Injury-Ridden Packers Edge Ravens

Things didn’t exactly go smoothly for the Green Bay Packers in Baltimore on Sunday, but they still managed to clip the defending Super Bowl champions and improve to 3-2 on the season.

Green Bay needed a career day from rookie running back Eddie Lacy (120 rushing yards), four Mason Crosby field goals and some Baltimore Ravens mistakes, but the Pack prevailed on the road 19-17 after fending off a late rally from the home team.

“Days like today remind you of why you love this game so much,” Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers said, according to ESPN.com. “Offensively, we’re struggling a little bit, but we found a way to make enough plays to win.”

Rodgers completed 17 of 32 passes for a quiet 315 yards, but hit one big play in the third quarter – a 64-yard bomb to Jordy Nelson – which ended up being the only Packer touchdown on the day. Still, Rodgers managed to avoid many costly errors (1 INT) and was able to benefit from the productive run game.

“Aaron made some really good plays out of the pocket in the second half,” Baltimore coach John Harbaugh said. “Early, he held it and took some sacks. Later, he held it and found some openings.

What made Rodgers’ performance even more impressive was the fact that he worked most of the game without two of his top wideouts, as James Jones and Randall Cobb both left the game with knee injuries and didn’t return.

The Packers were also without Clay Matthews and Brad Jones on the defensive side of the ball, but made due with their patchwork unit and held Baltimore to just 47 rushing yards, while recording five sacks – three of which were credited to veteran A.J. Hawk.

“It’s kind of been our motto for a long time around here: `Next man up.’ We have to make it work,” Hawk said. “We had a lot of young guys out there today who really did a good job.”

Green Bay was able to survive without many of its stars on Sunday, but going forward, they’ll need all the help they can get to win the competitive NFC North this season. Fortunately, early reports from the team called Cobb’s knee “good,” although, the Packers won’t have any detailed information on the most recent injuries until later today.

Be sure to check back for the latest updates before the Packers take on the upstart Cleveland Browns next week.