GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers legend Jerry Kramer was among the former players present for Alumni Weekend. He no doubt would have recognized the game plan from the Packers’ 16-10 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at steamy Lambeau Field.
With Malik Willis starting for injured Jordan Love, coach Matt LaFleur ran the football again and again. And again. And again. And again. And one more time for good measure.
Led by Josh Jacobs’ 151 rushing yards, the Packers ran for 261 for their league-high 12th consecutive home-opening win. Evan Williams’ interception on a Hail Mary iced the win.
The Colts scored a late touchdown but Williams recovered the onside kick. Three runs by Jacobs went nowhere, and the Packers punted it back to the Colts. Daniel Whelan’s punt gave the Colts the ball at the 5 with 43 seconds to go.
A 21-yard run by Richardson gave the Colts a Hail Mary, but the ball was short of the goal line and intercepted by Williams.
With Love dealing with a knee injury and Willis having been acquired just 20 days earlier, LaFleur ran the most conservative game plan imaginable. And why not? Entering the game, Willis had thrown 67 passes in his career with zero touchdown passes. What LaFleur did have was Jacobs, a proven workhorse.
The Packers had 100 rushing yards not far past the midway point of the first quarter. They had 164 rushing yards in the first quarter and 237 rushing yards in the first half.
Willis might have worked up a sweat, but he surely won’t have to ice his right arm. He was a tidy 12-of-14 for 122 yards, eclipsing his previous career high of 99 yards. His passer rating was 126.8; his previous career high in a start was 49.0.
A pivotal moment came at the start of the fourth quarter, with Green Bay clinging to a 13-3 lead.
On third-and-1 on the first play of the fourth quarter, the Colts could have handed it to Jonathan Taylor, who had a 29-yard run earlier in the series and was averaging 8.6 yards per carry. Instead, Colts coach Shane Steichen called for a quarterback option. Eric Wilson was all over it, with Trey Sermon losing 4 yards. On the next play, Matt Gaye’s 50-yard field goal was wide left.
Still, at some point, Willis needed to make a play. And he did. On third-and-5 from the 45, Willis went deep to Romeo Doubs, who made an incredible catch over cornerback Jaylon Jones for a gain of 39. The drive stalled but Brayden Narveson’s 39-yard field goal made it 16-3 with 10:50 to go.
Here was the reality for the Packers before Sunday: Since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, 416 teams had started the season 0-2. Just 40 of those teams – 9.6 percent – qualified for the playoffs. With the NFL’s expanded playoff format, the Houston Texans started 0-2 last year but reached the playoffs.
So, while it’s early in the season, don’t discount the importance of the underdog Packers stealing a win.
The Packers led 10-0 at halftime. Everyone in the building knew the Packers were going to run the football and it didn’t matter. With a play selection of 34 runs vs. five passes, the Packers piled up a staggering 237 rushing yards. Since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger, that was the Packers’ 13th-most rushing yards.
The franchise record of 366 rushing yards against Detroit in 1947 seemingly was within reach, though the ground game largely stalled in the second half.
The game – the second-hottest home game in franchise history with a kickoff temperature of 85 – couldn’t have started better for the Packers, who drove to an opening field goal on offense and forced a three-and-out on defense.
On their opening drive, the Packers overcame back-to-back penalties when Jacobs ran for 37 yards. He broke a tackle, which turned a gain of 4 or 5 into the huge gain.
After the defense’s stop, the Packers ran the ball right down the field again. Midway through the drive and with 5 1/2 minutes to go in the opening quarter, the Packers already had 100 rushing yards. The drive started with a 22-yard run by Jayden Reed – a backward pass – and included a 16-yard end-around by Bo Melton.
Before a third-and-4 from the 14, the Packers had run the ball 16 times and thrown it once. The touchdown came through the air, though, with Willis hitting Dontayvion Wicks at the 8 and Wicks running it into the end zone to make it 10-0.
By the end of the first quarter, the Packers had 164 rushing yards, led by Jacobs’ 10 carries for 81 yards. It was the most rushing yards by any team in a quarter since the 2011 Broncos ran for 167 with Tim Tebow at quarterback.
The Packers were on their way to a 17-0 lead when Jacobs was stripped near the goal line.
However, the defense won all five third downs and allowed just 80 yards in the first half. Taylor had 53 of those yards.