Bounce-Back Pack: Three Reasons Why Packers Will Beat Jets

GREEN BAY, Wis. – When the Green Bay Packers kick off Sunday’s game against the New York Jets, it will be 287 days since their last victory.

That’s right, the Packers haven’t won since Keisean Nixon’s game-saving interception beat the Bears at Lambeau Field on Dec. 7.

The Packers, who blew a lead and then were blown out last week at Minnesota, haven’t started 0-2 since 2006. The Jets, who manhandled the Titans in Tennessee last week, haven’t started 2-0 since 2015.

The Packers desperately need a win on Sunday. Here are three reasons why they’ll get it.

1. Jordan Love vs. Aaron Glenn (Instead of Brian Flores)

Jordan Love had a huge game against the Vikings last week, throwing for 387 yards and two touchdowns before a couple huge mistakes were part of the team-wide avalanche that turned a 22-10 lead into a 39-22 loss.

Fortunately for Love and the rest of the offense, this will be more of a business-as-usual matchup against the Jets. New York has been a middle-of-the-pack blitz team under coach Aaron Glenn. Glenn is an excellent defensive coordinator – just look at the Lions’ before-and-after numbers. He’s got an excellent scheme and a pair of big-time pass rushers.

But this won’t be Glenn sending waves of blitzers like Minnesota’s Brian Flores did last week. So, while this will be a challenge, it should be a much more manageable one for a young offensive line.

Love led the Packers against the Glenn-coordinated Lions four times in 2023 and 2024. Detroit won three of the four games, though Love led the Packers to games of 29 and 31 points with a passer rating of about 120 in the road games.

“With him being the DC in Detroit, we’ve gone against him a lot,” Love said on Wednesday. “We’ve seen the scheme he likes to run. Obviously, it’s going to be different – new personnel over there with the Jets – and some stuff they do a little bit differently. Obviously, it’s still early. We’ve only got one game on tape with him calling the stuff.”

In his debut season as head coach last season, the Jets went 3-14. They allowed at least 29 points in a league-worst 10 games.

So, Glenn is still in building mode. With Will McDonald and rookie David Bailey, they potentially have two premier edge rushers. The Jets loaded up on veteran defensive players this offseason with linebacker Demario Davis, safeties Minkah Fitzpatrick and Dane Belton, defensive tackle David Onyemata and edge players Kingsley Enagbare and Joseph Ossai.

Fitzpatrick and Ossai are out for this game.

Glenn’s defense crushed the Titans last week. Quarterback Cam Ward exited Week 1 ranked 26th in completion percentage, 30th in yards, 32nd in yards per attempt and 26th in passer rating.

Packers QB Jordan Love got pummeled by the Vikings last week.

We all know about the fight-or-flight response. How does a QB, knowing he's about to get pummeled, ignore the flight instinct? ⬇️https://t.co/pXwTx2wtlU
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) September 19, 2026

Love is a much better player with much better weapons.

“No. 1, his arm talent is unbelievable, and when I say that, it's the different angles that he throws from,” Glenn told reporters on Friday. “You clearly see that when you watch the tape. The arm strength, his ability to get out of the pocket and then be able to launch the ball deep, you see that quite a bit. …

“He's really dangerous; I think he's more elusive than guys might give him credit for, so we want to try and keep him in the pocket as much as we can, but we also want to deter some of these throws that he has, because he has these receivers out there that can cause a lot of damage. They're all 4.3 guys, they're all tough guys, they all can go up and catch the ball, so it'll be a challenge for our secondary.”

2. Christian Watson vs. Jets DBs

One of those “4.3 guys” is Christian Watson, who was a monster for the Packers last week. He caught six passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns. With most of the damage coming in the first half, he exited Week 1 ranked third in yards, first in touchdowns and second in yards per catch.

“Obviously, just to be involved and to have an impact like that in the game, that's exactly where I want to be as an individual,” he said on Friday.

Glenn knows the damage Watson can create. In six career matchups when Glenn was with the Lions, Watson produced games of four catches for 114 yards at Detroit in 2024, five catches for 94 yards and one touchdown at Detroit in 2023 and five catches for 104 yards at Lambeau in 2022.

“Nothing's changed from the time I was in Detroit and going against him,” Glenn said. “He is definitely a guy that's dangerous. He's 6-4, he can go up there and catch the ball – he's a high-point receiver. But not just that, he has the ability to run past you. A 4.3 guy that's 6-4, I mean, that's a tough combination to go against, so it's going to be a challenge for our guys.”

The Jets weakness is in their secondary, where Brandon Stephens and Azareye’h Thomas started at cornerback against Tennessee. Only one player allowed more touchdown catches than Stephens last year, according to Pro Football Focus. Thomas was a third-round pick last year; he gave a bunch of short catches last week and one touchdown.

Watson’s big game was highlighted by his 81-yard catch-and-run touchdown. As was the case in training camp, any play that hits Watson when he’s on the move has the potential to go to the house.

The Jets gave up 2,030 yards after the catch last season, the eighth-most in the league.

“He’s a guy that can do it all,” Love said. “Obviously, he’s got breakaway speed that can run away from everybody, and it’s finding ways to get the ball in his hands. I think just keep finding ways to take shots to him. He can do a lot of good things once he gets the ball in his hands.”

The vultures are circling after last week's debacle, but there are plenty of reasons to believe the Packers will rebound and get to the playoffs, anyway. ⬇️https://t.co/WvoZozdBXH
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) September 19, 2026

3. Third-and-Geno

When Jets quarterback Geno Smith was with the Seahawks and Packers defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon was coach of the Cardinals, Seattle won all four games. Smith had a 104.2 passer rating in those games.

“He’s a good player, man,” Gannon said. “You’re not going to trick him. He’s very intelligent. He’s, obviously, got a huge arm and he’s a mobile guy even being a little later in his career. He can beat you with his legs. You got to be careful about doing certain things with him because when he gets out, he can generate explosives with his legs.

“I’ve always been a big fan of Geno. He always plays well, for whatever reason, against me, us or whomever I’m with. Big-time challenge ahead.”

Comparing Seahawks-Cardinals to Packers-Jets is like comparing pineapples to pinecones. With the Raiders last season, Smith threw an NFL-high 17 interceptions and was sacked an NFL-worst 55 times.

That’s not a fair comparison, either. So, how’s this: Over the last four seasons, Smith has thrown the most interceptions (52) and taken the most sacks (182). That’s Smith. He will hold the ball too long or put the ball in harm’s way.

It’s far too early to dig too deep into the numbers, but the Jets were a woeful 2-of-12 (16.7 percent) on third down last week. If Green Bay’s run defense can play like it did against Minnesota, it will put Smith in some tough situations.

The Packers’ questionable pass rush will have opportunities. It will be up to the secondary to take advantage.

“We got to reset,” Gannon said. “Every week is a different challenge with a new set of circumstances because you’re playing a different opponent. We might not look like we looked Week 1 because of the opponent. But I thought from as far as a communication standpoint, that’s the first thing I looked up. Did we bust any coverages? We can always play coverages a little bit better certain times, but we didn’t bust any coverages. Did we have a ton of mental errors? We didn’t really have a lot of mental errors.

“I thought from an alignment, assignment, a key where they’re looking at and a technique standpoint, it was pretty good Week 1. But as always, a lot to improve on.”

The vultures appear to be circling the Packers after their latest epic collapse.

Not so fast. ⬇️https://t.co/68pyQ7oQmZ
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) September 19, 2026

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