Packers 45, Patriots 27: Five touchdown scorers and an 18-point burst bury New England

Five different Packers scored touchdowns at Gillette Stadium. Jordan Love, Matthew Golden, Kaleb Johnson, Savion Williams and Christian Watson all found the end zone, Trey Smack kicked three field goals, and Green Bay left Foxborough with 45 points and an 18-point margin.

The damage started immediately. Love scored first and Golden followed before the first quarter ended: 14-0. Smack's field goal pushed it to 0-17 in the second, and Rhamondre Stevenson finally got the Patriots moving. Kaleb Johnson answered for the visitors, Efton Chism scored again for New England, and the teams headed for the break at 21-24 in New England's favour only on the scoreboard of the quarter — 14-24 overall, the Patriots having won the second 14-10 and still trailing by double digits.

Then came the third quarter that settled everything. Savion Williams struck first, Smack added his second field goal, Christian Watson scored without an extra point, and Love's two-point conversion pushed Green Bay to 42 points with New England stuck on 14. Mack Hollins' touchdown trimmed it to 21-42, but Smack's third field goal made it 45 before Corey Kiner's touchdown — also without the extra point — set the final at 27-45.

Love bookended it: the game's opening touchdown and, straight after Watson's third-quarter score, the two-point conversion that took Green Bay to 42. Around him, Golden, Kaleb Johnson and Savion Williams each found the end zone once, and Smack landed a field goal in each of the last three quarters. New England's own tally — touchdowns from Stevenson, Chism, Hollins and Kiner — was respectable at 27; the problem was everything in front of it.

New England won the second quarter and never led anything after it — five Packers scored, one kicker collected nine points, and by the fourth the only question left was the final margin. It landed at 27-45, and it never felt that close.