Green Bay Packers credit 97-yard drive for turning the tide against New York Jets
By Cory Buck
It takes more than one play or one drive to overcome a big deficit in the NFL, but if Green Bay Packers players had to find one turning moment in their comeback victory over the New York Jets, they’d likely point to the end of the first half when a possible Jets touchdown turned into a long Packers drive for a touchdown that swung the game in Green Bay’s favor.
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It started with an interception on Geno Smith. The Green Bay pass rush — dormant to that point — put just enough of a hit on Smith to alter the pass and allow Tramon Williams to snag the ball for an interception at Green Bay’s own three yard line with less than two minutes to go in the half.
Instead of sitting on the ball and waiting for the half, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense got to work. The drive ended with a Randall Cobb touchdown catch with just eight seconds to go in the first half, trimming the Jets lead that was once 21-3 to a halftime score of 21-16.
“If we’ve got time on the clock we’re going to try to score a touchdown,” guard T.J. Lang said per the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. “Doesn’t matter if we’re winning or losing. At that point it was 21-9. We wanted to finish the half strong. It’s kind of our philosophy. We’re not a conservative team.”
That they aren’t and the Packers turned around and dominated the second half on offense en route to a 31-24 victory.