EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Jordan Love had fun again Sunday even if the left shoulder injury he suffered in the first quarter was the opposite of that.
"It was definitely not fun," Love said of the injury to his non-throwing shoulder. "It's just a small injury. So we'll reevaluate it when we get back, look at it, see what's going on, but yeah, it's not fun."
Yet the feeling after the Green Bay Packers pulled off a 27-20 win over the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium was an overwhelming sense of exuberance for a team that was on a two-game losing streak and found itself trailing late into the fourth quarter.
"It's exactly what we needed," Love said.
After scoring just 20 points combined in their previous two games -- losses to the Carolina Panthers (16-13) and Philadelphia Eagles (10-7) -- the Packers hit their magic number of 27. They've scored exactly 27 points -- not a point more, not a point less -- in five of their six wins this season to improve to 6-3-1.
The Packers did so Sunday on a gusty, wind-blown afternoon in which they lost running back Josh Jacobs to a knee injury in the first half and with Love's pass catchers dropping passes left and right -- five of them to be exact.
Still, Love threw for 174 yards and two touchdowns. Malik Willis came in mid-drive after Love's injury and also threw a touchdown pass -- one of two on the day for Christian Watson.
On the go-ahead scoring drive, Love bought time on third-and-10 from his 47 and threw a fadeaway bomb that rookie Savion Williams hauled in for 33 yards. Two plays later, he threw a corner fade to Watson for a touchdown and then hit running back Emanuel Wilson for a two-point conversion with 4:02 to play.
It was the Packers' third win this season after trailing in the fourth quarter, and unlike the previous two games, both losses, the Packers scored touchdowns on all four red-zone drives after going 2-for-6 against the Panthers and Eagles.
In all, Love missed only seven plays.
Neither Willis nor Watson had even realized that Love returned from the locker room to start the very next drive.
"It felt like he kinda just spawned on the field," Watson said. "I was dapping Malik up to get ready for the drive, I turn around and I see 10 out there. I couldn't tell he was hurt at all, to be honest."
Love ran the locker room for X-rays and said he got "taped up" after taking a hit to his non-throwing shoulder from Giants linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles at the end of a 4-yard scramble.
"Thought I was able to make a move and didn't; he was right there," Love said. "Lowered my shoulder. Wish I would have just went out of bounds or try to slide right there, and you know, got a good hit."
Love said he will undergo further tests Monday but called the injury "manageable" and "something I was able to play through, but it definitely was there."
"It was so gritty and tough," Packers coach Matt LaFleur said of Love. "He was under duress, it felt like, quite a bit, and I thought he did a really nice job of giving guys opportunities to make plays. Certainly, had a lot of drops today that we were able to obviously overcome, but just the mentality because when you hear your quarterback's in the locker room, that's not a great feeling. For his ability to come back and play the way he did, I was really proud of him."