Green Bay Packers v. Arizona: Instant Takeaways from Massive Road Win

A short week, on the road, along with several key players missing, but the Green Bay Packers came away with an incredibly impressive win over the Arizona Cardinals.

Let’s dive into my instant takeaways from the Green Bay Packers’ performance.

– It’s never easy in Arizona, is it?

– I can’t believe how quickly things changed in the final minutes. It went from Aaron Jones scoring and giving the Packers a two-score lead to Green Bay nearly losing in the final seconds.

– Rasul Douglas has been so solid since he arrived in Green Bay. I have no idea why he’s bounced from team to team and hasn’t been able to stick. What a signing.

– This is a very good Arizona offense with a lot of weapons, but for the most part, this Green Bay Packers defense held up well.

– The Green Bay pass rush was excellent. The defensive front was able to get home often — even if they didn’t tally a bunch of sacks — with just four pass-rushers and they kept Kyler Murray in the pocket.

– With that said, we saw Eric Stokes misplay another ball and it resulted in a huge play for Arizona. This was a concern about his game coming out of Georgia and will have to improve.

– As I discussed in my Final Thoughts article, running the ball and controlling the clock were going to be two big keys to victory for Green Bay–and they were able to do both. Jones and Dillon combined for over 135 rushing yards and the Packers held the ball for almost 38 minutes.

– This is an Arizona defense that has been very good against the pass this season, and of course, the Packers were without their top-3 receivers, so moving the ball through the air was difficult, to say the least. However, the Packers found some success utilizing the quick passing game and getting the ball out of Rodgers’ hands.

– Jones and Tonyan were Rodgers’ top receiving targets, although Cobb did have two touchdown receptions. On top of that, eight different players were targeted and seven had at least one reception.

– Juwann Winfree was the team’s leading receiver in the same game that he made his first NFL catch.

– Green Bay just can’t escape the injury bug. Both Kylin Hill and Tonyan left with knee injuries. But despite missing a number of key players, they continue to win.

– The Packers OL played well tonight. The interior was creating running lanes and Rodgers was rarely touched–although the quick passing game certainly helped with that.

– The run game was working but for whatever reason, following the fumble recovery on the Arizona punt return, the Packers ran three straight pass plays inside the five-yard line.

– Green Bay’s veteran additions keep coming up big. De’Vondre Campbell, Rasul Douglas, Corey Bojorquez, and Randall Cobb all had impact plays. I imagine this is what Rodgers was referring to in past press conferences.

– Arizona entered the game first in third down and fourth down defense and we saw why today. If Green Bay didn’t have early down success, odds were that they weren’t going to move the chains.

– The Cardinals scored two touchdowns in the second half and each time the Green Bay Packers’ offense responded beautifully with long drives. Unfortunately, only one ended with a touchdown.

– I have to say, and I’m sure many agree, on that final drive at the goal line, I do not know why we didn’t see AJ Dillon.

– The Packers’ offense controlled the time of possession, they were 3/5 in the red zone — which could have been better — and the team won the turnover battle. That’s how you win football games on the road against a very good opponent.

– It was nice to have Dominique Dafney back off IR. He made several nice blocks in the run game.

– Rodgers and LaFleur sure love to use timeouts like they have an unlimited amount.

– After Washington was 0/4 against the Green Bay defense in the red zone, Arizona found success like every other team has–although Green Bay came up with the biggest stop on the final possession. However, why the Packers played with so many lightboxes inside the 20, I have no idea.

– The Green Bay Packers now get a much-needed mini-bye before they play Kansas City. This win was massive in terms of possible playoff implications.