GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Breece Hall ran for 116 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown, the surprising Jets sacked Aaron Rodgers four times and New York won its third straight with a 27-10 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
The Jets (4-2) are off to their best six-game start since 2015, when they also were 4-2 before finishing with a 10-6 record. New York hasn’t reached the playoffs since the 2010 season, the NFL’s longest active drought.
Green Bay (3-3) has lost consecutive regular-season games within the same season for the first time since coach Matt LaFleur’s arrival in 2019. The Packers blew an early 14-point lead in a 27-22 loss to the New York Giants in London last week.
The Jets, whose offensive coordinator is LaFleur’s younger brother Mike, outrushed Green Bay 179-60 in a game during which Zach Wilson was just 10 of 18 for 110 yards. New York broke a 3-all tie and pulled ahead for good by scoring two touchdowns in a span of less than 2 1/2 minutes in the third quarter.
Braxton Berrios gave the Jets the lead by scoring on a 20-yard end-around. After New York stopped Green Bay on its next possession, Michael Clemons blocked a punt and Will Parks got the ball and raced 20 yards into the end zone.
The Packers got back in the game as Rodgers withstood a big hit from Nathan Shepherd and threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Allen Lazard later in the third. The Packers capitalized on an unnecessary roughness penalty on Jordan Whitehead that nullified a third-and-2 incompletion and gave Green Bay a first down.
New York quickly resumed control.
Hall scored on his 34-yard burst to open the fourth quarter to make it 24-10, the longest run from scrimmage in the young career of the rookie second-round pick from Iowa State. He celebrated the touchdown by doing his own version of the Lambeau leap and jumping into a collection of Jets fans in the stands.
The Packers entered Sunday having won 20 of the last 21 home games Rodgers had started against AFC teams, including 11 straight victories.
But the reigning MVP had a frustrating afternoon against the Jets’ promising young defense.
Rodgers had injured his right thumb while getting sacked as he prepared to throw a Hail Mary pass on the final play against the Giants. The thumb prevented Rodgers from practicing Wednesday, though he participated full in the Packers’ Thursday and Friday sessions.
Whether bothered by the thumb or not, Rodgers hardly resembled himself for much of the game. He went 26 of 41 for 241 yards and nearly committed turnovers on each of Green Bay’s first two possessions.
On the game’s opening series, Rodgers threw a third-and-9 pass that bounced off a diving Robert Tonyan before New York’s Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner picked it out of the air and returned it 35 yards for an apparent touchdown. The touchdown was overturned when replays showed the ball hit the ground before getting to Tonyan.
Quinnen Williams sacked Rodgers on Green Bay’s next series to force a fumble that running back Aaron Jones recovered at the Packers 8.
INJURIES
Packers OG Jake Hanson left with a biceps injury. … Packers WR Randall Cobb headed to the locker room on a cart after injuring an ankle in the third quarter. … Gardner was evaluated for a head injury in the fourth quarter.
UP NEXT
Jets: At Denver next Sunday.
Packers: At Washington next Sunday.
___
More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL