The Packers decided to build their wide receiver group around Christian Watson and Matthew Golden this season and that decision was a resounding success on Sunday.
Golden was the star early as he caught seven passes for 150 yards and a touchdown in the first half to help the Packers to a 24-14 lead at the break. Watson had four catches for 109 yards and a touchdown in the second half and the Packers cruised to a 45-27 win that improves their record to 6-3 on the season.
Watson finished with seven catches for 171 yards while Golden had 10 catches for 164 yards on the day. It’s the fourth time that the Packers have had two wideouts with at least 150 yards in a game and both players set career highs for their receiving yards in a single game.
Jordan Love was 23-of-29 for 372 yards before giving way to Tyrod Taylor in garbage time. His first touchdown pass of the game was to Golden and that gave him 100 for his career. He threw a touchdown to Savion Williams to make it three on the day and opened the scoring with a touchdown run.
All of the offensive exploits were matched by an opportunistic defensive outing. Safety Xavier McKinney intercepted Patriots quarterback Drake Maye’s first pass of the day and Maye threw two more before also heading to the bench for the final minutes of the blowout. He was sacked four times and the prospect of adding Micah Parsons to that kind of effort is the sort of thing that will have Packer backers thinking big when they look toward a possible playoff berth.
The Packers did lose running back Josh Jacobs to a hand injury in the first quarter, so it wasn’t all good news for them over the course of the win. Kaleb Johnson showed well with 11 carries for 59 yards and a touchdown, but the health of the backfield will be something to monitor heading into a big NFC North matchup with the Vikings next Sunday.
The Patriots will get a transatlantic flight to use as part of their recovery process from the loss. They will face the Lions in Munich next Sunday and back-to-back losses to NFC North teams will send them into their bye week with a .500 record.
Good news about cornerback Carlton Davis and right guard Ben Brown after they left Sunday’s loss with injuries would help their chances. The same is true of getting wide receiver A.J. Brown back into the lineup, but it will likely be a few days before there’s much of an update on that front.
Packers Clips
Drake Maye had a first half to forget against the Packers on Sunday.
Maye’s first pass of the game was intercepted by Packers safety Xavier McKinney and McKinney would get Maye again later in the half. Safety Evan Williams also had a pick and Kamal Hadden dropped what would have been Maye’s fourth pick of the afternoon just before halftime. The Packers turned two of Maye’s gifts into touchdowns and they lead 24-14 at the break.
When the Packers have had the ball, they’ve been riding their quarterback’s much hotter hand. Jordan Love is 11-of-16 for 219 yards and he threw a touchdown to wide receiver Matthew Golden. Golden had seven catches for 150 yards overall in the first half and Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez has been in coverage for a number of the big plays by the second-year wideout.
The Packers run game is without Josh Jacobs as he left the game in the first quarter with a hand injury. The Patriots saw cornerback Carlton Davis and right guard Ben Brown leave with injuries and they’ll hope for better news across the board once play resumes.
Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase opened Sunday’s schedule with a monster first half against the Falcons in Madrid and Packers wideout Matthew Golden is closing out the afternoon slate with an even bigger half.
Golden has seven catches for 150 yards and a touchdown through 25 minutes of play in New England. His previous career high for a game was 123 yards and the seven catches match his previous career high.
Golden’s seventh catch was a 24-yarder and Jordan Love hit fellow wideout Christian Watson for 43 yards on the next play. That set up a Kaleb Johnson touchdown run that stretched Green Bay’s lead to 24-7 in the second quarter.
Love is 11-of-14 for 219 yards and he’s also run for a touchdown. Drake Maye has thrown one touchdown as well, but the Patriots quarterback’s three interceptions have had more bearing on the game to this point.
Packers running back Josh Jacobs may be done for the day in New England.
Jacobs went to the locker room during the Packers’ third possession of the first quarter of Sunday’s game against the Patriots. The Packers announced that he is considered questionable to return due to a hand injury.
Jacobs ran four times for five yards before heading inside. He got his hand caught in the facemask of Patriots safety Craig Woodson on one of those runs and it seems likely that’s when he was injured.
MarShawn Lloyd is inactive, so Pierre Strong and Kaleb Johnson are the other available running backs for Green Bay. The Packers lead 14-0 with just over two minutes to play in the first quarter.
Jordan Love is the fifth quarterback in Packers history to throw 100 touchdown passes while with the team.
Love’s 100th came on a five-yard toss to wide receiver Matthew Golden in the first quarter of Sunday’s game against the Patriots. The score pushed the Packers’ lead to 14-0 with eight minutes to play in the opening quarter.
Love joins Bart Starr, Lynn Dickey, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers in the Packers’ century club. He also ran 13 yards for the first Packers score of the day.
Golden also had catches of 16 and 49 yards to set up the touchdown. Those are all three of Love’s completions on the day and they’ve been productive ones.
The Packers are out to a quick lead in New England.
Drake Maye threw an interception on his first pass of the day and the Packers turned it into their first points of the day. Jordan Love scrambled for a 13-yard score and the Packers are up 7-0 with just over two minutes off the clock.
Maye’s pass for Mack Hollins was snagged by Packers safety Xavier McKinney near midfield and he returned it inside the Patriots’ 15-yard-line. Love scored two plays later and the Patriots’ second drive didn’t go much better.
A short run and an incompletion were followed by an Isaiah McDuffie sack, so the Patriots will need to figure out something different if they want to keep this one from turning into a Packers runaway.
The Patriots will be missing wide receivers A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs on Sunday, but they will have tight end Hunter Henry as a target for quarterback Drake Maye.
Henry is active after being listed as questionable on Friday due to a foot injury that kept him out of practice for two days this week. Safety Kevin Byard, cornerback Carlton Davis, right tackle Morgan Moses, special teamer Brenden Schooler, and guard Greg Van Roten are also playing after drawing questionable tags.
Brown, cornerback Charles Woods, running back TreVeyon Henderson, offensive tackle Dametrious Crownover, and quarterback Behren Morton are inactive for New England.
Cornerback Keisean Nixon has a groin injury, just he is active for the Packers. Running back MarShawn Lloyd, linebacker Zaire Franklin, offensive lineman Donovan Jennings, center Sean Rhyan, offensive lineman Travis Glover, and tight end Josh Whyle are out for Green Bay.
The Patriots won’t have A.J. Brown or Romeo Doubs on Sunday, but they will be getting another wide receiver back from injury against the Packers.
They have activated Mack Hollins from injured reserve. Hollins returned to practice this week after missing the last four games with a calf injury.
Hollins had 15 catches for 209 yards in four appearances before his injury. He had 46 catches for 550 yards and two touchdowns in his first season with the Patriots.
Brown will miss his second straight game with a knee injury and Doubs remains on injured reserve. Pop Douglas, Efton Chism, and Kyle Williams join Hollins as the available receivers on the 53-man roster for New England.
The NFC North is the best division in the NFL. As evidenced by how the teams of the NFC North have performed against the rest of the league.
The Vikings, Bears, Lions, and Packers have a combined record of 17-3 against non-NFC North teams. Via NBC Sports research, the ensuing 85 percent success rate is the highest by any division in the NFL since the 1970 merger.
In theory, all four teams of the NFC North could make the playoffs. To do that, however, each would have to finish higher in the wild-card pecking order than the Rams and the Seahawks (assuming the 49ers win the NFC West).
This week, two teams of the NFC North have an easier path to victory than the others; the Bears host the Buccaneers and the Lions visit the Dolphins.
For the Packers (who play the Patriots in New England) and the Vikings (who play the Bills on Monday night), it will be harder to keep pushing 17-3 to 21-3.
The Patriots officially ruled out wide receiver A.J. Brown (ankle/knee) and running back TreVeyon Henderson (illness).
Coach Mike Vrabel had already announced both would miss Sunday’s game against the Packers.
Brown has played only three games this season, with the most recent coming on Oct. 22. Henderson released a statement on Friday saying that he was recently hospitalized for neurological reasons and that he is working with medical professionals to return to health.
Tight end Hunter Henry (foot), cornerback Marcus Jones (foot), safety Kevin Byard III (chest), cornerback Carlton Davis III (neck), wide receiver Mack Hollins (calf), offensive tackle Morgan Moses (foot), safety Brenden Schooler (hamstring) and offensive lineman Greg Van Roten (hamstring) are questionable.
Defensive tackle Christian Barmore (illness), outside linebacker Gabe Jacas (knee), linebacker Dre’Mont Jones (shoulder/knee), cornerback Marcus Jones (foot) and quarterback Drake Maye (right shoulder) do not have a game status for Sunday. All five were full participants.
