JACKSONVILLE, Fla.— Aaron Rodgers threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score, leading the Green Bay Packers to a 27-23 victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the teams' season opener Sunday.
Rodgers looked every bit like, well, a two-time league MVP. He extended plays with his feet, escaped sacks and had precision accuracy all over the field.
He completed 20 of 34 passes for 199 yards, with TD passes to Jordy Nelson and Davante Adams. He was sacked once for no yards and didn't turn it over.
He helped the Packers win their second opener in the last five years. This one came on a sweltering, late-summer day that left some players cramping and others completely exhausted.
Rodgers had no issues with the heat. More importantly for the Packers: Neither did Nelson, who played his first game in more than a year. Nelson tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in the 2015 preseason and missed the entire regular season. The injury significantly impacted Rodgers, who lost his best deep threat, and the offense, which fell to 23rd in the league and tied for 25th in passing.
Nelson finished with six receptions for 32 yards, including a 6-yard TD in the second quarter.
The Jaguars mounted a late drive that came up short on a fourth-down play. The Jaguars had converted their previous three fourth-down plays, but Allen Hurns failed to move the sticks on a bubble screen.
VINTAGE RODGERS:
With 13 seconds left in the half, Adams hauled in a 29-yarder that was vintage Rodgers, who managed to get rid of the ball with a defender tugging at his jersey and still got enough on it to reach the end zone. Adams got up and pointed to the back of his jersey several times.
BIG YARDS FOR BORTLES:
Blake Bortles completed 24 of 39 passes for 320 yards, with a touchdown and an interception. Allen Robinson caught six passes for 72 yards, including three on fourth-down plays.
