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Game notes: Randall Cobb continues to step up for Packers' passing game

Green Bay’s locker room felt the love from London crowd

Packers WR Randall Cobb
Packers WR Randall Cobb

LONDON – Randall Cobb is feeling the best he has in years and it's showing on Sundays.

The 12th-year receiver stepped up once again during the Packers' international debut against the New York Giants at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with his seven receptions for 99 yards going a long way in powering the offense early on.

Cobb's seven catches were his most in a game since he caught eight passes against the Packers as a member of the Houston Texans on Oct. 25, 2020.

Cobb was key to the Packers' fast start on offense. He caught a 35-yard pass on third-and-8 during Green Bay's first possession and made an impressive toe-dragging catch along the sideline in the third quarter that was originally ruled incomplete but overturned upon review.

Cobb also caught a 9-yard pass off a short receiver screen at the start of the season quarter, setting up Marcedes Lewis' 2-yard touchdown on the next play that gave Green Bay a 17-3 lead.

As good as Cobb felt contributing and seeing a spike in playing time, individual performance came secondary to the Giants rallying in the second half for the 27-22 win.

"I've been telling you all that for the past couple of weeks. I feel great," said Cobb, who has 17 catches for 249 yards this season. "I much rather would've had a win than to have a nice performance."

After establishing a 20-10 halftime lead, the Packers' offense wasn't able to add to the tally in the second half. Despite getting the 14-yard pass to Cobb overturned for a catch, the Packers still punted on the drive after Aaron Rodgers was sacked on third down.

Defensively, the Packers noticed the Giants stacking the box more against them and blitzing out of Cover-zero looks. Green Bay only ran the ball 20 times, gaining 94 yards.

"First and second down has always been huge for us to be able to get the running game going," Cobb said. "Have to go back and watch film to see what it was that was missing for that not to be a factor tonight."

Marcedes' misdirection: After establishing jet motions with rookie receiver Christian Watson early on, the Packers used the look to their advantage on Lewis' 2-yard score.

After Rodgers faked the handoff to Watson, Lewis released off his block and went uncovered for the 37th touchdown of his NFL career to put the Packers up 17-3 at the time.

"Obviously, I'm doing my thing at the point of contact the whole entire game," Lewis said. "It's kind of a chess match with me and whoever I'm going against. We saw the guy was playing me and then we had a guy off the edge, it's just an easy call. It's something we always have in our back pocket."

See scenes from the Sunday afternoon matchup between the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Oct. 9, 2022.

Get loud London: Lewis had played in London four times as a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars, but nothing could compare to the energy he felt inside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

"It was really dope to see all the Packers fans," Lewis said. "When I was in Jacksonville, … it was just scattered. It was a lot of fans from a lot of different teams. The Packers traveled very well and we got wind of that today. It sucks we couldn't give them the win."

Afterwards, Rodgers and several other members of the Packers' locker room commended the Green Bay fans who turned out in support of the team's first international regular-season game, while lamenting the final result.

Green-and-gold jerseys were prevalent among the 61,024 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with chants of "Go Pack Go" breaking out throughout the game. Rodgers joked afterward about how the inclusion of "Roll out the Barrel" after the third quarter gave the game a Lambeau vibe.

"It was pretty close to a home game as possible," said linebacker Preston Smith, who had four tackles, three quarterback hits and a sack. "We appreciate the Packer fans who traveled here to watch us play, even if it's some in the UK or London or whatever, we appreciate them traveling here to see us play."

A return and a rotation: Safety Adrian Amos was full-go after clearing the concussion protocol in time, finishing with three tackles and a quarterback hit.

The eight-year safety was limited in practice on Thursday and Friday after exiting early in last Sunday's 27-24 overtime win over New England. He said he felt good all week but still had to go through the necessary steps.

"You still gotta go through protocol and make sure you're good, and I felt good throughout the week," Amos said. "I did every step along the way I was supposed to. I came out and played."

With the Packers making the long trip overseas, they chose to rotate left tackles David Bakhtiari and Yosh Nijman by series throughout the game.

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