3. Plenty of history was made in this one.
Rodgers’ 11-yard touchdown toss to receiver Allen Lazard with 5:13 left in the first quarter gave the Packers a 7-6 lead and surpassed Brett Favre’s franchise record for TD passes. It was No. 443 in his career, and the moment was followed by a scoreboard message from Favre and a video tribute to the new recordholder.
“This is a special place,” Rodgers said. “To be a part of history like this is not lost on me at all. There was a part of me that was glad we got it over with … now hopefully we get Davante a touchdown so he can get his record.”
Which he did on the Packers’ next drive, a 9-yard TD on a blitz-beater over the middle that was the 66th touchdown connection in the regular season between Rodgers and Adams, beating the mark of 65 set by Rodgers and Jordy Nelson.
Adams went on to get a second TD and finished with 10 catches for 114 yards, while Rodgers posted a 115.1 passer rating by going 24-of-34 for 202 yards with three TDs.
4. It’s hard to understand such a mixed-bag performance by the defense.
The Packers picked off Mayfield four times, holding him to a 55.3 rating (21-of-36, 222 yards, two TDs), and could’ve had five if not for a drop by cornerback Eric Stokes.
They also sacked him five times, the biggest being the aforementioned consecutive ones by Preston Smith and Dean Lowry to force a punt early in the fourth quarter with the Browns on the edge of field-goal range. Stokes stopping a two-point conversion in the first half proved huge as well.
But the Browns rolled up 408 yards in all, gained 28 first downs, converted 8-of-13 on third and fourth downs, and seemingly had the Packers on their heels when that final drive began.
“It’s up to us to win the game,” was the defense’s mentality despite the struggles, according to Rashan Gary, who had two of the five sacks. “They can’t score. We gotta keep them to where they’re at.
“We had to look each other in the eyes and go to work.”
“To a certain extent, we got lucky,” Adams said. “You’re just a play away then … if they get in field-goal range and they hit a field goal, it’s tough.”
