The Green Bay Packers came from behind in the fourth quarter and survived the New York Giants‘ upset bid on Sunday, securing a 27-20 win at MetLife Stadium and ending the team’s two-game losing streak. It wasn’t easy, even against the two-win Giants — Mike Kafka’s team led 7-0 after the opening possession and eventually took a 20-19 lead in the fourth quarter, but the Packers were the better team to finish it out and escaped with a much-needed victory.
Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly coming out of the Packers’ win in Week 11:
The Good
The finish: It wasn’t pretty for most of the first 50 minutes or so. But the Packers took over midway through the fourth quarter and made all the big plays late, which is so often required to win close games at the NFL level. After falling behind 20-19, Jordan Love promptly completed four passes for 71 yards on the game-winning drive, including a 33-yard completion to Savion Williams on 3rd-and-10 and the go-ahead 17-yard score to Christian Watson. Defensively, Evan Williams anticipated a corner route and picked off Jameis Winston in the end zone with the Giants driving and under a minute to go, and Micah Parsons ended the game with a strip-sack turnover. Clutch plays late won the game.
The Bad
More injuries: It will be interesting to see how long the injury report is come Wednesday, and who can practice during prep for the Vikings in Week 12. Jordan Love left with a left shoulder injury but returned. Josh Jacobs suffered a knee injury and didn’t play in the second half. Romeo Doubs, Matthew Golden, Arron Mosby, Quay Walker and Zach Tom all left with injuries. Nate Hobbs, Lukas Van Ness and Brandon McManus didn’t play because of injuries. The offense is struggling with consistency, and at least part of it can be pinned on all the moving parts due to injuries at every position group. Jacobs’ status will need to be monitored moving forward.
The kicking: It was an unpredictably windy day at MetLife Stadium, but the kicking game still left two points out there with missed extra points. Lucas Havrisik, who kicked in relief of the still injured Brandon McManus, badly missed two extra points and finished 1-for-3 on kicks. On the other side, former Falcon Younghoe Koo made 2-of-3 extra points, and he had a third make negated by penalty.
The Ugly
The drops: Problems catching the football plagued both sides. The offense had as many as a half dozen drops, including two drops on third down. Romeo Doubs and Luke Musgrave both had multiple drops and failed catches, and Christian Watson let a perfectly thrown deep ball go through his hands on third down in the second half. On defense, at least four potential Jameis Winston turnovers were dropped before Evan Williams finally caught one late. Carrington Valentine and Javon Bullard both had chances to create turnovers deep in Giants territory. Another dropped pick could have prevented a touchdown. Had the Packers simply made the routine catches on offense and defense on Sunday, a blowout was not only possible, but probably likely.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Good, bad and ugly from Packers’ win over Giants in Week 11
