Davante Adams
After falling twice to San Francisco last season, the Green Bay Packers rolled to a convincing 34-17 win over the shorthanded 49ers on Thursday night.
Aaron Rodgers completed 25 of 31 passes for 305 yards and four touchdowns, his fourth four-touchdown passing game this season.
Davante Adams had 10 catches for 173 yards and his league-leading eighth touchdown catch of the season and became the first player in NFL history with three games of 10 receptions for at least 150 yards in his team’s first eight games. Adams missed two of those eight games because of injury.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling dropped his fifth pass of the season, but rebounded with a pair of touchdown receptions, including a 52-yarder.
Running back Aaron Jones returned to the lineup and started for the Packers. Jones didn’t score, but he did rush for 58 yards on 15 carries and was a key part of the offensive game plan on the team’s opening drive.
That opening drive ended with a 36-yard touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers to Davante Adams, giving the Packers points on opening drives in all eight games this season. The Packers not only didn’t score on their opening drives in the two losses to the 49ers last season, they were outscored by a combined 50-0 by San Francisco in the first half of the two games. In this game, the Packers had a 21-3 lead at halftime.
The 49ers didn’t have a single offensive player who touched the ball in last year’s 37-20 win in the NFC Championship game. Jimmy Garoppolo, George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, Raheem Mostert, Tevin Coleman and the list goes on. The Packers had injury issues too, but nothing like the 49ers.
The Packers improved to 6-2 with the win, while the 49ers fell to dropped to 4-5.
COVID Update
The Packers placed two players, LB Krys Barnes and QB Jordan Love on the reserve/COVID-19 list. Barnes reportedly tested positive for COVID today. Love is Barnes roommate. It’s not certain if Love tested positive too, or if he’s a close contact risk, based on the league’s contact tracing protocol.
Barnes left Thursday night’s game with a calf injury in the first half.
Meanwhile, San Francisco WR Kendrick Bourne’s latest COVID-19 test results reportedly came back negative. Two straight days of negative tests following his positive on Wednesday. He’s eligible to return, as are Brandon Aiyuk, Trent Williams and Deebo Samuel.