Packers November in Review: Shifting the Narrative in Green Bay
Sitting with a 2-5 record through two months of the season, the Green Bay Packers season was at a crossroads. It was looking to be heading in the direction of the pre-Favre era teams of the 1970s and 1980s, especially after dropping two winnable games against the Raiders and Broncos.
Expectations were not high for the team coming into the month, but they would get to face another struggling team in their first game of the month, which would set the tone for the next 30 days.
Week Nine vs. LAR
In their first of two games against LA-based teams at Lambeau, the Packers took on the Matt Stafford-less Rams, who had Brett Rypien (nephew of Mark) starting. The game started off a bit slow for the Packers, but they never lost the lead after an Aaron Jones touchdown early in the first quarter.
The defense held the Rams to three points and made the day for Rypien a nightmare, forcing an interception and recovered a fumble en route to a 20-3 win. Jordan Love had an efficient game passing, going 20 of 26 for 228 yards and a late touchdown to rookie TE Luke Musgrave. Jones finished the day with 20 carries for 73 yards and a score. It was a rather unremarkable game, but a win nonetheless to put the Packers at 3-5.
The offense was starting to build confidence and the defense showed up for their best outing of the season up to that point, even if it was against the Rams backup QB (to which they would sign Carson Wentz not too long after and let Rypien go). Up next was the “17th game” (the extra game of the season that was added back in 2021) in a team that also had a weak offense and strong defense: the Pittsburgh Steelers
Week Ten @ Pittsburgh
Now with a little bit of momentum, the Packers would look to take down a tough team in the Steelers on the road. Surprisingly, both teams started off hot on offense, with both exchanging touchdowns on their opening drives, which eventually lead to a 17-13 Steelers lead by halftime. Love looked sharp in the half, tossing two touchdowns to Romeo Doubs and Jayden Reed and outplaying his counterpart on the side in Kenny Pickett. However, the Steelers offense was able to get things going the ground, which lead to the defense surrendering 17 early on. Not helping matters was the missed extra point by Kicker Anders Carlson, which would become a big deal later in the game.
After the half, the Packers took the lead following two field goals by Carlson to go up 19-17 but were unable to stop the Steelers from scoring two field goals of their own. It was on Love to orchestrate a game winning drive. The Packers drove down the field and were in position to win the game twice.
They drove to the Pittsburgh 15 before a pass intended for 2022 breakout rookie Christian Watson was intercepted. This play drew criticism later on because of Watson’s apparent lack of effort to play the ball, which led to an unnecessary interception. Fortunately for the Packers, they would get an opportunity again with about a minute left in the game with no timeouts.
On the first play of the drive, Love connected with Reed for a 46-yard pass that took them to the Steelers 35 and would eventually get 19 more yards to get one more shot at the endzone. Looking for some magic, Love was intercepted well short of the endzone, and the Packers would fall to 3-6 on the year. The missed extra point did end up coming back to bite the Packers, as they could have potentially won the game if they did not have to go for a touchdown on their last two drives. Love once again looked decent despite the two late interceptions, but his best efforts were not enough to seal another potential win that they could have had.
Week Eleven vs. LAC
The Packers, sporting their 1950s inspired throwbacks, returned home to face another team from Los Angeles in the Chargers. This matchup featured a head-to-head matchup between two 2020 first round QBs in Love and Justin Herbert. For the former, he would be taking on one of the worst defenses in the league, while the latter was looking to carry the team once again on his back like he had been doing all season. It was a must win game for both teams. As it would turn out, it would be a back-and-forth affair all game, including a nice 32-yard Touchdown scamper from Jayden Reed early as the teams found themselves tied at 10 after one half. The Chargers would lose their star DE Joey Bosa early in the game, making it a bit easier for the Packers offense to protect Love from the pass rush.
In the second half, the defenses began to break, as both teams exchanged scores, even with the Chargers wide receivers dropping passes at an alarming rate, and RB Austin Ekeler fumbling the ball at the goal line. Herbert found Keenan Allen with about five minutes to go, before Jordan Love found Romeo Doubs on a beautiful 24-yard pass to take the lead 23-20.
On the ensuing drive, the Chargers had one more opportunity to score but were stifled by the Packers in their own territory to send both teams to 4-6, and the Packers riding high with momentum after winning two of three in the month of November. Both Love and Herbert had strong outings, but the 26th overall pick had won the day with the Packers first 300-yard passer since the end of 2021. It done come at a cost though, as the Packers lost RBs Aaron Jones and Emmanuel Wilson to injuries, forcing them to sign Patrick Taylor and James Robinson to the roster for their next game, among other injuries that they suffered during the game.
Now with some of the momentum back, the calendar week for the Packers was only just beginning, as they had a Thanksgiving game on Thursday that week against a team that has had their number since the end of 2021: the Detroit Lions. Both teams were winners on that Sunday, with both games coming down to the wire in both, though in the case of the NFC North leaders, they had barely got by the lowly Bears and were looking a bit suspect all game. Surely that was just an off game for the 8-2 squad that had won four straight over Green Bay, and destroyed the Packers in Week 4 at Lambeau, right?
Week Twelve @ Detroit
The Packers came into this game banged up on both sides of the ball, there’s no way they win this ga-
Well as it would turn out, the Packers would carry the momentum from the last game immediately. A 53-yard opening salvo from Love to Watson would set up this absolute laser of a throw just four plays later:
I’ve seen only a handful of QBs make that kind of throw. It would become the regular theme for the first quarter alone. The Lions would answer with a touchdown of their own on the ensuing drive (and miss the extra point). What followed was the best first half I’ve seen the Packers play in about a year. The next drive ended with rookie TE Tucker Kraft (starting for the injured Luke Musgrave) grab his first touchdown of his career.
Not long after, this would happen:
Just like that, the Packers were up 20-6 (yes, Carlson missed another extra point), and would hold on the lead for the remainder of the game, and win 29-22. They had done the unthinkable: beat a strong Lions team with an injured squad. Everything clicked for the Packers in that game: offense looked great, the defense forced three fumbles on Jared Goff, and it was the Packers first win on Thanksgiving since they beat Detroit in 2011. Love finished 22 of 32 for 268 and three touchdowns. The trio of Watson, Doubs, and Reed had strong games yet again, and Rashan Gary once again proved that the big contract they signed him to in late October was worth every penny, finishing with seven tackles, three sacks two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
December Outlook
It looks like I may have been wrong about this team. I was calling for them to potentially look for Marvin Harrison Jr or maybe even Caleb Williams about a month ago and now they are only a half game out of the playoffs as I write this article. Even if they were to lose out somehow, there’s no way they would be able to get Harrison, and after Love’s play this month, the idea of getting a new signal caller has vanished (for now).
The Packers sit at 5-6 at the end of November, which is better than their 4-8 start a year ago. Their schedule upcoming is mostly favorable, following the Sunday Night game against Chiefs on December 3rd. They will travel to MetLife to take on the Giants on Monday Night Football, then face two NFC South teams in the Buccaneers and Panthers, followed by closing out the year against the two teams that put on the Monday Night Football game of the year (sarcasm) in the Vikings and Bears. In my opinion, at least four of those are winnable, with the Chiefs game being the only loss I’m anticipating. Then again, I was sold on the fact that the Packers were going to lose to the Lions on Thanksgiving, only for the Packers to upend them convincingly. The Lions did beat the Chiefs though so…. we’ll find out if Jordan Love can avenge his first start and help get the win over the defending Super Bowl Champions.
Also, shoutout to Tom Grossi for being nominated as the Packers representative for Fan of the Year.
Go Pack Go.
