Packers found unexpected heroes

All the attention was on who was unavailable for the Green Bay Packers this Thursday night against the Arizona Cardinals: without Davante Adams, Allen Lazard and Marquez Valdes-Scantling.

No chance, right?

Yes, the Packers were without their top three receivers, Adams and Lazard on the COVID-19 roster and Valdes-Scantling wasn’t ready to return from a hamstring injury. That added to their three Pro Bowl players–left tackle David Bakhtiari, outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith and cornerback Jaire Alexander–who were not going to play this Thursday.

However, all the Packers were thinking about was who they had.

And it was enough for a 24-21 victory that handed the Cardinals their first loss of the season and left the NFL without an undefeated team. Both came out of the game with 7-1 records.

And the player who secured the win wasn’t even on the team 22 days ago. Cornerback Rasul Douglas, who made the roster because of injuries to Alexander and Kevin King, intercepted a Kyler Murray pass in the diagonal throwing from the Packers’ 5-yard line.

“That’s why I love this team,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said on the field after the game. “The guy who threw the interception was with them for four weeks [the Packers signed Douglas from the Cardinals practice squad]. He was on the street, we brought him in, he’s a starter with us. He’s a great guy and really fit in well with our team. To make a play like that with 15 seconds to play is unbelievable.”

Head coach Matt LaFleur put Rodgers in a race-against-time mode and while it left Rodgers with an unusual stat line — just 184 air yards — they were happy with winning a little ugly, or at least uglier than they’re used to.

“We ran the ball well, we knew we could,” Rodgers sentenced. “It was tough in the air game at times, but [Randall] Cobb came up with a couple of important touchdown receptions.”

Despite key players missing action on Thursday, the Packers had a lot going for them.

Cobb, who has caught 71 percent of Rodgers’ throws in his career (the most by Rodgers to any receiver with at least 60 attempts), had his second multiple-touchdown game of the season. Prior to his comeback campaign in Green Bay this year, he hadn’t scored twice in a game since 2015.

Aaron Jones, one of two players with 1,500 yards on the ground and 500 yards receiving since the 2020 season, caught seven passes for 51 yards.

Robert Tonyan, who has 13 touchdown receptions the past two seasons (second most among all tight ends), caught a 33-yard delivery to set up Cobb’s second touchdown.

And of course, Rodgers, whose steady hand proved more important than any one play, kept his passes short, averaging 4.8 yards in the air per attempt, the third lowest figure of his career. And he got off the ball quickly, averaging 2.25 seconds from kickoff to punt, his fastest time since Week 2 of 2016.

In a game that perhaps only an offensive lineman could love, the Packers ran 34 times for 151 yards.

The only offensive struggles came near the goal line when they couldn’t get inside from the 1-yard line in the final minutes, allowing the Cardinals to advance the entire field before Douglas became a hero.

“This is a feisty team,” Rodgers sentenced. “This is a tough, gritty team. I’m very proud of our guys. I’m very proud of our line.

“I love this team. I’m having a lot of fun with these guys.”