The New England Patriots won the duel of two of the best quarterbacks of all time with 31:17 against the Green Bay Packers. Aaron Rodgers made the better game compared to Tom Brady, but in the end the Packers had to pay another fumble.
The big duel between Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers was on – but one of them had to manage without two of his most important weapons: Rob Gronkowski and Sony Michel were missing on the side of the Pats, but New England had the right solution; the Patriots started the game at an incredible pace and caught Green Bay on the wrong foot. But first of all, the drive should remain one of the few successful ones.
Both teams had very good defensive approaches ready to stop the opponent. The Packers kept showing flashes of lightning to let themselves fall into coverage. The Patriots chose a basically lighter package to limit Rodgers (24/43, 259 YDS, 2 TD) athletic possibilities. But why Green Bay played 27 passes when the running backs ran for 6.0 and 5.4 yards per attempt remains a mystery.
The Packers Defense took over the game in the second round and sent flexible lightning packages again and again, to which even Brady (22/35, 294 YDS, TD), who certainly didn’t play his best game of the season, couldn’t find any answers. On the other hand, Rodgers also seemed to get better and better into rhythm and had some great passes where he bought time for himself and his receivers.
But just as the Packers seemed to be taking over the game and could finally have taken the lead, the guests set themselves up: Aaron Jones fumbled the ball and shifted all the momentum to the side of the Pats. They found again about the Run Game and a lot of short passes the score. Then Brady finally came to big play when he saw a huge coverage breakdown and sent Josh Gordon on a journey for a big play touchdown.
While the Patriots in the AFC are still only one game behind the Chiefs with their victory, Green Bay are slowly but surely losing out in their own division – and are increasingly in serious danger of missing the postseason.
The Patriots corner made an outstanding game and was unbeatable throughout the game. Gilmore defended most of the time over Adams and didn’t let his opponent’s best videout come into play. The Packers had to find ways like wide receiver screens to bring Adams into the game.
Actually the Running Back behind the great playing O-Line of the Packers made a good game. When Green Bay’s defense ran hot in the second half, Patriots stopped at the goal line and then pushed another three and out, the momentum was clearly on the Packers side. But then Jones afforded a faux pas, to which one reacts very sensitively in Green Bay at the moment. Jones fumbled the ball and gave away not only the opportunity to take the lead for the first time in the game, but also all the momentum.