Green Bay Packers September in Review
(Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports)
After a wild offseason that saw Davante Adams depart to the Las Vegas Raiders for two draft picks and Aaron Rodgers becoming the highest paid quarterback after spending the last year departing from the team or retiring, the Green Bay Packers are playing meaningful football for the first time since January 22nd.
There is a sense of optimism this season. With their enigmatic QB staying put until after the 2026 season (maybe) and a potentially strong run game and defense making headlines across Titletown, many fans are feeling this is the year the team brings home their 14th championship.
Week One @ Minnesota
After 17-day break from the action, the Packers travelled to Minnesota for their first game of the season against the Vikings. The team would be without the presumptive number one wide receiver in Allen Lazard, leaving the reigns to Randall Cobb, Sammy Watkins, preseason star Romeo Doubs, and their second round rookie, Christian Watson.
The Vikings started off hot on the opening drive of the game, which was capitalized by a 5-yard touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins to Justin Jefferson. No big deal, right? It’s a new season, a little bit of rust but it shouldn’t be too bad. Let’s see what the Packers do with their opening play:
“Yikes” indeed.
Throughout the rest of the game, the Vikings would dominate the Packers in every facet of the game through the first half, going up 17-0 after 30 minutes.
They would score another field goal on their opening drive in the second half, before the Packers finally got on the board with an AJ Dillion 2-yard touchdown run on the ensuing drive. The Vikings would kick one more field goal to make the final score 23-7. Déjà vu for the Packers.
Much like the opener against the Saints last year, the Packers could not get anything going offensively, save for the Dillion TD (which, to their credit, at least they scored a touchdown, unlike their lone points coming from a field goal in the second quarter last year).
Aaron Rodgers looked off and looked frustrated, finishing 22 for 34, 195 yards and one interception, and was sacked four times. Former Packer Za’Darius Smith contributed one of those four sacks, thus getting a measure of revenge on his former team.
Aaron Jones and AJ Dillion combined for 15 carries, 94 yards and one touchdown, with Rodgers and Head Coach Matt LaFleur making note of the RBs not getting the ball enough after the game. Dillion was also the leading receiver for the team, catching five passes for 46 yards.
Defensively, despite Justin Jefferson’s big game, the Packers surrendered less points than their previous outfit did a year ago (38 in 2021 to 23 in 2022), a sign of optimism that the defense could hang this time around if the offense got going.
Week Two vs. Chicago
Back in the confines of their raucous Lambeau Field on Sunday night, the Packers turned their attention to another division foe that so happens to be “owned” by their star QB: the Chicago Bears (insert obligatory “24-5” insult here).
After trading scores to start the game (with the Bears being up briefly 7-3), the Packers pulled away after as Aaron Jones ran wild on the Bears, scoring both a rushing and receiving touchdown in the second quarter, followed by a Rodgers to a returning Allen Lazard 5-yard score to end the half at 24-7.
The Packers offensive attack began to click. The second half would only see a combined six points yet again, except both teams would trade field goals this time.
The game was capped off with a Jaire Alexander interception that would send the Packers to 1-1 after two games and making the Packers 25-5 against their old-time nemesis.
Rodgers had a much better game, going 19 for 25, 234 yards and two touchdowns, but the other Aaron was the star of the show, amassing 170 total yards and two TDs himself.
AJ Dillion also had a solid game with 15 carries for 61 yards. The wide receivers finally looked in sync with Rodgers, with Watkins amassing 93 yards on three catches, and Lazard making his presence known once again with a score and 13 yards (one yard better than Davante earlier in the day).
Week Three @ Buccaneers
Now with two divisional games out of the way early in the season, the Packers travelled to a place that has been unkind to them since Rodgers took over the helm in 2008. Raymond James Stadium (for those that are unaware, Aaron Rodgers has had some of his worst games at this stadium, such as his three interception day in 2009 and their last meeting here in 2020 ending in a 38-10 blowout).
This was almost like a mirror match in a way: both squads featured two of the best QBs to play the game in Brady and Rodgers, both had two stout defenses after two weeks, and both featured a lack of depth at wide receiver (Sammy Watkins was placed on IR and Mike Evans was suspended, on top of a multitude of injuries for the Buccaneers).
Nevertheless, many expected this game to be more of a shootout with the two best going at it. Instead, they got a defensive struggle.
At first, it appeared that the game was going to go in favor of the Packers, as they scored touchdowns on consecutive drives to take a 14-3 lead halfway through the second. Tom and the Buccaneers offense stalled out on every drive after their initial field goal drive in the first half, which would continue well into the third quarter.
This was in large part because of the number of fumbles being lost by their wide receivers. But this also carried over to the Packers as well.
Late in the second, Aaron Jones fumbled the ball into the Buccaneers endzone on a sure-fire scoring drive, which would prove to be the last scoring opportunity for Packers the rest of the game. Yet again, the offense did nothing pull away from Tampa.
The defense continued to hold firm, holding the Bucs to a field goal in the third quarter and keeping them out of the endzone for most of the 4th quarter…until the final drive.
The Buccaneers had pulled within two points. It seemed that even with a delay of game called during the two-point attempt, it would be yet another comeback led by Tom Brady…
…but this time, the Packers defense came up clutch in the big moment. The Packers hung on to finish the month 2-1.
Despite the lack of an offensive attack (which seems to be a common theme at the moment of this writing, with the Packers only scoring 3 points in the second half), Rodgers had yet again had a good game, finishing 27 for 35, 255 yards, two touchdowns and one interception (which he admitted on The Pat McAfee Show the following Tuesday was on him), but the focus would be on a breakout game by Romeo Doubs, who had eight catches for 73 yards and a score.
What can’t be understated is how well the defense played in the game. Even though Tampa was missing key pieces to their offense, the defense still had to contend with one of the greatest QBs to ever play game and were able to hold the offense to only 12 points total (granted, the Buccaneers offense only put up 19 and 13 points in the prior two weeks).
But it was more so a testament to how far they’ve come in previous years. It’s almost fitting that one of their best players on defense from last year had arguably his best game of his career. De’Vondre Campbell finished the day with 14 tackles and a game sealing breakup of the two-point conversion.
Spooky Season (Outlook for October)
The team will play five games next month, beginning with a date with New England at home on October 2nd. They then will travel to the UK (shoutout to a good portion of our contributors here at offGrid) to take on the Giants (Rodgers finally gets to play in London), followed by a home game vs. the Jets (shoutout to our own Jonny Bisby).
Finally, they will start a three-game road stand, beginning with the Commanders, followed by a tough Buffalo Bills squad the night before Halloween (the best holiday of the year) to end the month.
Barring injuries and unforeseen circumstances, the defense should continue to play well against three of the “weaker” offenses, considering their next matchups are against QBs such as Brian Hoyer/Bailey Zappe, Daniel Jones, and Zach Wilson/Joe Flacco.
The last two games will be a test for them, as the Commanders could be a sneakily hard game and the Bills are arguably a top three team in the league (compounded by the fact that the Packers are 0-6 all time at Buffalo).
The offense should find it’s footing by then if Rodgers continues to connect with his WRs and the ground game continues to be a focal point for the offense. Hopefully they will figure out their second half woes as well because if they don’t, it will be a rough winter for the Cheesehead faithful.
