The Green Bay Packers got the kind of ending that can quiet a lot of offseason noise.
Jordan Love helped push Green Bay to a 20-17 overtime win over the New York Jets, and Trey Smack finished the job with the game-winning kick. For a rookie who spent the summer drawing questions about missed kicks in practice and whether the Packers should have brought in competition, the first two weeks have been a strong answer. Smack is now 5-for-5 on field goals.
That’s the part Green Bay needed to see most. A long kick in Week 1 already showed off the leg, when Smack drilled a 59-yarder and reminded everyone what kind of range he brings.
Sunday was different. This was the pressure test.
This was the moment that asked whether he could handle an NFL game-winner with the game on the line.
He answered it cleanly.
For Packers fans still carrying the memory of last season’s kicking mess with Brandon McManus, that matters. McManus was the veteran, but the season ended with a collapse in the biggest spot, and the position became one of the franchise’s biggest pain points. Smack’s start doesn’t erase that history, but it does give Green Bay something it badly needed: belief.
Kicking is one of those jobs where the mental side can be just as important as the leg itself. Every attempt carries pressure.
A game-winner turns that pressure all the way up. Smack has now handled both the distance and the moment, and Green Bay can feel better about what it has at the position.
The Packers also got reassurance from Love, giving the team two key pieces performing with confidence early in the season. That combination goes a long way for a roster that still looks loaded.
Now the question shifts to how Matt LaFleur handles Smack moving forward as the rookie’s range and poise keep showing up. For now, the verdict is pretty simple: Green Bay looks like it found its kicker.
In Other News...
Packers Fans Have Another Reason To Be Furious With NFL Officiating
Week 2 brought another round of frustration for Packers fans, and not just because of the usual game-day complaints. Meghan Payton publicly took aim at the NFLs officiating standards after a series of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties across the league, a conversation that included flags on Packers safety Javon Bullard as well as Saints receiver Chris Olave.
The bigger issue is the direction the league has taken this season, with the Competition Committee putting taunting and illegal celebrations near the top of its enforcement list. Officials and league representatives have already laid out the reasoning behind the tighter standard, but the more aggressively it is applied, the more it is likely to keep drawing grumbles from teams and fans who feel the games are getting too tightly policed. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Fans Got Caught In Foxs Most Infuriating Broadcast Mess
Fox Sports turned Week 2 into a headache for viewers across the NFL, and Packers fans had their own moment of broadcast frustration during the overtime stretch of the Packers-Jets game. Multiple early games were affected when the audio feeds did not match the action on screen, leaving viewers listening to commentary that had nothing to do with the game they were watching, while Fox also briefly lost its scorebug during Green Bays overtime finish.
The network got the audio problem sorted out before the primetime Cowboys-Commanders matchup, but the damage had already been done for anyone trying to follow the early slate. For Packers fans, it was one more layer of annoyance on a day when the game itself was already moving into tense territory, and the broadcast breakdown made an already chaotic afternoon feel even messier. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Nearly Faced A Wild In-Game Fix During Jets Win
The Packers 20-17 win over the Jets came with a familiar late-game grind, but the bigger story for Green Bay was how thin the offensive line got along the way. Injuries forced the staff to scramble for answers, and at one point the idea of moving Tucker Kraft to offensive tackle was on the table as the group searched for any workable combination.
Jacob Monk being cleared to play eased that emergency plan and let Kraft stay where Green Bay needed him most. The reshuffled line still leaned on rookies Jager Burton and Anthony Belton, and their ability to hold up helped the Packers survive a messy afternoon and walk away with the victory. [Read more 🡒]