Good, bad and ugly coming out of Packers' Week 8 win over Panthers - Packers Wire
The Green Bay Packers are 5-3 after beating the Carolina Panthers by a 27-19 final score on "Thursday Night Football" from Lambeau Field. There were bumps along the way, especially early and late, but the Packers got three touchdown passes from Jordan Love and six sacks from Jonathan Gannon's defense to power what ended up being a winning performance.
Jordan Love during the first three quarters, the adversity defense, and the pass-rush: Love was on fire for the first 45 minutes, completing 26 of his first 33 passes for 262 yards and three scores. He threw a pick early in the fourth quarter, starting a disappointing finish for the offense overall, but the Packers quarterback was terrific for most of the contest, playing on time from the pocket and consistently finding completions. Jonathan Gannon's defense was dominant at times, allowing only three points off three Packers turnovers, and the only three points came after the fumbled opening kickoff that gave the Panthers the ball in field goal range. It took a few crazy conversions for the Panthers to score a touchdown in the second half. The Packers were dominant up front, sacking Bryce Young six times and consistently disrupting the pocket.
The start, and most of the finish: How did the Packers open the game? By fumbling away the opening kickoff, dropping three first-quarter passes and committing a pre-snap penalty. The turnover spotted the Panthers three early points. To Green Bay's credit, the first quarter ended with the Packers leading. During most of the second and third quarters, the Packers were in complete control, leading 20-10 at the half and 27-13 with a chance to dagger the Panthers to start the fourth quarter. But Jordan Love threw a pick on the second play of the fourth, turning the game sharply, and the Panthers eventually scored on a 70-yard drive and had the ball down one score with a chance to tie the game. What should have been a comfortable, two- or three-score win ended up being a nail biter because the Packers made costly mistakes and couldn't run the ball. One more bad: Trey Smack missed an extra point, so the kicking worries continue to linger. The lost point mattered because it kept the Panthers within one score in the fourth quarter.
The run game. The Packers returned Aaron Banks to the lineup at left guard, and Josh Jacobs got a full workload against the NFL's worst run defense entering Week 8, but it wasn't nearly enough to awaken Green Bay's dormant run game. Jacobs turned 21 rushes into only 39 yards, and 18 of the Packers' 66 rushing yards came on a well-executed Savion Williams gadget play. The 25 designed runs to running backs gained all of 48 yards. Jacobs didn't have a run longer than six yards. It's possible the Packers run game just isn't going to happen in 2026. This is a historically bad start -- the Packers are just the 14th team since 1935 to rush for fewer than 500 yards in the first eight games of the season.
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