The Giants recorded the biggest upset so far in the NFL season in London on Sunday, riding a 17-0 second-half run to beat the heavily favored Packers. They did it with steady play from Daniel Jones, another big game from Saquon Barkley, and a bunch of dudes you've never heard of catching passes. The Giants are a nice story—they are decidedly not very good, despite being 4-1—but you would not be far amiss in thinking of this as a game the Packers lost rather than one New York won.
Green Bay squandered an early lead, one they built honestly if unsexily via a commitment to the ground game and a predilection for short passes. They completely abandoned that philosophy after halftime, airing the ball out for incompletion after incompletion. Per ESPN, Aaron Rodgers averaged 3.5 air yards per attempt in the first half with a 75 percent completion rate, and 12.1 air yards per attempt in the second half with a 47 percent completion rate. Asked whether the Packers, who doesn't really have a deep threat any more in their receiving corps, should stick with a more conservative offensive plan for longer, Rodgers said, "You make a good point."
Disappointing as this loss was, the Packers are still 3-2, and the season is young, and the NFC is mostly dogshit. Things are not nearly at "relax" levels. Cornerback Jaire Alexander is trying to keep things in perspective, saying, "I ain't worried, but if we lose next week, then I'll be worried."
That seems fair to me. It'll be a home game, against the Jets, who despite their 3-2 record are probably even more "not very good" than the Giants. If the Packers lose both of those games against teams they should beat handily, then maybe it'll be time to start wondering if this is even a playoff squad.
But Rodgers doesn't want to hear it. He doesn't want to hear the words "lose next week" come out of any mouths in that locker room, because the universe may be listening.
“Frankly, I don’t like all this conversation about losing next week. I’m a firm believer in the power of words and manifestation. We’ve got to check ourselves on that, because talking about that is not winning football. There was talk about it in the locker room, and I don’t like it. [Jaire’s] my guy, but we don’t need to be talking like that."
You hear that, Packers players? Do not mention within Aaron Rodgers's hearing a theoretical scenario wherein the Jets beat Green Bay, in Green Bay, next Sunday. Do not tempt fate by saying there is even the slightest chance Sauce Gardner will take away the deep ball, or that Kwon Alexander will shut down the run game. Do not even think, for one moment, about the possibility of Carl Lawson and Quinnen Williams making Rodgers's life a living a hell in a fragile and rapidly collapsing pocket. Don't dare contemplate a future in which Rodgers is soundly outplayed by a healthy and confident Zach Wilson in a 24-13 Jets victory, dropping the Packers into a tie with the shit-ass Bears in the division. Do not say any of these things to or near Aaron Rodgers.
