The Packers were dealt a brutal one-two punch early in Week 2, and both blows landed on offense.
Jayden Reed went down on the second play of the game after hauling in a short pass from Jordan Love and getting tackled by Jets linebacker DeMario Davis. The scene was serious enough that Reed had to be taken off the field on a spine board, with both teams gathering around him. He was ruled out shortly after the injury.
Not long after that, Green Bay lost another key piece when right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele came down awkwardly on his right leg on the very next play. Love threw an incomplete pass on the snap, and Bako-Bewele’s right leg was put in an air cast before he was carted off. He, too, was ruled out for the rest of the game.
For a Packers team that could hardly afford more injuries, the timing could not have been worse. Reed had been expected to play a major role after his recent extension, especially with Matthew Golden still developing and Josh Jacobs out of commission, which has left the run game struggling.
Bako-Bewele’s loss may be the tougher one to absorb in the short term. Even with Aaron Banks back in the starting lineup, Green Bay’s offensive line has been its shakier area, and Bako-Bewele has been the player the team can count on most as an above-average performer.
That absence could create real problems for an offensive line that was already shuffling players out of position to get its best five on the field. Without Bako-Bewele at right tackle, the Packers lose the kind of anchor they need to handle deeper pass plays.
For now, Packers fans are left waiting on official updates on both players and hoping the injuries looked worse than they turn out to be.
In Other News...
Packers Fans Got Caught In Foxs Most Infuriating Broadcast Mess
Fox Sports turned a busy Week 2 Sunday into a strange viewing experience for fans following the Packers and the rest of the early slate, as audio feeds did not match the games on screen for multiple contests. For Green Bay viewers in particular, the problems were compounded when the network briefly lost its scorebug during overtime of the Packers-Jets game, adding another layer of confusion to a broadcast day that was already off the rails.
The network did get the audio issues corrected before the primetime Cowboys-Commanders matchup, but the afternoon left plenty of viewers wondering how so many technical glitches lined up on the same broadcast window. Even by NFL TV standards, it was the kind of mess that overshadowed the football for a while, and Packers fans had every reason to feel caught in the middle of it. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Nearly Faced A Wild In-Game Fix During Jets Win
In a game that was already tight all afternoon, the Packers got pushed to the edge up front when injuries thinned out their offensive line against the Jets. The situation got so thin that the staff had to consider a wildly unconventional fix, with Tucker Kraft even in the conversation as a possible emergency option at tackle while the group tried to hold together.
Jacob Monk ultimately got the green light to play, which kept Kraft where Green Bay needed him most, and the Packers were able to lean on rookies Jager Burton and Anthony Belton to help steady the line. It was the kind of survival-day football that can decide a September win, and Green Bay barely got through it with a 20-17 victory. [Read more 🡒]
Two Packers Drew NFL Discipline After The Vikings Game
The Packers latest trip through the rivalry with Minnesota carried the usual physical edge, and the league office noticed. Green Bay came away with a pair of fines tied to actions from that game, with linebacker Lukas Van Ness and safety Evan Williams both cited for plays the NFL judged to be over the line.
Van Ness was fined for a hit to the head or neck area of a quarterback, while Williams was penalized for unnecessary roughness on a defenseless player. The dollars from those fines will be funneled to the Professional Athletes Foundation and the NFL Foundation, which use the money to support athlete health and wellness programs. [Read more 🡒]