The Jets had a little something to show the doubting fans of the Packers and the NFL. After toppling backup quarterbacks to win at Pittsburgh and home vs. Miami, they had to go into Green Bay to do battle with ageless, magical QB Aaron Rodgers.
Jets QB Zach Wilson and the Jets' offense, their defense and their specialists were up to the task, and how. After scuffling through a 3-3 first half in the unexpected Green Bay rain, they took off with three second-half TDs, two on rushing plays, by Braxton Berrios and rookie Breece Hall, and one on their second blocked kick of the game by Will Parks for the eye-popping 27-10 pullaway win at Lambeau Field.
With the win, the Jets improved to 4-2 — their best record after a win since going to 10-5 with their 26-20 home overtime win against New England — while Green Bay fell to 3-3. The Green & White also put together their first three-game win streak since 2019 and their first 3-0 road start since 2010.
The Jets offense, defense and special teams put a complementary set of series together to explode to a 17-3 lead with 5:43 left in the third quarter.
First up: John Franklin-Myers' third-down sack of Rodgers to force Pat O'Donnell's punt. Braxton Berrios started the drive with his 11-yard punt return to the Jets 26 and he finished it with a 20-yard run on an end-around toss from Wilson for the game's first touchdown and a 10-3 lead.
Then Green Bay's succeeding series ended in a punt — and a blocked one at that. Rookie Micheal Clemons charged through to reject the punt and Will Parks scooped and scored for a 20-yard return TD and the 14-point advantage. It was the first time the Jets had blocked two kicks in a game since 2018 (Kevin Pierre-Louis on a punt and Henry Anderson on an extra point at Tennessee).
See the best images from the victory over the Packers at Lambeau Field.
The Packers finally responded with their first TD, capping their own 75-yard drive. The score came on Rodgers' 25-yard throw to WR Allen Lazard, who dived past the pylon and CB Brandin Echols defense to trim the visitors' lead to 17-10 late in the third.
But just like the Jets have been wont to do in their 3-2 start, they immediately struck again as Hall, taking the handoff after Wilson's fake toss to Michael Carter, sped through the Packers second level all the way to a 34-yard touchdown on the first play of the final frame. Hall proceeded to do a Lambeau Leap into the stadium stands to be hugged by a small band of Jets fans. And with Greg Zuerlein's extra point, the lead was back up to 214 at 24-10.
Big-play PDs, by Echols (playing for rookie CB Sauce Gardner, who returned for the Packers' last drive) at the goal line, and then by LB Kwon Alexander on fourth down, allowed the Jets to march 12 offensive plays and 58 yards in 6:38 to Zuerlein's second field goal and a 27-10 lead with 2:34 to go.
At this time, it became official, as Rodgers, bothered by a sore right thumb from last week's loss to the Giants in London, was replaced by backup Jordan Love. Robert Saleh's team is now one of the hot units in the NFL and will try to improve to 5-2 next week at Denver before returning home for their first matchup of the season with the Patriots.
Hall, one week after setting the Jets' rookie record with 197 yards from scrimmage vs. the Dolphins, rushed for 116 yards on 20 carries and added 5 yards on two catches. Wilson was a modest 10-of-18 passing for 110 yards and again had no passing TDs but also no turnovers.
Sluggish, Soggy First Half
The game got off to a slow offensive start as both teams punted three times each. Noteworthy on the Pack's second series was DL Quinnen Williams notching two minus plays — a 5-yard loss on an Aaron Jones run followed by an 8-yard strip sack of Rodgers (recovered by the Packers). Then on the third series, two back-in-action Jets came up with big plays — DL Vinny Curry, signed in '21 and just now making his Jets debut, had a tackle for loss on A.J. Dillon, and LB Quincy Williams, who sat out two games with an ankle injury, applied the crunching third-down stop on Romeo Doubs' reception.
As an unexpected rain began to fall, the home side was poised to take a 3-0 lead on a 47-yard Mason Crosby field goal, but again Quinnen Williams rose up, this time to notch the Jets' first blocked field goal since Henry Anderson at Buffalo in 2018. But the Packers' specialists immediately turned the tables when Erik Wilson blocked Braden Mann's punt with Rodgers and his offense taking over at the Jets 36. Yet a Sheldon Rankins third-down sack of Rodgers moved the hosts out of field goal range.
The second quarter featured a few three-pointers. S Lamarcus Joyner got the only takeaway of the first half and his team-leading third TA of the season when Rodgers' handoff slipped out of his hand. The Jets moved only 20 yards but that was close enough for Greg Zuerlein's 34-yard field goal and a 3-0 Jets lead with 5:46 left in the first half.
But Zuerlein missed a 53-yarder in the drizzle and the Packers, given a 31-second sliver of time at the end of the first half, moved to the Jets 11 before Mason Crosby's 29-yard FG tied the score at 3-3 on the last play of the first half.
The Jets needed a crisper final 30 minutes after picking up just three first downs, 81 total yads and 0-for-7 on third downs. The defense, though, sacked Rodgers twice and hit him five times and held the Pack to 2-for-9 on third down.