The Packers redeemed themselves last night under the Thursday night primetime lights, walking out of Lambeau Field with a 27-19 victory over the Carolina Panthers. A far cry from the embarassment they suffered in their previous Thursday night outing against the Falcons.
Was it pretty? No
Was there improvement? Yes
The Packers have been able to find their way to victory multiple times this season despite themselves. While you should never apologize for a win in the NFL, it sure would be nice to see consistent and decisive play from this offense.
Here’s the the good, the bad, and the ugly from this “closer than it should have been” win.
The Good: Packers DC Jonathan Gannon Continues To Deliver
Week after week Jonathan Gannon makes Packer Nation ask, “Jeff Haf..who?”
Last night was no exception, as Gannon dialed up constant pressure, holding a Panthers offense that came into the game ranked 7th in explosive plays to a mere 258 total yards.
The best part was that it was multiple players making an impact. The defense ended the night with 6 sacks on QB Bryce Young, marking the first 5+ sack game since Micah Parson’s injury last year. I can only imagine what this phase of play is going to look like when Parsons gets back on the field.
Once again Gannon’s pressures were also coming from all sides and levels of the secondary. That being said, I think far and away the stand out player of the game was LB Ty’ron Hopper.
Here’s a couple highlights of Hopper making the most of his opportunities with Edgerrin Cooper and Zaire Franklin sidelined.
Across the board the defense held this game together, despite an offense that stumbled through the 2nd half of play. Lukas Van Ness made his presence known while absolutely torching former Packers T Rasheed Walker. Barryn Sorrell and Brenton Cox were applying consistent pressure, while Devonte Wyatt held down the interior.
Not to mention, the guy I keep talkin about recently, Dani Dennis-Sutton continues to ascend and look like the next breakout start pass rusher. He is just relentless, watch his pursuit on his game closing sack.
Here’s a quick overview of the defensive effort.
The Packers identity has certainly been trending towards a lockdown defense that keeps their offense competitive. Players along the line seem to be settling into their roles and the secondary play has been absolutely phenomenal as of late.
Gannon seems to have an unshakable ability to find his stride with this group, even with all the injury and adversity that has come their way in 2026.
Kudos to the defense!
The Bad: Packers WR Drops Persisting
The drops have become an increasingly frustrating storyline for the Packers throughout the 2026 season, and they continued against the Carolina Panthers. Green Bay’s receiving corps has repeatedly left plays on the field, turning opportunities for explosive gains and touchdowns into missed chances.
Matthew Golden was at the center of the problem once again, dropping 2 passes against Carolina, including a likely touchdown that would have given the Packers a chance to close the game earlier. Golden did manage to bounce back with a 24-yard touchdown later in the game, but the feast or famine gameplay is getting tiresome. He now leads the NFL with 8 drops this season, not followed too far behind by Tucker Kraft who has 6 drops already.
In fact the Packers entered Thursday night leading the NFL in drops with 21 tallied, now sitting at 23.
Jordan Love has been absolutely clutch with carrying this offense while the run game has been MIA. Hopefully Golden and company can continue to clean up the mistakes. It’s also certainly been encouraging to see players like J. Michael Sturdivant and Savion Williams bringing depth to an injury prone room.
SPECIAL SHOUTOUT TO CHRISTIAN WATSON
Lastly, as far as the receiving corp, I would be remiss if I didn’t take a step away from the format of this article to put a spotlight on Christian Watson.
Coming back to the game after going to the hospital in an ambulance needs to be acknowledged. For a guy that has dealt with non stop injury woes throughout his career, seeing him come back through the locker room area at a full on run, shows how much he cares, and what kind of grit he brings to the table.
I mean this looks like a straight up backstage segment from WWE…
Now back to your regularly scheduled programming…..
The Ugly: Special Teams & Run Blocking
I think it’s pretty safe to say, that a lot of us let out a collective sigh on that opening kickoff last night.
The Packers Special Teams continue to have old demons resurface. I’ve said for the last week or so that the absence of Skyy Moore is much more noticeable after seeing what the unit looked like with him on the field. Here’s what LaFleur had to say about keeping Coleman Owen in despite that opening fumble.
Then there’s another Trey Smack missed extra point to deal with.
While that may be true, those points being left on the field have cost the Packers too many late season and post season games in the past to not at least acknowledge the issue. The fact that Smack let out a major sigh, while the crowd gave a major cheer after he made the following extra point, says a lot about where the Packers kicking unit stands at the moment. I of course hope and have faith that Smack will in fact be able to get back to formula, but I also hope that Matt and Gutey will take action before long, should he not.
Running Game Woes Prompt One Major Question: Where The Hell Is Zeitler?
While Laken Tomlinson has been an absolute gift to a struggling offensive line, I think we all have the same 2 questions on the tip of our tongue.
Where the hell is Kevin Zeitler, and why is he not on the field?
In fact here’s the article I wrote last week calling for Zeitler to get the starting role.
Why The Packers Need To Start RG Kevin Zeitler
Ken Ingalls also posed a great question, and I just don’t understand what the issue is here.
While the pass protection has certainly improved, giving Jordan a cleaner pocket to work in, the run game continues to be hard to watch. I am not so sure anymore that this has as much to do with the runners carrying the ball, as much as it has to do with the lineman executing their blocking assignments.
Despite LaFleur and Offensive Coordinator Adam Stenovich saying in their respective pressers this week that Zeitler is ready to go, they instead decided to put Aaron Banks back on the line. Why they put him in rather than keeping Tomlinson at LG where he has been lights out, and giving Zeitler the nod at RG finally, is beyond my comprehension.
Here’s how the run game panned out last night.
The Panthers came into Thursday night as the worst ranked run defense in the league. Yet, what should have been a get right, confidence boosting game, turned out to be another fight for every inch, piss poor outing by the Packers offense. When we have a wide receiver tallying more yards than the RB2, there’s a real problem.
Josh Jacobs has looked better week over week, and the touchdowns and 3rd down conversions were a pleasant change of pace last night for sure. Hopefully, a mini bye followed by a full week of practice should lead to the Packers bell cow taking on a larger role and easing the burden of the pass game. The current average of 2.9 yards per carry is not going to be good enough as we get into the colder months ahead, when running the ball is critical.
Again, I do believe that Jacobs is still working off the rust and will continue to improve, but if the offensive line can’t find a way to impose their will on the line of scrimmage against opposing defenses, it won’t matter who Love is handing the ball to.
Packers Head Into A Mini Bye Ahead Of Road Game Against Patriots
The Packers now sit at 5-3, and have thankfully been trending in the right direction for the most part recently. There are certainly still a lot of areas that need to be cleaned up, but the NFL season is long, and far from over.
The Packers will be on the road in Week 9, facing off against the New England Patriots. Hopefully some rest will lead to some of the injured Packers roster making their way back on the field. We also may be entering the week we’ve all been waiting for, when Micah Parsons suits up again.
This season is up for grabs across the league. While there are a few outliers like the 49ers and *swallows the vomit* the Vikings, there are not many teams that appear to have a dominant thumb on the scale in 2026. As of now the Packer recipe for success seems to be a defense that makes you fight for every inch, complemented by an explosive offense with an absolutely elite looking QB at the helm making teams pay downfield.
A very encouraging site last night was a MAJOR drop in penalties by the squad. If they can continue to play clean, while ramping up their blocking and run game with Jacobs, this team can certainly still make a deep run in the playoffs.
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