Packers Finally Shake Off Seahawks With 27-17 Win
GENARO C. ARMAS, AP Sports Writer
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — All week long, the Green Bay Packers did their best to disregard the noise about their recent, disheartening history with the Seattle Seahawks.
A 27-17 win over Seattle on Sunday night in a rematch of last January's NFC championship game left the Packers with a reason to smile.
This time, the Packers finished strong in a bruising, physical contest with the Seahawks.
"It doesn't count for anything more than a win, but it is probably one of the more satisfying regular-season wins that we've had, just to get that monkey off our back of not being able to beat these guys," guard T.J. Lang said.
The victory snapped a three-game losing streak to Seattle, all on the road. None of those games were more painful than the 28-22 loss in overtime in the playoffs in January after the Packers blew a 16-0 halftime lead.
On Sunday night, the Packers had a raucous crowd on their side and they held on after giving up a 13-3 halftime lead.
The Seahawks, who fell to the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl last year, dropped to 0-2 for the first time since 2011.
"But you have to move forward and realize there's a lot of season left," said Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson, who threw an interception in the fourth quarter.
Seattle lost its opener at St. Louis, 34-31 in overtime. After two weeks away, the Seahawks finally get to play at home next week against the Chicago Bears.
The Packers (2-0) get an extra day off before taking on the Chiefs in a Monday night game on Sept. 28.
"It is what it is. We're going to enjoy it for a couple days and get ready to move on to Kansas City," Lang said.
Some other notes and takeaways from Sunday night's game:
CLUTCH RODGERS: Quarterback Aaron Rodgers finished 25 of 33 for 249 yards and two touchdowns, including the go-ahead score on a 5-yard pass to Richard Rodgers in the fourth quarter. A 2-point conversion pass, also to Richard Rodgers, made it 24-17 with 9:28 left.
The quarterback was a master at moving around to buy time. He took advantage of Seattle penalties with long throws for big gains.
MIDDLE MAN: Given time in the fourth quarter, Aaron Rodgers found the weakness in the Seattle defense.
It was the middle of the field, an area where safety Kam Chancellor might normally help. But Chancellor is holding out for a new contract.
In that fourth quarter drive that ended with the touchdown throw, short passes turned into big gains.
"In the middle of their defense is where you can find some soft spots, that's kind of what we targeted there," Rodgers said.
SO CLOSE: For a team that just fell to 0-2 to start the season, the Seahawks sounded relatively upbeat. Carroll thinks his team will rebound, pointing to the success of reaching the Super Bowl last year despite starting 3-3 and 6-4.
"I think that's a really good point, and we don't talk really in that manner. But we were not right last year for some time, too," Carroll said. "We just need to clean up our game and get right, and hopefully we can do that and get started."
WILSON'S PICK: Wilson was 19 of 30 for 206 yards with two touchdowns, while running for 78 yards on 10 carries. But he lamented the disappointing fourth quarter.
Jayrone Elliott made a lunging, one-handed interception of a short pass from Wilson with 6:50 left, one of the rare mistakes in the second half for Seattle's dual-threat quarterback.
The Packers cashed in with one of Mason Crosby's four field goals on the night for a 10-point lead with 2 minutes remaining.
TRAINER'S ROOM: Green Bay running back Eddie Lacy left the game in the first quarter with a right ankle injury. Backup James Starks kept Packers running game going with 95 yards on 20 carries. ... Safety Steven Terrell had the only Seattle injury of note, with a hip flexor. Carroll said he did not know the severity of the injury.
___
AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL
(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
