After not throwing a touchdown in three straight games, the New York Giants Eli Manning threw three of them in a 38-10 rout of the Green Bay Packers.
The nasty injury-bug finally caught up to the Packers (7-4) who looked lost on the offensive line and couldn’t stop any facet of the Giants’ (7-4) offensive attack.
What It Means: Though many of the team’s concerns were blown up under the microscope known as Sunday Night Football, it was ultimately one game. One game in which the Packers were without two of their best defensive players (LB Clay Matthews and S Charles Woodson) and an offensive line that’s been bad for a long time. It’s rearing on 2009-bad, a year that QB Aaron Rodgers was sacked 50 times, so they will have to find a way to get rid of the ball quicker. Rodgers was sacked five times, lost a fumble and threw an interception. With the Chicago Bears winning, they are now a full game up on the Packers going into week 13. The Giants have looked mighty impressive against the Packers over their two past meetings and they needed this game desperately to stay on top of the NFC East division battle.
Player of the Game: Punter Tim Masthay
It was a struggle to find a guy to put here with how bad the Packers played across the board. When needed Masthay has been solid. He entered the game tied for second in the league with 26 punts pinned in the opponent’s 20. The fact that a punter is Green Bay’s player of the game should tell you everything about this game.
Highlight of the Game: Have to go back super early in the game when Jordy Nelson took a pass from Rodgers 61 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown in the first quarter. Besides the 0-0 start, it was the last time the Packers were tied in a game they fell behind by 31-10 by halftime.
Stat of the Game (1992): This was the year when the Giants last beat the Packers at home. It was week ten and Brett Favre’s sixth career start. Favre threw three interceptions in the loss.
What’s Next: It’s back to the NFC North race when the Minnesota Vikings (6-5) come to town next week. After losing at Chicago 28-10, the Vikings are now 2-1 in the conference and in danger of falling out of the playoff race. Second year QB Christian Ponder struggled against the Bears, but RB Adrian Peterson is having a MVP-like year. Should be a good one at Lambeau.
What did you think of the Packers loss to the Giants? Let me know by commenting below.
Nick Grays is a senior writer at the Sports Bank where he covers the Wisconsin Badgers and Green Bay Packers. He also enjoys to share Fantasy Advice and pretend to be a Golf expert from time-to-time. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here or visit his blog Nick Knows Best. If social media is not your thing, shoot him an email at grays@uwalumni.com.