Jordan Love and the Packers found a way to win Thursday night even while their run game stayed stuck in neutral.
Green Bay beat the Carolina Panthers 27-19 at Lambeau Field in Week 8, leaning hard on the passing game to cover for a rushing attack that again offered very little. The Packers finished with just 66 rushing yards, but Love and the receiving group kept the offense moving downfield.
Christian Watson, Matthew Golden and Tucker Kraft all played major roles in that aerial push, and Josh Jacobs chipped in as well. According to Rob Demovsky of ESPN, the balance of targets created a piece of Packers history. As Demovsky wrote in a social media post on X, formerly Twitter:
“The Packers still have no running game - 66 yards on 26 attempts against the worst rushing D in the league. But Christian Watson with 8 catches, Matthew Golden with 7 along with 6 each for Tucker Kraft and Josh Jacobs is just the third time in Packers' history that four different players have caught 6-plus passes in a game, according to ESPN Research. The others came in 2007 (Donald Driver, Ahman Green, Greg Jennings, David Martin) and 1993 (Edgar Bennett, Mark Clayton, Jackie Harris, Sterling Sharpe),”
The numbers on the ground continue to paint an ugly picture for Green Bay. The Packers entered Week 8 with the league’s least productive rushing offense at 59.9 yards per game, and Jacobs’ return after a six-week absence hasn’t changed that much. Against Carolina, he managed 39 rushing yards and a touchdown on 21 carries, good for just 1.9 yards per attempt.
If there’s a brighter spot here, it may be that Green Bay still has room to grow on the ground. The Packers could get another shot to find that rhythm in Week 9, when they travel to Foxborough to face the reigning AFC champions New England Patriots.
In Other News...
Josh Jacobs Had To Address A Packers Celebration Controversy
Josh Jacobs one-yard touchdown run was supposed to be just another hard-earned scoring play, but the celebration afterward quickly became the bigger conversation. When he put his hands behind his back, the gesture drew attention because of his past legal issues tied to a domestic dispute, and it was enough to prompt questions about whether there was any message behind it.
Jacobs pushed back on that reading, saying there was no disrespect intended and framing the moment as part of a planned celebration. The episode came shortly after his return to action from the commissioners exempt list, a stretch that put his off-field situation back under a bright spotlight even as he has tried to focus on football, show remorse and move forward with the Packers. [Read more 🡒]
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Sean Rhyans absence looms over the discussion even more now, because the Packers are trying to keep the offense balanced without one of the key pieces that helps hold the line together. If Green Bay decides the answer has to come from outside the building, the kind of moves being floated would point to a team that knows it needs help in a hurry, even if any real solution would take some doing. [Read more 🡒]
Xavier McKinneys Stand After The Lions Loss Came At A Price
Xavier McKinneys latest night at Lambeau Field was a reminder that the Packers defense can still swing a game, even as the safety continues to carry some baggage from the week before. Green Bay beat Carolina 27-19 to move to 5-3, and McKinney was right in the middle of it with three sacks and a pass defended, giving the Packers the kind of disruptive performance they needed after a tense stretch.
McKinney also revealed there was a cost attached to his postgame frustration after the loss to Detroit, when he publicly took aim at the officiating. The league response landed in the form of a fine, and McKinney made clear he was prepared for the consequences when speaking up for his team, turning his stance into another subplot for a Packers defense that has already had plenty to deal with this season. [Read more 🡒]