The Good, Bad And Ugly From The Green Bay Packers’ Win Over The Carolina Panthers

Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love threw two touchdowns and ran for another in the Packers’ 33-30 win … [+] over Carolina on Sunday.

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Football is undoubtedly a game of inches.

It’s also a game of milliseconds.

Carolina reached Green Bay Packers’ 31-yard line in the final moments of their game Sunday. The Panthers — who were without any timeouts — raced to spike the ball as the final seconds ticked away.

By the time Carolina quarterback Bryce Young reached the ball, though, and spiked it, the last second melted off the clock.

Green Bay 33, Carolina 30.

“We just ran out of time,” Panthers interim coach Chris Tabor said.

The wild ending overshadowed a day in which quarterback Jordan Love and running back Aaron Jones had huge days for the Packers, the defense was dismal once again, and rookie kicker Anders Carlson made a 32-yard, game-winning field goal with 19 seconds left.

Green Bay improved to 7-8 and kept its playoff hopes alive.

“It feels good to win,” Green Bay coach Matt Lafleur said. “Certainly made it a little closer than we would’ve liked but give Carolina a ton of credit. They fought for four quarters. The bottom line is that we found a way to make a couple of plays down the stretch to propel us to a win.”

Here’s the good, bad and ugly from the Packers’ win over the Panthers:

THE GOOD

FANTASTIC FIRST HALF: The Packers scored on their first four possessions of the game.

Green Bay scored touchdowns on its first two possessions — a 1-yard TD run by A.J. Dillon and a 1-yard scoring run by Love. Anders Carlson drilled a 53-yard field goal and Love hit Dontayvion Wicks for a 21-yard TD.

The Packers piled up 251 yards in the first half, had 19 first downs and averaged 6.8 yards per play.

“I thought the first half everything was flowing well,” LaFleur said of his offense. “One cool moment was when we were on the goal line there in the first half and (Love) audibled to that quarterback sneak. I think that shows kind of the level of growth that he’s had in his game, just to see that and take advantage of it. That was a pretty cool moment.”

JORDAN LOVE: The No. 1 priority for the Packers in 2023 was finding out if Jordan Love could be their quarterback of the future. Each week, that answer is a more resounding ‘Yes!’

Love was forced to operate without his best receiver — rookie Jayden Reed — and speedster Christian Watson. Then early in the third quarter, standout rookie Dontayvion Wicks exited with a chest injury.

Love never batted an eye and led the Packers to their second-most points of the year.

Love went 17-of-28 for 219 yards, threw two touchdowns and didn’t have an interception. Love finished the day with a 109.1 passer rating, marking the fifth time in six games he’s had a rating above 100.0.

Most importantly, Love engineered a nine-play, 61-yard game-winning drive that led to Carlson’s game-winning field goal.

“I think anytime you can get a win, we’re going to celebrate that,” Love said. “Obviously keep the playoff hopes alive. We found a way tonight. Obviously now it’s on to next week.”

JUST LIKE OLD TIMES?: During his first six seasons, Aaron Jones was not just one of the most explosive running backs in the league. He was also one of the most explosive running backs in NFL history.

Jones entered the 2023 campaign ranked No. 4 in league history with an average of 5.11 yards per carry. In addition, Jones, Cleveland’s Jim Brown (1957-62) and Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson (2007-12) were the only players in NFL history to post 5,000-plus rushing yards, 60-plus scrimmage TDs and average 5.0-plus yards per carry in their first six seasons.

Jones looked like one of the greats again Sunday, when he set season-highs in carries (21) and rushing yards (127). In the first half alone, Jones had 11 carries for 89 yards.

“Finally getting back healthy,” Jones said. “I feel like I showed people a lot of the doubters, people who may be saying, ‘Oh, he’s getting too old, blah, blah, blah.’ It felt good.”

It was quite the performance for Jones, who’s battled a bevy of injuries throughout a frustrating season. Jones entered Sunday’s game with just 298 rushing yards this year and a career-low 3.8 yards per carry.

Jones had the breakout game, though, the Packers have been waiting for — and it came at the perfect time.

“When you can run the ball first and second down and get huge gains, and kind of just convert and keep those drives rolling, it’s huge,” Love said. “It takes pressure off the pass game and keeps the defense on their heels, trying to find ways to stop the run. But I think just the way we started, running the ball on those first couple of drives was huge and got us going.”

BO KNOWS: The Packers were shorthanded at wide receiver with Jayden Reed (ankle/toe/chest) and Christian Watson (hamstring) sidelined. Standout rookie Dontayvion Wicks also left the game early in the third quarter with a chest injury.

But Bo Melton, who was elevated from the practice squad Saturday, gave the Packers quite a lift.

Melton had four receptions for 44 yards and also had one carry for seven yards.

“I haven’t played in a long time in an in-season game,” Melton said. “So getting some more catches today. Jordan, me and him in practice have a great connection. He has a great connection with all the receivers. Just being able to come out here and show it to the world was an amazing feeling.”

THIS AND THAT: Outside linebacker Preston Smith had 1.5 sacks. … Carolina went for it on fourth-and-2 from Green Bay’s 38-yard line late in the first half. But linebackers Kingsley Enagbare and Isaiah McDuffie dumped Chuba Hubbard for a 2-yard loss. … Rookie kicker Anders Carlson made a career-long 53-yard field goal. … Keisean Nixon had a 38-yard kickoff return midway through the third quarter.

THE BAD

NOTHING SPECIAL: Green Bay’s special teams units lead the league in penalties. And it didn’t take them long to get a costly one Sunday.

The Packers forced a three-and-out to start the game. On the Panthers’ punt, though, Lukas Van Ness was flagged for roughing punter Johnny Hekker.

That not only gave Carolina a first down, it took away a nifty 20-yard return by Keisean Nixon.

LATE GAME WOES: The Packers took a 30-16 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Green Bay managed just six total yards on six plays on its next two drives. The Packers didn’t have a first down in that time.

Green Bay had more than enough chances to put the Panthers away. Instead, the Packers’ offense got stuck in first gear and allowed Carolina to creep back in the game.

“We just never quite got into a great rhythm in the second half,” LaFleur said. “I thought the first half everything was flowing well. But the second half, give them credit, we couldn’t get a first down on a couple of those possessions.”

THIS AND THAT: Rookie kicker Anders Carlson missed his fourth extra point of the year. Carlson is now 27-of-31 on extra points (87.1%). … Linebacker Isaiah McDuffie was hit with a roughing the passer penalty midway through the third quarter to keep a Carolina drive alive. Four plays later, Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard scored from 4 yards out and pulled Carolina within 23-16. … Romeo Doubs had a critical fumble after a 28-yard, third quarter reception. Luckily for Doubs, though, Green Bay H-back Josiah Deguara recovered the loose ball. … Defensive end Devonte Wyatt was tagged with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty midway through the fourth quarter.

THE UGLY

DEFENSIVE WOES CONTINUE: Carolina entered the day ranked 29th in scoring offense (14.7 points per game) and 30th in total yards (270.9). The Panthers had not scored 20 points in a game since Oct. 15 — 70 days ago.

This was an offense the Packers should have dominated.

But one way for offenses to get healthy these days is to face Joe Barry’s dreadful defense.

Carolina piled up 394 yards, as rookie quarterback Bryce Young threw for 312 yards and two TDs. The Panthers had 26 first downs and averaged 6.4 yards per play.

The Panthers had touchdowns on their first two fourth quarter drives. And the only thing that stopped them on their third drive is time expired.

“Momentum’s a crazy phenomenon and I think they got the momentum in the second half and they were rolling really in every phase,” LaFleur said.

After the Packers suffered a 34-20 loss to Tampa Bay last week, much-maligned defensive coordinator Joe Barry said: “This week particular was hard. It was hard on me, hard on my family. But this is the National Football League. This is what you sign up for, so what’s the saying: No crying in spilled milk or over spilled milk. You deal with it.”

Barry’s defense didn’t deal with it very well against the Panthers. And it almost ended the Packers’ playoff dreams.