GREEN BAY – The Panthers left Lambeau Field with a 16-13 victory over the Packers by virtue of a walk-off field goal Sunday.
Here are five takeaways from the defeat:
- The Packers had their chances and didn’t capitalize.
Five times Green Bay moved the ball into the red zone, but the first four ended as follows: A fumble by rookie Savion Williams, a field goal after two false start penalties and a sack, a field goal to end the first half after a pair of holding penalties, and a turnover on downs.
Throw in a missed field goal from outside the red zone to open the second half – kicker Brandon McManus‘ second miss in as many weeks from inside 45 yards – and it was a boatload of missed chances that handed the Packers their first home loss and dropped them to 5-2-1.
“We did enough things that we deservedly got our ass beat,” Head Coach Matt LaFleur said after the game. “You’ve got to maximize those opportunities. If you don’t, then you’re sitting here with 13 points.
“I would say nine times out of 10, you hold somebody under 20 points you should win the game.”
QB Jordan Love (26-of-37, 273 yards, one INT, 80.1 rating) summed up the red-zone woes as follows: “It’s very frustrating. I think everybody was feeling that as an offense. We were doing it to ourselves more than anything, too. But I feel like we’re hurting our defense as well.”
- A pair of regrettable decisions didn’t help matters.
With the Panthers focused on taking away the big play, Love tried to force one deep down the middle to Christian Watson midway through the third quarter and paid the price, as three defenders converged on Watson and safety Tre’von Moehrig came away with an easy interception and ran it back 36 yards into Green Bay territory.
“It was pretty much like a punt return,” Love said, criticizing himself for a “bad decision.”
Carolina converted that turnover into an eight-play, 38-yard TD drive for a 13-6 lead as the game turned to the fourth quarter.
Green Bay’s ensuing drive got inside the Carolina 10-yard line, but a third-and-3 screen pass to running back Emanuel Wilson lost five yards when Moehrig beat a block and blew up the play. LaFleur then decided to go for it on fourth-and-8 rather than kick the field goal to get within four points with 11 minutes left, and Carolina’s coverage put Love into desperation mode with an unsuccessful heave to the end zone.
“Hindsight’s 20/20,” LaFleur said. “I wish we would’ve taken the points. Didn’t do that there. Bad decision.”
- Carolina’s running game proved to be the difference.
After the Packers finally scored a touchdown in the red zone, on a 1-yard plunge by Josh Jacobs (17 carries, 87 yards, TD), with 2:32 left in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 13, the defense needed to get the ball back or at least force overtime.
Carolina running back Rico Dowdle gave Green Bay trouble all day and in effect won the game with a 19-yard run on second-and-10 from midfield with just under a minute left. That gave him 130 rushing yards on 25 carries and put the Panthers in field-goal range.
The rest was academic, and kicker Ryan Fitzgerald walked it off from 49 yards out.
“They came in and played the game they wanted to play,” LaFleur said of the Panthers’ ball-control style, which produced just 102 yards passing by QB Bryce Young, left them more than 100 total yards behind the Packers (369-265) but kept the time of possession even. And Carolina scored two TDs on three trips into the red zone, both by Dowdle.
“They wanted to play keep away, run the football, make it just a game where we have to consistently execute on offense, and they did it better than we did.”
- The Packers’ injury news took this day from bad to worse.
Tight end Tucker Kraft was carted to the locker room after going down with a knee injury on the opening drive of the second half. Asked if the injury was serious, LaFleur replied, “Yeah, it doesn’t look good.”
“I know how much Tuck puts into this and he’s a big part of our team, a great leader, and it’s hard to replace that. But that happens with teams across the league. It’s one of those things that you’ve got to be able to overcome.”
Tight end Luke Musgrave had three catches for 34 yards on the Packers’ lone TD drive in the fourth quarter, and his role will become all the more critical as the season continues.
Green Bay also lost rookie receiver Matthew Golden (shoulder), left guard Aaron Banks (stinger) and defensive lineman Colby Wooden (shoulder) to injuries in this game, but there was no postgame update on them.
- All that matters now is how the Packers respond.
The defending Super Bowl champion Eagles, coming off a bye week, visit Lambeau next Monday in primetime. The Packers get one extra day to process this one and/or prepare for Philly, and bouncing back is the objective.
“I expect us to attack this head on,” LaFleur said. “It’s tough. It’s a tough pill to swallow. I don’t think it was for a lack of effort or anything like that.
“We have to get back to making sure that we have a solid week of practice. And I know that’s probably not the sexiest answer that everybody wants to here, but that’s a reality. You lose, you’ve got to go back to the drawing board and you’ve got to go back to work.”
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