The Good, Bad And Ugly From The Packers’ Win Over The Titans

No Jordan?

No problem.

The Green Bay Packers continued to show Sunday they have a championship roster. And for the second straight week, the Packers posted an impressive win with quarterback Jordan Love sidelined due to a sprained MCL.

Quarterback Malik Willis was sensational filling in for Love, Jaire Alexander had a pick-six and Green Bay notched a huge 30-14 win at Tennessee. The Packers improved to 2-1 — and 2-0 without Love — while the Titans fell to 0-3.

It was also Green Bay’s first-ever win in Tennessee.

Here’s the ‘Good, Bad and Ugly’ from Green Bay’s win:

THE GOOD

MORE FOR YOU
‘The Perfect Couple’ Dethroned In Netflix’s Top 10 List By A New Show
A ‘Huge’ BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Price ‘Surprise’ Is Suddenly About To Hit
Ukraine Is Now Able To Produce 155mm Artillery Shells And Howitzers

MALIK WILLIS: Willis spent two years with the Titans before being traded to Green Bay Aug. 27. At the time, his career passer rating was 49.4.

For the second game in a row, though, Willis was tremendous.

Willis finished the day 13-of-19 for 202 yards with one touchdown pass and no interceptions. Willis also ran for a team-high 73 yards and a TD and finished with a passer rating of 120.9.

In Green Bay’s win over Indianapolis in Week 2, Willis completed 12-of-14 passes for 122 yards, threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Dontayvion Wicks and finished with a 126.8 passer rating.

Willis has found new life in Green Bay and resurrected a career that was on life support a month ago. When Willis was asked about facing his former team early last week, though, he downplayed the significance.

“I could care less, man,” Willis said. “I think I got paid the whole time I was there. I’m more than blessed for the opportunities given me. They brought me into this league, whether those guys are there or not. That organization, they took a shot on me… they did a great job by me.”

SACK ATTACK: Green Bay left training camp feeling its defensive line might be the best unit on the team. Through two games, that group had just three sacks, though.

That changed in a big way Sunday, when the Packers had eight sacks against Will Levis and the Titans.

Devonte Wyatt had the first two-sack game of his career, while Preston Smith also had two sacks, including one when the Packers rushed with six late in the game. Kingsley Enagbare had 1.5 sacks, Lukas Van Ness had 1.0, while Edgerrin Cooper, Isaiah McDuffie and Quay Walker all had 0.5 sacks.

It was Green Bay’s most sacks in a game since Jan. 2, 2005, when it had nine sacks against Chicago.

“I want to cut it loose every play if we can,” Packers’ defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said last week. “I’d love to do that. It’s just you can’t be reckless either. You’ve got to play sound defense. You’ve got to have a plan. You’ve got to have rush lanes.

“You’ve got to have rules where he does keep the ball you have an answer for it. So all of a sudden, he doesn’t pull one and pop it for 60 yards because you’re just go-go-go. But yeah, we have to be aggressive and there’s times where we need to be more aggressive.”

JAIRE ALEXANDER: The NFL’s highest paid cornerback has been up and down — at best — since the start of the 2023 campaign.

But Alexander has arguably the biggest play of the game when he intercepted a Will Levis pass and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown late in the first quarter. Alexander’s pick six gave Green Bay a 17-7 lead.

“It's guys, just relentless effort to the ball,” Alexander said. “Putting a lot of pressure on the quarterback consistently and the guys on the back end with vet leadership have the ability to make big plays.”

X MARKS THE SPOT: Packers safety Xavier McKinney had an interception for the third straight week. McKinney covered a lot of ground and picked off a Will Levis moon ball late in the game.

McKinney became the first Green Bay player since 1978 to have interceptions in his first three games with the team. The Packers also now have seven interceptions in just three games after having seven all of last season.

“He’s a great football player,” Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said of McKinney. “He can tackle. He can cover. He can play in deep zones. We blitzed him last game, too. So he’s a very versatile player, and I think he’s off to a really, really good start. And I’m very, very happy that he’s here.”

FAST START: Green Bay marched 70 yards in six plays on its first drive of the day and took a 7-0 lead when Willis scampered off the right edge for a 5-yard touchdown run.

The drive itself was a thing of beauty, one that included three rushes and three pass plays. Willis hit both Jayden Reed and Christian Watson for 30 yard completions, before capping the drive with his TD run.

MOMENTUM SWING: Tennessee trailed, 27-14, late in the third quarter and drove to the Packers’ 31. On second-and-10, Kingsley Enagbare sacked Levis, forced a fumble and Lukas Van Ness recovered.

THIS AND THAT: Emanuel Wilson had a 30-yard touchdown reception where he picked up terrific blocks from Josh Myers and Sean Rhyan. … Brayden Narveson made all three of his field goals, hitting from 21, 26 and 47 yards. Narveson missed from 48 yards, but Tennessee was offsides on the play giving Green Bay a first down. … Tennessee had just 33 rushing yards in 11 plays (3.0). … The Packers held a 378-237 edge in total yards.

THE BAD

SLOW START: While Green Bay’s offense marched down the field and scored on its first drive, Tennessee’s did the same.

The Titans covered 70 yards on 10 plays and scored when quarterback Will Levis hit tight end Nick Vannett for a 1-yard TD.

THIS AND THAT: DeAndre Hopkins beat Eric Stokes on a stop route for an 11-yard touchdown. … Packers running back Josh Jacobs never really got going and finished with 43 yards on 11 carries (3.1).

THE UGLY

DIRTY LAUNDRY: Green Bay had 10 penalties for 75 yards, including a pair of holding penalties by left guard Elgton Jenkins and the fifth holding penalty of the year on left tackle Rasheed Walker.

In three games, the Packers have already committed 26 penalties (9.7 per game) for an unsightly 196 yards.

Green Bay entered Sunday’s game committing 8.0 penalties per game, which ranked 23^rd in the league. Those numbers will be even worse after Sunday.