If you had told me the Packers would win a game this season with a seventh-round pick being our top corner against Justin Herbert and Keenan Allen, I probably would've laughed. But that's just what happened. It wasn't a pretty win by any means. Keenan Allen still had a day with 10 catches for 116 yards and a touchdown. Not to mention a dropped touchdown where Vince Lombardi angled the sun just right into his eyes. But somehow it ended up not being enough to beat the Packers. 

Jordan Love achieved his first career 300+ yard passing game. A feat that hasn't been accomplished since 2021 in a Packers uniform. Admittedly a fair amount of those yards were after the catch, but I'm pretty sure #12 benefitted from YAC more than a few times, so let's still enjoy it shall we? A few of those passes including the touchdown to Romeo Doubs in the endzone were some absolute dimes. Love is showing he still can make those great throws, he just needs to do it more often. 

The defense had its ups and downs per usual. It is what it is, I've come to expect it, but they were able to show up in the end when it counted. Justin Herbert leading the team with 73 yards rushing is just embarrassing, the Packers needed to better contain him. He's not always a mobile quarterback, but he can be, and it's better to watch for the run than completely ignore it.

Probably the biggest downer in this game is the injury to Aaron Jones. Seeing him leave the game with a towel on his head on the cart was absolutely gutting. He really is the heart and soul of this team and whatever injury he might have sustained we can only hope it's not major. I will say though that the way this team still rallied in his absence was huge. To have your leader go down like that can be tough for some of the young guys to push forward but they did it, and they pulled off the win for him. 

Let's get to the recap:

First Quarter:

The Packers began the game on offense after a decent kick return by Keisean Nixon. However, the return was basically wiped out by Dallin Leavitt being called for unsportsmanlike conduct pinning the Packers at their own 8-yard line to start. A big return wiped out by penalties already. Despite this poor starting position, the Packers’ offense got out to a good start through the air with two good chunk passes to Romeo Doubs and another to Luke Musgrave taking the Packers to the 42-yard line. Minus a nine-yard pass to AJ Dillon, the Packers wouldn’t go any further though, and would be stopped cold with a Jayden Reed run on third down. LaFleur elected to attempt a fourth down conversion, but the offense was stopped when Luke Musgrave couldn’t go anywhere after the catch and the ball was turned over on downs. Chargers star pass rusher Joey Bosa was injured on the drive with an apparent leg injury and was carted off the field. Bad sign for the sack master and he would not return in this one. 

The Chargers would take over for their first possession of the game in excellent field position at the Packers’ 49-yard line with 11:03 remaining in the opening quarter. The Packers' defense would get off to a good start narrowly missing a Quay Walker interception on their way to forcing the Chargers' offense to fourth down where they would attempt a conversion same as the Packers did, but a wide-open Donald Parham would drop the Justin Herbert pass on fourth down leading to a turnover on downs for the Chargers this time around. The Packers offense would take over at their own 43-yard line with 9:36 remaining in the quarter.  

On their second drive, the Packers offense couldn’t get anything outside of a 3-yard run from Aaron Jones before going three and out. Possibly the only positive on this drive is that with the Daniel Whelan punt the Packers were able to reverse the field position pinning the Chargers at their own 14-yard line after the 40-yard punt and fair catch. Chargers would take over with 8 minutes remaining in the quarter. 

The Chargers tried to start out the drive with a little trickery having Austin Ekeler take the direct snap and run, but it only got them three yards before Preston Smith snuffed it out. After this though, the Chargers began moving the ball mainly through the air picking up a couple of first downs in the process. The defense briefly tightened up forcing a third and 1 attempt around midfield, but then Austin Ekeler turned it on and busted a 37-yard run to the outside down to the Packers' 12-yard line. The defense tightened again though at this point forcing the Chargers to attempt a 25-yard Cameron Dicker field goal that would be driven down the middle giving Los Angeles the 3-0 lead with 1:22 remaining in the first quarter.  

Keisean Nixon busted a 30-yard return to the Packer's 31-yard line on the ensuing kick but unfortunately came up limping after the play. He exited the field under his own power but a concern with the Packers only carrying 4 cornerbacks into this game. First play of the drive Jordan Love took a shot downfield to Romeo Doubs but it fell incomplete with a questionable DPI on the Chargers but no flags on the play. Regardless of that result, Jayden Reed busted a 15-yard run on the following play for the first down. A 19-yard check-down throw and run-after catch to AJ Dillon for the first down would then end the quarter with the Packers down to the LA 32-yard line.  

Second Quarter:

On the very first play of the second quarter, Jayden Reed took an end-around 32 yards to the house as the Packers took the lead 7-3 to begin the second quarter. A big block downfield for Malik Heath was noticeable on that play that likely broke that big touchdown 

On the Chargers' first play of the next drive, Karl Brooks ran right around his guard for a sack of Justin Herbert. Brooks, with that explosive first step, showed up again for the sack. Unfortunately, the Chargers would overcome the sack and get the first down after a Justin Herbert scramble and Alex Erickson catch. At around midfield on 3rd and 3 Justin Herbert would hit tight end Stone Smartt wide open and after Jonathan Owens completely botched the tackle attempt, Smartt would take it to the house for a 51-yard touchdown giving the Chargers the 10-7 lead with 12:16 remaining in the half. I can’t begin to comprehend how Owens was trying to make that tackle at the shoulders in open space, poor tackling strikes again. 

After a short kickoff, the ball takes some favorable bounces for the Chargers as the Packers begin at their own 17. Noticeable on the kick was Keisean Nixon back in the game after the previous injury. On the first play however, Jordan Love would be sacked by Sebastian Joseph-Day, but they would immediately recover with a 29-yard-deep pass to Dontayvion Wicks to the Packers 41-yard line. The following play Aaron Jones would rumble for a nine-yard gain and have his facemask grabbed, tacking on an additional 15 yards to the Chargers’ 35-yard line. The Packers began working on the running game after this with Emmanuel Wilson taking two carries for nine yards before AJ Dillon pounded it up the middle for the first down. After this, though the Packers would only go backward with a false start call and then a bobbled snap on third down killing the drive. The Packers sent out Anders Carlson for a 52-yard field goal attempt but it would sail wide right, no good, keeping the score 10-7 Chargers with 7:16 remaining in the half.  

Starting out again with good field position for their fourth possession of the game the Chargers would take over at their own 42-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage Quay Walker and DeVondre Campbell would combine for a nice tackle for loss on Austin Ekeler pushing him back 2 yards and the Chargers wouldn’t recover from this as they would go three and out. A good response from the Packers' defense after the rough end to the offense’s previous drive forcing the punt with the Chargers having good starting field position.  

The Packers would take over at their own 19-yard line with 5:51 remaining in the first half after the punt. Malik Heath’s first NFL catch for 7 yards and 3-yard run by AJ Dillon would start the drive before things looked bleak and after a false start, the Packers faced 3rd and 12. The bleakness would subside though as Love found Reed up the middle for a 17-yard strike and the first down. The next play Aaron Jones took the ball for a 2-yard rush and was hurt on the play. Jones appeared to be in a lot of pain as trainers were looking at his lower body. He was later helped off the field by trainers and would not return to the game. Afterward, a Jayden Reed catch and an AJ Dillon run would take the clock to the two-minute warning with the Packers on the Chargers’ 43-yard line. A WR screen to Jayden Reed on second down would be taken 19 yards to the Chargers’ 24-yard line on the second play after the two-minute warning and a play later Emmanuel Wilson would take a 9-yard catch down to the 12. Unfortunately, Wilson appeared to injure his shoulder on the play. Not good at all after Jones went down to have one of your only two other active running backs go down. This would leave only AJ Dillon remaining if Wilson couldn’t continue, and he would not. After the injury, the first and second down plays were just ugly with a botched screen to AJ Dillon and what looked like a possible broken play-turned-scramble for Jordan Love before a Love pass to Christian Watson was caught in the endzone, but it was too far out of bounds and Watson couldn’t get his feet down in-bounds. This forced the Packers to settle for three as Anders Carlson drove through a 28-yard field goal to put the score 10-10.  

The Chargers would take over with 3 seconds remaining in the half and they would just take a knee to get us to halftime.  

Third Quarter:

The Chargers deferred the decision at the coin toss so they would receive the ball to start the half. It did not take long, as three plays in the Chargers were down to the Packers’ 38-yard line with two chunk passes and a run. On 3rd and 7 from the Packers’ 35-yard line, Justin Herbert would take off on a 28-yard scramble to the Packers’ 7-yard line. No one was keeping an eye on Herbert at all, and he almost walked right to the end zone. Fortunately, after a Keenan Allen drop on third down right on the goal line on third down, the Chargers would have to settle for three. Cameron Dicker put through the 26-yard attempt and the score would land at 13-10 Chargers with 10:44 remaining in the 3rd. The way the Chargers flew straight down the field, the Packers may have been a bit lucky that drive only ended in 3.  

After the post-score kickoff, the Packers would take over at their own 25 to start their first drive of the second half. After the first play of the drive seemed to be a failed flea flicker turned 5-yard loss to AJ Dillon, the Packers earned a first down on a 10-yard catch by Luke Musgrave and now Musgrave was hurting after the play being checked out. Musgrave would later return, and we’d see Christian Watson’s first true catch of the day with a 10-yard first down grab to the Chargers’ 42-yard line. Unfortunately, after a bit of positive play to the LA 34, the Packers went only backward as AJ Dillon would be dumped for a 4-yard loss on second down, and then Love would be sacked by Khalil Mack for an 11-yard loss on third down to knock the Packers out of field goal range and they’d be forced to punt.  

The Chargers would take over at their own 10-yard line with 4:07 remaining in the third. After Kingsley Enagbare would get a huge run stop in the backfield for –3 yards on second down, the Chargers wouldn’t recover and would take a big three and out. JK Scott would punt it away and the Packers would take over at their own 29-yard line after Keisean Nixon muffed the catch on the punt. Nearly a costly mistake but luckily Nixon was able to recover near the sidelines, crisis was averted. 

The Packers would take over with 2:25 left on the clock of the third quarter and start out with a huge throw up the middle for 26 yards to Dontayvion Wicks down to the Chargers’ 43-yard line. A play later Jordan Love hit Tucker Kraft for a 27-yard grab. Initially, it was ruled a touchdown, but Kraft had stepped out of bounds at the Charger 12, 1st, and 10. Two plays later, Love hits Christian Watson in the end zone wide open for the touchdown and a real Lambeau Leap this time after Kraft's was called back. Big relieving TD for Watson who’d struggled as of late. Unfortunately, we can’t have nice things though as Anders Carlson would miss the extra point putting the score at 16-13 Packers and after the kickoff, we’d see the end of the 3rd quarter.  

Fourth Quarter:

The Chargers would take over from their own 25-yard line and would immediately have a Herbert to Keenan Allen 38-yard wide-open strike taking the ball to the Packers’ 37-yard line. The next play Herbert would hit Parham for a 21-yard gain down to the Packers’ 16, and then again Herbert would hit Parham, this time for a 14-yard strike down to the Packers’ 2-yard line. When things looked bleak for the Packers, Austin Ekeler had the ball punched from his arms on second down by Kenny Clark and Rashan Gary recovered it. The Packers would take over at their own 6-yard line with 12:54 remaining in the game. Huge play by Kenny Clark to save what was a horrendous drive for the Packers’ defense. 

A first down off a five-yard pass to Romeo Doubs would get the Packers out of the danger zone to start. But, a pass over a wide-open Luke Musgrave and then a drop by Dontayvion Wicks would lead to third down where Love would face a lot of pressure and be called for intentional grounding pushing the Packers backward and forcing them to punt. Daniel Whelan would have to punt from his own end-zone and send a boomer 61 yards downfield and after only a 6-yard return, the Chargers would take over at their own 37. Big tackle by Zayne Anderson on the return and we finally find out that Anderson is indeed a real person! 

With 11:00 remaining the Chargers would take over and nearly faced a three and out before Herbert would hit Parham up the middle for a first down to the Packers’ 49-yard line. The Chargers would then have two first-down plays, taking it to the Packers’ 38 before Keisean Nixon nearly made an INT but Stone Smartt, the Chargers’ receiver, would be called for offensive pass interference pushing the Chargers back. But, it was too easy for the Chargers to recover as a pass to Allen and a Herbert scramble would take it to the Packers 22. A delay of game would push the Chargers backward once again, but Herbert would recover again on a scramble for the first down. The containment of Herbert in this game had been awful with him running for 53 yards to this point. Three plays later Herbert would hit Keenan Allen for a 10-yard touchdown on third down. The extra point would make it 20-16 Chargers with 5:24 remaining in the game. That missed extra point unfortunately looming for the Packers with them now needing a touchdown to win it.  

The Packers would take over with 5:24 remaining to get the ball down the field to the end zone. The drive would get off to a terrible start with a Christian Watson run only going for 1 yard and then the ball was stripped from Jordan Love but recovered by the Packers. On third down, Jordan Love missed Wicks up the middle, but DPI would be called, and the Packers would get a first down at their 39. On 2nd down, Love would hit Wicks with a short pass, but Wicks would escape the tackle and take off for a 36-yard gain down to the Chargers’ 26-yard line. Then on second down Jordan Love would hit Romeo Doubs with a great touchdown pass to take the lead 23-20 with 2:33 remaining on the clock. An outstanding pass by Love to get that TD and now it’s up to the defense to get this win.  

The Chargers went absolutely nowhere on their next drive but backward as two incompletions on first and second down led to a Rashan Gary sack on third down and Los Angeles had to punt it away with less than two minutes on the clock. A huge stop for the Packers’ defense, some complimentary football we’ve sorely lacked as of late.  

After the punt, the Packers would take over at their own 46-yard line with 1:47 on the clock and the Chargers having all three timeouts. The Packers would play it safe and run it three times with AJ Dillon to take away the Chargers’ timeouts before having to punt it away. The punt would unfortunately sail into the end-zone as the Chargers would take over at the 25 with 1:27 to go. 

With the game on the line, the Chargers started with a 6-yard grab and run out of bounds for Austin Ekeler. On 2nd down the snap was fumbled but the Chargers quickly recovered it and we hit 3rd down. The next play there would be an incomplete pass to Keenan Allen but Keisean Nixon would be called for DPI giving the Chargers the first down at the 26-yard line. A few plays later on third down Quentin Johnson would be near wide open as the pass would hit him in the hands in field goal range but he’d drop it forcing 4th down for the Chargers. Carrington Valentine was saved on this play as he was beaten by Johnson. On 4th and 6, Rashan Gary would jump offsides making it 4th and 1 for the Chargers. He seemed to get a little overzealous trying to get a good jump but luckily it didn't cost us too much as on the next play Kenny Clark batted back the Justin Herbert pass. Turnover on downs.

Taking over with 0:19 remaining, Jordan Love would kneel the ball sealing the Packers' 4th win of the season taking them to a 4-6 record with a final score of 23-20 Packers on top. 

Offensive Player of the Game:

This is a close one for me. But I'm giving it to Jayden Reed. His play in the first half electrified this team. He finished the game with 3 carries for 46 yards including a 32-yard touchdown on an end-around, and 4 catches for 46 yards as well. He is a very dynamic player that the Packers used well in this game. Jordan Love has to run a close second with his first 300+ yard game through the air, but Reed was the jolt of energy this team needed.

Defensive Player of the Game:

Another very close one for me, but I'm giving it to Rashan Gary. The fumble recovery with the Chargers knocking at the door at the Packers' two-yard line and then the sack of Justin Herbert to stifle their first comeback attempt was huge. Kenny Clark runs a close second being the one that forced that fumble that Gary recovered, and of course, his batted pass on the final play for the Chargers sealed it. But I'm giving Rashan Gary the honors in this game. 

What Went Right:

The passing game is improving. It's still not pretty, but Jordan Love had a good game. He needs to hit Luke Musgrave on that wide-open pass along the sidelines, but he seems to be a far cry from where he was a few weeks ago and I'll take it for now. 

Jayden Reed is a weapon. This guy is a dynamic Swiss-army knife and this game showed we made the right decision by being patient and nabbing him in the second round, I can't wait to see what his career holds. 

What Went Wrong:

Containment. How embarrassing is it for an opposing QB to run it 8 times for 73 yards? And it's not even a QB that is known for being mobile. The Packers need to keep their eye on Quarterbacks who could be a threat to run so they can minimize the impact. It seemed like they weren't expecting Herbert to even think about leaving the pocket. 

Jonathan Owens tackling. Enough patty-cake, you're last in the line of defense, tackle somebody already. 

Injuries. At the time I'm writing this Aaron Jones seems to have avoided long-term injury, but he'll still be missed moving forward. We'll need to sign a running back or two to the 53 on a short week's notice.

Looking Forward:

We've got turkey day football in just a few days. The Packers will head to Detroit to take on the Lions in the Lions' annual Thanksgiving Day game. In the early 2000s, it seemed like the NFL was trying to revive the Packers vs Lions Thanksgiving tradition. Between 2001 and 2013, the Packers had to visit Detroit on turkey day six times. But it's been ten years since that has happened, and I can't say I've complained. Many view it as an unbreakable tradition for the Lions to host on Thanksgiving, they've done it since 1934. But I wouldn't bat an eyelash if the NFL decided to begin removing that tradition and give other teams not located in Detroit or Dallas a shot at hosting on the holiday. The Lions of course are top of the division heading into this game and will be coming off their matchup with the Chicago Bears in Detroit. I can't say I'm excited about this one for multiple reasons. Those reasons include how badly we matched up against Detroit in week 4. But, it would make that turkey and dressing taste so much better if somehow we pull off a surprise victory. Speaking of that, Thursday's recap will be a little later than usual due to Thanksgiving festivities but fear not, I'll have you covered soon enough whether you have it to read before or right after you have your pumpkin pie. Until then my friends, Go Pack Go.