NFL

Packers 27, Commanders 18

After both of these teams won in Week 1, this game became an opportunity for the winner to assert itself in the NFC race. For the Packers, it would be a sign that the Micah Parsons trade was a success. For the Commanders, it would be a sign that the 2024 season wasn’t a fluke.

We still need more evidence regarding the Parsons transaction, but these Packers appear for real. Green Bay seized this contest — and thus the early NFC lead — from the start, scoring a touchdown midway through the first quarter. From there, the Packers’ offensive output remained steady and the defense held serve prior to allowing two fourth-quarter touchdowns. Yesterday marked the second straight near-complete game for Green Bay. Even faced with several relevant injuries, the Packers are a total force.

Missing offensive line starters Zach Tom and Aaron Banks, the Packers’ offense was limited from the start of this tilt. That, of course, was before Jayden Reed broke his collarbone in the first quarter. The wideout was already nursing a foot injury, so his health situation turned from bad to worse. Reed should still be able to return later this season.

That comeback will further muddy an already blurry Packers wideout unit. Strangely, however, Jordan Love seems to thrive off the lack of a pecking order at the position. The signal-caller seemingly has chemistry with every pass catcher on the roster, throwing to the open man regardless of status, contract or draft position.

Yesterday, the go-to guy for Love was Tucker Kraft. The 2023 third-round selection was neck-and-neck with Luke Musgrave in the very early stages of his career, but he’s become the clear top tight end for the Packers. In fact, it’s arguable that Kraft is a top-10 player — at worst — at his position in the whole NFL. The South Dakota State product has a bright future.

Kraft posted six receptions for 124 yards and a score last night.

Green Bay’s offense is humming, but there are always nits to pick at. Josh Jacobs is carrying a huge load at running back, and for a team destined for a long season, the Packers should prioritize shifting some of his touches to others. MarShawn Lloyd could return soon, so perhaps his presence will remedy the situation.

Jacobs posted 23 carries for 84 yards and a touchdown in the victory.

At wide receiver, Matt LaFleur is surely itching to get Matthew Golden the ball more. Green Bay invested a first-round pick in the speedy wideout, and his involvement has been less than expected through two games. To be fair, Love missed an open Golden on a deep ball yesterday, but zero receptions for a rookie of his caliber is unacceptable.

Golden did record two carries for 15 yards in this affair.

As good as Green Bay’s offense has been, the defense has been even better. Jeff Hafley, the franchise’s second-year defensive coordinator, has been pushing all the right buttons for the stop unit. If current trends come even close to continuing, Hafley will be a hot name in the upcoming head-coaching carousel.

Save for Parsons, perhaps Hafley’s top chess piece is Edgerrin Cooper. The do-it-all linebacker came into his own during his rookie season in 2024, but it looks as if he’s taken the next step. Cooper tallied 10 tackles and 0.5 sacks yesterday.

It wasn’t all Cooper, though. Parsons, Rashan Gary and the Packers’ edge rushers tormented Washington’s tackles the whole evening, disturbing the flow of the offense. The secondary was great, too, as safeties Xavier McKinney, Javon Bullard and Evan Williams played well.

It would be terrifying to face this Packers squad right now, so good luck to the lowly Browns in Week 3.

Washington may have lost this game by just nine points, but the result on the field was worse than the score indicated for Dan Quinn’s team.

The blame for that can go any of which way, so let’s just direct it at the offense as a whole. When a unit struggles, it’s important to identify whether it’s a play-calling or performance issue. In this case of this game, I think it was both.

Kliff Kingsbury’s offenses are notoriously a little bit of everything. They can be fun! They can be fast! But they can also be stale, predictable and stagnant. Normally, those issues don’t rear their ugly head until after Halloween, but last night was full of problems for the Commanders’ attack.

I’d bet on most of those issues getting rectified — and soon. After all, Washington faces Las Vegas and Atlanta in the next two games, so the competition will lessen.

I’m also not too concerned about Jayden Daniels. The quarterback didn’t fare well last night, going 24-of-42 for 200 yards and two touchdowns. He was also limited on the ground, rushing for just 17 yards on seven attempts. Regression for Daniels from his stellar rookie season was practically guaranteed, but we should see a more dynamic signal-caller in the coming weeks.

More explosive plays from Daniels & Co. will become more common once he and Terry McLaurin get back on the same page. Last night, it looked as if the two had never played together before, as Daniels constantly misfired when looking in McLaurin’s direction. There was even a critical fourth down late in the game where Daniels threw to *checks notes* rookie Jaylin Lane.

McLaurin caught five passes for 48 yards.