Jordan Love, Drake Maye represent new era in Packers-Patriots matchup

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — The Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots don’t play each other that often.

The most recent time was in 2022, an overtime game at Lambeau Field won by Green Bay with Aaron Rodgers under center during his final season in Green Bay.

In the teams' most recent matchup in New England in 2018, Tom Brady was on the field playing in his penultimate season with the team.

Sunday’s game between the Packers (5-3) and Patriots (5-3) won’t feature either future Hall of Famer. Rodgers is playing what he’s said is his final NFL season in Pittsburgh, and Brady will be calling his first game in Gillette Stadium as an analyst for Fox Sports.

“I think I’m required contractually to catch up with him at some point,” Patriots coach Mike Vrabel joked this week about Brady's latest return to New England.

But there will be plenty of focus on the quarterbacks that have come behind Rodgers and Brady for their respective former franchises.

Jordan Love appears to be finding his stride in his fourth season as the full-time starter, leading the league in passing yards for a team looking to make the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.

Meanwhile, Drake Maye has recovered from a rough start to account for at least three touchdowns in each of his past five games, leading the Patriots to victories in four of them.

While the Packers enter the game last in the NFL in rushing, averaging only 60.6 yards per game, Love said he isn't worried about generating offense.

“The run game isn’t where it needs to be, but I think we’ve still been able to kind of adjust and still make plays,” he said. “There’s a lot more out there, but we’ve done a great job just being able to win these games by putting up some points, and that’s what it comes down to.”

Maye said the matchup is certainly a measuring stick opposite a team that like them is trying to keep pace in their division.

“They’re good, they’ve beaten good teams, and they continue to show up every year,” Maye said. “We’ve definitely got a challenge and a chance to see how we look.”

Green Bay (5-3) at New England (5-3)

When/where to watch: Sunday, 4:25 p.m. EST, FOX.

Latest odds: Patriots by 3.

Against the spread: Packers 5-3; Patriots 3-4-1.

Last week: Packers beat Panthers 27-19; Patriots beat Dolphins 24-19.

Last meeting: Packers beat Patriots 27-24 on Oct. 2, 2022, in Green Bay.

Series record: Packers lead 7-6.

Packers QB Jordan Love vs. Patriots secondary. The Packers quarterback is leading the NFL with 2,246 passing yards (280.8 per game) to go along with 16 touchdown passes (fourth in the NFL). It will be a challenge for a New England secondary that has only four interceptions this season. The Patriots come in allowing 217.3 passing yards per game.

— The Packers are attempting to beat the Patriots in New England for the first time since a 28-10 victory in 2002. The Packers have faced the Patriots in New England just twice since, losing 31-27 in 2010 and 31-17 in 2018.

— The Packers average 60.6 yards rushing per game and 2.9 yards per carry to rank last in the NFL in both categories.

— Green Bay has had multiple takeaways in five straight games and has gone 4-1 during that stretch. The Packers have 15 takeaways to rank second in the NFL, behind Tampa Bay’s 16 entering Week 9.

— The Packers had a season-high six sacks in their 27-19 victory over the Carolina Panthers last week. Six different players each had a sack.

— In that Carolina game, Packers LB Ty’Ron Hopper became the first Packer since Charles Woodson in 2009 to have at least three passes defensed, a sack and an interception in the same game.

— Packers WR Christian Watson has 708 yards receiving to rank fourth in the NFL. Matthew Golden has 619 yards receiving to rank seventh entering Week 9.

— Patriots WR Mack Hollins returned to practice this week after going on injured reserve following a calf injury in their Week 4 win at Buffalo.

— The Patriots can improve to 4-0 at home for the first time since they won their first five home games to open the 2019 season.

— New England is coming off a season-high five sacks in last week’s win at Miami. It also hasn’t done that since the 2019 season.

— All five of wide receiver Kyle Williams’ five career touchdown catches have been for at least 30 yards. He is the third Patriots player to have had each of their first five TD receptions cover that distance.

AP Sports Writer Steve Megargee in Green Bay, Wisconsin, contributed.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur runs off the filed after an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers in Green Bay, Wis., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)

New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, left, talks with an official after a reply review for a touchdown by New England Patriots wide receiver Kyle Williams during the second half of an NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins in Miami Gardens, Fla., Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) stands back to pass as Miami Dolphins linebacker Chop Robinson (44) defends during the first half of an NFL football game in Miami Gardens, Fla., Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) throws a pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers in Green Bay, Wis., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)

Florida carried out a record-tying 19th execution of the year in an unusual instance of three states administering the death penalty on the same day.

Jesse Guardado was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. following a three-drug injection at a state prison in Starke. He had pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing 75-year-old Jackie Malone inside her Walton County home in 2004 before stealing her jewelry box, $80 and other valuables to buy drugs. The woman had helped him get a job and housing.

Hours earlier, Indiana executed a man for killing two children in a house fire in 2010, and in Alabama, a man received the last lethal injection of the day for his conviction in the killing of an elderly man and woman in a home robbery.

The executions were taking place the same day California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he will commute all 548 death sentences in his state, saying that he believes “state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values."

The announcement was a sharp contrast to Florida, where outgoing Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has made aggressive use of the death penalty like few other governors. His state has carried out more than half of the 34 executions so far this year in the U.S., where capital punishment has come under renewed scrutiny following Tennessee's failed execution of Christa Pike in September.

It is the second time since August that three states had organized executions on a single day, although it remains unusual. Prior to this year, the last time it happened was 2010.

Guardado, 64, was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm when the curtain to the Florida death chamber went up promptly at 6:00 p.m. Asked if he had any last statement, he replied, “I would like to once again apologize for the pain and suffering I’ve caused to the victim’s family and my own family as well.”

The drugs began flowing immediately after that. About a minute later, Guardado began breathing heavily, followed by some sputtering and twitching for another minute. As the twitching subsided, the execution team warden shook Guardado and shouted his name, but got no response. A medic checked for a pulse soon after and pronounced Guardado dead.

A federal appeals court said in 2024 that Guardado received a “full and fair” hearing during the death penalty phase of his case. The U.S. Supreme Court denied his last appeal without comment earlier Thursday.

DeSantis, who leaves office in January, has said he wants to bring justice to victims' families who have often waited decades for death sentences to be carried out. He signed the death warrants that led to a state record of 19 executions in 2025. The state will set a new record if two more executions are carried out as planned later this year.

The victim’s son, Patrick Malone, spoke briefly to media witnesses after the execution. Instead of discussing his mother or her murder, he questioned those who oppose the death penalty.

“Do such people ever think about what happened to the victim or consider the unending aftermath the victim’s family endures and relives every time that terrible event comes up?” Malone said.

In neighboring Alabama, Michael Taylor, 54, received a lethal injection later Thursday and was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. local time.

The state changed the execution method after a judge declared a nitrogen gas method unconstitutional.

Taylor's attorneys had objected to the last-minute switch to lethal injection since he selected nitrogen gas as his method years ago, but a judge ruled against Taylor.

In 1991, Taylor, then 19, fatally beat two people, ages 83 and 79, with a metal bar during a robbery in their Gadsden, Alabama, home. Police arrested him with the victims’ Cadillac an hour away in Birmingham.

Death penalty opponents had unsuccessfully urged Republican Gov. Kay Ivey to reduce Taylor’s sentence to life in prison, noting his age and immaturity at the time. She declined.

In Indiana, Jeffrey Weisheit, 50, was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. at the state prison in Michigan City, said Noelle Russell, spokesperson at the Department of Correction. He had no final words.

Weisheit had publicly acknowledged killing his girlfriend’s two children in a house fire in the Evansville area in 2010 but had hoped Gov. Mike Braun would grant clemency and change his sentence to life in prison. Braun declined.

Lawyers failed to persuade Braun, a Republican, to allow Weisheit to undergo brain scans in an effort to reinforce their argument that he has a history of head injuries and mental health problems that should prevent execution.

Weisheit's last objection centered on the state's planned use of lethal drugs purchased from a pharmacy that is facing a disciplinary hearing next week at the Indiana Pharmacy Board. The Indiana Supreme Court declined to intervene Wednesday night, though two of the five justices wanted a 10-day stay for more information about the drugs' expiration and storage.

The execution provided “long-awaited justice for Alyssa Lynch and her brother Caleb, two innocent children whose lives were stolen in an act of unspeakable cruelty," Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said.

Americans have long been divided over the death penalty, with nearly half of states banning capital punishment outright and just a handful of others carrying out most of the nation’s executions each year.

This story has been updated to correct that Christa Pike's failed execution was in September, not October.

Fischer reported from Starke, Florida, and Chandler from Montgomery, Alabama. Associated Press reporter Ed White contributed from Detroit.

FILE - Law enforcement vehicles sit parked outside the Florida state prison in Starke, Fla., on July 28, 2026. (AP Photo/David Fischer, File)

The entrance to W.C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Ala., is shown on Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler) Photo taken with a smartphone.

This photo provided by the Indiana Department of Correction shows Jeffrey Weisheit. The Indiana Parole Board is recommending that the death penalty remain in place for Weisheit who killed two children in a house fire.(Indiana Department of Correction via AP)

This undated photo provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, shows Michael Taylor. (Alabama Department of Corrections via AP)