Packers Beat Patriots 45-27: Love's Stunning 372-Yard Night in Foxborough

The Green Bay Packers beat the Patriots 45-27 on Sunday at Gillette Stadium, riding a near-perfect night from Jordan Love and career-best performances from Christian Watson and Matthew Golden in a Week 9 rout that was decided long before the final whistle.

Love completed 23 of 29 passes for 372 yards and three touchdowns without an interception, posting a 153.2 passer rating, and he opened the scoring himself with a 13-yard touchdown run just 101 seconds into the game. By the time he left the field for backup Tyrod Taylor with nine minutes remaining, Green Bay had piled up a season-high 478 yards of total offense and its highest point total of the year.

How the Packers beat the Patriots 45-27

The tone was set on the game’s first plays. Xavier McKinney intercepted Drake Maye’s first pass, and two plays later Love scrambled into the end zone to make it 7-0. Love then found Golden for a five-yard touchdown — the 100th touchdown pass of Love’s career — and Green Bay led 14-0 after the first quarter.

Kaleb Johnson added a rushing touchdown and Trey Smack kicked a 41-yard field goal to stretch the lead to 24-0 before Maye answered with two touchdown passes, sending the game to halftime at 24-14. Any hope of a New England comeback ended in the third quarter.

Love hit Savion Williams for a 10-yard touchdown, Smack drilled a 51-yard field goal, and Love connected with Watson for a 39-yard score before running in the two-point conversion himself to make it 42-14.

Maye threw his third touchdown pass of the day late in the quarter, and Smack’s third field goal, from 38 yards, put Green Bay ahead 45-21 with 11:51 to play. Corey Kiner’s four-yard touchdown run with 3:54 left closed the scoring.

The Packers forced four New England turnovers — three interceptions of Maye and a Rhamondre Stevenson fumble — and turned them into 21 points. Maye finished 21 of 38 for 299 yards and three touchdowns, but the three first-half interceptions buried the Patriots before they could settle in.

Watson and Golden make history

Watson caught seven passes for 171 yards and a touchdown. Golden caught all 10 of his targets for 164 yards and a score. Together they combined for 17 receptions on 18 targets for 335 yards and two touchdowns, with both players setting career highs for yardage.

They became the first Packers teammates to each record at least 150 receiving yards and a touchdown catch in the same game since Don Hutson and Andy Uram did it in 1942. Golden had 126 receiving yards by the end of the first quarter alone, including catches of 43 and 49 yards.

Much of the damage came against cornerback Christian Gonzalez, who signed a four-year, $135 million extension and entered the game as one of the league’s highest-paid corners. Love targeted Gonzalez 11 times; 10 of those throws were completed for 187 yards and a touchdown. Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel did not hide his frustration afterward.

“When your best players don’t play well, it’s hard to win in this league,” Vrabel said. “We expect a lot more. He expects a lot more.”

Love’s deep ball was the story of the night. He completed six deep passes for 235 yards and a touchdown, according to Next Gen Stats, and the Packers fans who traveled to Foxborough serenaded him with “MVP!” chants as the game wound down. Tom Brady called his first Patriots game as a broadcaster from the booth.

Analysis: what this win changes for Green Bay

This was Green Bay’s fifth win in six games, and it changes how the Packers should be viewed. At 6-3, they sit firmly in the NFC North race, and they did it with the passing game carrying a team that entered the day ranked last in the NFL in rushing at 60.6 yards per game — then ran for 129 yards anyway, even with Josh Jacobs sidelined for most of the game after breaking a finger.

The 45-point, 478-yard night was the first time a Packers team reached 45 points and 450 yards on the road since Vince Lombardi’s 1962 team did it at Philadelphia. If Watson and Golden keep producing like this, and Love keeps playing at this level, Green Bay’s offense looks like one of the most dangerous in the league rather than a work in progress.

For New England, the loss drops the Patriots to 5-4 and exposes a real problem. A defense built around Gonzalez was picked apart all night, and Maye took a step back after weeks of steady play. The Patriots now travel to Munich, Germany, to face the Detroit Lions next week.

Green Bay’s last win, a 27-19 Thursday night victory over Carolina, already showed this team could win ugly; Sunday showed it can also win in a blowout. The Packers host the Minnesota Vikings next Sunday at noon.

Around the NFL on Sunday

Dallas edged Indianapolis 27-23 earlier on Sunday, and in the late window C.J. Stroud threw five touchdown passes for 384 yards as the Houston Texans routed the winless Los Angeles Chargers 44-22. Stroud, who woke up on game day with chills after barely practicing all week, threw a pair of 63-yard touchdown passes to Tank Dell and Kayshon Boutte.

Houston improved to 3-5 with its third win in four games after an 0-4 start, while the Chargers fell to 0-8. Sunday Night Football between the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers was still in progress as this article was published.

Elsewhere, Notre Dame’s 31-24 win over No. 1 Miami on Saturday remained the weekend’s biggest college football result, and in the NBA, rookie Cooper Flagg had 25 points and 12 assists as the Dallas Mavericks beat the Brooklyn Nets 130-93.