Three Overreactions From Packers’ 27-23 Victory Over Cardinals

The Green Bay Packers finally finished a game and finally won on the road. Not all is well, though, going into a showdown against Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night.

Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft (85) celebrates a touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals. | Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers beat the Arizona Cardinals 27-23 on Sunday. The Packers did what they had been unable to do in their early-season road games: Finish the job and win.

Here are this week’s Overreactions.

1. More of That (And More Matthew Golden)

This is the way.

It wasn’t Jordan Love’s best game. He was 19-of-29 passing for 179 yards and one touchdown. His 93.9 passer rating was his second-lowest of the season.

Green Bay’s passing attack is predicated on spreading the ball to its playmakers. In this game, the focus was getting the ball to its top playmakers.

Should Matthew Golden have gotten more than four targets? Yes, of course. He caught three passes during the opening series and just one the rest of the game. He was not involved in the end-around and jet-sweep game.

However, it’s hard to quibble with the overall approach in the passing game. Of Love’s 28 targeted passes, 22 went to tight end Tucker Kraft (five catches out of 10 targets, 58 yards, one touchdowns), receiver Romeo Doubs (six catches out of eight targets, 72 yards) and Golden (four catches out of four targets, 37 yards).

That’s 79 percent of the catches and 79 percent of the yards to the best passing-game playmakers. In the second half, it was 13 out of 16. In the fourth quarter, it was all six of Love’s passes, including the big fourth-and-1 completion to Kraft on the go-ahead drive.

“I’ll look back on tape, but I guarantee you I wasn’t the only one open on that play,” Kraft said. “I’m pretty sure Rome killed backside (at the) same time.”

In the fourth quarter, Jordan Love threw six targeted passes. Five went to Tucker Kraft, including on fourth-and-2. pic.twitter.com/mjTUFHyTCU

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) October 20, 2025

Green Bay gained only 262 yards, its second-lowest output of the season after back-to-back games topping 400. The league’s best third-down team entering the game went just 3-of-10. But the group finished strong for the first road win of the season headed into a showdown at the Pittsburgh Steelers, who will have the benefit of their mini-bye after they lost to the Bengals on Thursday.

“We just still have to play as a more cohesive unit across the board, all three (phases),” Kraft said. “We’re still leaving some plays out there on offense, guys not necessarily being tied in to aiming points, route depth.

“It’s not about playing perfect but just eliminating the bad. and when we can do that week in, week out, we can stack these games, stack these wins. We’re going into another hostile game next week, so it’s just important to lean on each other because, these 53 guys, that’s all we got.”

2. Kryptonite Coming

The Packers couldn’t stop Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott in the second half before the bye. They couldn’t stop Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco in the second half after the bye. They couldn’t stop Cardinals backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett for most of Sunday.

Over the last three weeks, the Packers – blessed with one of the top pass rushes in the NFL – rank 28th in opponent passer rating.

If Green Bay can’t stop the Cowboys without CeeDee Lamb, the Bengals with a quarterback who arrived in town only days earlier and a backup with no running game and only two legit targets, how are they doing to stop – oh, I don’t know – Aaron Rodgers on Sunday night in Pittsburgh? Or Detroit’s Jared Goff in a Thanksgiving rematch that could decide the NFC North? Or any of the top quarterbacks who would await in the playoffs?

If Micah Parsons doesn’t put on his Superman cape, then the kryptonite that is Green Bay’s secondary is going to be in big trouble.

Brissett threw for 279 yards and two touchdowns. His 110.8 passer rating was the ninth-best of his 55 career starts.

The thing is, none of this is a surprise. Lining up with Keisean Nixon and Nate Hobbs as every-down cornerbacks and expecting a no-fly zone pass defense seemed like wishful thinking, no matter how impactful the pass rush.

Nixon has been fine. More than fine, actually. He’s allowed a completion percentage of 54.1, according to Pro Football Focus, and ranks among the NFL leaders in passes defensed.

Expecting Hobbs, an injury-plagued, part-time starter with the Raiders, to be an every-down cornerback took significant projection when general manager Brian Gutekunst handed him a four-year, $48 million contract in free agency.

Gutekunst’s track record in big-money free agency is strong, so maybe he’ll be right. Maybe Hobbs’ issues are 100 percent attributable to the knee injury that required surgery in training camp and the knee issue that popped up on Friday’s injury report.

The Green Bay Packers had a hard time handling Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. on Sunday. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

However, the early results aren’t encouraging. According to PFF, Hobbs has allowed a 127.1 passer rating. Of 75 cornerbacks who have played at least 150 coverage snaps, that’s the eighth-highest.

Asked about Hobbs’ play and if it might be time to put Carrington Valentine in the lineup, coach Matt LaFleur on Monday delivered a strong vote of confidence.

“Here’s what I’ll tell you about Nate,” LaFleur said. “Nate’s a competitive dude that takes a lot of pride in his work. He loves ball and I think he will rebound and, in the end, he’ll be better for it.

“So, yeah, are there some rough moments? I think that’s one of the beauties of this, especially playing that position, you better be resilient in this league because there’s going to be times when you’re going to get beat. There’s some good players on the other side. They did a nice job on some of those situations. But you have to be resilient in order to have success in this league, and that’s what I expect from him. He will bounce back.”

He better be right. Pending a move before the trade deadline, the season will depend on it.

3. Packers Must Find Another Gear

The Packers have to feel good about finishing strong against the Cardinals, outscoring them 14-3 in the fourth quarter to – for one week, anyway – conquer their end-of-game problems.

“I feel better about the win,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “But, especially after looking at it, there’s a lot of things that we’re going to have to do a hell of a lot better in order for us to have success, sustained success.”

Penalties were at the forefront of what needs to improve after his team was found guilty of 10 infractions for 94 yards.

“I think more than anything else, it’s just being on top of the details so you can go out there and execute at a high level,” LaFleur said. “And we’re far from that right now.”

That’s going to have to change because the soft part of the schedule is over. With the Monday games pending, the Packers’ opponents have a combined .444 winning percentage. That includes a strength of victory of .427.

It’ll be a bigger challenge coming up. Here are the final 11 opponents:

at Steelers (4-2)

vs. Panthers (4-3)

vs. Eagles (5-2)

at Giants (2-5)

vs. Vikings (3-3)

at Lions (4-2)

vs. Bears (4-2)

at Broncos (5-2)

at Bears (4-2)

vs. Ravens (1-5)

at Vikings (3-3)

That’s only two teams with losing records. One is the Giants, who look rejuvenated behind rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart and almost pulled off an upset win at Denver. The other is the Ravens, who went 35-16 the previous three seasons and probably can’t be written off just yet.

“I still think that these are the type of games in my opinion where we got to play better, man,” safety Xavier McKinney said. “To be honest, in my opinion, I don’t think really it should even come down to the fourth quarter. I think we have a better team. I don’t think we really played up to our standard as much.

“We’ll get back to the film room and try to find ways to be better. But we for damn sure can’t do this against good teams because it’s not going to work. I think the guys know that. We’re happy we got the win but we got to be a lot better.”