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Packers extend lead to 6-0 on final play of first half

BALTIMORE –A 31-yard FG by Mason Crosby on the final play of the first half gave the Packers a 6-0 lead over the Ravens.

Packers LB Nick Perry strip-sacked QB Joe Flacco, with DE Datone Jones recovering the ball and returning it 20 yards with just 2 seconds left in the half. Crosby then made the kick as time ran out.

Moments earlier, the Packers failed to extend their lead as K Crosby missed a 44-yard field goal try.

That came one play after WR Randall Cobb made a catch over the middle but was hit low and injured. After being helped off, and a personal foul was marked off on the Packers, Crosby missed wide right, breaking his streak of 10 straight makes to start the season.

The Packers preserved their initial 3-0 lead with a goal-line stand. A 45-yard pass to TE Dallas Clark moved the Ravens into scoring range, and they eventually had first-and-goal from the 4. But three Ray Rice runs got only to the 1, and then when the Ravens decided to go for it on fourth down — after the Packers declined a holding penalty on third down — Bernard Pierce was stuffed at the goal line and the Packers took over.

Green Bay blew a chance for great field position on special teams. TE Ryan Taylor blocked a punt, but FB John Kuhn tried to pick up the rolling football and failed. The fumble was recovered by the Ravens for a first down at their own 41, and moments later Clark had his big pass play and Baltimore was threatening to score.

The Packers went nowhere, however, as WR Jarrett Boykin — in the game in place of the injured James Jones — dropped a pass over the middle that would have picked up the first down.

Early in the quarter, the Packers nearly had a costly turnover. Ravens DE Elvis Dumervil sacked Aaron Rodgers and forced a fumble for the second time in the game, but WR Jarrett Boykin recovered for Green Bay inside the Packers’ 10-yard line. RT Don Barclay, who is struggling to block Dumervil, had recovered the previous fumble by Rodgers.