Just some quick comments on the Packers’ 24-22 loss to the Giants. The Packers, as observed before, have a relatively favorable final stretch of the season, meaning that their destiny is firmly in their hands, if the team is as good as we have been led to believe after the last several weeks. Sure, they were “lucky” they got a break last week against the Chiefs, but then again even if the Chiefs had scored if that DPI was called, they still had to complete a two-point conversion to tie the game, so people shouldn’t be taking that win away from the Packers just so quick.
But now playing a 4-8 Giants team with their third-string quarterback, surely the Packers had this in the bag. Unfortunately, Jordan Love did not have his best game, not by a long shot. He didn’t complete a single red zone pass until the last gift possession, when Giants running back Saquon Barkley was seemingly on his way to a game-clinching score when he stumbled and fumbled the ball away while most of the rest of the Giants team watched Carrington Valentine run 50 yards in the other direction before somebody decided they’d better go tackle him just in case.
Maybe it was the cold weather. In any event, outside of two completions that covered 43 and 35 yards, Love completed 23 of 37 passes for just 140 yards, as Troy noted he was "off" all night.
The Packers, who had protected the ball in their previous three victories, committed three turnovers including a Love interception and fumble, although it was only on Keisean Nixon’s muffed punt that the Giants capitalized with points, while both Giant turnovers were converted into points, 10 total. One had the feeling that although the Packers’ offense looked sluggish for most of the game, the Giants were barely less so, with Tommy DeVito throwing for just 105 yards until the Giants last possession, the 200+ yards on the ground was the only thing keeping things “competitive.”
Just when you felt the Packers just needed to make one more play to put these pesky Giants away, in that if you don’t succeed, try, try again way, the Giants somehow found a way to sneak a touchdown in there. Even after given that “gift” that allowed the Packers to seemingly score the winning touchdown to make it a 22-21 game, there was still 1:33 left on the clock, and you just knew something very “bad” was going to happen, because it was just too “easy.”
DeVito, who had tried as much as possible to avoid throwing the ball all game, decided to take a chance on throwing the ball past the line of scrimmage and somehow completed a 32-yard pass to some guy named Wan’Dale Robinson to put the ball in game-winning field goal position, and wouldn’t you know it, just that quickly defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory.
People may point to (another) Anders Carlson missed field goal, but the kicker on the other team also missed an early attempt, so it was a wash.
This was the kind of game against a mediocre opponent the Packers needed to win to keep the momentum going. Next week the Packers play the Buccaneers in near freezing game time temperatures, and if Love plays like the Tin Man in need of oil then the Packers may be in trouble.
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