Rodgers’ Late Heroics Enough As Pack Slip Past Niners
Winning ugly seems to be a familiar theme resurfacing for the Green Bay Packers this season.
While they know this continuously inconsistent play won’t cut it moving forward with a difficult stretch upcoming, any victory is a good one.
The Green Bay Packers rallied late to defeat the San Francisco 49ers 33-30 on Monday night at Lambeau Field.
Behind Aaron Rodgers’ 425 passing yards and 2 TDs, the Green Bay Packers avoided a huge upset on their home-field vs a 1-4 49ers team.
Rodgers has now thrown for 400+ yards for the second consecutive week. It’s the sixth 400-yard game of his NFL career.
Mason Crosby, who missed five field goals last week, rebounded by going 4-for-4 which included the game-winning field goal as time expired to help Green Bay improve to 3-0 at home this season.
Davante Adams would finish the game with 10 receptions for 132 receiving yards and 2 TDs. It’s Adams’ second consecutive 100-yard game and second this season.
The Green Bay Packers out-gained the San Francisco 49ers 521 to 401. They finished the game only 4-for-13 on third down (30.7%).
Green Bay won the turnover battle 3-0 on Monday night as San Francisco has committed eight turnovers over the last two weeks.
C.J. Beathard, playing in place of a injured Jimmy Garoppolo, finished the game with 245 passing yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT.
The Green Bay Packers offense got it rolling against a San Francisco 49ers defense struggling to start the season.
Rodgers torched the Bay area based team in the first quarter as he connected for two plays of 50+ yards, first to Marquez Valdes-Scantling on a 60-yarder and then to Jimmy Graham on a 54-yarder.
The Packers quarterback would toss a touchdown pass in the quarter as Green Bay held a surprisingly tight first quarter lead of 17-14 over the visiting team.
Typically when a warm weather team comes to Green Bay in frigid conditions that spells trouble for the road team.
Not in the first half for San Francisco, who answered Green Bay’s early haymakers with haymakers of their own. Behind backup quarterback C.J. Beathard, the 49ers would take a surprising 24-20 lead into the half at Lambeau Field.
49ers wide receiver Marquise Goodwin — off to a quiet start to the season — had a huge first half with 114 receiving yards and 2 TDs as twice he beat Green Bay’s DBs long touchdowns.
The 49ers offset 222 passing yards by Aaron Rodgers in the first half by putting together 290 yards of offense.
After a hot start to the game, Rodgers and the Packers offense would be cooled off as they converted their first third down of the game halfway through the third quarter as they were 0-for-6 on third down prior.
The two teams would exchange field goals in the third quarter. San Francisco would extend the lead to 30-23 after a 43-yard field goal by kicker Robbie Gould.
Driving to try to tie the game, Green Bay would fail to convert a third down in redzone but would go for it on 4th and 3 at the 49ers 4-yard line.
San Francisco’s defense which has stifled Green Bay since the beginning of the second quarter, would come up with a huge defensive stand as a pass intended for Marquez Valdes-Scantling would fall incomplete, forcing a turnover on downs for Green Bay.
Mike McCarthy team would force a much-needed three-and-out as San Francisco failed to convert on a 3rd and 10 pass to wide receiver Pierre Garcon that went for nine yards.
With the ball near mid-field with under six minutes to go, Rodgers and the Packers mystifying offensive struggles continued as they went three-and-out after Rodgers was sacked by defensive end Ronald Blair on third down.
Back with the ball again looking to tie the game, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers would. Rodgers would hit wide receiver Davante Adams for a 16-yard touchdown over the outstretched arm of cornerback Greg Mabin to tie the game at 30-30.
After a interception by Packers cornerback Kevin King with a little over a minute left to play, the Green Bay Packers set up at their own 10-yard line with no timeouts would leave 49ers fans shaking their heads.
Behind Rodgers arm and legs, the Packers would drive 81 yards in 10 plays to position themselves to win the game with a 27-yard field goal by Mason Crosby to win the game at 33-30.
The San Francisco 49ers (1-5) wanted to come out and show that they were a team that was going to fight amid a difficult situation.
They did that, but Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers will be stewing for sure that they couldn’t put together a closing act on offense or defense in a game that was there’s throughout.
An illegal contact penalty on cornerback Richard Sherman wiped out a sack on 3rd and 15 at Green Bay’s 19-yard line. Had Sherman avoided the penalty, San Francisco with 49 seconds to play would’ve had all three timeouts with good field position to possibly win the game on a late field goal.
We’ll never know, however, as football can sometimes be a cruel sport that doesn’t always hedge on violence for it to produce that stinging sensation.
The Green Bay Packers (3-2-1) escaped with a much-needed victory following a ugly loss in Detroit last week, but it’s uncertain what kind of team these Cheeseheads are.
The Packers looked suspect defensively in the first half and mostly ineffective and inefficient offensively between the second quarter on tonight.
Green Bay heads into their bye knowing they dodged a humiliating defeat at home to one of the worst teams in the NFL without their starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who is lost for the season with a torn ACL.
Green Bay’s offensive struggles through the first five weeks had been attributed to Rodgers injured knee and a relatively young wide receiving corp.
When you’re locked in a close game with a team that in its previous game lost to a 0-4 Arizona Cardinals team at home by 10 points, there’s something far worse transpiring for the team off to a disappointing start to 2018.
While Rodgers’ greatness is sometimes taken for granted, Green Bay find themselves to be incredibly fortunate in how this football game played out.
They will now have a week off before a trip to Los Angeles to face the undefeated Los Angeles Rams.
What are your thoughts on Green Bay’s victory? Leave your comments below!