Micah Parsons Helps Packers Sack Cardinals 27-23

The Green Bay Packers finally finished a game.

Especially Micah Parsons.

Parsons had a critical sack with 27 seconds remaining to help the Packers hold off the Arizona Cardinals 27-23 on Sunday in Glendale, Ariz.

Josh Jacobs, who had to go through a pregame workout because of a calf injury, rushed for two touchdowns, including the game-deciding score with 1:50 to go.

The Cardinals had a chance to win. However, on first-and-10 at Green Bay’s 26, Parsons blew past right tackle Jonah Williams and sacked Jacoby Brissett. Karl Brooks had a quarterback hit on third-and-11 and Rashan Gary had a quarterback hit on a fourth-and-1 Hail Mary, which was deflected by safety Xavier McKinney.

Jordan Love took a knee to clinch the victory. Green Bay improved to 4-1-1 following its first road win of the season.

It wasn’t a work of art for the Packers but, after arriving in Glendale more than 5 hours late because of trouble with one of the planes, coach Matt LaFleur was thrilled with the outcome.

“I can’t say enough about our guys. Just from the moment we got on the trip, nothing seemed to go right to in game,” he said. “There was a lot of things that didn’t go right, but the guys kept battling, and that’s what it takes in this league, and it’s encouraging that we haven’t played our best ball.”

Parsons had the first three-sack game of his career. Love was 19-of-29 passing for 179 yards and one touchdown to outduel the Cardinals, who lost their fifth in a row – four in excruciating fashion – despite 279 passing yards by Brissett.

“He’s so explosive and he just plays so hard,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said this week of Parsons, who had only 2.5 sacks in the first five games. “When you see two guys engage on him, he’s got like one more burst left in him that most people do not have, and you just see him accelerate.

“You see it at practice and you see how low he comes off the ball, and there’s like this other gear he gets where most people kind of shuts down, he just keeps going. It’s amazing. Hope we keep seeing that.”

The Packers gave up a field goal to trail 23-20 with 9:06 remaining. They needed a drive but instead went three-and-out when Love fumbled the snap on first down and threw incomplete when pressured on third down.

That put all the pressure on Green Bay’s leaky defense when it took the field with 7:58 to go. Brissett, who at one point completed 14 consecutive passes, badly missed Marvin Harrison on second down but his checkdown to Michael Wilson gained 8, setting up fourth-and-1 with 5:58 to go. The Packers stuffed Brissett’s sneak, giving Green Bay the ball at Arizona’s 48.

On third-and-7, Love stepped up under pressure for 8 yards and a first down. On fourth-and-2, the Packers sent out the field-goal unit for a 47-yard field goal. Instead, they called their second timeout and sent the offense back on the field.

“When our quarterback’s coming off, and I can see the disdain on his face I looked up at the clock, saw how much time was left,” LaFleur said. “It wasn’t by any means a chip shot, although Lucas has come in and done a hell of a job. So, just one of those deals where I was like, no matter what we call, this guy’s going to make it work. And that’s exactly what happened.”

Kraft beat safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson for 15 yards to the 14.

“You’re sitting there, you’re thinking what the situation is,” Love said. “Obviously, three points ties it up, but you’re sitting there like, ‘Man, there’s a lot of time left.’ You hate for them to just need to go down there and kick a field goal for the win with that much time and that many timeouts.”

Moments later, the Packers were in the end zone. On second down from the 9, Jacobs broke two tackles on an 8-yard run to the 1 On the next play, he broke another tackle for the touchdown and a 27-23 lead with 1:50 to go.

Green Bay trailed 13-6 at halftime but finally forced its first fumble and recorded its third takeaway of the season. Colby Wooden flushed Brissett from the pocket. He was sacked from behind by Gary and fumbled, with Evan Williams recovering at Arizona’s 44.

“What a big-time play by RG right there to get that strip-sack,” Love said. “Anytime the defense can create turnovers, it’s going to put us in great position.

The Packers tied the score moments later on Jacobs’ 8-yard touchdown run.

Great defenses take momentum and multiply it. Instead, Green Bay’s defense gave up a 65-yard touchdown drive. On third-and-14, Brissett beat Nate Hobbs on a 35-yard bomb to Marvin Harrison. Moments later, Trey McBride was wide open across the middle for a 12-yard touchdown. He plowed over Hobbs at the 3 to score.

The Packers desperately needed an answer. They got it. Helped by two defensive penalties, Love faked the handoff to Jacobs and hit Kraft in the flat for a 7-yard touchdown that tied the game at 20 on the first play of the fourth quarter.

A missed tackle by Isaiah McDuffie and a facemask by Arron Mosby on the ensuing kickoff gave the Cardinals the ball at Green Bay’s 45. A second-down pressure by Parsons, which stopped Brissett’s streak of 14 consecutive completions, and a third-down sack by Parsons limited the damage to a field goal, with the Cardinals leading 23-20 with 9:01 remaining.

The Packers trailed 13-6 at halftime. It was another 30 minutes of missed opportunities.

“We’ve got to convert on third down,” LaFleur told Fox’s Jen Hale at halftime. “That’s really on both sides of the ball. We’ve had some critical errors on third down. We’ve got to do a better job on those money downs.”

It was 6-3 with 4:55 remaining in the half. The Packers, however, bumbled their way to a three-and-out.

Things went from bad to worse moments later. On third-and-23 at the 2-minute warning, Green Bay was poised to get a stop, get the ball to end the first half and get the ball again to start the second half.

Instead, Barryn Sorrell was offside and Jacoby Brissett threw a 43-yard bomb to Zay Jones to Green Bay’s 41. The Packers called a timeout after forcing a third-and-4 but gave up that first down, too.

Things went from really bad to even worse moments later. Third-and-9 became third-and-4 when Parsons jumped offside. Third-and-4 became a touchdown when Green Bay somehow blew the coverage on a 15-yard touchdown pass to McBride.

Only a Packers-record 61-yard field goal by Lucas Havrisik prevented a complete disaster. The seven field goals of longer than 54 yards were all kicked by Mason Crosby.

“That’s a big-time field goal right there,” Love said. “Those are those points when you never know when they’re going to come back at the end of the half.”

Rather than putting tail between their legs and going into the locker room, coach Matt LaFleur was aggressive. With 7 seconds on the clock, Love hit Doubs for 22 to Arizona’s 43 with 1 second left. Havrisik booted a field goal that might have been good if the goalposts were in Scottsdale.

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