After a month marred by disconnected offensive football, the Green Bay Packers’ offense finally put together a consistent performance Monday night versus the Philadelphia Eagles. The offense consistently committed critical penalties; receivers consistently dropped passes in key moments; and the line consistently folded in an embarrassing prime time loss, 10-7.
“I’ve said this many times, if you hold good football teams to 10 points, you should win the football game,” coach Matt LaFleur said via packers.com. “Obviously we didn’t do enough offensively . . . When we got into those critical moments (third down and fourth down), we just malfunctioned.”
Jordan Love took a sack on Green Bay’s opening drive to knock the Packers out of field goal range. The next Packer drive ended when Aaron Banks committed a false start on fourth and short. Love took another sack two drives later, only this time he compounded the mistake with a fumble inside Philadelphia’s 30.
All of that ineptitude was only in the first half.
Bo Melton – the former receiver that is now a corner playing part-time receiver – ended Green Bay’s opening drive of the second half with a drop on fourth-and-9. Romeo Doubs preceded the play with a diving try, just to have the ball go off his fingertips. No other receivers were activated for the game despite Matthew Golden being ruled out with a shoulder injury, and Christian Watson still on a snap count returning from his knee injury. Watson was not on the field for the fourth-down attempt.
Melton effectively ended the next Packer possession when he lined up on the line of scrimmage, covering up a sixth offensive lineman that had reported eligible. The mental error negated a 22-yard completion to Christian Watson inside the Eagle 15.
“They’re waiting for you to mess up and unfortunately we messed up way too many times,” LaFleur said.
The Eagle offense messed up plenty as well, thanks to an incredible effort from the Packer defenders. However, Philadelphia’s star power shined bright on the next drive with a quick knockout blow.
Ahead 3-0, Jalen Hurts was under pressure on a third-and-7 from his own 23 when he found his All-Pro running back, Saquon Barkley, sneaking out to the left flat. Barkley gathered the swing pass and seemingly had all of the slick Lambeau Field grass to navigate in a one-on-one tackle attempt from Carrington Valentine. Valentine closed the distance quickly, but the Madden cover athlete hit the circle button with a blurred spin move to leave Valentine behind. Barkley sprinted down the sideline for 41 yards, and on the very next play, Hurts connected with a leaping DeVonta Smith for a 10-0 lead with 4:46 remaining.
“We’ve wasted championship-level defensive performances and haven’t been able to score enough points,” LaFleur said.
Hurts finished 15-of-26 for 126 yards and the touchdown. Barkley was held to a mere 60 yards on 22 carries, but had 41 yards on three catches.
Green Bay responded with its only score. Love led an 11-play, 75-yard march down the field as Philadelphia prevented the quick strike. Josh Jacobs pushed his way into the end zone from six yards out with 5:49 remaining, 10-7.
Jacobs ended with 74 yards on 21 carries, and another 33 yards on five catches. Love was 20-of-36 passing for 176 yards.
The defense delivered once more and gave the offense the ball back on its own 10 with 2:18 remaining and two timeouts. Love and the offense appeared poised for a season-defining drive – they may have provided it.
An impressive throw and catch to Watson over the intermediate middle moved the offense out of the goal-post shadow and into the two-minute warning. On the first play out of the break with a new set of downs, Jacobs leaked up the middle and in position to take a short dump off across midfield. Instead, he turned inside to receive the pass when Love led him away from the defense and towards an ocean of green grass. The ball fell harmlessly incomplete, second down.
Next, Love fired a pinpoint pass to Dontayvion Wicks at the sticks. Love placed the ball high and away from the defender as Wicks leapt for the catch. However, Wicks – who made clutch catches in the game up to this point – dropped the ball.
A third-down completion to Luke Musgrave set up a decisive fourth-and-1 on the Green Bay 44. Love called the play in the two-minute offense and aligned in shotgun with Jacobs to his right. The broadcast’s field microphones picked up Eagle tackle Moro Ojomo yelling “Inside zone this way!” which is exactly what Green Bay ran. He split a double team on the playside while his All-Pro running mate, Jalen Carter, bullied Packer guard Jordan Morgan three yards into the backfield. Jacobs was dumped for a four-yard loss and fumble.
Poor clock management actually allowed the Packers one more sliver of hope, but a 64-yard Brandon McManus field-goal attempt hooked wildly offline and short.
Xavier McKinney and Evan Williams paced Green Bay with seven tackles each. Williams had a particularly noticeable game, filling multiple alleys to tackle Barkley. Smith did beat him for the leaping touchdown grab.
Linebackers Isaiah McDuffie, Quay Walker, and Edgerrin Cooper each had six tackles. Cooper forced a fumble with a punchout on Philadelphia’s opening drive to prevent a score.
Other Notes
Elgton Jenkins was carted off the field in the first half with an ankle injury. As Love was being sacked, he rolled up the lower part of Jenkins’ left leg. ESPN’s Rob Demovsky reported that X-rays indicate a fracture.
Sean Rhyan replaced Jenkins at center.
Even with Jenkins out, Green Bay continued to sparingly use its jumbo package with Darrian Kinnard as the sixth offensive lineman.
The Packers are now third in the NFC North, and seventh in the conference.