Jordan Love threw three touchdown passes, Josh Jacobs scored on the ground and through the air, and the defense sacked Bryce Young six times as the Green Bay Packers held off the Carolina Panthers 27-19 on Thursday Night Football, October 29, at Lambeau Field.
Green Bay improves to 5-3 and overcame three turnovers of its own, including one on the opening kickoff. Carolina falls to 3-4 after its second straight loss. The Panthers trailed 27-10 in the third quarter and pulled within one score with 5:37 to go, but never got the ball back with a real chance to tie.
A shaky start for Green Bay
The Packers lost the ball before they ran a play. Coleman Owen returned the opening kickoff 19 yards, but Jack Kuwatch knocked it loose and Nick Hampton recovered at the Green Bay 29. Carolina settled for a 39-yard Ryan Fitzgerald field goal after Devonte Wyatt sacked Young on third down, and Green Bay went three-and-out on its first series.
Love steadied things on the next drive. On third-and-8 from the Carolina 12, he hit Tucker Kraft across the middle for a touchdown, but rookie kicker Trey Smack bounced the extra point off the left upright, leaving it 6-3. Carolina answered with a 13-play, 65-yard march: Chuba Hubbard converted a fourth-and-1 at the Green Bay 9 on the last snap of the first quarter and scored from the 1 on the first play of the second for a 10-6 Panthers lead.
Watson, Golden and a second-quarter surge
Christian Watson fumbled on the next Green Bay possession after an 8-yard catch, with Nick Scott forcing it and Bobby Okereke recovering. After a Carolina punt pinned the Packers at their own 10, Watson made up for it with a 53-yard catch that keyed a 90-yard drive. Jacobs finished it with a 1-yard run on third-and-goal, and Green Bay led 13-10 with 6:33 left in the half. It never trailed again.
Watson was hurt on that catch, hitting his chest, and was taken to a hospital for a scan. He came back to the game and later said he had suffered a broken rib. Panthers cornerback Will Lee III hurt his hamstring diving to make the tackle on the same play and was carted to the locker room, which left a secondary already missing three injured-reserve cornerbacks even thinner.
Two snaps into Carolina’s next drive, Ty’Ron Hopper tipped a Young pass intended for Jalen Coker and caught it himself at the Carolina 44. Matthew Golden dropped a potential touchdown in the corner, then caught the next throw, a 24-yarder on third-and-13 in the left corner of the end zone, for a 20-10 lead with 1:46 before halftime.
The stop that changed the second half
Carolina received the second-half kickoff and drove to midfield, but on fourth-and-2 Chris McClellan and Evan Williams stopped Hubbard a yard short. Green Bay took over and went 50 yards in eight plays, and Love flipped a 4-yard touchdown to Jacobs on third-and-1 for a 27-10 lead with 7:30 left in the third. Fitzgerald answered with a 50-yard field goal.
The Packers nearly put the game away early in the fourth quarter, reaching the Carolina 27, but Zakee Wheatley intercepted Love’s deep shot for Golden at the 2 and returned it to the 19. That turnover gave Carolina life. After a pair of punts, Young led a 12-play, 70-yard drive and found Coker for a 26-yard touchdown on fourth-and-3. The two-point pass failed, leaving it 27-19.
Carolina got the ball back at its own 45 after Green Bay lost 15 yards on a botched snap and an intentional grounding penalty, but Young’s fourth-and-5 pass for Tetairoa McMillan fell incomplete at midfield with 2:41 left. The Panthers’ last chance started at their 20 with 22 seconds and no timeouts; Dani Dennis-Sutton sacked Young, and the final play ended with a lateral that Brenton Cox Jr. recovered. Scott Novak’s crew called 11 penalties in the game, and the officiating is covered separately.
The numbers
- Jordan Love: 30 of 41 for 288 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. He was not sacked.
- Packers receivers: Christian Watson caught eight passes for 113 yards, Matthew Golden seven for 79 and a touchdown, and Tucker Kraft six for 53 and a touchdown. Josh Jacobs added six catches for 13 yards and a score.
- Josh Jacobs: 21 carries for 39 yards and a touchdown. Green Bay ran 26 times for only 66 yards but went 3 for 3 in the red zone.
- Bryce Young: 23 of 41 for 209 yards, one touchdown and one interception; sacked six times for 33 yards.
- Chuba Hubbard: 22 carries for 81 yards and a touchdown, plus seven catches for 38 yards. Tetairoa McMillan led Carolina with six catches for 58 yards on 11 targets.
- Packers defense: six sacks from six players (Devonte Wyatt, Brenton Cox Jr., Ty’Ron Hopper, Lukas Van Ness, Barryn Sorrell and Dani Dennis-Sutton). Hopper also had the interception and three passes defensed; Evan Williams and Isaiah McDuffie had 10 tackles each.
- Third and fourth downs: Green Bay converted 9 of 16 third downs; Carolina went 5 for 18 on third down and 2 for 4 on fourth.
- Turnovers: Green Bay 3, Carolina 2. The Panthers turned the opening fumble into three points and nothing else.
Green Bay outgained Carolina 354-258 and held the ball for 31:03. The Panthers averaged 3.7 yards per play, and it was the fifth straight opponent the Packers have held to 20 points or fewer.
What they said
“Late in the game, it wasn’t good enough,” Love said. “We weren’t able to finish the way we wanted. That’s something we’ve got to improve on, clean up as an offense and be better there.” Linebacker Isaiah McDuffie was more upbeat about the other side of the ball: “I said at the beginning of the year, and I still feel this way: I think the sky is the limit for this defense.”
Watson described his night as surreal. “I felt like I was watching ‘WWE Smackdown vs. Raw’ or something, seeing the cameras on me when I was coming out of the ambulance,” he said. Dave Canales praised his team’s response: “Love the fight in the group. Didn’t expect anything less. The guys kept battling all the way through, gave us some opportunities at the end.”
Before the second quarter, several Milwaukee Brewers, a night after winning the first World Series in franchise history, brought the Commissioner’s Trophy onto the field, and a few tried a Lambeau Leap. At halftime the Packers added former president and CEO Bob Harlan’s name to the stadium facade.
What comes next
Both teams get a long break before Week 9. Carolina hosts the Denver Broncos on Sunday, November 8, and Green Bay visits the New England Patriots the same day.
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