Less than a month ago, cornerback Rasul Douglas was toiling away on the Arizona Cardinals’ practice squad.
Instead, a goal-line stand by the Cardinals — featuring an apparent touchdown run by Aaron Jones that was overturned — kept the game within a field goal, giving quarterback Kyler Murray an opportunity to lead a late-game comeback.
With Davante Adams and Allen Lazard on the reserve/COVID-19 list and Marquez Valdes-Scantling still on injured reserve, the Packers had to make do with the likes of Randall Cobb, Equanimeous St.
A punctured lung after a deep ball sent Cobb to the locker room in that contest, forcing Aaron Rodgers to throw to the likes of Jeff Janis and Jared Abbrederis for the remainder of that postseason contest.
The Packers trotted out on offense to open the game, but the drive fizzled out immediately after a holding penalty on the first play of the game.
What could have been a demoralizing penalty was instead of a minor nuisance, as the defense held its own and didn’t allow another first down to give possession back to the offense.
Rookie corner Eric Stokes got lost in coverage, leading to a huge play that was only slightly offset by an offensive facemask penalty that negated a touchdown.
After a rough outing against Washington, AJ Dillon was able to make a couple nice plays for a pair of first downs to finally get the offense moving on their third drive of the game.
The Packers caught a huge break however, after Rondale Moore accidentally touched the football when trying to bail on a punt return, giving the Packers the ball at the two-yard line.
The Packers defense quickly got off the field once again, and the offense burned the rest of the clock down in the first half.
The defense stepped up yet again to start the second half as Henry Black was able to snag an interception off a tipped screen pass to immediately give the Packers the ball in the red zone just a few plays into the third quarter.
The ensuing kickoff served as a reminder of why the NFL is trying to rid the game of that play; Kylin Hill unwisely took the ball out of the end zone, taking a brutal hit from Jonathan Ward.
He would not return to the game, but the Packers would eventually extend their lead back to ten points as Rodgers found Cobb once again over the middle for a six-yard touchdown pass.
Arizona would respond with a touchdown drive of their own, though, pulling back within a field goal with ten minutes remaining.
An Aaron Rodgers scramble on third down put the Packers within inches of the goal line again, but Rodgers would have a fourth-down pass batted down by Devon Kennard to keep the game within three points.
Chase Edmonds’ first-down run just barely got outside the end zone to avoid a safety before Kyler Murray completed back-to-back passes for 23 and 29 yards to get the Cardinals to midfield at the two-minute warning.
Green was never looking for the football on the play, but Douglas alertly caught sight of the football and hauled it in, keeping both feet in bounds to deliver the Packers a massive victory.
But the Packers got a good performance from their running game, with AJ Dillon gaining 78 yards and Aaron Jones picking up 59 yards and a score.
With the win, the Packers move into first place in the NFC, with both teams carrying matching 7-1 records into the weekend.