Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love outdueled former teammate Aaron Rodgers as Green Bay knocked off the Pittsburgh Steelers, 35-25 in Rodgers’ first game against his former team Oct. 26.
In the game of mentor vs. mentee, Love put together what might have been his best game as a professional quarterback, as he completed 29-of-37 passes for 360 yards and three touchdowns. During the game, Love also had a stretch where he completed 20 straight passes, something Rodgers has not accomplished.
“Man, I was just playing,” said Love. “I think you get in that, as a player, where you just start flowing and playing well. Everybody around was just making plays as well and executing at a high level.”
Among those who were making plays around Love was Packers tight end Tucker Kraft. On National Tight Ends Day, Kraft put together his best game as a pro, catching seven passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns. With those 143 receiving yards, 131 yards came after the catch.
“He was a beast; he was a man possessed,” said Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, about Kraft.
The story of this game can be broken down into two parts – the first half and the second half.
Pittsburgh jumped out to an early 16-7 lead heading into halftime, as kicker Chris Boswell nailed three field goals, while Rodgers connected with wide receiver DK Metcalf for a 2-yard touchdown.
On the Packers’ side in the first half, penalties and mistakes limited the team’s progress. In his return after a two-game absence, Packers kicker Brandon McManus missed two field goal attempts.
Things quickly shifted though, as out of halftime, Green Bay held Pittsburgh to a quick three-and-out. They followed that up with a 10-play, 90-yard scoring drive, which was capped off by an 8-yard Savion Williams receiving touchdown.
From there, the Packers’ offense took over the game, with Love connecting with Kraft and Josh Jacobs scoring on the next two drives for touchdowns. After Kraft’s touchdowns, McManus got back into the groove, hitting two field goals. Pittsburgh was able to score one touchdown with 1:52 left in the game, but it was too little too late.
“When you look at it, there were some penalties on defense in the first half on third down mainly, and then offensively, it was the same thing; we had a couple of drops on third down,” said LaFleur. “All in all, we really played three pretty good quarters, the second quarter was the one that we didn’t do a very good job.”
Rounding out the Packers’ offensive game, Emanuel Wilson starred as the leading rusher for the Packers. He took 11 carries for 61 yards. Jacobs ran the ball 13 times for 33 yards and the one touchdown.
In the receiving game, Christian Watson, who returned for his first game of the season, finished second in receiving behind Kraft with 85 yards on four receptions. Romeo Doubs added 44 yards on three receptions, while Malik Heath chipped in 29 yards on three receptions.
For the Steelers, Rodgers finished the game completing 24-of-36 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns.
Roman Wilson was the main benefactor of Rodgers’ day, catching four passes for 74 yards and a touchdown. Metcalf added 55 yards and a touchdown on five receptions, while Calvin Austin totaled 28 yards on four receptions.
In the run game, Jaylen Warren led the way for the Steelers, rushing for 62 yards on 13 carries.
In what might have been Rodgers’ only opportunity to play Green Bay in his career, Love and the Packers were able to take down their former signal caller. The effort stopped Rodgers’ chances of joining Brett Favre, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady as the only four quarterbacks to beat all 32 NFL teams.
This might also be the only time that Love and Rodgers match up against each other, with Love now holding the 1-0 record over his former mentor.
“I knew coming into this week that this was going to be a very hyped up week and a very talked about game for (Rodgers) coming back and playing against the Packers for the first time and obviously us going up against each other,” said Love. “My mindset was just trying to come out here and focus on getting that win, trying to block all of that extra stuff out and just be the player that I need to be and focus on what their defense does and try to take advantage of that.”
The Packers now move to 5-1-1 on the season and look like one of the top contenders for a tough, but wide open NFC. The Packers sit atop the NFC North as they return to Lambeau Field on Sunday for a matchup with the Carolina Panthers.
