Lukas Van Ness, Packers defense keep Green Bay alive in OT win over the New York Jets

It wasn’t pretty but the Green Bay Packers (1-1) walked away with a win at the Meadowlands, defeating the New York Jets (1-1) in overtime, 20-17.

The win ends a six-game losing streak going back to last season, but the Packers won’t be satisfied.

The Jets dominated the game well into the fourth quarter, before the Green Bay defense, led by Lukas Van Ness, stiffened up down the stretch and repeatedly gave the offense and quarterback Jordan Love multiple attempts to put the game away.

For two games in a row, the Packers were completely undisciplined, racking up 14 penalties for 134 yards.

Love and the offense were also largely stagnant. Love finished 16-for-29, 145 yards passing and two touchdowns. But the stat line doesn’t tell the story of inaccurate passes and under-thrown balls from Love, although he did appear to suffer a hand injury in the third quarter.

Rookie kicker Trey Smack kicked a game-tying 34-year field goal to force overtime and kicked a game-winning 26-yard field goal in overtime to win the game.

The defense and coordinator Jonathan Gannon weren’t perfect, but they stepped up when it was needed. Van Ness made big play after big play and had a breakout performance. He finished with nine tackles, four tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, and four QB hits. His stuff on 4th-and-1 against former Wisconsin Badger Braelon Allen helped the Packers force overtime. Allen had a touchdown of his own in the first quarter.

Two injuries early in the game stopped play for a significant amount of time. Wide receiver Jayden Reed was carted off with a head injury followed by right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele, who also was carted off with a leg injury. Also, left guard Aaron Banks suffered a new toe injury on Sunday.

The result certainly isn’t the marquee game head coach Matt LaFleur needed to cool down his seat, but he’ll take the win considering stars Micah Parsons and Josh Jacobs are sidelined.

LaFleur admitted in his halftime interview that Gannon and the defense were keeping the Packers in the game, acknowledging the offense is struggling, his supposed expertise.

But Green Bay doesn’t have much time to recap Sunday as it’s a short week for the Packers, who host the struggling Atlanta Falcons (0-2) on Thursday night at Lambeau Field.

In other news from Chicago, Bears (1-1) quarterback Caleb Williams went down with an apparent non-contact injury in their loss to the Minnesota Vikings (2-0), who sit atop the NFC North after Week 2.

This story will be updated.