By Eric Goska
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| Packers kicker Brandon McManus (photos by Eric Goska) |
For 60 minutes of game time, the Packers
never trailed.
For 60 minutes of game time, the Browns never led.
Yet three hours and three minutes after initiating play, Cleveland – not Green Bay – claimed victory when its kicker, Andre Szmyt, nailed a 55-yard field goal as time expired to secure a 13-10 win.
This was going to be a story focused on Green Bay's pass defense. How it is allowing the fewest yards per completion in the league. How its efforts have been the best by the team in well over 50 years.
And we’ll still do that. But first we have to address yet another creative way in which the Green and Gold snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
Early on, this game between Green Bay and Cleveland had the earmarks of being a defensive struggle. Neither the Packers (230 yards) nor the Browns (221) mustered much yardage.
Scoring did not come easily or quickly, at least not at first. Green Bay counted on a 39-yard Brandon McManus field goal (13 plays-43 yards; 7:23) and a 3-yard TD pass from Jordan Love to tight end John FitzPatrick (14-71; 7:41). Cleveland got its initial score – a 35-yard field goal by Szmyt – on a 12-play, 63-yard advance that took 5:48 off the clock.
Throughout, Green Bay never trailed.
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| Jordan Love |
Only once previously have the Packers gone 60 minutes without trailing only to lose in regulation. On Sept. 11, 1988, Tampa Bay’s Donald Igwebuike booted them into the loss column with a 28-yard field goal on the game’s final play.
Green Bay’s breakdowns on offense and special teams with the game on the line cannot take away from another fine performance by its defense. Jeff Hafley’s unit again kept completion yards to a minimum.
In opening 2-0, the Packers had allowed a league-low 7.73 yards per completion, nearly a yard better than the second-place 49ers (8.71). The Browns (8.61), meantime, were one of four clubs to average fewer than nine yards per completion.
As one might suspect, the Green and Gold clamped down on the Browns. Cleveland quarterback Joe Flacco completed 21 of 36 passes for 142 yards, an average of just 6.76 yards per success. He completed but two passes of more than 14 yards – a 17-yarder to Isaiah Bond and a 17-yarder to Jerry Jeudy.
To date, the Packers have given up 567 yards on 76 completions. That’s an average of 7.46 per, the lowest allowed by the team through the first three games of a season since 1967 (6.83).
But that club – which went on to win Super Bowl II – wasn’t tested to the extent of this current group. Coach Vince Lombardi’s last team in Green Bay allowed 164 yards on 24 completions through its first three games.
That season – 1967 – was also the last time the Pack limited each of its first three opponents to fewer than 250 yards. In going 2-1 this year, Green Bay held the Lions (246), Commanders (230) and Browns (221) below that mark.
Heartbreak in Regulation
Trailing Opponent Final Date
0 Browns 10-13 Sept. 21, 2025
0 Buccaneers 10-13 Sept. 11, 1988
5 Eagles 17-20 Sept. 12, 1993
8 Vikings 7-10 Oct. 15, 1967
* Bears 7-10 Oct. 22, 1933
** Bears 7-14 Sept. 24, 1933
35 Bears 14-17 Sept. 25, 1960
**third-to-last play of the game
I wouldn’t sweat the Browns loss, Packers fans. One or two games a year Jim Schwartz motivates his crew to rise to the occasion. On those occasions, they rise to towering heights and beat Goliath, only to crash back down to their underachieving selves the following week, territory they reside in most of the time. It’s the hallmark of all Fischer-Williams-Schwartz defense. It isn’t what they do, it’s when they do it: not often. But if you can figure out which team Schwartz considers a he-man test, pick them. Of course, good defensive coordinators get their team to play at a high level all the time.
ReplyDeleteThe underachieving Miles Garrett is the perfect player for Schwartz, because he’s the same way. World-wrecker one game, disappears the next, for long stretches of time.
You seem to have some misguided information
DeleteThat so-called misguided information has made me some money over the years. But involves looking forward, not backward. Different skill sets. The former is harder.
DeleteThat first 1933 game was Bill Hewitt's breakout. One of the first true defensive stars, the Pack lead until Hewitt blocked a Punt, when the Bears took possession he then heaved a 43-yard TD pass to Luke Johnsos. Next Pack possession he blocks another Punt recovering it himself and returning it for a TD to single-handedly win the game!
ReplyDeleteBW ...
ReplyDeleteThey simply overlooked the Browns. A true doughnut game. Judkins kept the Browns in it till the victory.