Instant analysis: Packers kicker Mason Crosby overcomes string of misses to lift Green Bay past Cincinnati in overtime
Aaron Rodgers started the game by throwing incompletions on five of his first seven pass attempts. One of them was an interception on a deep ball to Davante Adams.
He was terrific from that point forward, finishing 27-for-39 for 344 yards with two touchdowns.
Rodgers and Adams connected 11 times for 206 yards and a score. Rodgers did have a key missed throw late in the fourth quarter when Adams had his man beat in the end zone on a third-down play and Rodgers threw wide.
At one point in the fourth quarter, I was planning to write how it had been a pretty solid showing by the Green Bay defense all things considered.
At that point, Cincinnati had eight possessions: five punts, an interception and two touchdowns. And one of the touchdowns was a big mistake by an individual, with safety Darnell Savage whiffing on an attempt to knock down a deep pass and the result being a 70-yard touchdown reception by Ja’Marr Chase just before halftime.
But then the Packers couldn’t get off the field while trying to protect a 22-14 lead in the fourth quarter. Cincinnati drove 75 yards in 15 plays in a drive that lasted nearly 8 minutes, with Joe Mixon finishing it off with an 8-yard run. Joe Burrow hit Tee Higgins on the 2-point conversion and, just like that, the game was tied.
