Jordan Love’s fast start leads to Packers’ win against the Dolphins on Thanksgiving
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Jordan Love celebrated the Green Bay Packers’ victory on Thanksgiving by taking a bite out of a turkey leg and raising it in the air.
His feast was a long time coming.
Love led the Packers to a Thanksgiving Day triumph in Detroit last year but wasn’t given a turkey leg afterward, as is customary in these televised postgame interviews. His teammates vowed to make sure Love got a turkey leg this time, and he earned it by throwing two touchdown passes to Jayden Reed in a 30-17 win over the Miami Dolphins on Thursday night.
“To be able to come in here, get the win, get the turkey leg after, it was very delicious,” said Love, who went 21 of 28 for 274 yards. “Just a little something to celebrate.”
Josh Jacobs brought a turkey platter into the locker room as Green Bay (9-3) commemorated a third straight victory. The Packers, who have won seven of their last eight games, built a 27-3 lead and made a goal-line stand to thwart a comeback attempt.
Miami (5-7) continued its recent history of struggling in cold weather. The kickoff temperature at Lambeau Field was 27 degrees (-2.7 Celsius) with 10 mph winds, light flurries and a wind chill of 18.
“I would say, from my standpoint and our team’s standpoint, we’re not going to use any of that as an excuse for why we didn’t get the start that we wanted,” said Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who was 37 of 46 for 365 yards with two touchdowns despite getting sacked five times.
The Dolphins have lost their past 12 regular-season or postseason games in which the temperature at kickoff has been below 40 degrees (4.4 Celsius). The Dolphins’ most recent victory in a game with a kickoff temperature at 40 or lower was a 34-31 overtime triumph at Buffalo on Dec. 24, 2016.
Green Bay is playing three games in a 12-day stretch. The Packers beat the San Francisco 49ers 38-10 on Sunday and will visit the NFC North-leading Detroit Lions next Thursday night.
“I thought we played well for it being a short week,” Packers safety Xavier McKinney said. “I thought we came out there and had the right mindset. And we started fast, and that was the key to today’s win.”
Love and Reed connected on touchdown completions of 3 and 12 yards, Jacobs scored from 1 yard out and Brandon McManus kicked two field goals as Green Bay led 27-3 midway through the third quarter.
Miami tried to rally.
Tagovailoa’s 14-yard pass to De’Von Achane – and a 2-point conversion pass to Jaylen Waddle – cut Green Bay’s lead to 27-11 with 2:43 left in third. After Miami stopped Jacobs for a 2-yard loss on third-and-1 to force a punt, the Dolphins drove again and had second-and-goal at the 1 early in the fourth quarter.
“We fought hard,” Dolphins defensive lineman Calais Campbell said. “We have no quit in us. I really genuinely believed we were going to give ourselves a chance to win at the end.”
Green Bay’s goal-line defense vanquished those hopes. After Rashan Gary stopped Achane on second down and Tagovailoa couldn’t connect with Jonnu Smith on third down, Quay Walker made a fourth-down sack with 9:33 remaining.
A 49-yard completion from Love to Jacobs then set up McManus’ 33-yard field goal with 5:02 left. Miami completed the scoring on a deflected 12-yard touchdown pass from Tagovailoa to Tyreek Hill with 3:04 remaining.
Miami’s slow start enabled the Packers to take command.
After forcing a three-and-out on the opening possession, the Dolphins gave Green Bay a first-and-goal opportunity when Malik Washington muffed a punt and Robert Rochell recovered at the 9.
The turnover set up Love’s 3-yard touchdown pass to Reed on third-and-goal.
Green Bay reached the end zone again on its next series as Jacobs’ touchdown capped a 12-play, 76-yard drive that lasted nearly seven minutes.
The Dolphins had first-and-goal at the 9 in the second quarter but settled for Jason Sanders’ 33-yard field goal.
Green Bay then scored 10 points in the final 96 seconds of the half to make it 24-3.
On third-and-2 from the 12, Reed caught a pass around the line of scrimmage and used a downfield block from Dontayvion Wicks to reach the end zone. After Tagovailoa overthrew Achane on fourth-and-5 from the Green Bay 38 with 22 seconds left, a couple of completions from Love to Tucker Kraft helped the Packers get into position for McManus’ 46-yard field goal as time expired.
From that point on, it was pretty much just a matter of making sure Love didn’t go hungry.
“That was the one thing that was the most important to me, was making sure Jordan got his leg,” Kraft said.