The Good, Bad And Ugly From The Green Bay Packers’ Loss To The New York Giants

Matt LaFleur was the grumpiest man in Green Bay last week.

He bemoaned the fact his Packers had to travel 4,000 miles to London to play a football game.

He didn’t care for the nine-hour plane ride. And he certainly didn’t like the fact his body clock would be messed with.

When asked point blank his thoughts on the trip, LaFleur said: “I’m not going to give you my honest answer. I’d rather refrain.”

If LaFleur was grumpy before his Packers met the New York Giants, imagine how grouchy he was going to be on the plane ride home.

The Giants outscored the Packers, 17-2, in the second half and rallied for an improbable 27-22 win. Green Bay was an 8-point favorite.

The Giants improved to 4-1, while the Packers fell to 3-2.

Here’s the good, bad and ugly from the Giants’ win over the Packers.

THE GOOD

RANDALL COBB: Many scoffed when the Packers traded for Cobb in the summer of 2021. Many were even more agitated when Green Bay brought back the veteran wideout this season after he caught just 28 passes for 375 yards last year.

But Cobb has always been an Aaron Rodgers favorite. It’s why he was brought back to Green Bay in the first place.

And Cobb is definitely paying dividends.

Cobb caught seven passes for 99 yards in his biggest game since coming back to the Packers.

“He looks more like himself. He looks like 2016 Randall I think,” Rodgers said. “That’s why I … do feel really strongly he needs more opportunities. He deserves the opportunities. There is still some part of this game that is a meritocracy, and in that sense I believe every time he touches the ball, something good has been happening for us.”

Cobb had a 35-yard reception on the Packers’ first drive of the day — his longest of the year — which led to a field goal. And that was just the start of his big day.

“I’ve been doing everything I can to keep my body intact and unfortunately it’s a 100% injury rate in this league and you just hope it’s never anything serious,” Cobb said. “And unfortunately I’ve had some injuries over my career, but whenever I’m healthy, I feel like I can do something and I’m trying to show that day in and day out.”

MASON CROSBY: The Packers’ all-time leading scorer made just 73.5% of his field goals (25 of 34) last year, the second-poorest season of his 15-year career. Crosby also had a field goal blocked in Green Bay’s playoff loss.

But Crosby has bounced back and is off to a terrific start. Crosby is 6-for-6 this season on field goals and 11-of-11 on extra points.

“Let’s keep plugging away,” Crosby said of his approach. “It’s always just trying to be really fully invested in that process. I’ve been on so many different teams, in a sense, where you’ve got a lot of turnover, you’ve got these new young guys coming in and all these different feels that you get. Just trying to reset each season and plug away.”

THIS AND THAT: For the first time all season, the Packers didn’t allow an opponent to score in their opening drive. Green Bay’s first four opponents combined for 20 points on their opening possessions. … Rodgers completed passes to nine different players in the first half.

THE BAD

AMARI RODGERS: Green Bay’s third round pick in 2021 has fallen out of the wide receiver rotation. He was replaced on kick returns Sunday by rookie wideout Christian Watson. Then after fumbling his second punt of the game, Rodgers was replaced on that unit by Keisean Nixon.

Just what’s next for Rodgers remains to be seen.

The fact Rodgers was a third round draft pick probably means he’s safe for the time being. But Rodgers has just four career receptions and has now lost his return jobs, making his future in Green Bay tenuous, at best.

PLAYING WITH FIRE: New York wide receivers Kenny Golladay (knee) and Kadarius Toney (hamstring) were out. Quarterback Daniel Jones played through an ankle injury. And Saquon Barkley, arguably the best running back in football, left late in the third quarter with a shoulder injury.

Yet, the Packers let the Giants hang around, and eventually New York made them pay.

Green Bay has caught some major breaks on the injury front.

In Week 3, Tampa Bay was without its top three wide receivers. Still, the Packers barely survived, winning 14-12 when they stopped a late two-point conversion by the Buccaneers.

In Week 4, New England was down to its No. 3 quarterback. But the Packers needed overtime to beat the Patriots, 27-24.

The Packers couldn’t put the injury-plagued Buccaneers or Patriots away, but survived. On Sunday, Green Bay’s luck against injury-ravaged teams ran out.

THIS AND THAT: The Giants held the ball for more than 32 minutes, and did a terrific job shortening the game and keeping Aaron Rodgers on the sideline. … Green Bay sacked Giants quarterback Daniel Jones just once. … David Bakhtiari and Yosh Nijman split time at left tackle. A week ago, Bakhtiari — who’s coming back from a torn ACL suffered in Dec., 2020 — played 70 of 73 snaps. This week, Bakhtiari couldn’t go a full game. Whether the Packers were being cautious with him or splitting time is their plan moving forward remains to be seen.

THE UGLY

SECOND HALF DEFENSE: The Giants scored 17 points on their first three possessions of the second half and took control of the game.

New York marched 56 yards in 11 plays on their opening drive of the half and got a 37-yard field goal from Graham Gano to pull within 20-13. The Giants then drove 91 yards for a touchdown, this one a 2-yard score by Gary Brightwell that tied the game, 20-20, early in the fourth quarter.

Then midway through the fourth, the Giants went 60 yards in six plays and took a 27-20 lead after a 2-yard touchdown run by Saquon Barkley.

Green Bay’s defense, which was supposed to be one of the NFL’s elite units, was anything but that in the second half.

SECOND HALF OFFENSE: As bad as Green Bay’s second half defense was, the offense was almost as inept.

The Packers managed just 46 yards and no points on their first two drives of the second half. Then with a chance to tie the game, Rodgers drove Green Bay to New York’s 6-yard line.

On both third and fourth down, though, Rodgers had passes batted down. And on Green Bay’s final Hail Mary play of the game, Rodgers was sacked and fumbled.

RASUL DOUGLAS: The game was tied, 20-20, when on a second-and-goal from the 10, Giants quarterback Daniel Jones completed a 6-yard pass to Darius Slayton. On the tackle, Douglas body slammed Slayton to the ground.

Douglas was flagged for unnecessary roughness, and instead of third-and-goal from the 4, the Giants had a first-and-goal from the 2. On the next play, Barkley turned the right corner for the go-ahead score.