Before kickoff between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers, all anyone could talk about was the matchup featuring Aaron Rodgers playing against his old team for the first time. During the game, however, it was his Packers successor, Jordan Love, who earned the headlines.
Love and his favorite target, Tucker Kraft, filled up the stat sheet on Sunday Night Football, with Kraft posting an exceptional performance on National Tight End Day. Kraft hauled in 7 of 9 targets in the game for 143 yards
and two touchdowns, and a returning Christian Watson added another element to the Packers’ passing attack with 85 yards on four receptions of his own.
Meanwhile, the Packers’ defense stepped up significantly in the second half. They got big sacks from Micah Parsons and Rashan Gary, and the unit forced a late turnover to help set up another score for the offense. They even got a clutch pass breakup from Ty’Ron Hopper on a two-point conversion attempt from Pittsburgh that would have closed the game down to 8 points.
Despite all that, tonight’s game was all about Love, who led the Packers’ offense to a second-half comeback victory against his old mentor.
In the first half, Love made a few excellent plays, but he really found his groove in the third quarter. Down by 9 at the break, the Packers outscored Pittsburgh 28-9 in the final 30 minutes, and Love answered every question that the Steelers’ defense threw at him. His final stat line ended up at 29-for-37 for 360 yards and three touchdowns, and his advanced stats look even better — he posted 0.59 EPA per play on dropbacks as every meaningful second-half drive finished with the Packers scoring points.
Love was the first quarterback to touch the football as the Packers received the opening kickoff, but he did so from inside the 20 after a holding penalty on the kick. He got Christian Watson involved right away on the first drive with a reception on second down, but could not connect with Romeo Doubs on third down, and the Packers went three-and-out to start the game.
Rodgers uncorked a deep ball on the Steelers’ first drive, hitting Roman Wilson for a 45-yard gain on an extended play. The Packers pushed Pittsburgh back, however, forcing the Steelers to settle for a 56-yard field goal from Chris Boswell. After a pass interference penalty on Steelers receiver D.K. Metcalf backed his team up, Green Bay got a big tackle for no gain by Edgerrin Cooper on a swing pass and a sack by Rashan Gary on third down to force the three-point attempt, which Boswell drilled cleanly.
The Packers’ second offensive drive got off to a much better start, with Doubs bringing in catches of 24 and six yards to move the chains twice. Malik Heath got into the action with a 13-yard catch-and-run before Tucker Kraft delivered a big blow. Kraft hauled in a screen pass from Love and turned upfield, getting a nice block from Watson and rumbling into the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown.
The Packers defense got a quick three-and-out on the ensuing series, with Cooper nearly intercepting a Rodgers pass on second down and then making a smooth tackle on a pass well short of the sticks on third down to force a punt. Kraft then picked up where he left off on the Packers’ previous drive, taking a short pass from Love for a 33-yard catch-and-run into Steelers territory. But Green Bay could not capitalize, as a 57-yard field goal attempt from Brandon McManus came up just a yard short.
Boswell hit another 50-yard field goal a few minutes later after the Steelers got one first down on a run by Kenneth Gainwell. Carrington Valentine — starting in place of Nate Hobbs — gave up the edge on that run, but he made a touchdown-saving play to knock the ball out of DK Metcalf’s hands in the end zone and force the field goal, keeping the Packers ahead by one point early in the second quarter.
The lead was short-lived, as the Steelers tacked on another three points after a Packers three-and-out. Jaylen Warren’s running and a penalty on Keisean Nixon — which wiped out a pass breakup by Evan Williams on third down, got Pittsburgh into field goal range. But it was Kingsley Enagbare’s turn to make big plays, first recording a loss of 5 on a run play then tracking down a screen from behind for a gain of one. Another Parsons pressure up the middle, with a clear uncalled hold on a Steelers lineman who had him wrapped up, forced Rodgers to dump the ball off short of the line to gain on third down, bringing on Boswell for a 48-yarder that put Pittsburgh back up 9-7.
Another three-and-out — the Packers’ third of the half — was doomed by a brutal drop by Kraft on 3rd-and-3. Pittsburgh would jump-start their running game behind a jumbo set, using an extra offensive lineman and massive tight end Darnell Washington on the same side to free up Warren for a few big gains. The officials missed a blatant false start by left tackle Broderick Jones, who was already well into pulling around to the right on a run play that picked up a first down, then Rodgers drew a pass interference call on Nixon on another third down, getting a free 21 yards thanks to throwing up a prayer under instant pressure from Edgerrin Cooper. Two plays later, Rodgers hit Metcalf on a slant for a two-yard touchdown, extending Pittsburgh’s lead to 16-7 with 37 seconds left.
The Packers had a pair of timeouts and took over at their 20 after a kickoff bounced in the landing zone and into the end zone for a touchback. Love hit Josh Jacobs for a short gain on first down, then found Watson for a big gain of 19 yards to near midfield. T.J. Watt then got flagged for a defensive facemask on the next play, giving the Packers a free timeout and another 15 yards, pushing the Packers into field goal range. A short gain to Malik Heath put the Packers in position for a 44-yard field goal attempt from McManus that could have made it a six-point game at the half, but he pushed it wide left, robbing the Packers of a momentum-changing score.
That gave Pittsburgh a chance to double up around the halftime break, but they were unable to pick up a first down as the referees finally helped out the Packers a bit with a missed call. Devonte Wyatt clearly jumped offsides on a 3rd-and-8 play, but the refs missed it and Keisean Nixon broke up Rodgers’ long pass for Roman Wilson to force a punt.
A run for no gain by Jacobs and a 5-yard catch for Luke Musgrave set up another early third down, but this time Kraft answered a prayer from Love, bringing in a floating pass and picking up massive yards after the catch to turn early pressure by the Steelers into a 59-yard gain for the Green Bay offense. Kraft picked up a first down on 4th-and-1 a few plays later, setting the offense up at the 10. On 2nd-and-goal from the 9, Savion Williams then took a short pass from Love off motion to the left and cut up the sideline, sneaking inside the pylon for his first career touchdown.
After a kickoff and just a few plays, the Steelers were back across midfield. Rodgers found Metcalf for a gain of 24, then he hit Warren for 11 yards to reach the Packers’ 38. Karl Brooks then appeared to force a fumble from Rodgers on the next play, but Rodgers actually shoveled the ball towards Warren’s feet and the play was ruled incomplete. A short pass and an incomplete throw sent Boswell back out for another attempt from 50-plus, this time from 56 yards, and he drilled it once again to extend Pittsburgh’s lead to five points.
Emanuel Wilson took a dump-off for 14 yards and had a few nice runs on the ensuing series, but Jordan Love made it his time. Love hit Malik Heath and Matthew Golden for a pair of chain-moving receptions before heaving a deep ball to Christian Watson on 3rd-and-7. The cross-body throw cleared a safety underneath and Watson hauled the ball in inside the 10-yard line for a 33-yard gain.
That throw is worth watching again:
Two plays later, Josh Jacobs bounced off the right side and scampered into the end zone, giving the Packers their first lead of the second half. Up 20-19, Matt LaFleur called for a two-point conversion and Love found a wide-open Doubs in the left side of the end zone to push the Packers’ lead to 22-19.
The first play of the next Steelers drive ended in a big win for the Packers, as Micah Parsons sacked Rodgers for a loss of ten yards. He nearly tracked down Rodgers on second down as well, but a throwaway brought up 3rd-and-20 and the Packers rallied to another underneath pass force a punt. After an 11-yard return by Doubs, former Wisconsin Badger Nick Herbig was flagged for instigating a fight that broke out following the play, setting up the Packers at the Pittsburgh 45 yard line.
Wilson kicked off the drive with a 15-yard run and a 4-yard reception, followed by a short catch by Kraft. On 3rd-and-4, Kraft delivered another huge play, taking a short pass and burning straight through the middle of the Steelers’ defense for a 24-yard touchdown. That score gave the Packers a ten-point lead, the first double-digit lead for either team in the game.
Another sack by the Packers defense — Rashan Gary’s second of the game — came on third down of the Steelers’ next series to force a punt once again. Love continued his exceptional second half, finding Doubs wide open again for a 3rd down conversion, though he could not convert a second time and McManus had to come on for a short 28-yard field goal. That stretched the Packers’ lead out to 13 points at 32-19 with 5:28 to go in the game.
Green Bay’s defense finally got a turnover late in the fourth quarter when Edgerrin Cooper stripped the football out of the hands of Kenneth Gainwell and Javon Bullard recovered. That led to another short field goal from McManus, which proved to be a notable score as it extended the Packers’ lead to 16 points.
Rodgers led a touchdown drive before the two-minute warning, finding Roman Wilson in the back of the end zone for a score. But with Pittsburgh needing a two-point conversion to close it down to a one-score game, Ty’Ron Hopper knocked the ball out of Jonnu Smith’s hands to force an incomplete pass and keep the Packers’ lead at 10. Doubs recovered the ensuing onside kick, and the Packers ran out the clock with Emanuel Wilson picking up a first down to allow the team to run off the clock.
The Packers improve to 5-1-1 on the season with the 35-25 victory and will return home to face a scuffling Carolina Panthers squad next Sunday afternoon. This was the Steelers’ second consecutive loss as they slipped to 4-3 on the season. It gets no easier for Pittsburgh next week, as they welcome in the 7-1 Indianapolis Colts next week.
