Jordan Love threw for 274 yards as he led the Green Bay Packers to a 30-17 triumph against the Miami Dolphins in the finale of the three-game Thanksgiving Day slate in Detroit on Thursday.
It is Green Bay’s third victory in 11 days and they remain two games behind the NFC North-leading Detroit Lions while standing even with the Minnesota Vikings.
Miami have fallen two games behind Denver for the final AFC playoff spot and saw a three-game winning streak broken at Lambeau Field.
The Dolphins had first-and-goal at the 9 in the second quarter but settled for Jason Sanders’ 33-yard field goal.
Green Bay then scored 10 points in the final 96 seconds of the half to make it 24-3.
Love threw a pair of touchdowns to Jayden Reed, Josh Jacobs scored from one yard out and Brandon McManus kicked two field goals as Green Bay led 27-3 midway through the third quarter.
Miami rallied with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s 14-yard pass to De’Von Achane and a 2-point conversion pass to Jaylen Waddle which slashed Green Bay’s lead to 27-11 with 2:43 left in the third.
However, Green Bay’s goal-line defense fought back after Rashan Gary stopped Achane on second down and Quay Walker sacked Tagovailoa on fourth down with 9:33 remaining.
A 33-yard field goal from McManus, his third make of the night, saw Green Bay seal the win with 5:02 to go.
“To be able to come in here, get the win, get the turkey leg after, it was very delicious, just a little something to celebrate,” said Love.
Miami (5-7) continued its recent history of struggling in cold weather. The kickoff temperature at Lambeau Field was 27 degrees (-2.7 Celsius).
“I would say, from my standpoint and our team’s standpoint, we’re not going to use any of that as an excuse for why we didn’t get the start that we wanted,” said Tagovailoa, who was 37 of 46 for 365 yards with two touchdowns despite getting sacked five times.
The Dolphins have lost their past 12 regular-season or postseason games in which the temperature at kickoff has been below 40 degrees (4.4 Celsius).
The Packers beat the San Francisco 49ers 38-10 on Sunday and will visit the NFC North-leading Detroit Lions next Thursday night.
Meanwhile, Miami host the New York Jets on December 8.
Watch the Kansas City Chiefs face the Las Vegas Raiders on Black Friday live on Sky Sports NFL from 7.45pm; the Pittsburgh Steelers face the Cincinnati Bengals at 6pm live on Sky this Sunday followed by the Philadelphia Eagles against Baltimore Ravens
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