“That was a total team victory right there.”
It was a great day at the office for Jordan Love and company. The Packers went on the road and picked up a 45-27 win over the Patriots. Now 6-3, they’re firmly in the mix in the NFC North, with a chance at a divisional win next weekend when they host the Vikings.
It was a four-quarter beatdown. Love was phenomenal, his pair of pass catchers was special, Jonathan Gannon’s defense was elite, and even the special teams did their part. “We got our a–es kicked,” Mike Vrabel said after the game. “There’s no two ways around it.”
Green Bay put its foot on the gas early, intercepting Drake Maye on just the second play of the game. Love quickly made it 7-0 with a 13-yard touchdown run. After a New England punt, he found Matthew Golden for a 5-yard score to extend the lead. With 7:59 still left in the first quarter, the Packers led 14-0. The defense forced three turnovers in the first half, and that was all the offense needed to build a 24-14 halftime lead.
They kept the pressure on coming out of the break, scoring on consecutive possessions and capitalizing on another turnover. The first was a seven-play, 70-yard drive that ended with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Love to Savion Williams. Green Bay followed that with a field goal, then a fumble forced and recovered by Isaiah McDuffie, then a 39-yard touchdown catch by Christian Watson and a two-point conversion made it 42-14. That was the dagger.
It was the complete, complementary performance everyone has been waiting for. There have been glimpses of this team’s potential, but injuries and self-inflicted mistakes have kept it from reaching its ceiling. That was not the case on Sunday. Green Bay’s 45 points are the most the Patriots have ever allowed at Gillette Stadium. It was also the first road win with that many points and 450 or more yards for the Packers.
For the Packers, the mindset hasn’t changed. It was a great team victory, but now their sights shift to Minnesota next Sunday. “The mindset has to be complete focus and preparation on Minnesota,” Love said. “You can’t let one game lull you to sleep; it’s a great performance tonight, but it’s about getting back to work.”
But before we look ahead to Minnesota, let’s dive into some of the key takeaways from yesterday’s win in New England.
Jordan Love now tied for fourth in MVP odds on FanDuel https://t.co/xYHiSfO6kz
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) November 9, 2026
Love Is Making His Case For MVP
“Being able to play with a guy like that is a blessing,” Matthew Golden said.
“Can’t ask for a much better quarterback,” Christian Watson added.
“I feel like saying that he’s balling is an understatement,” Laken Tomlinson echoed. “It’s amazing; I can’t find the words.”
That’s high praise for Jordan Love from his teammates, but the best sentiment came from the crowd, which chanted “MVP! MVP! MVP!” as the Packers exited the field on Sunday evening.
“I would agree with that,” LaFleur said when asked about Love’s performance. “He’s standing in there, he’s taking hits, and he’s still dealing the ball.”
Love put together another MVP-caliber performance on Sunday afternoon, one that should firmly put him in the conversation for one of the NFL’s top awards. He finished 23-of-29 for 372 yards and three touchdowns, and his 153.2 passer rating was the highest of any game in his career. “Man, it’s awesome. It’s definitely a very cool feeling to hear fans chant that,” Love said. “I appreciate all the fans, you know what I mean? We got the best fans, being able to show up and pack this stadium out, and be the last one standing there. So it’s definitely cool. But just got to keep going and really just block everything else out and keep focusing on what I can do as an individual to be able to help our team just keep getting better.”
What made him so great on Sunday? For starters, he was basically perfect against the blitz. Per ESPN Insights, Love went 11-of-11 for 170 yards and a touchdown when facing five or more pass rushers. His deep ball was lethal again, too: 6-of-8 for 235 yards and a touchdown on throws of 20-plus yards downfield. He’s the only quarterback in the league with at least six deep completions in a game this season, and he’s done it twice.
“Keep calling it. Can’t say enough about it. Low percentage throws in theory, but he is making it look high percentage. They are right on the money,” LaFleur said. “I can’t say enough about the play of Jordan Love. Makes my job a hell of a lot easier.”
Asked what it feels like to play that well, Love said, “Flowing. That’s what it feels like. It feels like you’re just in that flow state. Just finding ways to get guys the ball, but it definitely feels like you’re flowing. It’s a great feeling, and you just want to keep chasing every play and keep making big plays. I think I made some good throws, but I think guys are making some pretty cool catches as well.”
Love’s performance solidified his spot in the MVP discussion. He’s playing as well as any quarterback in the league, and arguably doing it with the least help, namely a shaky offensive line and no run game. He leads the league in passing yards and has carried this team to a 6-3 record. If he’s already playing this well and Toyotathon hasn’t even started yet, look out, NFL.
“You guys said you wanted to let him cook,” LaFleur acknowledged. “So we’re letting him cook.”
OH. MY. GOSH. 📺: FOX https://t.co/sIjdR4nvd1
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) November 8, 2026
Smack’s Strong Bounce-Back
“Trey Smack, way to f—ing bounce back!” Matt LaFleur exclaimed in the locker room after the game.
It was a busy afternoon in New England for Trey Smack, and it was a good one. Green Bay’s rookie kicker made all three of his field goal attempts, including a 51-yarder, and went 4-for-4 on his extra points.
“Yeah, it was big time going in there,” LaFleur said about Smack’s performance. “You know, we saw it in practice, quite honestly. I thought Cam did a great job of evaluating everything, and we switched some things up in terms of his approach. He was attacking the football all week in practice, and he was crushing it, so I think that was just a reflection of his practice performance.”
It hasn’t been the smoothest year for Trey Smack. He was 11-for-16 on field goal attempts and 16-for-19 on extra points going into yesterday’s game, with all of his misses coming from under 50 yards. But Sunday was a different story for Smack, providing a much-needed bounce-back performance when the team needed it most.
Watson and Golden Take Over
17 receptions. 335 receiving yards. Two touchdowns.
That’s what Matthew Golden and Christian Watson combined for on Sunday afternoon. Watson had 171 yards on seven catches, and Golden had 164 yards on ten. It was just the fourth time in team history that two players had 150 or more receiving yards each in the same game.
The only thing holding this duo back has been drops. Golden has nine, and Watson has three. But yesterday was a clean day catching the football, and it led to one of the most dominant performances by the duo to date.
Christian Gonzalez is elite. He’s an All-Pro, and he’s the highest-paid cornerback of all time. But Golden and Watson had him in a blender all afternoon. Per PFF, Gonzalez allowed eight receptions for 110 yards to Golden and three for 82 yards to Watson, making him the only defender since at least 2018 to allow more than 80 receiving yards to two different players in the same game.
“They got the best of me today,” Gonzalez said afterward. “[Golden] came out and ran good routes, ran the routes they had in the game plan, and Jordan Love was able to get him the ball. I’ve got to be able to finish and make those plays…I had a bad game.”
It’s impressive what Golden and Watson have been doing, but it’s even more impressive when they aren’t battling a bad case of the drops. Whether it was quick outs to the sideline or deep shots, they found separation and delivered. “Whenever he gets going, I get going; it goes back and forth,” Golden said. “I think when we’re on the same side of the ball, it makes it even better. You gotta pick one. Me and him, we talked about it all offseason. We were gonna come in, do this thing, and take off with it.”
The sky is the limit for this duo. Both are on pace to surpass 1,000 yards easily, and if they keep playing like this, they could also both reach 100 catches and ten touchdowns. “In all honesty, I think we did what we expected us to do,” Watson added. “We’ve got one of the best receiving corps in the league.”
Damn, Evan 📺: FOX https://t.co/OWHe5FIN7K
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) November 8, 2026
The Secondary Shines
Here’s how the first six drives went for New England’s offense: interception, punt, punt, interception, touchdown, interception. Overall, Green Bay’s defense was lights out. And a big reason was the secondary.
Xavier McKinney was the catalyst. On just the second snap from scrimmage, he intercepted a pass and returned it to New England’s 36-yard line. Two plays later, Green Bay led 7-0. Later in the half, McKinney picked off another. He finished with four tackles, two interceptions, and only two catches allowed in coverage, good for a 31.3 passer rating against. It was an all-around performance, and he did it just days after becoming a new dad.
This week’s #LFG Player of the Game has a unique connection to @TomBrady: his mom used to babysit the GOAT! Congratulations to @packers S @evan_williams32! https://t.co/Q5A7gsYGWi
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) November 9, 2026
Evan Williams, fresh off winning NFC Defensive Player of the Month, got in on the fun too. He recorded five tackles and an interception and allowed just one catch, with a 60.4 passer rating against. His interception came early in the second quarter on a pass Brandon Cisse deflected into the air. Cisse broke it up, but Williams was flying over to secure it, double-tapping his right foot to come down with an impressive pick.
Speaking of Cisse, it was a strong day for the rookie corner. After winning NFC Defensive Rookie of the Month last week, he put together one of his most complete performances. After helping create Williams’ interception, he made a very heady play on a hook-and-ladder, recognizing it immediately and holding his outside position to make the tackle on Rhamondre Stevenson. It was not a rookie performance by the rookie, as he made several terrific plays and allowed just one catch all day.
Green Bay’s secondary is significantly improved this season: the corners, the safeties, the coaching staff, every aspect is better. Yesterday was another example. “We’re trying to be [the best safety duo in the NFL],” Williams said. “That’s something we say every day. We’re trying to be the best in the world, the best in the universe, the best in the galaxy.”
Brandon Cisse since Week 4: 53.6% completion rate allowed 5.2 yards per target 0 touchdowns 1 interception 4 PBUs 53.6 passer rating allowed.
— Mark Oldacres (@MarkOldacres) November 9, 2026
The Unsung Hero: Karl Brooks
It’s time for Karl Brooks to get his flowers. The fourth-year defensive lineman has quietly been Green Bay’s best defensive lineman this season, and his performance on Sunday was just another example of that. Brooks recorded two sacks on four pressures while playing the second-most snaps of any defensive lineman. He produced a preliminary PFF grade of 68.5, which was the highest grade in his position group.
Brooks has started all nine games this season. His 380 snaps are the most among all defensive linemen not named Lukas Van Ness. He has the most pressures (13) of all interior defensive linemen and has been stout against the run. He’s not going to jump off the screen or make flash-over-substance highlight plays every snap, but he’s been an unsung hero for this new-and-improved Green Bay defense.
During the offseason, it was reported that Brooks was a sneaky extension candidate. If he keeps playing like this, he’s going to earn himself a well-deserved second contract with the Packers.
A Never-Ending Mystery
It happened. Packers fans got exactly what they were hoping for: Laken Tomlinson moved back to left guard, and Kevin Zeitler made his debut at right guard. It was an exciting moment. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a full-time move.
After a mini-bye to re-evaluate their options, the Packers decided to run it back with the same group: Jordan Morgan, Aaron Banks, John Williams, Laken Tomlinson, and Anthony Belton. Banks started at left guard once again, while Tomlinson, primarily a left guard, started at right guard, even though both looked uncomfortable in those spots against Carolina. It was another head-scratching decision by the coaching staff.
Unsurprisingly, neither looked super comfortable yesterday either. Tomlinson gave up three pressures and a sack, though he was decent as a run blocker. Banks also gave up three pressures and a sack, and he was terrible in the run game. His final PFF grade was 43.4. Yikes.
The coaching staff preaches getting the best five on the field, but it seems pretty clear to everyone except the offensive coaching staff that Banks isn’t one of those five. It’s been ugly in all three games he’s played, and he’s not showing any obvious signs of improvement. Tomlinson, who took over at left guard in Week 4, was actually playing fairly well there. In typical Packers’ fashion, they moved Tomlinson, a lifelong left guard who was playing well at his natural spot, to a new spot instead of giving Zeitler, a lifelong right guard who is supposedly ready to play, an actual shot.
“Well, when we signed him, he was coming off an injury with his knee,” Adam Stenavich explained last week. “So, it was kind of a question mark. It took him a few weeks to get to the point where he’s at right now, where he was kind of working his way back into it. What happened was Laken came in and really did a tremendous job, just coming in and really helping out our team and helping out our offensive line and really, you know, helping us, you know, become productive in a lot of senses. So, it just was one of those things where I thought he was going to come in and play, but Laken stepped up and did a nice job, and it is what it is right now. Would I hesitate to put him in a game? No. I would not. He’s ready to play.”
Zeitler got his first chance with 9:17 left in the second quarter, but it only lasted four plays. Banks returned on the following drive, so the Tomlinson-Zeitler experiment was short-lived. Zeitler did get another opportunity later in the game once the game was decided. PFF gave him a grade of 71.4 across 20 total snaps. That seems like a clear improvement, but going forward, it’s probably safe to assume Green Bay will keep rolling with Aaron Banks, come hell or high water.
Depth Gets Tested…Again
Unfortunately, the only real sour part of yesterday’s performance was injuries — again.
Josh Jacobs fractured his finger when stiff-arming a defender in the first quarter of Sunday’s victory. Jacobs was seen going to the locker room, but later returned to the sideline. He ultimately was unable to return to the game. “He fractured a finger,” LaFleur shared. “Hopefully we can do something to allow him to go out there, but he was just having a hard time gripping the ball.”
With Jacobs sidelined and MarShawn Lloyd inactive due to a knee injury, it was Pierre Strong and Kaleb Johnson who had to carry the load. The two combined to rush 22 times for 90 yards, but that’s thanks to a 34-yard rush Johnson broke late in the fourth quarter. If Jacobs can’t go next weekend, it will be Johnson and Strong leading the way again. “We’re going to see,” Jacobs said. “We don’t really know. I know it’s broken, but I don’t know the extent. It looked nasty. It looks a lot better now than what it did.”
Josh Jacobs got his right hand caught in the defenders face mask. I’m curious if it’s his hand or his fingers. It almost looks like one of his fingers snaps. https://t.co/hngCa0PdG6
— Jeff Mueller, PT, DPT (@jmthrivept) November 8, 2026
The linebacker depth was really tested on Sunday. The Packers entered Sunday with Isaiah McDuffie and Ty'Ron Hopper as their starting linebackers after losing Edgerrin Cooper and Zaire Franklin to injuries earlier this season, but after just two plays, Hopper left the game with a chest injury and never returned. Nick Niemann replaced Hopper, and it was a noticeable difference. Then, late in the game, Isaiah McDuffie was banged up and needed medical attention.
The Packers have five linebackers on the active roster — Franklin, McDuffie, Hopper, Niemann, and Kristian Welch. Both Niemann and Welch are primarily special teams players, and neither one is well-equipped to be a three-down linebacker for the defense. Brian Gutekunst, Matt LaFleur, and Jonathan Gannon will need to get really creative if Franklin, McDuffie, and/or Hopper are forced to miss any more time.
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Carter Semb is a lifelong Packer fan, shareholder, and season ticket holder. He is a contributor for Cheesehead TV and Packers Talk. For commentary surrounding Wisconsin sports, he can be found on X at @cmsemb.