Your Weekly Packers News Update
We’ve sorted through dozens of articles about the Packers’ latest news, game results, rosters, rumors and other info that’s important to the team and to you. Check it out!
Something Special Is Brewing In Titletown
In my more than 50 years of watching the NFL, I’ve learned that you have to check yourself before you get too excited by what you see early in the season. Teams that people fawn over in September are not always the same ones atop the power rankings in December.
This start to the Green Bay Packers’ season is testing my willpower. The reason is obvious: This defense is legit, it will travel, and it’s only going to get better if it can stay healthy. There is nothing quite like cheering for a team with a dominant defense. I could get used to this.
For Packer fans who have followed this team for the last 30-plus years, the two Hall of Fame quarterbacks and the offense were always the identity of the Green and Gold. The few times the defense played at a similar level, the team brought home the Lombardi.
The 2025 Packers have become a defense-first team. Take nothing away from the offense. Jordan Love has been excellent, and despite some key injuries, they’re averaging 27 points per game against top NFC teams. More on that side of the ball in a moment. Let’s talk about Jeff Hafley’s defense.
Through two games, the Packers have made two high-end offenses look like the Carolina Panthers. There were high hopes even before the gobsmacking Micah Parsons trade, but dropping that freak of nature into this defense has turned it into a snarling, punishing, relentless unit that feeds off its own energy.
They made Jayden Daniels look like a deer in headlights, and this is a guy seen as potentially the next face of the league. He managed just 49 yards through the air in the first half and just 17 yards rushing on seven carries for the game — unheard of for the talented young QB. The Parsons effect has supercharged young guys like Devonte Wyatt, Lukas Van Ness, Edgerrin Cooper, Colby Wooden, Javon Bullard, and Evan Williams. All of them look like they have made a leap this season.
Last year’s team relied on turnovers to mask some of their defensive deficiencies. This year, it’s a different story. The Packers didn’t get a turnover on Thursday night. The defense also had to deal with a number of short fields, thanks to a special teams unit that was horrendous in this game, giving up big returns on both kickoffs and punts. They continue to commit penalties at a ridiculous level, too. (But…Rich Bisaccia.)
But that was the only negative takeaway from this game, aside from Jayden Reed‘s injury. A broken collarbone will sideline him for the foreseeable future; it sounds like he should be back by late November, when the schedule toughens up with divisional games against the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions. That’s a big blow to the offense, but if the defense can continue to carry this team and they can insert Reed and Christian Watson for the playoff drive, the offense could hit a new gear.
Speaking of the offense, let’s start with the fact that the offensive line’s two highest compensated and best run blockers missed this game. With Zach Tom and Aaron Banks sidelined, the Pack turned to Jordan Morgan at left guard, and rotated rookie Anthony Belton and Darian Kinnard at right tackle.
The run game was affected for sure, but Josh Jacobs made the best of it, and they got better as the game went along. Belton was flagged for holding, negating a touchdown for Reed on the play where he got injured, and the Pack’s two long first-half touchdown drives came with Kinnard in there, yet they stuck with Belton in the fourth quarter. That’s a pretty good front the Commanders put out there — all in all, a solid performance for the subs. Not many teams can withstand the loss of two starters and still be proficient.
Love was spectacular in the first half, with more than 200 yards, a career best. Matt LaFleur is letting him air it out, and although he and Matthew Golden have yet to hit on a big play, you can tell they’re getting close. Dontayvion Wicks and Romeo Doubs were solid, Malik Heath made the catch of the game, and even rookie Savion Williams showed his explosiveness — maybe he can take some meaningful snaps while Reed heals.
But this was the coming-out party for Tucker Kraft, who, on a career night, showed why he’s developing into one of the best all-around tight ends in the league. He can beat you down the field, as evidenced by his 57-yard catch-and-run. He can break tackles, as he did in the red zone on a third-down reception, and he blocks as hard and well as anyone. He is going to be a problem.
As is Parsons, who played about two-thirds of the snaps on a night where the Packers defense pretty much lived in nickel coverage, not completely respecting the run game and playing with a lead. His team had high eight pressures and half a sack, coming on 37 pass rushes, and he was double-teamed all night.
Parsons is just scratching the surface of what he will be in this defense. The Pack blitzed Daniels 12 times. The sophomore QB didn’t scramble once, was sacked twice, and completed just three of 12 passes. The Packers’ defense is just ferocious, and next week they get to feast on the mostly immobile Joe Flacco.
The Packers have now beaten two teams that won at least 12 games last season, becoming just the fifth team in the Super Bowl era to do that. With that comes raised expectations. Today, they have the fourth-best odds to bring home the Lombardi at 7.5 to 1, just behind the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC at 7 to 1. It’s a long season. It’s always a roller coaster. But we know this: a young, talented, hungry defense will keep you in every game. And this defense appears to be keeping offensive coordinators up all night.
As Parsons put on the headset to talk to the Amazon Prime post-game hosts, he was serenaded by hundreds of fans hooting, “Thank you, Jerry!” I think all of us who were watching were yelling right along with them.
