Green Bay Packers Stay Unbeaten, Knock off Giants 38-35

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Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Another week. Another team throwing everything they had at the Packers. Another Packers victory.

The Packers beat the Giants 38-35 on Sunday and are now 12-0. It was a forgettable game for the Packers defense, but Aaron Rodgers and the offense came through late to secure the win.

Some quick thoughts on how it went down:

What went right

  •  Aaron Rodgers. He struggled occasionally and threw a pick that led directly to a Giants TD, but finished 28 for 46 for 369 yards, four TDs and a 106.2 passer rating. Also, the winning drive he led with 58 seconds to play was unreal.
  • Clay Matthews. Matthews was a one-man show on defense Sunday. No other defender did much of anything.
  • Jordy Nelson. It didn’t matter how covered he was or where he was on the field, Nelson was determined to come down with the ball when Rodgers threw it to him.
  • Donald Driver. The old guy still staying relevant.
What went wrong
  • Everything on defense. It didn’t matter if the Giants were running or throwing, the Packers defense struggled to stop it. Did the Packers miss AJ Hawk and Desmond Bishop that much?
  • Dropped passes. C’mon fellas! Catch the damn ball when Rodgers throws it to you. Jermichael Finley had three drops himself.
  • Marshall Newhouse. The young man has filled in admirably for Chad Clifton, but got destroyed today by Jason Pierre-Paul and Dave Tollefson. Newhouse also needs to learn how to drill a defensive lineman in the gut when they jump to try and knock down a pass from Rodgers. Just standing there and staring while they leap in the air doesn’t do any good.
  • Communication in the secondary. It appeared that Williams was expecting safety help on a couple of those deep completions. It’ll be something the beat reporters will have to ask McCarthy, Capers and the DBs this week.
What’s next
  • The Oakland Raiders at Lambeau. It’ll be another team with a good running game fighting for their playoff lives and doing everything possible to spoil the Packers run to perfection. Bring. It. On.
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Adam Czech is a a freelance sports reporter living in the Twin Cities and a proud supporter of American corn farmers. When not working, Adam is usually writing about, thinking about or worrying about the Packers. Follow Adam on Twitter. Twitter .

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35 thoughts on “Green Bay Packers Stay Unbeaten, Knock off Giants 38-35

  1. Finley is a rare and special talent, but also loves himself a little too much. He’s the only Packer that has a ‘look at me’ TD prance. Maybe he should stop thinking about what he’s going to do to show the world how great he is, and concentrate a little more on catching passes.

  2. Throw in Brandon Saine.

    As what went right. He was excellent as a RB catching dump off passes.

    Its premature, but Grant is now my 3rd string RB. Grant is just not running inspired football.

  3. Great Win…My 2011 Packers analysis (short version)…the offense is great, the defence sucks. Put them together and thier 22-0. What that adds up to at the end of the season is unknown. I hope its a Superbowl win. Go pack

  4. Fix the Oline beofre AR gets killed. Today’s performance – F. the DB’s – FFF. Somehow they’ve got to do something with both before the playoffs. If AR gets hurt GB is in big trouble.

    Comon Dom you’re better than this. I’m saying a Novena for Cliffie and Sitton. I don’t want to see AR broken apart like a wish bone on live TV.

    It was a good win, but the sores are showing. Time to put some calamine lotion on them.

    1. Ron, appreciate the points but if we are playing teams like the Giants the O-line wont be ‘fixed’ until Sitton is all the way healthy and Newhouse is a 3rd year starter (He is effectively a rookie and its natural that he could use some help now and then).

      The Giants’ D-Line is top end talent and today they played with their hair on fire; frankly I’m impressed that the Packers’ big guys held up as well as they did.

      Yes we were very fortunate that Omenyora (sp) did not play today; but they were also fortunate that Sitton and Starks were hurt. (Starks I think is about a yard per play better than Grant on those dives into the line these days. No real fault of Grant’s — he is coming back after one year from an injury that tends to affect players for 2.)

      Anyway, the Pack did enough to win, and the Defense actually contributed points to the win (Clay’s pick 6).

      Be happy. No one else we face until the playoffs is as good on both sides of the ball. Hopefully the Pack can take some practice time and get back those ‘connection vibes’ between Rodgers and his receivers other than Nelson. And hopefully Woodson, Hawk and Bishop aren’t out too long — DJSmith and Francois played well enough, but they showed themselves to be distinctly ‘early days’ on the learning curve; we need the vets back for the D to improve (as much as it will this year). The one extra big play per game the vets can provide has been our bread and butter on defense.

  5. For what went wrong – how about injuries? We’re down 2 starting LBs, 2 safeties, 2 O linemen, and our starting RB now.

    And for what went right – we still won in spite of the injuries! Incredible grit and toughness.

    1. Missing three pro-bowl caliber players (Cliffy, Sitton and Collins). Four if you count Woodson.

  6. It’s obvious to me that Peprah is a liability in the secondary. Nice guy, but he’s just to slow. I miss Collins. I know we gave up big plays before he got hurt, but not to this extent.

    Someone has to give CM3 help on the pass rush. It seems to me our blitzes never get home. Our secondary just isn’t playing well enough to hold coverage for long. And will some opponent throw C-Wood a pick-six so he can tie the record and quit gambling on his coverage.

    A-Rod was great as usual, but I’d give the game ball to either Jordy or DD.

      1. Peprah’s problem is entirely that this year he is replacing Collins. Last year he replaced Burnett and had a pro-bowl safety (Collins) playing with him. This year he is playing next to a guy who is practically still a Rookie (Burnett played his 16th pro game today), and it shows. Why would you expect it wouldn’t?

        But Peprah is still part of a team that has won 12 games in 12 tries this year. He’s doing something right, and for all the fandom fear that other teams will find some sort of ‘formula’ to use our ‘weakness’ on defense to beat the Pack, teams still have to actually *perform* to carry out that ‘formula.’ So far no one has succeeded and only 2 teams even came close.

      2. Peprah isn’t to blame.

        Sure he’s not nearly as good as Collins but the problem in my estimation is the the D-Line and LBs not holding up their end of the bargain. The egregious amount of open holes up the middle forced Safety help on the run so Peprah was biting on the PA all day long.

        GB looked terrible in base all day. Was hoping for more 2-4-5.

        1. peprah is just a very limited player. he made some nice plays last year, but like i have said 5 times before, he was roasted three times in the playoffs last year by 4 yards and the QBs missed throws.

          burnett needs to be much more disciplined. STOP JUMPING UNDERNEATH ROUTES!!! keep your deep responsibility. stop pressing and let the plays come to you.

          this defense is a joke right now. no one besides CM3 is playing up to the level they should be. missing hawk and bishop is certainly a major blow, but this D has no identity right now. start with getting your run fits worked out, that will take pressure off of LBs and safeties.

    1. Walden is actually improving his game considerably. I thought he had a nice game, counted at least 3 QB hits.

      1. Walden wised up after getting thrown in jail…

        He decided to stop hitting his girlfriend and hit QB’s instead.

        1. It actually started early. One of his best games was the game right before that incident.

  7. This team simply is too good and has been through too much to let a winnable game slip away.

    Sloppy game, at their home, desperate team, played their best football of the season, and we still won in the end.

    And now there’s nothing else negative to say about Rodgers. SB winner, SB MVP, league MVP, best passer rating in regular season and playoffs, best statistical season of all time, 18 game winning streak, and a clutch 4th quarter winning drive. Oh yeah, but his touch on short passes is not very good and he hold the ball too long at times…

    1. Actually, Rodgers still has to prove he can execute a 4th quarter drive to *come bak* from behind.

      Yes, thats a joke, but technically they havent trailed in the 4th 🙂

  8. Good review Adam. Although many youngsters are not familiar with the term, our defensive play is leading the fans back to the “Cardiac Pack” days of Don Majkowski to Sterling Sharpe. Putting up big points and having to hold your breath when the defense is on the field. We need our big names on the field, both defense and the O-line.
    Do we have betting odds on 16-0 yet? This could be the most historic season in Packers history. And we are paying CLOSE attention.

  9. The Packers O is so Awsome that even with multiple dropped passes, blocking problems, a missed FG, a INT, 2 missing O lineman and starting RB and some bad throws, they still score 35 points. Now the D….that’s a different story. They just simply suck most of the time. The 99 yard scoring drive, then the game tying TD drive with 2 pt conversion were sickening. I’m glad the pack will not be playing the saints in NO in the playoffs, could you imagine this D against them? 600 yards and 52 points?

    1. That would be the Saints we beat in week one ? With a critical stop by the D ? 🙂
      While we’re on the Saints their D is worse than ours 20th in PPG to 14th…
      I agree this D is not pretty to watch but till last night they had got stops when needed. Even last night the pick 6 and the 3 and out in the 4th were crucial..

  10. all i can say is we just beat a very good and fired up giant team in a very very loud and hostile environment with the giants season on the line without SITTON,CLIFTON,BISHOP,HAWK,COLLINS,STARKS,WOODSON ON THE FINAL 3 CRITICAL GIANTS DRIVES,AND POOR QUARLESS[HOPE HE IS OK,DONT THINK SO] 5 DROPPED PASSES AT CRITICL TIMES,MISSED FG,SOME UNCHARACTERISTIC BAD THROWS BY RODGERS AND 1 HORRIBLE INT,LOTS OF MUGGING OF FINLEY ALL DAY AND STILL WON THE GAME….HELLOOOOOOOO….LIGHTEN UP FRANCIS…HAVE NOT SEEN A PERFECT GAME YET ,BUT ITS COMIN,AND I PERSONALLY CANT WAIT…..PS WE MISSED HAWK AND BISHOP BIG TIME

  11. BTF….what I’m saying is we beat the Saints at Home, IF you read my post, I SAID I’m glad we will not be playing the Saints in NO. They are a dome team and play much better in at home. If you think this 20011 Packers D can play well against the Saints Offense, You are not in touch with reality. I’m not saying the Packers would lose because we have an Elite offense but our defense simply is not good enough against the likes of Drew and his weapons…..

    1. We aint so bad in domes ourself..

      As for the Packers D v the Saints O-depends what you mean by playing well. Can we shut them down and dominate them-no. Can we stop their offense more times than they stop our offense and come up with a crucial stop or pick. The evidence says more often than not we do even if we look very ugly in the process. Of course this is a risky way to live and it may cost us eventually but equally a pick atr a crucial time may be key to taking us all the way..

      As for my touch with reality-depends on how much I’ve had to drink….

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