In first half today, I was thinking this is the type of game that started the Packers positives. The Packers were down 28-0, Christian Watson was hurt, Jordan Love looked like a shelf of himself and I felt myself having boomer-type reaction to Vikings celebrations. Then they turned it around.
Sure, they ended up losing 31-29 but the fact that they were able to end the game on a 29-3 run is the entire theme of this column. This team fights back. They did it last year after starting off terribly over the first 8 games and they did it today after the first two quarters. That type of fight is what you need in the playoffs, and it was what was missing for the latter half of the McCarthy/Rodgers era.
• Jayden Reed is a bona fide number 1 wide receiver. Screw any talk of him not being as fast as Christian Watson or as good of a route runner as Dontayvion Wicks or not having strong hands like Romeo Doubs he’s better than all of them. He proved it today by snagging the momentum changing TD and ending the game with 7 catches for 139 yards and a TD. He’s fourth in the NFL in receiving yards and impacts every game even when he doesn’t have the ball.
• No to speak ill of Wicks who really showed something today coming back from a quarter season of horrible drops to end with two TDs and 78 yards. If Watson misses time, Wicks will need to keep this up.
• Jordan Love did his best Brett Favre impression with 4 TDs and 3 picks but you have to feel positive about how much he better he played as the game went on – remember he is definitely rusty and playing with an injured knee. He’ll get even better and the TWPs will go down.
• You also have to give the offense, generally, credit for piling up yards and points against this Vikings defense that the whole world has been praising for the last two weeks. They ran the ball well enough, moved the chains passing it and didn’t get Love overly pressured.
• The defense may have had its best performance of the season. Without their top two corners, they held what has been one of the league’s best offenses to 17 points not off turnovers. They got pressure on Darnold on third downs when it mattered and, again, forced multiple turnovers.
• Speaking of turnovers, Xavier McKinney had a pick again, that’s one in each of the first four games this year. Seems like a cinch that he us the team’s best safety since Nick Collins.
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