Not many expected the Green Bay Packers to waltz into Arizona on Thursday night and leave with a win over the previously undefeated Cardinals. Green Bay was dealing with a ton of injuries on top of missing wideouts Davante Adams and Allen Lazard due to COVID. Somehow, the Packers still came out on top, 24-21.
The win moved the Packers to 7-1 and atop the NFC standings. Here are three takeaways from Green Bay's thrilling Week 8 win over the Cardinals on Thursday Night Football.
The recipe for success comes from the ground game
Packers running backs AJ Dillon and Aaron Jones were phenomenal for Green Bay against Arizona.
Playing extremely shorthanded on offense, the Packers relied on the run game in a major way and both backs came through. Dillon finished with 78 yards on 16 carries while Jones 59 yards rushing, 51 receiving and one touchdown.
It was apparent right from the start that Green Bay's blueprint revolved around running it right at the Cardinals and chewing some clock up with it.
In reality, this should be implemented more for the Packers moving forward.
Green Bay has a perfect mix of thunder and lightning in the backfield with Dillon and Jones yet at times throughout the year they seemingly throw the run game to the side completely. It's easy to do when you have the reigning MVP in Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. However, as the temperatures continue to drop and the season carries along, the Packers best chance at winning the Lombardi Trophy this year may come down to their commitment to the run game. Feeding Dillon and Jones both at least 15 times against the Cardinals was the key to the victory on the offensive side of the ball.
Rasul Douglas plays the role of hero
With injuries at cornerback to Jaire Alexander and Kevin King, the Packer were left scattering for options over the last few games.
Eric Stokes, the rookie first-round selection out of Georgia has been brilliant but on the other end there was doubt as to who would fill the void. The Packers tried Isaac Yiadom and that didn't work. They had traded cornerback Josh Jackson for Yiadom in the offseason. Green Bay opted to also scoop up Rasul Douglas back on October 6. Where did they get him from? The practice squad of the Arizona Cardinals.
Arizona got the goal-line stand they needed defensively late on Thursday night and it seemed the worst case scenario was coming to life for the Packers as Kyler Murray moved the Arizona offense down the field with the clock melting away.
With 15 seconds left, facing a 2nd and goal from the 4-yard line and no timeouts, Murray tried the right side of the field for a fade pass to A.J. Green. The problem for Arizona? Green never turned around.
Douglas would tip the ball initially before gathering it in right in the corner of the end zone for a game-sealing interception. The Packers looked cooked and it seemed inevitable that Arizona was about to score a game-winning touchdown. Instead, the man who was on Arizona's practice squad just three weeks ago sealed the win for Green Bay and moved them to 7-1. It was an incredible play by Douglas, a mind-numbing one by Green but, the Packers will take it.
RASUL DOUGLAS INTERCEPTS MURRAY. #GoPackGo pic.twitter.com/ZIDly9m0Bc
— NFL (@NFL) October 29, 2021
Green Bay solidified itself in the NFC
The NFC is flat out loaded this year. Even after the loss to the Packers, the Cardinals are still 7-1. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Los Angeles Rams both check in at 6-1 on the season while the Dallas Cowboys are coming off of a bye week at 5-1. Then there's the Packers at 7-1.
Out of those five teams, according to ESPN and their FPI numbers, the Packers had the lowest chance of the five to win the NFC before Thursday's victory. The metrics gave Green Bay just a 6.7% chance to win the NFC, well off the pace off the Buccaneers at 34.7%. The win over Arizona will surely open eyes.
The truth is while the Packers were 6-1 before yesterday, outside of the win over the Cincinnati Bengals, the other victories came against less than stellar competition for Green Bay. While this is no fault of their's and they can only play who is on the schedule, skeptics remained as to how valid the start was. Long gone are the nightmares of the Week 1 disaster against the New Orleans Saints.
If there weren't believers before Thursday night, there certainly will be those buying into the Packers now. Down numerous starters and four All-Pro's, the win over the Cardinals was massive for Green Bay.
The schedule gets much tougher and next up is a road date with the Kansas City Chiefs. Other matchups still loom against the Rams, Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns and the Minnesota Vikings (twice) just to name a few.
It was a hell of a win for the Packers as they stamped their mark for now in the NFC.
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