Packers Report Card: One Obvious A-Plus In Blowout Win Over Patriots

The grades are in, and it’s hard to imagine anything other than giving an A-plus for the way the Green Bay Packers started Sunday’s blowout win over the New England Patriots.

Drake Maye threw an interception on his first pass attempt of the day. The Packers led 17-0 before going into halftime with a 24-14 lead. It was more of the same in the second half, with Green Bay rolling to a 45-27 win. Jordan Love threw for 372 yards, with 335 yards going to Christian Watson and Matthew Golden.

Here is our Packers report card from Green Bay’s statement victory.

Pass Offense

Matthew Golden and Jordan Love must have heard the noise all week about Christian Gonzalez, because they targeted him early and often. Golden was responsible for 126 receiving yards in the first quarter. That included a 49-yard pass early in the game along with Love’s 100th career touchdown pass.

Love was not done. The Packers’ deep-ball approach tore apart New England’s defense in the first half. If Love had time to throw the ball, he found his top two guys, Christian Watson and Golden.

Love threw for 219 yards in the first half. The only real downside was him getting sacked three times, and some odd sequencing to end the first half. Otherwise, he looked in complete command of the offense.

The protection? That’s another story. What Love has done this season behind this offensive line should be studied by science. Love was pressured on half of his first 20 dropbacks. It doesn’t seem to matter. He’s rarely fazed.

Love threw for 372 yards in less than three-and-a-half quarters. Watson caught 7-of-8 passes for 171 yards and one touchdown and Golden caught all 10 targets for 164 yards and one touchdown. They became the first teammates with 150-plus receiving yards and one touchdown in the same game since the Cowboys’ CeeDee Lamb and Brandin Cooks in 2023. They were the first Packers receiver duo to ever hit those marks in a game.

Christian Watson and Matthew Golden are the first Packers teammates with 150+ receiving yards and 1+ receiving TD since Don Hutson and Andy Uram in 1942.#GoPackGo | @packers
— NFL Researcher (@NFL_Researcher) November 8, 2026

Savion Williams contributed, as well. All three of the top receivers had a touchdown, but the story is Love.

Love was dynamite from the beginning of the game until they built a 42-14 lead.

No offensive line, no run game? No problem. The Packers have Love, and that might be all they need.

Grade: A-plus.

Rush Offense

A sequence in the second quarter probably sums up Green Bay’s run game the best. They were facing a third-and-1 from the Patriots’ side of the 50 nursing a 17-7 lead. Kaleb Johnson was tackled short of the line to gain after Jordan Morgan was beaten off the snap by Christian Barmore.

On fourth down, Matt LaFleur kept his offense on the field and called a sneak with Tucker Kraft taking the snap from center. Jordan Love was lined up in the backfield and tagged for a false start after losing his balance. That resulted in a Packers punt.

Lack of attention to detail, poor blocking and the inability to create any yards after being contacted. That’s the Packers’ run game in a nutshell.

With Josh Jacobs suffering a hand injury early in the game and not returning, their leading rusher was Johnson. Back on the field after getting just one rushing attempt the last three games, he helped the Packers get over 100 rushing yards with a few explosive runs.

The 100 yards felt like a miracle. The Packers averaged 60 rushing yards during the first eight games. Adding any semblance of a ground game could make this Packers’ offense even more dangerous as the weather turns colder.

Grade: C-plus.

Pass Defense

Green Bay Packers safety Evan Williams (33) reacts after a fumble by the New England Patriots. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

How good is Green Bay’s secondary? That group was excellent in the first half against Drake Maye, starting from his first pass attempt.

Maye rolled to his right before dialing up a deep ball to Mack Hollins. Hollins throttled down for some reason, and Xavier McKinney looked more like the intended receiver than anyone in a Patriots uniform.

The best play of the game probably came from Brandon Cisse and Evan Williams. Maye threw the ball deep up the left sideline with Cisse in coverage. Cisse stayed in phase and knocked the ball in the air, where Williams performed some fancy footwork to land in bounds to knock the Patriots’ offense off the field.

The third interception of the half came from McKinney again after Maye and Co. looked like they were poised to pull within one possession. Maye was looking for another explosive play on a crossing route, but McKinney jumped it for his second pick of the day and the team’s third.

They nearly had a fourth interception in the first half when a pass from Maye hit Kamal Hadden’s fingertips. If Hadden caught the ball, it would have been a pick-six. He had to settle for a PBU and forcing a Patriots punt.

They finished with three interceptions and a forced fumble.

If there is one thing to quibble with, Green Bay’s four-man rush did not apply much pressure on Maye. When they did get pressure with their front four, it was largely a byproduct of coverage that made Maye hold the ball. They’re going to get Micah Parsons back, but he’s not going to be full tilt until later in the season.

One exception to the rule was Karl Brooks, who had two sacks on the day, but he has had his ebbs and flows on the season, as well. The pass rush must become more consistent before Parsons returns to the lineup.

Grade: B.

Rush Defense

The Packers’ run defense was given an assist from its offense. The score was 17-0 before New England knew what hit it. With the score growing to 42-14 in the third quarter, Patriots ran for 94 yards on 19 attempts.

Even when the Patriots were in a neutral game script, they were unable to get much traction on the ground. Green Bay’s run defense has been excellent for most of the season.

Grade: B.

Special Teams

Green Bay Packers kicker Trey Smack (28) kicks a PAT against the New England Patriots in the first half at Gillette Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The first half was solid outside of Coleman Owen not fielding a punt that cost his team good field position in the first half. Bo Melton had an explosive kickoff return to midfield that Green Bay’s offense wasted, and Trey Smack made all of his kicks without much drama. With the drama that had taken place in previous weeks with Smack, a quiet half was a more than welcome sight.

Smack was excellent in the second half, as well, including a 51-yard field goal. The Packers hope this was Smack bouncing back from his struggles.

Grade: A.

Coaching

The strangest sequence of the first half came when the Packers started at midfield after Bo Melton’s 48-yard kickoff return. At the 2-minute warning, they faced a third-and-2.

Coach Matt LaFleur ultimately ran two plays to try to move the chains and get into scoring range. One of them was a swing pass to Savion Williams in which it looked like Williams was trying to throw the ball down the field. It felt like an odd time for a trick play considering the Packers’ offense was moving the ball almost at will.

On fourth-and-3, Love threw incomplete to Williams when LaFleur could have punted to try and pin the Patriots deep before the end of the half. Instead, the failed conversion gave the Patriots a chance to pull within one possession in a half the Packers essentially had dominated.

The aggression from LaFleur is the problem, but the play sequencing certainly was.

This game, however, goes into Matt LaFleur’s mind shift. LaFleur wants to run the ball first and foremost. He knows he can’t. He’s leaning into Jordan Love and the passing game.

The only real coaching decision to question is why the Packers continue to roll with left guard Aaron Banks, who is either not healthy or not effective.

When you win by double digits on the road against the reigning AFC champions, those are what former defensive coordinator Joe Barry used to call champagne problems.

Meanwhile, even with a four-man rush that struggles to make an impact, Packers defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon continually outfoxed Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. Drake Maye was pressured on 18 of 38 dropbacks, according to Pro Football Focus. When Gannon blitzed, Maye averaged only 4.2 yards per attempt.

Grade: B-plus.

There are almost no words to describe how Jordan Love played yesterday. I tried, though, as he made the strongest statement imaginable about what's possible for his career. ⬇️https://t.co/odhro7AWkr
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) November 9, 2026

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