Cory's Corner: Win Any Way You Can

The Packers didn't make it look easy, but they won. That's all that matters. 

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — It wasn’t a great game. Heck, it wasn’t even a good game. But the most important part was the fact that the Packers got a much-needed win. 

The Packers beat the Giants 27-20 at MetLife Stadium despite the drops on both sides of the ball, the leaky run defense and playing against banged up Giants receivers. 

“It’s the NFL,” said Jordan Love, who threw for 174 yards, two touchdowns and a passer rating of 105.2.

The Packers offense dropped as many as seven balls. Romeo Doubs led the Packers with 53 yards receiving, but he also had a pair of drops. But it was Christian Watson who stepped up in a big way with four catches for 46 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The first touchdown was delivered from backup quarterback Malik Willis, who found Watson in the back of the end zone on third-and-goal at the Giants 1 late in the first quarter.

“Honestly, that was like backyard football,” said Watson, who was playing his fourth game of the season after coming back from a torn ACL. “I wasn’t really supposed to be in that spot, but I just saw a couple guys fly out, I went to dive down and get back to the corner. The corner is playing outside leverage, so I didn’t really have any space to go. I didn’t want to muddy up the window out there, so I kind of just stopped and Malik found me.”

The Packers signed Watson to a one-year $13.25 million extension in September, which will keep him in Green Bay through 2026. Watson made a 17-yard touchdown grab between two Giants defensive players with 4:02 left in the game to give the Packers the lead and the eventual winning margin. Watson is the best and most reliable pass catcher right now. 

“It was a play that we had probably called four times that game just to try and get the right look for it,” Watson said. “We weren’t getting man on it the whole game, that was the first time we got man on it, so we got to the can, the man beater, just went on a slot-fade and Jordan just gave me a chance.”

The Packers were unable to get much of a running game going after Josh Jacobs sustained a knee injury in the first half. The longest running play of the day was a 17-yard run around the right end by wide receiver Bo Melton. 

The Packers defense has been pretty consistent this year, but on Sunday, it was gashed on the ground. Tyrone Tracy Jr. rushed 19 times for 88 yards — the highest output of the season for the fifth round pick. And then there were the dropped passes. The defense dropped four potential interceptions.

“I get it’s nit-picky but it’s the little things that win games and against better teams and greater teams,” said Micah Parsons, who had six tackles, 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble. “If they’re going to give us an opportunity to get off the field, we got to take advantage of it.”

He’s right. The Packers have to be able to put teams away and put their stamp on a game. 

But this game was a positive because the play-action, bootleg and presnap movement made a return to the offense. Things that were proven to work in the past, worked again on Sunday. 

Was it perfect? By all means no. But it was a win and the Packers have to continue to improve as it moves on a collision course with the Lions on Thanksgiving. 

 

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Cory Jennerjohn is a graduate from UW-Oshkosh and has been in sports media for over 15 years. He was a co-host on "Clubhouse Live" and has also done various radio and TV work as well. He has written for newspapers, magazines and websites. He currently is a columnist for CHTV and also does various podcasts. He recently earned his Masters degree from the University of Iowa. He can be found on Twitter: @Coryjennerjohn

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Comments (21)

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T7Steve's picture

November 18, 2025 at 06:28 am

"Packers have to continue to improve as it moves on a collision course with the Lions on Thanksgiving."

I'm thinking there's a game they need to improve for before then. Keep improving, but let's not look at anything but the next game. The last three weeks is all you need for proof of that.

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Leatherhead's picture

November 18, 2025 at 08:59 am

Yes. One at a time. We’re 6-3-1. That’s better than 10 teams on the NFC.

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LambeauPlain's picture

November 18, 2025 at 10:28 am

Let's hope the Team is not currently looking ahead to the Thanksgiving "collision course".

The Ugly Purple is fighting for its season...and the always added incentive put a purple feather in their Helga braids by beating the Pack at home.

This is one of two regular season games I want to win most. The other is the other game with the Ugly Purple.

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Starrbrite's picture

November 18, 2025 at 01:55 pm

Me too Lambeau—beat the purple.
But the SB for me is beating the dog-a$$ eating broncos—geez I hate that team.

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Coldworld's picture

November 18, 2025 at 09:14 am

We did what we needed to do. Love was good. Watson was good. The D had a sub par day and the offense made what should have been easy hard by dropping easy passes. Not to be outdone, the D turned down Winston’s gifts till almost the end of the game. We won. We did not play well overall. The vastly depleted Giants weren’t good and nor were we.

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T7Steve's picture

November 18, 2025 at 10:01 am

I think the D played well. Didn't give up many points. Today in the NFL the Ds are going to get scored on. The Packers caused them to make mistakes but didn't capitalize on them the way we wished. The missed interceptions were almost all caused by another Packer defender also going for the ball, so we have to take that. We want a swarming D that doesn't rely on just one person making the play.

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Coldworld's picture

November 18, 2025 at 11:19 am

The pass rush did not have a good day. The interior DL, notably Wyatt and Wooden had a very bad one. The ILBs were below recent standards (even before Quay went out) . The tackling was not as energetic or effective.

That was a 3rd and 4th string RB tandem and a completely denuded WR corps. Their TE that did regular damage was plucked off a PS that week and, obviously, Winston hadn’t played in a while.

The D was ok, but they were not great. Perhaps I should say, mainly the front 7 excluding Parsons was below par. Had they held on to more of the interception chances then obviously that might have changed things markedly I accept and our secondary player pretty well that aside.

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LambeauPlain's picture

November 18, 2025 at 11:14 am

Bill Huber has an interesting take on the Packers recent play strategy. And LaFleur confirmed it, stating to the broadcast team before the Eagles game: "We want to muck things up"...to shorten the game and limit the Eagles on O.

They did...however, Huber observed:

"Playing slow on offense while making mistakes, and not making any big plays on defense, is a recipe for playing in the games the Packers typically find themselves in."

Same approach on O for the Giants. Except they actually limited their own chances on O with far fewer plays and the D giving the Giants far more.

You know the crude saying "FAFO". Love would seem like a perfect QB to play more up tempo with RPO, more under center with motion, rollouts, wouldn't he? I would think Love needs more snaps, not fewer.

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BELIEVER's picture

November 18, 2025 at 09:21 am

I was really critical of Jordon Love after the eagles game, he had a hell of game against the giants. He looked like a different QB, do we give credit to LaFluer? I think they are figuring out how to play after losing Tucker Craft. Beating the Vikings and their wonder boy QB would be great for the team and fan base.

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Packerpasty's picture

November 18, 2025 at 10:44 am

Vikings don't have much of a wonder boy, he's a rook who has still got the training wheels on, he should give the Pack as many opportunities as the Giants did for INTs...they do have a good defense though...

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Starrbrite's picture

November 18, 2025 at 01:59 pm

Yes—beating the Vikings is mostly about overcoming their D and a blitz on every down d-coord.

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Packerlifer's picture

November 18, 2025 at 04:49 pm

They do have a wonder boy qb. They're over there now wondering what they should do with him and why they took him. And let Darnold and Daniel Jones walk.

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NFLfan's picture

November 18, 2025 at 10:06 am

Mike Wahle's diagnosis of current WR's/TE's without Tucker Kraft:----(Watson not included)

"Lack of physicality, lack of sustained blocks, lack of ability to secure the ball and no YAC"

-Combine above with leaky O-Line

MLF has to get creative and not coach as though he has Tucker Kraft

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jannes bjornson's picture

November 18, 2025 at 10:40 am

Get Love out of the pocket and he makes plays.

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LambeauPlain's picture

November 18, 2025 at 12:36 pm

He's like the Sundance Kid in hitting his targets: "Can I move?"

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Spock's picture

November 19, 2025 at 08:30 am

LOL. That's one of my favorite movie moments.

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TarynsEyes's picture

November 18, 2025 at 10:37 am

"It wasn’t a great game. Heck, it wasn’t even a good game. But the most important part was the fact that the Packers got a much-needed win".

This is the type of bs that foolishly convinces many, and not just the fools, that this team can get the wins it needs against the better. It isn't, and won't. The Eagles can because they have been all season, beating the better teams with, and I believe is planned, anemic Offense, weekly. The Packers, by no measure available, can be seen as equal to the Eagles, and why it's foolish to think this GB team can mirror what Philly does, basically, on purpose, and the Packers do while tripping over themselves.

There is no mention of the Eagles in this article, but I figured the best way to make my point was to use a team that was closely comparable to how winning, though the comparison of whom those wins came against is far from equal.

Each flawed win shouldn't allow you to deny what you know and see weekly from this team. Drink slowly, don't gulp.

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Spock's picture

November 19, 2025 at 08:34 am

"The Packers, by no measure available, can be seen as equal to the Eagles, and why it's foolish to think this GB team can mirror what Philly..." Seriously?! The 10-7 score makes you believe that GB and Philly are miles apart? Even the Eagles said the Packers defense was the best they've played against all year.

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HarryHodag's picture

November 18, 2025 at 11:42 am

I wonder when the stats nerds will begin to realize something everyone with a good pair of eyes can see: the Packers run defense has been shaky for a long time. Rico Dowdle looked like the second coming of Jim Brown. Tracy on Sunday gashed the Packers and he's a back up.

The logic of trading Kenny Clark for Micah Parsons was clear, but Clark's loss inside has been hurtful. As much promise as Cooper and Walker have at linebacker, things have been porous at best.

Statistically the Packers defense, overall, hasn't been all that bad. Those numbers are distorted by a pretty good pass defense. I wonder about Brooks and Wooden on the inside. Wyatt has been a good pass rusher but run defender is another story.

Teams have found a seam to run through, just off tackle, after Gary and Parsons go full rush outside. The linebackers and safeties must fill the gaps and they have not with any consistency.

In today's NFL it is very difficult to have all phases of the game playing in sync especially with a rash of injuries, but the Packers have an issue that needs more work.

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Alberta_Packer's picture

November 18, 2025 at 02:06 pm

Style points are only awarded in figure skating and gymnastics. While this has been mostly an unaesthetic season for the Packers - they are not in the minority. No team has been a standout. So the SB is still very much up for grabs by a slew of teams - including the Packers.

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Spock's picture

November 19, 2025 at 08:37 am

I'd argue style points are also awarded in diving & synchronized swimming ;) but I agree with your argument.

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