Hail Rodgers: Why the Green Bay Packers beat the New York Giants
By Kenn Korb
Bending, but not breaking
Though the offense eventually put up 38 points, it took quite awhile for them to get going. Green Bay’s first five drives? All punts. With that happening, this game could’ve easily gotten out of hand (in fact, it’d be tough to find a Packers fan out there not expecting the worst given the early offensive futility).
Surprisingly, the defense stepped up.
Despite seven different drives in the first half of this game — with four of the first five reaching Green Bay territory — the Giants only managed to come away with two field goals through two quarters.
The Giants may not have an impressive offense overall, but they do have a top-five receiver in Odell Beckham Jr. who is capable of blowing apart games on his own.
Even with his presence, however, the Giants were unable to finish off early drives. With three drives making it to the Green Bay 35 or beyond, the Packers (albeit with major help through drops by the New York receivers) stemmed the tide and ketp the Giants out of the end zone in that first half.
Due to the strong early play (and luck) brought to the table by the Green Bay defense, their offense was able to work out the kinks to have an explosive second half.