Instant Takeaways from Packers nail-biting overtime win over New England

It wasn’t pretty, but as Matt LaFleur said following the Green Bay Packers win a week ago, they’ll never apologize for winning. Green Bay escapes with a nail-biting win over the Patriots to improve to 3-1 on the season.

With the clock having just hit triple-zero, here are my instant takeaways from the Packers performance.

– Rashan Gary was unstoppable. Whether against the run or the pass, he was making plays–showcasing his power and speed.

– Safety depth is a concern on this Packers team. With Adrian Amos leaving with a concussion, Rudy Ford took over next to Darnell Savage. Against Bailey Zappe, we didn’t exactly see New England trying to push the ball and challenging Ford, but if Amos is out beyond this week, that will be worth watching.

– This season, we’ve seen Gary and Preston Smith resting at different points more often. Last season, this didn’t happen much. This is one way that the Packers can hide their lack of depth at the position by pairing Gary and Smith with the backups.

– The Packers offense has now lost a fumble in all four games this season. That was the second time in two weeks that Romeo Doubs put the ball on the ground. We see the flashes with Doubs, including on that back-shoulder touchdown grab, but he has to be more consistent, as we saw on that deep pass late in the fourth quarter. As Rodgers said, there would be growing pains, but Doubs should have the opportunity to work through those with more chances.

– We haven’t seen the Packers push the ball downfield too often on offense this season, and one key contributor is that getting into third and manageable situations is taking priority. When the Packers fall behind the sticks, picking up the first down becomes increasingly challenging.

– Elgton Jenkins and David Bakhtiari are still shaking some rust off. Jenkins, in particular, had some issues with Matthew Judon, who has been very good this season. The move to right tackle hasn’t been an easy one so far.

– Yosh Nijman was questionable but did end up playing. After Bakhtiari took all of the snaps in the first quarter, we still saw the two rotating occasionally at left tackle, but Bakhtiari would play much of the game.

– When facing Bill Belichick, you know he wants to take away what the opponent does best on offense. For the Packers, that meant trying to limit the quick passing game, which they have relied on heavily, and Rodgers has been very efficient with. For much of the game, the Patriots were able to take those quick hitters away.

– The end result was a rough game for Aaron Rodgers, which included a rare pick-six, several inaccurate throws, and a passer rating at halftime of 11.2. To some degree, Belichick is going to do that to quarterbacks, even very good ones, but overall it has been a slow start to the season for Rodgers–although he did have a much better second half with some impressive Rodgers-esque throws, including a few big ones on third downs.

– In the midst of the inconsistencies from the passing game, Allen Lazard had a really nice game with over 100 receiving yards. He made some key blocks in the run game as well. Also, Randall Cobb came up with some monster third down receptions.

– The defense once again let the opposing offense move the ball down the field on the opening possession. Fortunately, they held the Patriots to three, but Green Bay has allowed points on the first drive of the game each week this season.

– We saw Christian Watson’s speed on that touchdown run, but his speed impacts the game even when he doesn’t touch the ball. There were several running lanes opened up for Jones and Dillon when Watson was sent in motion.

– The offensive line was creating some huge running lanes today, and Aaron Jones took advantage. It’s not a coincidence that the offense really slowed down when they became a bit pass-happy, but LaFleur and Rodgers corrected. The game ended with a fairly equal run-pass split.

– The Packers’ special teams unit faced their toughest test of the season today, and it was noticeable. Overall, the unit just didn’t look as sharp as it had the previous two weeks–with the kick coverage unit really struggling. The Patriots entered Sunday’s game with PFF’s sixth-highest special teams grade. But once again, O’Donnell and Nixon came up with a big punt inside the two-yard line.

– The Patriots have had issues early on this season covering tight ends, and we saw Robert Tonyan find the end zone. His ability down the seam and in the red zone are two elements we saw on that touchdown but are also two things that this offense was dearly missing during the second half of 2021.

– There were two major breakdowns in the Packers’ secondary, something we saw on a few occasions during their Week 1 loss. One led to a touchdown pass. The ups and downs that this defense has experienced early on this season are head-scratching.

– As expected, the Patriots leaned heavily on their run game and found success. The Packers’ edge rushers could have been better at setting the edge. I also thought we’d see Green Bay in their heavier base personnel more often to slow the run. They knew it was coming but still couldn’t stop it. Overall, this defense was way too passive—but credit where credit is due, that three and out they forced in overtime was huge. New England was a first down away from being in field goal range.

– The Packers were heavy favorites entering the game, but you knew Bill Belichick would keep this game close.