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Packers-Jets Predictions: Will Green Bay Finally Win?

The Green Bay Packers need a bounce-back victory over the Jets. Will they get it? Here are our Packers-Jets predictions.
Bill Huber|
Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur is shown during a loss to the Jets in 2022.
Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur is shown during a loss to the Jets in 2022. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – To call this the most important Week 2 game in Green Bay Packers history would be historic levels of hyperbole. But there’s no getting around the magnitude of today’s game against the New York Jets.

Simply put, this is not just a run-of-the-mill second game of the season. Not after what happened last week.

The Packers imploded in horrific fashion at the Vikings. On the heels of their epic meltdown in last year’s playoff loss to the Bears, general manager Brian Gutekunst added some veterans to the roster and coach Matt LaFleur stressed the need to finish throughout the offseason and training camp.

Despite all of that, the Packers once again collapsed like a house of cards blasted by a leaf blower, turning a 22-10 lead into a 39-22 loss. No team in NFL history had blown that big of a lead that late in the game and lost by that many points.

With the vultures circling and new questions about the direction of a franchise that seemed ready for a championship breakthrough just a few years ago, the Packers need to beat the Jets. They don’t need to win only because of what history says about the fate of 0-2 teams (including their own history). They need to win for their own psyche.

Style points don’t matter, not for a team that’s lost six consecutive games.

Blowing out the Jets would be good. Making a big play to clinch the win would be good, too.

The question is whether the Packers will be up to the task, and not just for 40, 45 or 50 minutes.

The Jets, with their greatly improved roster, are going to pose some problems.

Green Bay’s defense couldn’t handle Vikings backup Carson Wentz last week. The Jets’ Geno Smith is a better quarterback, and he’s got some big-time weapons with Breece Hall in the backfield, Garrett Wilson at receiver and Kenyon Sadiq at tight end.

Green Bay’s offense, obviously, couldn’t handle Brian Flores’ blitzing defense last week. That attacking style isn’t in Jets coach Aaron Glenn’s DNA, but he’s no dummy. Until the Packers show they can handle the blitz, they’re going to get blitzed – especially on big downs.

The Jets have one of the best special-teams units in the NFL. That group will provide a good litmus test after an up-and-down debut for Cam Achord’s group.

Too often, probably, when I make these predictions, I get hung up on a couple things. For last week’s game against the Vikings, it was the state of the offensive line to deal with Flores’ blitzes and the ability to handle Justin Jefferson with a suspect pass rush.

For this week’s game, I can’t get myself past the fact that this is the Packers against the Jets. Green Bay has qualified for the playoffs each of the last three years. The Jets haven’t had a winning season in 10 years and haven’t reached the playoffs since 2010.

The Packers won nine games last year. The Jets won only three. The Packers have Jordan Love at quarterback. The Jets have Geno Smith. The Packers are 6-1 in Week 2 under coach Matt LaFleur. The Jets aren’t the Vikings; MetLife Stadium is not U.S. Bank Stadium.

None of those things should matter for this game. But that’s what’s in my head.

So, I’ll resist piling on the Packers. The Packers are the better team – I think – and that will show up. The Packers will save their season – and their fans’ sanity. The game will be close but they’ll finish strong with an add-on touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Prediction: Packers 27, Jets 17.

Bill’s record: 1-0.

Jacob Westendorf’s Packers-Jets Prediction

I said last week that I don’t trust these Packers, and they did little to prove that I should with yet another fourth-quarter collapse. 

This week, I think there are plenty of reasons to be concerned. The Jets might have the advantage on both sides of the line of scrimmage. That always matters, but it may matter even more on a day when rain is expected. 

Having said all that, the Packers are the more talented team and should play with an urgency to try and avoid a 0-2 start. 

Prediction: Packers 23, Jets 17. 

Jacob’s record: 0-1. 

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

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.