{"id":138340,"date":"2025-09-12T10:14:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T10:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/138340\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T10:14:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T10:14:07","slug":"jordan-love-tucker-kraft-lead-green-bay-packers-in-victory-over-washington-commanders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/138340\/","title":{"rendered":"Jordan Love, Tucker Kraft lead Green Bay Packers in victory over Washington Commanders"},"content":{"rendered":"

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) \u2014 Jordan Love<\/a> and the Green Bay Packers<\/a> have delivered a strong opening statement to the rest of the NFL.<\/p>\n

It helps that he\u2019s not facing the kind of pass rush that his teammates are bringing to opposing quarterbacks.<\/p>\n

Love threw for 292 yards and two touchdowns and the Packers beat the Washington Commanders<\/a> 27-18 on Thursday night. Couple that with their 27-13 victory over the Detroit Lions<\/a> on Sunday, and the Packers already have two wins over playoff teams from last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels good,\u201d Love said. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t have started the season off on a better note. It\u2019s a thing we\u2019ve just got to keep building on, but it feels great right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tight end Tucker Kraft<\/a> caught six passes for a career-high 124 yards to help the Packers go 2-0 for the first time since 2020. Love and Kraft connected for an 8-yard touchdown strike with 8:57 left to thwart the Commanders\u2019 comeback attempt.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, I can keep stacking games like that,\u201d Kraft said. \u201cIt\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve ever gotten over 100 yards, including college.\u201d<\/p>\n

Love went 19 of 31 to lead an offense that was playing without injured linemen Zach Tom<\/a> and Aaron Banks<\/a>. Love\u2019s other touchdown pass was a 5-yarder to Romeo Doubs<\/a> in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

That was more than enough offense for Green Bay, considering how much its defense bothered Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels<\/a>. Washington (1-1) gained just 11 yards in the first quarter and didn\u2019t reach the end zone until scoring a pair of touchdowns in the final period.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe played consistent,\u201d said Packers defensive end Micah Parsons<\/a>, who had half a sack and three hurries. \u201cWe gave up some things that we didn\u2019t want to, more points than what we wanted to, but we made them earn everything, and that\u2019s just important. No big plays, we made them earn everything, and that\u2019s the good part.\u201d<\/p>\n

This could be a costly defeat for the Commanders, as running back Austin Ekeler<\/a> injured his right Achilles tendon in the fourth quarter and defensive end Deatrich Wise Jr.<\/a> was carted off the field with a quadriceps injury in the second period.<\/p>\n

Commanders coach Dan Quinn had no immediate update on their conditions after the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll use the weekend to see where we\u2019re at from the injuries,\u201d Quinn said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to make a guess.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daniels was 24 of 42 for 200 yards with touchdown passes of 20 yards to Zach Ertz<\/a> and 10 yards to Deebo Samuel. Daniels was sacked four times and pressured all night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey played better than us,\u201d Daniels said. \u201cNot really much (else) to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Packers have won their last seven home matchups with Washington, which hasn\u2019t beaten the Packers on the road since a 20-17 victory at Milwaukee County Stadium in 1988. Washington\u2019s last win at Lambeau Field was a 16-7 decision in 1986.<\/p>\n

Green Bay built a 14-3 halftime lead by putting together two touchdown drives of 90-plus yards.<\/p>\n

Doubs\u2019 touchdown capped a seven-play, 96-yard drive that included a 57-yard completion to Kraft, plus a 14-yard scramble by Love on third-and-9 from Washington\u2019s 19.<\/p>\n

Josh Jacobs<\/a> made it 14-0 with a 2-yard touchdown run to finish a 10-play, 92-yard march that featured a 37-yard completion to Malik Heath<\/a>, who did an outstanding job of keeping both feet inbounds while making a catch at Washington\u2019s sideline. Jacobs finished with 84 yards on 23 carries.<\/p>\n

Must See: Love’s 37-yard deep ball lands in Heath’s hands for dazzling toe-tap catch Early in the second quarter against the Commanders, Packers QB Jordan Love sends a 37-yard pass to WR Malik Heath, who makes a dazzling toe tap catch on the sidelines. <\/p>\n

Washington gained 23 yards on its first three series before getting on the board with a 51-yard field goal from Matt Gay<\/a>, who later missed from 58 and 52 yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just felt like we didn\u2019t find the rhythm that we needed to, really from jump street,\u201d Quinn said.<\/p>\n

After Brandon McManus<\/a>\u2019 22-yard field goal made it 17-3 in the third quarter, Washington cut the margin to 17-10 on Ertz\u2019s touchdown catch with 13:45 remaining. But the Packers reached the end zone on their next series, and McManus added a 56-yard field goal later in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

Samuel\u2019s touchdown closed the scoring with 2:53 left.<\/p>\n

Injuries<\/p>\n

Commanders: TE John Bates<\/a> and WR Noah Brown<\/a> left with groin injuries. CB Jonathan Jones<\/a> hurt his hamstring.<\/p>\n

Packers: OT Zach Tom<\/a> (quadriceps) and OG Aaron Banks<\/a> (ankle\/groin) didn\u2019t play. WR Jayden Reed<\/a> injured his shoulder in the first quarter while making a 33-yard touchdown catch that was nullified by a penalty.<\/p>\n

Saluting Sharpe<\/p>\n

The Packers honored Sterling Sharpe in a halftime ceremony. The 2025 Hall of Fame inductee was a star receiver for the Packers from 1988-94.<\/p>\n

Up next<\/p>\n

Commanders: Host Las Vegas on Sept. 21.<\/p>\n

Packers: At Cleveland on Sept. 21.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nfl<\/p>\n

Steve Megargee, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) \u2014 Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers have delivered a strong opening statement…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,74825,82,74826],"class_list":["post-138340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-green-bay-packers-sports-football-team-team-statscom-335","tag-sports","tag-washington-commanders-sports-football-team-team-statscom-363"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}