We heard it all week long. "After two big wins against good teams, it's going to be a big test to this young Packers team to see how they respond when favored to win." Well, they showed they still have a long way to go. 

Sure, some will point out the absence of a few players that maybe could've played, but even without them, this was a winnable game. Mistakes were everywhere. Miscues in the passing game between Love and the receivers early possibly hampered the offense in the first half and then the turnovers happened.  It was like we were back to watching the offense of the first eight games of the season instead of the previous two. Also, we get it, Jayden Reed is a weapon. However, if that's the only weapon you use, eventually teams are going to figure it out when they're hit with it over and over. Call a different play. 

The defense forced a few three-and-outs, but yet again they continued to get gashed on the ground as Saquon Barkley and Tommy Devito combined for 157/209 rushing yards. This team had no answers for an un-drafted rookie quarterback running out of the pocket and let him embarrass them. Outside of Devito's 71 yards rushing he threw for 158 yards. This seems small for passing yards, but 53 of those yards came on the final drive where the defense just let the Giants cruise right into field goal range. I'm no NFL coach but for a quarterback who's only had 105 yards passing in the game, you'd think you'd want to play close and force him to make those throws instead of gifting him easy pitches and catches. 

And don't get me started on Special Teams. From big penalties to fumbles, I can't give any aspect of this game a higher grade than a C-.

Let's get to the recap:

First Quarter:

The Packers won the coin toss and elected to receive the ball where after the return, they would begin the game from their own 25-yard line. Starting with a five-yard backfield toss to Jayden Reed for five yards the Packers offense converted their first first down of the game on a six-yard run by AJ Dillon. After a seven-yard pass to Tucker Kraft, the teams traded pre-snap penalties before two straight incompletions resulted in the Packers having to punt the ball away. After the punt, the Giants would take over at their own 26-yard line with 12:11 remaining in the 1st quarter. 

Kicking off the drive the Giants offense would have an incomplete pass from Tommy Devito before Saquon Barkley would get a first down on a 10-yard run. Two plays later Carrington Valentine would be called for a bit of a questionable DPI resulting in a first down for the Giants at their 45-yard line. There was a little bit of a grab from Valentine, but the ball seemed to be uncatchable, nonetheless, first down Giants. After a Devito scramble, Isiah McDuffie got some payback by tackling Barkley in the backfield for –3 yards. An incomplete pass later and the Giants would have to punt. Jayden Reed would take the punt return to the Packers’ 16-yard line, but Anthony Johnson Jr. would be called for a blindside block pushing the Packers backward to the 7 where they would take over with 8:50 remaining in the quarter. Another confusing call as the defender who was apparently blindsided, was looking straight at Johnson Jr. The stripes apparently are making their presence known early 

Deep in their own territory to start out the drive, the Packers would only move forward on a 5-yard catch by Romeo Doubs before going three and out where Daniel Whelan would punt it away. During the return, the Giants returner would run right into Rudy Ford who was engaged with a defender. Ford would be called for a personal foul, catch interference. I’m not sure what Rudy Ford is supposed to do there, the Giants returner ran directly into him.  

The Giants would take over at the Packers’ 32-yard line after the penalty. They’d run a reverse to start the drive with Wan’Dale Robinson to gain five yards but would go backward on a false start, and on second down DeVondre Campbell would blow up a short pass to Barkley for no gain. On 3rd and 11 the Giants kind of seemed to settle for three points as they only gained 3-yards on a short pass before the 48-yard field goal attempt by Randy Bullock sailed wide-right, no good.  

The Packers took over at their own 38-yard line with 4:52 remaining in the quarter. AJ Dillon would gain five yards on two runs and on third down, Jayden Reed would catch a pass just short of the first down to gain. The Packers would line up for a 4th down attempt and Love would throw a short pass to Dontayvion Wicks where he would stretch for the first down. At first, the call on the field was turnover on downs but it would later be switched to a first down. After that, AJ Dillon would catch a short pass and rumble 35 yards to the New York 17-yard line taking the Packers to the red zone for the first time in the game. Two plays later Jayden Reed would take an end around 16 yards to paydirt, dancing into the endzone to put the Packers on top 7-0 with 1:01 remaining in the opening quarter. 

The Giants would take over after the kickoff at their 25. Devito would scramble for 6 yards and Saquon Barkley would get two yards on the ground before the clock would expire on the first quarter. 

Second Quarter:

The Giants would start the second quarter with 3rd and 1 at their own 33-yard line where Devito would hit Barkley on a backfield pass that Barkley would take for five yards and the first down. Tommy Devito took over on the next two plays with a 14-yard pass for the first down and then a scramble for 10 to the PackersPackers' 37 before the Giants would line up in the Wild Cat and Wan’Dale Robinson would take a hand-off 32-yards to the Packers’ 5-yard line. On the very next play, Saquon Barkley would take the handoff 5 yards to the endzone to tie the game at 7 with 11:55 remaining in the half. The Packers' defense just seemed to be non-existent on that drive allowing the Giants to march right down the field in eight plays.  

The Packers started their first drive of the second quarter at their own 25 after the touchback. On the first play, Jordan Love completed a short pass to Patrick Taylor for 16 yards. Three plays later, on third down, Jordan Love hit Wicks on a 19-yard catch to the Packers’ 35-yard line. Wicks with a great leaping catch to extend the drive. Two AJ Dillon runs for 8 yards combined later, on third down, Jordan Love ran a keeper that was short of the first down. It appeared Love fumbled on the play, recovered by New York, but was called down by contact. New York obviously challenged the call, and it was overturned, the Giants would take over at their own 27-yard line with 7:41 remaining on the clock of the first half.  

On the first play from scrimmage, Devito hit Wan’Dale Robinson on a 13-yard catch. Robinson questionably got both feet in bounds on the play. It would be called a catch initially; the Packers would challenge the call and the call would stand costing the Packers a timeout. The Giants would hit an 8-yard pass on first down and Barkley would run for another yard before the Giants would be pushed back on a false start call and on third down a pass would fall just short of the line to gain. The Giants would go for it on fourth and 1 where Saquon Barkley would be stopped by Eric Wilson in the backfield for a loss resulting in a turnover on downs.  

Jordan Love would take over at the NY 49-yard line with 5:06 remaining in the 2nd needing to overcome that previous fumble in scoring range and put some points on the board. Unfortunately, that would not happen as on 2nd down as Jordan Love would seemingly throw a pass that would hit the wind and be picked off by Pinnock intended for Dontayvion Wicks. Pinnock would return it for 21 yards to the Giants 44. 

The Packers' defense would hold the Giants offense to three and out on the next drive only highlighted by a 6-yard Devito scramble as they’d get the ball back to Jordan Love quickly. 

After the punt, the Packers would take over at their 17-yard line with 2:44 remaining in the half. Before the two-minute warning, Love would hit Tucker Kraft for a first down on a six-yard pass to the 27-yard line. On first down Jordan Love hit Jayden Reed for 2 yards before an incompletion on second, and on third down Jayden Reed would be pulled to the ground on a pass intended for him which would be called for DPI on the Giants moving the ball to the Giants 44-yard line. On second down Patrick Taylor would take a handoff for 14 yards to the Giants’ 24-yard line before Taylor would get a catch not running out of bounds and forcing the Packers to take a timeout. Love would hit Doubs for an 8-yard gain and the first down on the next play, but Doubs would bobble the catch resulting in an official’s challenge where the call would be overturned. The Packers would have 3rd and 4 with 20 seconds remaining from the Giants 18. On third down Love’s pass would be batted, and the Packers would send out Anders Carlson for the 36–yard field goal attempt. Carlson would just barely get the kick in the left upright to put the Packers up 10-7 with 13 seconds remaining before the end of the half.  

On the following kickoff, Carlson’s kick nearly sailed out of bounds, but it hit a Giants player before going out putting the ball at the Giants’ 10-yard line where Devito would just kneel the ball to take us to halftime. 

Third Quarter:

After kicking the ball off to start the game, the Giants would receive to start the second half. After a fair catch on the return, the Giants would start at the 25-yard line. Devito would take off on a scramble and slide and that would be the only highlight of the drive as they’d go three and out and punt. On the punt though, Keisean Nixon would muff the catch and instead of falling on the ball when he had possession, he tried to run still and lost the ball again. The ball would be recovered by the Giants at the Packers’ 31-yard line essentially continuing their drive where Devito would take a scramble 26 yards to the Packers’ 1-yard line and Saquon Barkley would finish the drive with a 1-yard touchdown to put the score at 14-10 Giants with 11:22 remaining in the 3rd. Keisean Nixon recovered his own fumble but got greedy trying to make up yards and lost the ball again. A bone-headed move. Even in peewee football, you’re taught to fall on it to secure possession, not sure what was going through Nixon’s head on that one. 

The Packers would take over at their 25 after the kick. First play from scrimmage Love would toss to Reed on an end-around that would go for 20 yards to the 45-yard line. After this the Packers would go backward as a botched screen pass to Dillon would go for negative yards and an incomplete pass later would lead the Packers to punt. On the punt, however, the Packers would catch a break as the ball would hit a Giants player and the Packers would recover at the Giants’ 14-yard line. So, another Special Teams turnover, this time though, in the PackerPackers's favor. Unfortunately, the Packers couldn’t move the ball after the turnover and had to resort to a field goal attempt after a miscue in the end zone between Jordan Love and Jayden Reed. Love looked to have thrown a good ball, but Reed perhaps didn’t run the full route and the pass sailed incomplete in the endzone. The Anders Carlson field goal would put the Packers behind by 1 though, 14-13 with 7:31 remaining in the 3rd quarter.  

The Giants would take over for their second drive of the quarter and get a short pass before going backward on a false start setting up 2nd and 10 where Lukas Van Ness would nearly get the Packers’ first sack of the game, but instead, Tommy Devito would roll his way to a very short 1-yard gain. Devonte Wyatt was hurt during the play but left under his own power. On 3rd and 9 Devito would pass to Bellinger for an easy first down where Devito would scramble for another 12 yards to the Giants’ 48-yard line. Matt Breida then gained 16 yards on 2 runs before the Giants ran a flea flicker and completed the pass to Robinson for 25 yards to the Packers’ 11-yard line. Three plays later Tommy Devito hit Isaiah Hodgins in the endzone for an 8-yard touchdown. The extra point would take the score to 21-13 Giants with 1:28 remaining in the 3rd.  

Getting the ball back late in the 3rd needing to get something going, the Packers ran a reverse flea flicker that was just blown up immediately falling incomplete. On third down Love hit Toure on a 16-yard gain to the Packers’ 46-yard line and then Patrick Taylor would take a 5-yard run into Giants’ territory to wind out the 3rd quarter with the Packers on the plus side of the field to begin the 4th quarter.

Fourth Quarter:

The Packers opened the quarter with a seven-yard carry by Patrick Taylor and they didn’t stop there. The next play Jordan Love connects on a 14-yard pass to Romeo Doubs to the 28, and two plays later Love hits Kraft for a first down to the Giants’ 16-yard line. The Packers’ offense then ran a double reverse to Jayden Reed, but it lost 2 yards, and an incompletion to Toure in the endzone later, set up 3rd and 11 from the New York 17. On third down Jordan Love would be sacked for a loss of 10 yards by Ojulari and Lawrence combined. The Packers would line up for a 45-yard field goal attempt by Anders Carlson, but it would sail wide-left, no good. The score stays 21-13 Giants with 10:42 remaining in the game. 

The Giants would take over at their own 35-yard line and go three and out after only getting 6 yards on a short pass.  

The Packers would take over at their own 16-yard line after the punt where they would get cooking. On the first play of the drive Jordan Love would hit Tucker Kraft on a 43-yard catch down to the New York 41-yard line and they’d get another first down two plays later on a pass to Romeo Doubs. Unfortunately, this would be as far as it would go as the drive would stall off a failed jet sweep to Reed, and then Love would not connect with Samori Toure in the endzone resulting in an Anders Carlson 45-yard field goal that would take the game to 21-16 Giants with 5:30 remaining in the game. 

The Giants would take over at their 25-yard line after the kickoff and on second down Saquon Barkley takes a run for 17 yards to the NY 48-yard line. On the very next play, Barkley took off on a 33-yard run but stumbled and fumbled the ball on his own. He was down but went untouched so the fumble counted. Carrington Valentine recovered the ball and took off to the Giants’ 36-yard line. The Packers would take over at the 36 with 3:34 remaining in the game. 

With the ball in great field position, the Packers took over and on the back of AJ Dillon got a first down in three plays to the Giants’ 22-yard line where Love would hit Romeo Doubs on a six-yard gain to the Giants’ 16 where we’d go to the 2-minute warning. With the Packers down by 5 and needing a touchdown to win, Love threw an incompletion to Doubs in the endzone who caught the ball but was forced out by the defender before Love hit Jayden Reed on an 8-yard first down to the Giants’ 8-yard line. Jordan Love then scrambled to the Giants’ 6-yard line before Love hit Malik Heath in the endzone. Heath got two feet down but the ball was knocked out of his hands. The call was reviewed and ruled incomplete. What’s a catch anymore? I don’t know. But the next play Love hit Heath again who stretched the ball across the goal line for the touchdown. The Packers then lined up for a two-point conversion to make it a 3-point game but a toss to Reed fell short of the endzone. The Packers take the 22-21 lead with 1:33 remaining in the game. 

The Giants would take over at their own 25-yard line holding two timeouts with the Packers' defense needing a big stop to win the game. The Packers' defense would instead let the Giants march right down the field seemingly uncontested. After gaining 21 yards on the previous three plays, a 32-yard Devito pass to Wan’Dale Robinson would pretty much seal it as Keisean Nixon seemed to blow his coverage on the play before pushing Robinson out of bounds at the Packers’ 22-yard line. At this point, all the Giants had to do was wind down the clock before setting up a 37-yard Randy Bullock field goal that would split the uprights with two seconds remaining handing the Packers their 7th loss of the season. 

The Packers would move to 6-7 after a 22-24 loss to the New York Giants. 

Offensive Player of the Game:

Jayden Reed is going to receive this honor tonight. He had some explosive plays on his way to 65 all-purpose yards and a touchdown. He was the spark that in a way kept the Packers afloat early in the game. However, I will say that that spark was beaten to death. After getting beat by Reed out of the backfield so many times the Giants eventually figured it out and stopped him. I wish Matt LaFleur would've abandoned those calls in the second half or at least minimized them to just once. Instead, it was like we got Reed out of the backfield multiple times a drive. Reed still had a good game, however, and continues to be a bright spot on this Packers offense.

Defensive Player of the Game:

I almost want to give this to no one. Because no one was truly highlighted in this game. But for the sake of trying to be positive, I'm going to call a tie between Isaiah McDuffie and Carrington Valentine. McDuffie had some big plays including a big tackle for a loss of three that eventually led to a Giants' punt in the first quarter. Valentine had some rough go's as a defender here and there but his awareness in picking up the Saquon Barkley fumble in the fourth quarter led to the go-ahead touchdown late. Valentine played to the whistle and picked up the ball despite many thinking Barkley was down initially. 

What Went Right:

Umm, what went right? Wow, that's a loaded question for this game. If I need to pick something I guess I'll choose the offense's rally late. Despite many miscues in the first half and on, they still kept pushing. Their final four drives got into scoring range. Unfortunately, three had to settle for field goals with one missed and only one reached the endzone but they still showed some resiliency in staying in the game with it still within reach. 

What Went Wrong:

All of the above. 

Penalties on special teams. Not falling on a fumble on the part of Keisean Nixon and still trying to run with it? All terrible. 

The defense continues to get gashed on the ground and then plays the final drive as if they're trying to catch a fly ball for the third out to end the inning. I wrote about Joe Barry's defense showing improvement enough to save his job perhaps earlier in the week and wow do I regret that. 

Miscues on offense and beating Jayden Reed's backfield carries to death. Again, it worked, we get it, but they figured it out, just stop it already.

Looking Forward:

Next week we will be back at Lambeau Field for a noon kickoff against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After the NFL decided to give Packer fans an edge over the rest of the league in their Christmas shopping on Sundays by having two straight prime-time games in December, we're back to the early slot. The Bucs are just a game under .500 heading into this one after picking up two straight wins over the Carolina Panthers and the Atlanta Falcons. They have been an up-and-down team all season seeing some decent QB play from Baker Mayfield and they have Rachaad White leading the way in the rushing game, but after that on offense, they're a bit flat. They rank 30th in the league in rushing offense so that'll be a positive match-up for a Packers defense that seems to get gashed by the rush week after week. They're also ranked 27th in the league in red-zone offense. On the other side of the ball, their defense gives up yards a lot of yards through the air but seems to tighten up in the red zone as well as they rank 4th in the league in red-zone scoring. For a Packers defense that seems to do their best work keeping the offense out of the end zone early, and a Bucs defense that seems to do the same, there's a chance this could be a low-scoring affair. With the Bucs not being a great rushing team and the Packers' defense mainly relying on their secondary and pass rush, hopefully, the Packers' offense will get a few scores early to force the Bucs into passing situations where the edges will be able to pin their ears back and cause problems for Baker Mayfield. This will be Baker Mayfield's third visit to Green Bay in as many seasons and with three different teams. The previous two events have been nightmares for Mayfield, so hopefully the Packers can provide him with another sleepless night after this one. Until then, Go Pack Go.