One Week Later, the Packers Finally Find a Way to Finish

What a difference one week makes.

Against Minnesota, the Packers entered the fourth quarter with a lead and completely fell apart.

Against the Jets, Green Bay found itself on the opposite side of the equation.

Down 17–7 in the fourth quarter, the Packers finally showed the kind of response we didn’t see in Week 1.

It wasn’t pretty.

Actually, for most of the afternoon, it was pretty ugly.

But Green Bay found a way to leave New York with a 20–17 overtime victory and, more importantly, avoid an 0–2 start.

This Time, Green Bay Responded

When the Jets stretched their lead to 10 early in the fourth quarter, things weren’t looking good.

Then Jordan Love and the offense finally came alive.

Love connected with Christian Watson for a touchdown to make it 17–14.

After the defense forced a punt, Skyy Moore provided arguably the biggest play of the afternoon with a 63-yard punt return that set up Trey Smack’s game-tying field goal.

The defense then delivered again.

And when overtime arrived, Green Bay didn’t waste its opportunity.

The Packers quickly moved into scoring range before Smack drilled a 26-yard field goal to end it.

One week after collapsing late, Green Bay finally finished.

Lukas Van Ness Stepped Up

One of the most encouraging performances came from Lukas Van Ness.

The former first-round pick finished with nine tackles, 1.5 sacks, three tackles for loss and four quarterback hits.

He also helped make the fourth-down stop late in regulation that gave Green Bay an opportunity to win the game.

Then the Packers defense opened overtime by sacking Geno Smith on consecutive plays.

That’s the kind of defensive response Green Bay needed after what happened in Minnesota.

But the Penalties Are Becoming a Serious Problem

Here’s the part that can’t be ignored.

Fourteen penalties for 133 yards.

That’s after committing 12 penalties for 98 yards against Minnesota.

Two games.

Twenty-six penalties.

231 penalty yards.

Green Bay survived it Sunday.

They aren’t going to survive it every week.

At this point, penalties aren’t just an unfortunate part of the game. They’re becoming a trend Matt LaFleur needs to get under control quickly.

A Win Is a Win

Green Bay finished with only 199 yards of offense.

Love threw for just 145 yards.

The Packers committed 14 penalties and lost several players to injuries.

There is plenty to fix.

But sometimes an NFL season requires winning a game you probably didn’t deserve to win.

Green Bay couldn’t do that in Minnesota.

They did it in New York.

The Packers are 1–1.

Now comes the challenge of cleaning up the mistakes before they finally cost them another game.