Jordan Love Throws 3 TDs as Packers Beat Panthers 27-19

Jordan Love carved up every blitz Carolina threw at him, and the Green Bay Packers held on to beat the Panthers 27-19 on Thursday Night Football at Lambeau Field. Love went 30 of 41 for 288 yards with three touchdown passes and one interception, and Green Bay moved to 5-3.

It was not pretty at the finish. The Packers led 27-10 in the third quarter, then watched Carolina claw back to within eight on a Bryce Young fourth-down touchdown pass to Jalen Coker with 5:37 left. The Green Bay defense shut the door from there, and Love was the first to say the offense has to close better. "Late in the game, it wasn't good enough," he said.

Love Torched the Blitz

Carolina's plan was pressure, and Love made them pay for it. ESPN's Rob Demovsky noted he started 9 for 9 against the blitz and finished 14 completions on 16 Carolina blitzes for 126 yards and two scores. His touchdown passes went to Tucker Kraft from 12 yards, Matthew Golden from 24 yards in the corner of the end zone on third-and-13, and Josh Jacobs from 4 yards to make it 27-10.

The one blemish came early in the fourth quarter. With Green Bay on the Carolina 28 and up 27-13, Love threw for Golden in the end zone and Zakee Wheatley picked it off. That was the spark for the Panthers' late push, and it is the drive Love was talking about after the game.

The numbers that matter:

• Love: 30 of 41, 288 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT

• Christian Watson: 8 catches, 113 yards

• Packers defense: 6 sacks of Bryce Young

Watson's Wild Night and a Quiet Jacobs Box Score

The strangest story of the night was Christian Watson. He hurt his chest making a 53-yard catch in the second quarter, left Lambeau in an ambulance and went to the hospital. A CT scan showed no internal bleeding, he got cleared, ran back onto the field in the third quarter and still finished with 113 receiving yards. He said afterward that he broke a rib on the play.

Jacobs had a weird line of his own. He scored twice, on a 1-yard run and that 4-yard catch, but managed just 39 rushing yards on 21 carries against the league's lowest-ranked run defense. That is 1.9 yards a pop. The touchdowns paid off, the efficiency did not.

On the other side, Young went 23 of 41 for 209 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and Chuba Hubbard did the heavy lifting with 81 rushing yards and a score on 22 carries. Carolina fell to 3-4 and also lost rookie cornerback Will Lee to a hamstring injury in a secondary that already has three corners on injured reserve.

What Comes Next for Green Bay

Green Bay's defense has not let any of its last five opponents score more than 20 points, and that is the part of this team that looks real right now. The kicking is the part that does not. Rookie Trey Smack doinked an extra point off the upright, his eighth miss of the season according to ESPN.

The Packers get extra rest before visiting the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 8. Carolina hosts Denver the same day.

Smacktok pick lean: we like Love's passing volume against New England. He threw 41 times Thursday and beat the blitz all night, while Jacobs is still finding the end zone without finding running room, so his touchdowns look like a better bet than his rushing yards.