The People’s GPA: Packers Upset Cardinals

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Wins over the likes of the Cincinnati Bengals, Chicago Bears and Washington Football Team didn’t impress the professors who do the voting in the weekly People’s GPA.
It was a different story against the Arizona Cardinals.
With the shorthanded Green Bay Packers upsetting the Cardinals 24-21 on Thursday, 57.2 percent of fans who voted in a Twitter poll gave the Packers an “A” and the team earned a 3.55 grade-point average.
This was the first game in which “A” was the majority grade. As such, this was the best grade-point average of the season. Started after the Week 4 game against Pittsburgh, the Packers’ grades were 3.00 vs. the Steelers, 2.62 vs. the Bengals, 3.07 vs. the Bears and 2.91 vs. the Football Team.
Green Bay beat the last undefeated team in the NFL, on the road, with eight starters out at kickoff and nine after tight end Robert Tonyan suffered a knee injury in the third quarter.
“What a team effort. What a team win,” coach Matt LaFleur said after the game. “Our guys, I couldn’t be more proud to be associated with this organization, with that locker room, with these people. The resiliency these guys showed, these guys take on that mentality of we never want to flinch. Just couldn’t be happier to be their coach.”
Green Bay controlled most of the game, won the turnover battle 3-0 and had a 15-minute edge in possession time but needed Rasul Douglas’ interception to win the game.
“That’s kind of how we’ve been playing this year,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “We’ve not been super-efficient at times but come up with some big plays at the right moments.”
That’s what Rodgers and LaFleur had to say. This is what you had to say.
#Packers were without key players, their DC, on the road, on a short week, against an undefeated team. Recipe for a loss.
— Michael Klinck (@Michael_Klinck) October 29, 2021
Murray didn't run or pass all over them. Held them to 21pts. But, passing game suffered, goal line offense stumbled at the end.
Heck with it, give them an A!
Solid A+…. they took a mediocre group and outplayed a good team. When a coach and QB can do that- elevate the team, they earned an A+ in my book
— Chris I (@Cilling72) October 29, 2021
You can't have an A when you can't gain a half-yard.
— T. Walker (@tundrawalker00) October 29, 2021
Play calling at the goal line needs to be better. So I’m going with a B. People giving an A need to watch what the Bucs did to the bears last week. That’s an A performance.
— Kyle Kirchner (@kyle_kirchner) October 29, 2021
Went with a B only because of the 2 RZ Poss I would say A for Defense B for Off we could say A-
— Steve Cook (@slaphappycookie) October 29, 2021
Gotta go A here. Total team win. Without multiple stars, the packers bullied the cardinals and looked more physical and gritty as can be. This team can win multiple ways and the defense continues to be the reason it just might be the year they’re able to finally go all the way
— Mark (@makersmark89) October 29, 2021
B. Great game plan and execution. Really poor finish to the first half and our last offensive drive.
— Brett Poorman (@BrettPoorman) October 29, 2021
This win goes a long way towards working out how to win come playoff time. The better teams will take away what we’re good at. LaFluer is getting better at winning in a multitude of ways
— Mucho Maas (@FleetwoodEdd) October 29, 2021
B. Should not be hard to score from inside the 5. Game shouldn't have been close.
— Brett Auriemma (@aceofspades42) October 29, 2021
Should be B+ - excellent effort and much room for tweaks & continued improvement. Reminded me of the Parcells’ heavyweight fight analogy.
— Michael Joyner (@DrMJoyner) October 29, 2021
Considering how many players we are missing on our offense and defensible side of the ball how can you not give them an A yea there were questionable play calls but damn to still beat an undefeated team like that wow
— Jay (@jaygunnery) October 29, 2021
Maybe now A will finally win 😂
— J.J. Lahey 🧀 (@JJLahey) October 29, 2021
Yes, J.J., "A'" wins.
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Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.