GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Jets are for real.
This was not a win over a rookie quarterback. This was not a miraculous win in the final minute. This was domination over a Hall of Fame quarterback on the road and the Jets walked out of Lambeau Field on Sunday with a 27-10 statement win over the Packers.
The Jets did not even play a complete game and still found a way to beat the Packers and look like a contender doing it. The defense was dominant. Special teams came up with huge plays. The offense woke up in the second half and found the end zone twice after a sleepy first half.
It left the Lambeau faithful booing and Jets fans dreaming of a playoff run. The Jets are 4-2 for the first time since 2015 and are now 3-0 on the road this season.
Jets coach Robert Saleh won the meeting with Packers coach Matt LaFleur, his close friend and the brother of Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur.
Aaron Rodgers got beat up by the Jets’ defensive line, which owned the line of scrimmage and had four sacks in the game. Rodgers, who was nursing an injured right thumb, completed 26 of 41 passing for 246 yards and a touchdown and finished the game on the bench as Jordan Love replaced him with just over two minutes left to play.
Quinnen Williams sacked Rodgers twice and was the best player on the field, also forcing a fumble and blocking a field goal.
Zach Wilson did not have a good day but made a few crucial throws in the second half to get the Jets moving. Wilson only threw for 110 yards, completing 10 of 18.
Rookie running back Breece Hall had another monster game. Jets fans were screaming “Breeeece” as he diced up the Packers’ defense in the fourth quarter. Hall had 116 yards and one touchdown on 20 carries.
There were questions about how legitimate the Jets were with their three wins coming against backup quarterbacks — Jacoby Brissett, Kenny Pickett and Skylar Thompson. But there can be no more questions after they rolled over Rodgers. This was also not like the win in Cleveland where the Jets had to get some crazy breaks to pull out the win in the final minute.
After an uneventful first half, the Jets picked things up in the third quarter. The offense woke up on the Jets’ second series of the second half. Wilson hit Corey Davis for an 11-yard gain and then found him again for a 41-yard pass after Davis made a beautiful double move. That set the Jets up at the Packers’ 20 and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur called an end around to Braxton Berrios that worked perfectly. Tight end C.J. Uzomah and left tackle Duane Brown led the way and Berrios sprinted into the end zone to give the Jets a 10-3 lead.
On the next drive, the Jets’ defense stopped the Packers with Quinnen Williams sacking Rodgers on third down and forcing the Packers to punt. Micheal Clemons blocked Pat O’Donnell’s punt and Will Parks recovered it and made it to the end zone for the touchdown and a 17-3 Jets lead in front of a stunned crowd at Lambeau Field.
The Packers rebounded for their first touchdown drive of the game. The Jets committed three penalties, two on third downs to help Green Bay move down the field. Rodgers found Allen Lazard for a 25-yard touchdown that cut the Jets’ lead to 17-10 and gave the Packers some hope.
But the Jets had an impressive answer with a five-play, 66-yard drive that was capped off by a 34-yard touchdown run from Hall on a misdirection play on the first play of the fourth quarter. The long run from the rookie gave the Jets a commanding 24-10 lead. They tacked on a 23-yard field goal from Greg Zuerlein with 2:34 left to pad the lead.
Both teams struggled to get anything going on offense in the first half. There was the same number of punts — nine — as first downs by the two teams combined in the opening half. That led to a 3-3 tie at the break.
The Jets’ defense set the tone early. It looked like they might have a pick-six from Sauce Gardner on the first series of the game, but a review overturned the call and ruled it an incomplete pass.
Williams led the Jets’ dominant front-line charge. Williams seemed to be in the Green Bay backfield all day, blowing up runs and getting in Rodgers’ face.
Rodgers and the Packers’ offense looked out of sync and the Jets’ defense pushed them around.
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