Packers offense shut down in 2nd half in loss to Giants

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LONDON (AP) — Aaron Rodgers had warned earlier than the Packers’ journey to London that the group’s behavior of solely placing collectively one good offensive half per sport wasn’t sustainable.

The New York Giants proved him proper.

Rodgers and his offense had been shut out within the second half for the second time in three video games and Green Bay’s protection couldn’t bail him out this time because the Giants (4-1) erased a 10-point halftime deficit to beat the Packers 27-22 on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.

Green Bay led 17-3 within the first half and 20-10 at halftime, however didn’t rating once more till a deliberate security by the Giants within the closing seconds.

“It was the tale of two halves,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur stated. “They kicked our butt in the second half.”

It’s not the primary time that’s occurred this season.

In Week 3, Tampa Bay additionally held Green Bay (3-2) with out a rating within the second half, however the Packers nonetheless held on for a 14-12 win after a defensive cease on a 2-point conversion. Last week it was the alternative story: the Packers struggled offensively within the first half then got here alive within the second to beat New England in additional time.

“Offensively, we haven’t put two halves together,” Rodgers stated. “There’s a lot that factors into that — everything from calls to execution, to the momentum, to defensive stops to adjustments that we make. … There’s games like this where our defense is not going to be up to their normal standards and we’ve got to pick them up. And we had chances — a lot of chances.”

The Giants did their finest to restrict these possibilities, utilizing the clock within the second half by placing collectively three straight lengthy scoring drives to go up by 7 at 27-20 with 6:08 left within the fourth quarter.

The Packers had been in place to attain on their first drive within the second half earlier than Rodgers was sacked to take them out of field-goal vary. They went three-and-out on the subsequent drive after three straight incomplete cross makes an attempt. On their closing drive, they drove down the sector, however had been stopped on the Giants 6-yard-line after two straight passes by Rodgers had been deflected by defenders.

Rodgers completed 25 of 39 for 222 yards and two touchdowns. But he failed to attach along with his receivers on various deep throws, one other recurring theme this season.

“We’re just not quite on the same page at times,” Rodgers stated about why the group is struggling to go deep. “We got to go back and look at it. I don’t want to make a blanket statement right now. Definitely not an emotional blanket statement.”

However, Rodgers defended the choice to go for all cross performs on the three-and-out collection because the Packers moved away from the run sport.

“I do like all three of those calls, 100%. And I felt like we were really close to executing,” Rodgers stated. “There was at least two opportunities to get first downs there.”

The offense wasn’t totally at fault. The Green Bay protection got here into the sport ranked No. 1 within the NFL on third downs, however couldn’t get a cease within the second half.

And they allowed Giants quarterback Daniel Jones to run 10 occasions for 37 yards regardless of taking part in with a sore ankle, together with a number of scrambles for first downs. After opening the sport with consecutive three-and-outs, New York scored on its subsequent 5 drives.

“They executed off a lot of our mistakes,” Packers linebacker Preston Smith stated. “They had opportunities to get first downs when we could have executed a lot better.”

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