What a difference a kicker makes.

That Packers Defense was a HUGE reason this team won. That wasn't a Barry D. When they timely pressure, good things happen.

More Cooper and Wilson. Less Walker (hope he is ok) and McDuffie. Cooper may not have had the stats, but he did his job to open lanes up for others like Wilson.

WR jet sweeps need to be used more judiciously. By now teams have seen the design and have adjusted match ups.

Love made a couple of bad decisions. Defense bailed him out. He made enough big throws to win. 8 Packers had a reception. Pick your poison.

Jacobs had a solid game.

Special teams, Ballentine especially, needed better field awareness. Multiple ST decisions were puzzling at times. Whelan lone bright star.

Packer fan throwing Mixon outta here!

NFC Central is tight. It's gonna start getting black and blue. Hopefully green. Packers will control their own destination. GPG!

just got back from the game. i never overcame anger with management for those awful white uniforms, the very uniforms of the scooter mcclean year. does management not know what that green and gold means to old fans like me; do they have no sense of history to what what all white means?. i am going to blame those whites on Love's two giveaways. but on the plus side was keeping c j stroud under wraps. and though i do not want to make light of walker's injury, but linebacker play went way up with back up wilson just all over the field making plays. but my mvp is whelan who dug us out of at least three holes with as per usual with the franchise in excusably bad special teams. Reed, usually reliable, had a poor game. but the O line kept Love pretty clean limiting the unstoppable Anderson to only one sack.

Self inflicted wounds. Turnovers, penalties and special teams gaffes.

But it was all worth it to watch that defense. It was surreal. It didn't feel plausible to see a Packer defense playing with that sort of aggression and pressure. They remain vulnerable to the run, but if they make the big plays that won't matter on the scoreboard.

This is one of those games. People are going to whine and point out all the errors instead of realizing that the Packers just won a game against a playoff-caliber team while not playing their best.

Love (and STs) did his defense no favors today. HOU with 16 pts off TOs?

That said: Love has dialed up a few late drives this season to give his team a chance.

Thankfully that stopped 2pt ended up being a big play.

Defense was outstanding today, held a very good and talented offense to less than 200 yards.

Thank you, Jeff Hafley, for finally dialing up pressure on 3rd downs!

Why run a WR sweep to the short side of the field on a key 3rd and 1 when it hasn't worked all day?

Kudos to 8 who finally catches a touchdown pass...hard to believe it's the first of his career!

Packers did what good teams do--they found a way to win and defend home field against a quality opponent when they weren't at their best. Am I saying they're a good team? Maybe...but they did what good teams do.

Special teams blunders, an early INT, turnovers… they had no business winning. But the Defense played pretty well, punting was outstanding and we have a real kicker. Only gripe is I think they should have ran the ball a bit more but hey… a win is a win.

Eric Wilson ought to be Defensive Player of the Week with that performance.

Maybe Whelan for Special Teams, too. Not only did he boom punts, but fielded the errant snap cleanly and slid it into place so McManus could win it.

Evan Williams with a great tackle on the two-point attempt.

Welcome back, pass rush!

Big day from Doubs. Very helpful he hung for those extra 6 yards at the end to make the FG easier.

I wish Love would cut down on the risky throws.

Jekyll and Hyde performance from the STs. The kickers were great, but bad decisions on whether or not to field balls (particularly Reed) were just stunning. I simply do not understand why players continue to do this.

Good win, though. We lost the turnover battle by three and still pulled it out.

Win is a win, CJ Stroudt was held intact run defense was ok when it had to be. Love was good for both teams still throws into double and triple coverage. Think it looks like Preston Smith maybe on his way out, not any snaps today, Eric Stokes is another looks like time to cut bait with him. 5-2 now not sure where they will end up but Texans were good and Packers did their job against them. Tough Division no question, hey kicker came thru

well, it's not every game that your defense can bail you out after three turnovers, but the d did it for us today! Under 200 yards of total offense. if the picks and the fumble didnt happen, this might have been a blowout win. Great day for Jacobs, great job by Whalen punting today, and for saving our asses on the game winning field goal. Solid games also by Jacobs Williams,Wilson and of course our new kicker, who niot only didnt miss anything, but also had his first Lambeau leap. A wins a win, but we gotta clean it up for next week! Go Pack Go!

We beat a good team today. That’s good. Pass rush put lots of pressure on Stroud. They clearly had him frustrated. Love did not have his best day but when we needed he managed the drive and put us in a position to win. We are in good hands long term at the QB spot.

Need to cleanup some things. ST was an abomination outside of the kicking game. Who would have thought that? No idea what Ballantine or Reed was doing. Too many turnovers in general. Defense was solid. Although tackling at times was horrible. Of course that has become normal in the NFL. Two hand touch is not going to slow down a hard runner like Mixon.

In the end a win is a win. A much needed win given how good this division is. On to the next one.

Welcome to Green Bay Mr. McManus! Nothing like signing with a team mid-week and having to kick the game winner as time runs out on Sunday. It took Gute a while but he may have found a clutch kicker for the Packers.

Great defensive effort and lots of pressure from everywhere. Gary, Enagbare and Clark all had good games, particularly Gary. Good to see the D-line finally have a good game against a quality O-line,

Punt return teams were a disaster. Am not sure the "fumbled" punt was Ballantine's fault. He was blocking until the last second when Nixon decided not to catch the punt. More on Nixon than Ballantine IMO. Reed had the opposite problem - he should have let that punt go rather than field it. Two mental miscues that cost the Packers.

And speaking of mental miscues, where has Jordan Love's decision making from late last year gone? He is throwing into coverages and recording picks at an untenable rate. It is almost unheard of to lose the turnover battle 3 -0 and still win the game and Love owned two of the three turnovers.

An ugly win that I will gladly take and really happy with the development of Hafley's defense.

The stats do not list Emanuel Wilson with a pass reception or a target. His only stats are rushing attempts. Hmmmm

Hats off to Hafley. He had a good plan today and held a damn good offense to under 200 yards. When you take out the yardage for the sacks Stroud had, it left him with a net of 55 yards passing...55!!! Nico Collins or no Nico Collins, that's a hell of a day for the defense. Yes they got ran on, but this defense is getting better and better.

Doubs...I thought Doubs played a hell of game too. He had 8 catches on 10 targets and made several key 3rd downs. IMO this offense is better when they use more. As much as I like Wicks the ball doesn't quite stick to Wicks hands as often as it does to Doubs hands...YET.

Josh Jacobs only got 12 carries and had 5 catches as well. I still would like to see them use Jacobs more. I think if MLF gave Jacobs the ball 25 times like Mixon got for Houston, I think he would have shredded them.

Love has been a little reckless this season and I really hope he and MLF get that under control. But I like the fact he took them down the field when he absolutely had to.

The Packers are 5-2. Before today people said we haven't beaten anybody. Well, people can't say that anymore and the did it with their offense having a very off day.

GO PACK GO!

Finally! D plays designed to get Gary 1-on-1 with the O line weakest link, and it showed right across the line! Lots of confusion resulting in pressure on Stroud with the chaos and distraction allowing lots of block shedding.

Mixon had a good stats day, but I think that it was as a result of prioritizing pressure on Stroud. He only busted off 1 long run. Likewise, Jacobs had a statistically productive day (76 yards off 12 carries for 6.33 YPC), but they both got blown up for loss a number of times too.

Romeo Doubs caught a number of drive-extending catches today..... all with lots of pressure. He's becoming Mr. Dependable.

The Packers secondary had a great game - Diggs was largely neutralized and there were plenty of passes broken up with solid play...... this was not like the Colts game where plays were missed by dropped catches, this was the Packers secondary being boss, and was evidenced (as Stroud only had 21 pass attempts, compared to Love's 33).

Cooper, Wilson and Williams all had solid games. As I said above, Mixon got through the line a lot, but hardly ripped off excessive chunk plays.

On a couple of those play-action plays in the second half I thought that Love handed the ball off when he could have kept it, tucked and run (especially on those designed pulling guard and TE plays....... watch for it in the coming weeks.

Just some of the things you see makes you wonder. Especially when ST is on the field. Whelan is absolutely great and carving himself out a spot as one of the best punters in the league. McManus just looked the part of a seasoned pro without a hint of nervousness or angst. That was refreshing. But the rest of that unit just did some confounding stupid stuff out there which demonstrated a lack of awareness that one would think they should be over with by now.

The defense looked great and Hafley had a great plan to deal with Stroud. Losing wrong way Quay didn't seem to hobble them one bit. It was great to see Gary actually in this game and playing with fire. Did you catch the play where he got great penetration because the guy across from him backed up, tripped, and fell on his ass? I'll take it. But he was around in the whole game and that was nice to see. Wilson played lights out and Evan Williams continues to impress. Alexander wears out the schtick of the constant jaw jacking, especially on the plays he wasn't really involved in. But overall as a unit they were great today. They created a whole lot of three and outs today (big plus).

Tucker Kraft. Man, when a big guy tight end can lay out and dive to haul one in, that's really cool.

My Gut Reactions

Big win More Progress. Great future
Not sure we'll miss Walker.
Evan, Cooper and Wilson, Yes !!!
Jaire is officially over rated, hates to tackle and a liability imho, and I definitely think it's time for a change going forward , this year or next

GPG

Yeeeesss—it’s good —Packers win!!
Eric Wilson is a seriously active LB and outstanding in the blitz packages.
Doubs is a gritty gamer; Wicks can make me nervous.
The new and improved Defensive blitz fury—outstanding—love it!
Jacobs seems very close to a huge breakout game—very steady performances.
Tucker Kraft—haven’t seen TE catch like that since Finley.
Anders Carlson made a 55-yarder for San Fran—figures.
Go Packers!!!

STs played poorly except for Whelan. Orzech is TERRIBLE, and if not for Whelan’s amazing grab and placement skills would have cost the Packers the game. Orzech had a ridiculously bad punt snap, too. Why is he still on the team? And what does Bissacia do all day?

Love needs to play smarter, but on the other hand, i was pretty sure the Packers would be able to get in FG range with Love behind center. I don’t have that feeling with QBs who only have eyes for one receiver and who value personal stats and awards more than victories.

What division. This is gonna be a dog fight til the end. To lose the turn over battle by 3-0 and win? Defense held Texans to 86 yards passing was the difference.

Would Carlson have made that FG? Would Joseph have made that FG? Would Neverson have made that FG? By previous experience, the answer is NO - NO - NO! McManus got the job and made an impact. Will he make every kick? Probably not. But his debut was a gigantic success with his winning kick. Are we better off now? I certainly hope so all the way to the playoffs! Welcome to PackerNation, Brandon McManus! Keep kicking 'em through the posts!

My gut reaction. Let's not let gute draft first round picks anymore. Also can we trade busts like Van Ness, walker and Stokes for Miles Garrett and Newsome.

The MVP of the game was Whelan. Record setting territory with booming punts. What, he AVERAGED 58 on 5 punts and 51 net? Good grief...Talk about a field flipper!

And he was the game savior. The game winning kick was in front of our seats. Horrible snap by Orzech. Whelan calmly gathered it, placed the ball at the same time McManus followed through! I mean, that was Cool Man Dan, right there! Amazing hand/eye and internal clock skill.

This is not the Texans team of last year. Stroud has come down to earth it appears. I admit I thought he should have been the one pick.
Anyways sloppy on both sides at times. Love better get with it, cant be throwing to covered guys and expect them to come down with ball or not having interceptions.

Anyone else think LaFleur is being the same with Jacobs like he was with Jones and not using him as much to try and keep him a bit fresh come playoff time, especially with Wilson doing very nicely when rotated in?

My thoughts:
1.) MLF too cute on 3rd/4rth and short and the sweeps, reverses all failed. No more runs out of shotgun just a damn QB push or FB dive for the 95% success rate.
2.) Mcmanus is proof a kicker makes us a SB team. Just beat an elite team with 3 TO gifts and 0 forced TO's.
3.) Eric must start over Quay. Eric is a superior pass rusher and in pass coverage. Yes Quay might be slightly better in run defense but he's still below average. Eric was the MVP of the defense today and had 7 great plays. Quay hasn't had 7 great plays all year.
4.) Love had 1 int and 20 TD's. I don't buy this BS having to take these risky passes. I know some of the int's weren't his fault but many were dumb af into double coverage, forcing it when there are open players, chucking it up for grabs for no reason etc.
5.) King Malik proved this offense can run effectively just passing to the open man on the first or second option. I believe if he started today GB gets a 20 pt dub not a 2 pt dub. Just give it to the open man and stop forcing shit and if nobody is open then tuck and run or throw it away.
6.) Love nearly cost GB a safety by backup up 4 yards further than normal. It cost Zach Tom to relinquish his first sack of the year.
7.) Jeff is proving himself as a top 5 DC already. His openness to move guys around on the field, start different players, change the looks pre and post snap, adjust in game and complete change things each game is everything I've dreamed of for decades and qe finally have a great DC for the first time in nearly 30 years.
8.) SPT's needs to clean up the penalties, TO's, etc. Reed shouldn't be returning punts ever again.

Just a comment on the uniforms.
My son-in-law offered to take me to the game-tickets, airfare, the works.
I have never been to a game at Lambeau. I turned him down. No way I was going to my first game there looking at those white uniforms. Some things are sacred, and should remain that way.
That's part of the reason I don't watch a lot of college football...I never know who's playing.

I disagree on the first interception (that its just a good play by the DB). Seemed to me Jordan threw into too much coverage. Looked too much like the Aaron Rodgers we had at the end who would miss someone wide open and force the ball to one guy. Hope Jordan starts realizing more and more to take care of the ball. We were fortunate to win this one. Could have gone the other way.