Love Leads Packers Past Panthers
Green Bay secured a 27-19 win despite a weak rushing attack, while Carolina mounted a late scoring drive that fell short.
By Rosa Fuentes ·
Jordan Love threw for 288 yards and three touchdowns as the Green Bay Packers defeated the Carolina Panthers 27-19 on Thursday night. The victory kept Green Bay at 5-3, while Carolina dropped to 3-4. The game featured a late offensive push by the Panthers that was stopped on the final play.
The contest began with a turnover. Carolina recovered an opening kickoff fumble at the Green Bay 29 yard line but settled for a 39-yard field goal by Ryan Fitzgerald. Green Bay responded with an eight-play, 56-yard drive. Love connected with tight end Tucker Kraft on a 12-yard touchdown pass. Trey Smack missed the subsequent extra point. Carolina then took a 10-6 lead when Chuba Hubbard ran for one yard on the opening play of the second quarter.
Green Bay regained the lead with two touchdowns in the second half. Love completed a 53-yard pass to Christian Watson to set up Josh Jacobs' one-yard run, putting the Packers ahead 13-10. Late in the first half, Love threw a 24-yard score to Matthew Golden to extend the lead to 20-10. After a fourth-down stop by Green Bay on Carolina's first possession of the second half, Love found Jacobs on a four-yard pass to make the score 27-10.
Carolina attempted a rally in the fourth quarter. Bryce Young threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Coker with 5:37 remaining, cutting the deficit to 27-19. The two-point conversion attempt failed. On the next possession, Young's fourth-down pass was incomplete. With 22 seconds left, Young was sacked once, and Green Bay picked off a lateral on the final play of the game.
The Packers entered the game as the NFL's worst rushing team, averaging 59.9 yards per game. They gained just 66 yards on the ground in this contest. Jacobs ran for 39 yards on 21 attempts. According to the Amazon Prime broadcast, Green Bay is the first team in NFL history to finish the first eight games with a winning record while totaling fewer than 500 rushing yards.
Love completed 30 of 41 passes for one interception. Watson, who left the stadium in an ambulance for testing after a first-half chest injury, returned in the third quarter. He finished with eight catches for 113 yards. Young completed 23 of 41 passes for 209 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Hubbard ran for 81 yards and a score on 22 carries.
