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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — As the Green Bay Packers earned their sixth win to stay in the playoff picture of a crowded NFC, Matt LaFleur walked toward the doors of the visiting locker room with his gaze focused straight ahead.

After 13- and seven-point outings their prior two games, the Packers had sparked their offense to the tune of a 27-20 win over the New York Giants.

So the Packers head coach and play caller headed back to the locker room with his call sheet and a pen in his right hand, receiver Romeo Doubs to his left side.

The questions about LaFleur’s job security that had trailed the Packers’ loss Monday night stayed on pause as the Packers improved to 6-3-1.

Edge rusher Micah Parsons, who strip-sacked the Giants' Jameis Winston on the game’s final play, appreciated how the close win would help secure the Packers coach. But he also admitted he wasn’t surprised that the chatter surrounding his coach’s future had come on LaFleur’s second-to-last year under contract.

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Parsons remembered similar questions a year ago in Dallas, as Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy coached the final year of his own deal.

“It’s the same thing I went through with Coach McCarthy,” Parsons told Yahoo Sports from his locker as he searched for a pair of socks. “Obviously you hate to hear that about obviously an incredible person, incredible coach. But I think overall it just makes the players want to just play harder for their coach. We're all in this together. The coaches got to put us in great positions, and as the players, we got to put our coaches in great positions. That’s what it's all about: coming together to play for one another and the brotherhood.”

Conversation heightened in the NFL ecosystem last week as the Packers lost a 13-7 prime-time game to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday. And it threatened to reach another level when a Giants team six days removed from the firing of head coach Brian Daboll entered the fourth quarter with a lead, a more-talented-on-paper Packers team struggling to finish on a windy day. 

But with a touchdown drive that highlighted Jordan Love’s development capping in the final five minutes, the Packers took a lead and then their defense finished the job. They’d completed the job LaFleur hammered repeatedly all week: 1-0.

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Parsons hoped the finish reminded his teammates and fans what the Packers are capable of, the confidence in late-game complementary football fueling a run. But he questioned how likely that was in explaining why the recent criticism wasn’t a surprise. Are coaches treated that differently than players, Packers wondered?

“We have great players,” Parsons said, “but if we're not productive then it's like, ‘Why they pay him this money?’ Why did he get the extension?’ It is the same thing. It is honestly nonsense what we do. We want to nitpick and try to find every little thing to diminish people and their success.

“We should just appreciate greatness really.”

The Packers’ seven-point win fell short of their definition of greatness. But their resilience after multiple injuries that seemed to threaten their return to the win column encouraged players. After one quarter, the Packers’ outlook had looked far murkier.

After left shoulder injury required X-rays, Love returned to elevate Packers

With 3:20 to play in the first quarter, Love avoided a sack and picked up 4 yards on a scramble. But the Packers’ franchise quarterback lowered his shoulder rather than sliding at the end of the carry. So when Giants linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles went for the tackle, he hit Love’s left shoulder hard.

A visit to the blue medical tent, and then the locker room for X-ray evaluation, followed.

When running back Josh Jacobs suffered his own knee injury at the end of the same drive, concern mounted. How many hits could this Packers offense survive? All 24 of the Packers’ touchdowns through 10 weeks involved either Love’s arm or Jacobs’ legs. And this roster already was regrouping from season-ending injuries to tight end Tucker Kraft, who suffered a torn ACL two games prior, and center Elgton Jenkins, who had broken his fibula Monday.

Jacobs was ruled out with the injury.

“Especially of his magnitude, but anytime a player doesn’t finish a game you’re always concerned about the welfare of him,” LaFleur said.

Love would return the next series. 

During Love’s absence as well as afterward, the Packers showed they could score without their two workhorses.

Love was in the locker room for his X-ray when the screen flashed backup quarterback Malik Willis’ touchdown to Christian Watson, Willis holding down the fort as Love’s left shoulder was examined to the tune of a 16-yard carry and 2-of-2 passing for 6 yards and a score.

Running back Emanuel Wilson would step up in Jacobs’ absence afterward, rushing for 40 yards and his first touchdown of the season.

Love’s left shoulder continued to remind him of the defender’s “good pop,” he said after completing 13 of 24 passes for 174 yards and two scores. But he weathered the pain in his taped-up, non-throwing shoulder to make plays when the Packers needed them most.

“It was definitely manageable, I’ll say that,” Love said in an endorsement shy of ringing. “It was just a small injury, so we’ll reevaluate it when we get back. Look at it. See what’s going on. But it’s not fun.”

Neither was the fourth quarter for the Giants.

The Giants initially defended two passes from Love well, leaving the Packers facing third-and-10 with 5:56 to play in the fourth quarter, down one point. Love ignored the misses as he’d ignored earlier drops, reminding himself what he’d told his receivers who hadn’t secured earlier passes: Next play.

Then Love dropped back, dancing in the pocket for six seconds he surveyed his options. He motioned to rookie receiver Savion Williams and fired deep.

Williams caught an airborne 33-yard pass to move the chains, the Packers advancing into the red zone with a chance to take the lead.

“Big-time catch in a crucial situation when we got to have it,” Love said. “I think it gave everybody a lot of juice — a lot of energy — to be able to go and finish that drive.”

Three plays later, the Packers faced second-and-7 from the 17 when they realized that finally they had the man coverage they wanted to cue up Watson for a jump ball. In double coverage, Watson caught the 17-yard touchdown to give the Packers what would ultimately become the go-ahead touchdown.

The Packers tacked on a 2-point conversion to go up 27-20 — a score they’d maintain through the four remaining minutes of game play.

“Honestly it was a play that we’d probably called like four times that game just to try to get the right look for it, but we weren’t getting man on it the whole game,” said Watson, who caught four of five targets for 46 yards and two touchdowns in the win. “That was the first time we got man on it so we … just went on a slot fade, Jordan gave me a chance and it was good.”

Giants’ latest late-game collapse buoys Packers

Despite a change in head coach and quarterback, the Giants blew a fourth-quarter lead for the fourth time this season. Mike Kafka oversaw a 336-yard day after his promotion from offensive coordinator to interim head coach, Jameis Winston starting his first game this season with first-round rookie Jaxson Dart on the sideline in concussion protocol.

But an offense effective enough to extend drives and dominate the time of possession with an 11-minute, 52-second advantage couldn’t hang on. Winston was steady on third and fourth down, the Giants attempting a full four plays on fourth down and converting on three. Then a five pass-deflection day caught up with Winston, the Packers defense that dropped near-interceptions for three-plus quarters securing the last.

Winston dropped back on third-and-6 with 40 seconds to go, targeting 2023 third-round receiver Jalin Hyatt on what was drawn to be a corner route. Hyatt ran toward the end zone but didn’t cross in front of the safety in line with his route’s intention. He stopped short, leaving second-year safety Evan Williams in perfect position to snag the pass instead. Winston reflected on the play diplomatically.

“I believe timing and execution is so important when you're in crucial moments,” Winston said. "When defenses see routes, you and the receiver have to be elite in timing and execution. I believe Jalin and I, our timing and execution could have been a lot better.”

The Giants would get one more offensive snap with 10 seconds to play. But Winston would not get to fire a pass attempt off before Parsons strip-sacked him. Fellow Packers defensive lineman Rashan Gary recovered the fumble.

The Packers snapped their losing streak and the Giants extended theirs to five games. A teetering Green Bay defense closed out a game its offense had kept in check.

“Sometimes they're going to pick us up in times of need,” Parsons said of the Packers’ offensive rebound. “I feel like today they picked us up a little bit more.”

With three straight division games up next, the Packers hope that offensive resurgence will quiet speculation about their coach and do more.

“It’s exactly what we needed,” Love said. “We came in with the mindset [that] ‘It’s going to be a game. Whatever it takes. We’ve got to find a way to get a win and get us back on track.’

“It came down to the end, but we stayed together, and the guys just found ways to keep making plays all the way into the fourth quarter. It’s something that’s going to help us, propel us, into next week.”