone.
The defense grabbed the momentum back by forcing a turnover, and the offense rode that momentum by scoring their first touchdown of the day. One key aspect of this drive: they didn’t have any third-down opportunities. Three straight completions by Love and a rush by Jacobs tied the game back up. Green Bay’s next third down opportunity came during their first drive of the fourth quarter. Love was facing a third-and-three, but this time he completed a pass for 22 yards to Kraft that kept the drive going. This conversion extended the drive, and the Packers ended up scoring a touchdown several plays later.
With the Packers down 23-20, Green Bay got the ball back with about nine minutes left in the fourth quarter. An incompletion by Love and a short pass to Romeo Doubs set up a third-and-six. The offense failed to convert after a pass intended for Kraft fell incomplete. The Packers were forced to punt, and went three-and-out for the third time. Despite trailing by three, the Packers’ offense gave the ball back to Arizona with about eight minutes left in the game. If Green Bay had been facing a really good opposing offense, they might not have gotten the ball back.
Fortunately, the Packers did get the ball back with 5:51 remaining and still only behind by three points. It only took two plays and the Packers were facing yet another third down attempt. It was third-and-seven, but this time, Love found Kraft for an eight yard catch to move the sticks. A few plays later, it was third-and-one for Green Bay’s offense. The Packers only needed one yard, so they decided to hand the ball off to Josh Jacobs and try to stretch it to the edge, but Jacobs was tackled for a one-yard loss. It was another play call on third-and-short that was really puzzling. The Packers ended up converting on fourth-down to salvage the drive, which eventually led to Josh Jacobs running one in for his second touchdown of the day. The Packers were able to find a way, but third-and-short is where they needed to convert. This drive could have ended much differently if not for Kraft’s big-time catch on fourth-down.
Heading into Sunday’s game in Arizona, ESPN had the Packers’ offense with the best third-down conversion rate in the league at 52.3%. They had converted 34 of 65 attempts. Against Arizona, Green Bay’s offense only converted three of their ten third-down opportunities (30%). They went three-and-out three times. Fortunately, they were able to convert two of their three attempts on fourth-down (66.7%), one of which led to the touchdown to put the Packers in front. Green Bay’s offense spent too much time on third-down against Arizona. It wasn’t the Packers’ ability to convert on third-down that won them the game; it was their ability to convert on fourth-down, and it almost came back to bite them in the butt.
Packers entered this week first in the NFL in third-down conversion rate at 52.3%, per TruMedia.
They're 1-of-5 on third down today.
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) October 19, 2025
Green Bay’s defense had it’s share of ups and downs. It wasn’t all bad. Micah Parsons and the defense combined for six sacks and nine tackles for loss. Rashan Gary forced a fumble, leading to the third turnover of the year for the defense. They also stopped the Cardinals twice on fourth-down. But it wasn’t all good either. Green Bay’s defense gave up points on five of their first seven drives and only forced one punt. It was a mixed bag of results, but ultimately, Jeff Hafley’s squad got the job done when it mattered the most.
Arizona’s first drive was the definition of “bend but don’t break.” Green Bay’s defense forced four third-down situations. The Cardinals converted the first two third-down attempts to keep the drive going. On the third third-down attempt, the Packers were able to stop Trey McBride short of the first-down marker, but a roughing the passer penalty on Quay Walker extended the drive. The Cardinals kept moving the ball all the way down to Green Bay’s eight-yard line, but Micah Parsons’ first sack of the day on third-and-goal forced the Cardinals to kept a field goal. The Cardinals converted three of their four third-down opportunities on that drive alone, but the Packers only gave up three points.
The second drive for the defense was better. After giving up runs for eight and eleven yards, the defense buckled down. Green Bay was able to force a third-and-ten attempt, and Keisean Nixon knocked away a pass intended for Marvin Harrison Jr. forcing the Cardinals to punt. The Packers stepped up on third down. It wasn’t a three-and-out, but it did lead to the Packers scoring three points of their own. It was also the only punt the that Packers were able to force all day. Arizona moved the ball well on their third drive. They got the ball all the way down to the Green Bay 22-yard line before Green Bay was able to force a third-and-five opportunity. The Packers’ defense executed on this third-down opportunity and forced an incomplete pass. The Cardinals ultimately still put three points on the board, but it was still a small victory based on how the Cardinals were moving the ball throughout that drive. This was back-to-back drives where Green Bay’s defense allowed them to get off the field.
The Cardinals got one more possession before halftime. A Green Bay punt gave them the ball with about 3:04 on the clock. An offensive holding, a five-yard pass, and a sack forced a third-and-23 attempt for the Cardinals. The Packers found themselves in an excellent spot. There was 2:00 on the clock and the Packers still had two timeouts remaining. All they had to do was not allow a 23 yard play. Green Bay had a prime opportunity to get the ball back with about 1:54 left on the clock and a time out. Instead, Barryn Sorrell jumped offsides, giving the Cardinals a free play. That didn’t even matter, though, because the on the same play, the Packers gave up a 43-yard completion to Zay Jones.
Later that drive, the Cardinals were faced with a third-and-four attempt. Brissett was able to complete a pass to Michael Wilson for 14 yards to covert. A few plays later, the Packers forced another third-and-nine situation. Once again, they jumped offsides and gave the Cardinals another free play. Now it was third-and-four, and this time Brissett completed a pass to Trey McBride for an easy touchdown. The worst case scenario before halftime came to fruition.
Arizona’s first possession after halftime ended up working out well for the Packers despite another blip on third down. On third-and-five, Evan Williams was called for defensive pass interference penalty while covering Harrison Jr. to extend the drive. Fortunately, that third-down conversion was nullified because Rashan Gary was able to sack Jacoby Brissett on the next play and force a fumble, which Green Bay recovered. The Packers failed on third-down, but turnovers can cover up a lot.
The following possession for Green Bay’s defense was less than ideal. They held Arizona to a third-and-14 opportunity, but Brissett found Harrison Jr. again for 35 yards to extend the drive. Nate Hobbs was nowhere to be found in coverage, and it was a far too easy of a conversion for the Cardinal’s beat up offense. The Cardinals then ended up scoring a touchdown a few plays later to make the game 20-13.
With the score tied at 20-20, Arizona got the ball back again. The Cardinals moved the ball down the field all the way to the Green Bay 13-yard line before Green Bay forced a third-down situation. On third-and-two, Brissett completed a pass for five yards down to the Green Bay 8-yard line. On second-and-goal, a quick pressure by Micah Parsons forced an incompletion, setting up third-and-goal. This time, Parsons was able to get to Brissett for a sack and a loss of 11 yards. It took heroic plays by Parsons to sack to hold the the Cardinals to a field goal and keep them from scoring another touchdown.
Green Bay’s defense buckled down again when it really matter. Arizona got the ball back with about eight minutes left in the fourth quarter and a 23-20 lead. The Cardinals were able to convert one first down, but Green Bay was able to force Arizona to a third-and-nine attempt. Brissett completed a pass to Michael Wilson, but Edgerrin Cooper pushed him out of bounds prior to the first down marker. Arizona decided to go for it on fourth-and-one by sneaking it with Brissett, but the Packers held strong again. It was a turnover on downs, which gave the Packers the ball back at midfield and set up the game-winning touchdown drive.
Green Bay’s offense did their job by scoring a touchdown to take a 27-23 lead, which put the pressure back on the defense. Arizona had 1:50 left on the clock and two timeouts to try and score a touchdown. They moved the ball quickly down the field. Green Bay bent, but they didn’t break. Parsons’ third sack set up a second-and-nineteen opportunity. Arizona got about half of it back on second down, but they were still facing third-and-long. The Packers forced back-to-back incompletions on third- and fourth-down to end the game.
Green Bay spent much of the day using a “bend but don’t break” approach. The Cardinals moved the ball throughout the game. They out-gained the Packers in yards (330 to 262). The Cardinals did that despite not having their starting quarterback or their top three running backs. The Cardinals also converted seven of their fourteen third-down attempts (50%). Prior to Sunday’s matchup, Green Bay was only allowing opponents to convert 34.3% of the time. The defense showed up when it really mattered, but it wasn’t pretty.
3 SACKS FOR PARSONS
📺: FOXpic.twitter.com/eM8dRSnjdn
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) October 19, 2025
Both the Packers’ offense and defense have been amongst the league's best when it comes to third-down performance, but Sunday’s game against Arizona left a lot to be desired. They still found a way to make enough plays when the game was on the line despite the Packers not executing well on third-down. Luckily for the Packers, their stars, Jordan Love or Micah Parsons, showed up big in the brightest moments to seal the game.
It’s hard to complain when the offense scores 27 points because that point total will win a lot of games. But the Packers still left a lot out here. If the Packers would’ve avoided the three-and-outs, they would’ve scored even more. They also shouldn’t be relying on fourth-down conversions to keep drives moving. They’re going to need to make these possessions count against some of the better teams. It’s important to sustain drives, put points on the board, and control the time of possession. Going three-and-out isn’t the recipe for these things to happen.
Defensively, six sacks and a turnover would seem like a good day overall. But a beaten up Cardinals team moved the ball far too easily against Green Bay’s defense. The defense was unable to get off the field during some crucial situations, and it allowed Arizona to maintain a lead for much of the game. The Cardinals also held a higher time of possession throughout. There are a lot of ways the game could’ve ended differently for the defense. If not for a timely turnover and Micah Parsons’ key sacks, the defense would have really struggle to keep points off the board.
Let’s face it - the Packers are going to see their share of third-down opportunities, both offensively and defensively. In order to keep finding ways to win, the Packers will need to get back to executing on third-down. “It's the same stuff we emphasize all the time is just trying to stay on schedule and being in those third down and manageables or stay out of third down altogether,” head coach Matt LaFleur said last week. “That's always my favorite when we can have a drive where that doesn't have any third downs.”