JACKSONVILLE – The Packers walked it off with a field goal Sunday for the second straight week, this time at EverBank Stadium in a 30-27 triumph over the Jaguars.
Here are five takeaways from the dramatic win that got the Packers to 6-2.
- Malik Willis did it again.
Only on this occasion, the Packers’ backup QB didn’t have a whole week to prepare. He replaced Jordan Love early in the third quarter due to a groin injury Love had been trying to fight through since the game’s first possession.
After cashing in on a Jaguars turnover just 5 yards from paydirt for a 27-17 lead early in the fourth quarter, it looked like the Packers were in good shape. Only to have Jacksonville score 10 straight points (despite its top two receivers, Brian Thomas Jr. and Christian Kirk, leaving with injuries) and tie the game on QB Trevor Lawrence’s 14-yard TD pass to tight end Evan Engram with 1:48 left.
From there, it was up to Willis, and on the second play of the ensuing drive, he ran a play-action bootleg and found receiver Jayden Reed wide open down the sideline for 51 yards. The Packers were suddenly in position to win.
“I can’t say enough great things about Malik Willis,” Head Coach Matt LaFleur said. “The moment’s never too big for him.”
The play was what the Packers call a “can,” or audible when the QB gets to the line of scrimmage and can switch to a secondary play call built into the first.
“We were looking for a certain look,” Willis said, explaining the previous play call was the same, but the Jaguars weren’t in the coverage the Packers wanted. “We ran it again, got the look we were looking for, and I canned right to it. It was perfect.”
From there, the Packers ran the clock down to two seconds, and new kicker Brandon McManus hit the game-winner from 24 yards out.
“To be able to win on a walk-off two weeks in a row is kinda crazy,” LaFleur said. “I don’t want it to continue to happen that way. I’d like to win outright, because it’s taken years off our lives. But just really happy for our guys.”
