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Jordan Love Throws Three Touchdowns as Packers Hold Off Panthers 27-19
Green Bay improved to 5-3 on Thursday Night Football, surviving a late push from Carolina's Bryce Young and Chuba Hubbard at a sold-out Lambeau Field.
Jordan Love threw for 288 yards and three touchdowns, and the Green Bay Packers held off a late surge from Carolina to beat the Panthers 27-19 in front of 76,957 fans at Lambeau Field on Thursday Night Football, according to ESPN's boxscore of the Week 8 matchup.
The win pushed Green Bay to 5-3 on the season, while Carolina dropped to 3-4. Love completed 30 of 41 passes with just one interception, spreading the ball to Christian Watson (eight catches, 113 yards), Matthew Golden (seven catches, 79 yards, one touchdown) and Tucker Kraft (six catches, 53 yards, one touchdown). Josh Jacobs added 39 yards and a rushing score on 21 carries to keep Green Bay's ground game honest.
Carolina made it close late
Panthers quarterback Bryce Young kept Carolina within striking distance much of the night, finishing 23 of 41 for 209 yards and a touchdown, though he also threw an interception that Green Bay safety Ty'Ron Hopper picked off. Running back Chuba Hubbard was Carolina's workhorse in every sense, rushing 22 times for 81 yards and a touchdown while also hauling in seven catches for 38 yards out of the backfield — 119 total yards of offense in a losing effort. Wide receiver Jalen Coker added a touchdown catch, and rookie Tetairoa McMillan led Carolina's receivers with six catches for 58 yards.
A WAY TO WIN UGLY WHEN YOU NEED TO.
Green Bay's defense forced a fumble and an interception of its own — safety Zakee Wheatley's pick — but gave up chunks of yardage down the stretch as Young and Hubbard tried to engineer a comeback. The Packers' special teams chipped in as well, with Coleman Owen returning four kicks for 105 yards to help flip field position in Green Bay's favor for much of the second half.
The result keeps Green Bay squarely in the thick of the NFC playoff picture heading into the back half of the season, while Carolina's loss adds to a tougher stretch for a Panthers team that had shown flashes of competitiveness in recent weeks without consistently closing games out. Both teams return to action Sunday as the league moves into Week 9.