Jordan Love, Packers discover their heart and grit but still have more work to do

Quarterback Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers' young offense learned in their Week 2 loss to the Atlanta Falcons that execution is key in the NFL — and there's a small margin between success and failure.

The lesson from Week 3's amazing comeback win against the New Orleans Saints? Don't flinch.

The Pack had every opportunity to flinch as they were taking one on the chin over the first three quarters of Sunday's game. They entered the fourth quarter down 17-0 and it just seemed like one of those days. 

Nothing was working on offense, the defense was giving up chunk plays and special teams allowed Rashid Shaheed to rip off a 76-yard punt return for a touchdown early in the second quarter.

It was a failure for all three phases of the game until it wasn't. An Anders Carlson field goal with 11 minutes to go in the fourth quarter got Green Bay on the board. Love then led two touchdown drives (which included one gutsy two-point conversion) to put the Pack up 18-17. The defense was lights out at the end, and special teams forced a missed field goal that secured the win.

The Packers had a chance to flinch. They just didn't.

“I think it’s just confidence for our whole team, the way we were able to stick together,” Love said after the game, per Bill Huber. “Nobody flinched. To be able to put up a comeback win like that, down 17, I think that’s just a huge confidence booster for our whole team. More importantly to bounce back off the loss we had last week, I think that’s a huge confidence booster. It brought us all together a little bit closer today.”

What made the win even more impressive for Green Bay was the fact that the team was down arguably their five best players. Running back Aaron Jones, wide receiver Christian Watson, left tackle David Bakhtiari, left guard Elgton Jenkins and cornerback Jaire Alexander were all inactive for the game due to injury.

Either way, this young and dangerous Packers team learned some tough lessons. Unlike in Week 2, though, the lessons came along with a huge win.

“It’s always a great learning experience, the highs and the lows, but it’s a complete [180] off last week — blowing a lead and then, obviously, this week just sticking together and coming back from being down a lot," Love said. "It’s a credit to the whole team sticking together. But there’s a lot of things we can learn from, clean up, go watch the film and bounce back for next week.”