The Great
Aaron Rodgers:
What can you say about a player who almost single-handedly
put this team on his shoulders, including Sunday with a 9-play, 75-yard drive
in 62 seconds to beat the Cowboys in Dallas .
Rodgers: “I just
focused on my breathing on the sidelines and try to calm myself and
remind the guys about some little things. The first play of that 2-minute was a
conversation we had coming out of halftime actually about the leverage and
coverage style in that 55, 2-man coverage and what kind of route we thought we could
get in that situation.”
The most amazing thing about the drive was it wasn’t
supposed to be for the win, but only for the tie to send it into overtime.
Rodgers: “I was
thinking touchdown. We had time. We had a time out. The key to a good 2-minute
drive is the 1st play. You have to get some positive yards. We had a good
concept front side and kind of alert backside, which actually set up the entire
final sequence, hit Davante on a back shoulder to start the whole drive. That
ultimately sets up the winning pass, because he’s playing high shoulder first
play we go back shoulder. He’s playing lower shoulder on the last play. We go
over the top with a high throw.”
The 1st play was an excellent catch by Davante Adams along
the left sideline for 14 yards. The 2nd play was a great catch by Martellus
Bennett on the right side for 14 yards to set up 1st and 10 at the Dallas 47 with 47 seconds
left.
Rodgers: “Marty did a
great job catching that ball at his ankles getting a 1st down.”
The 3rd play was an incomplete pass to Davante Adams on the
left side. The 4th play was a 15-yard run by Jones over right end setting up
1st-and-10 at the Dallas
32 with 39 seconds left.
Rodgers: “He not only
gets through the line and make a nice run, but the kid runs out of bounds. I
mean that’s stuff you can’t coach and you love the instincts there. He’s a
talented guy. I’m really proud of him. Big step for him.”
The 5th play was an incomplete deep pass down the right
sideline to Geronimo Allison leaving a 2nd-and-10 at the Dallas 32 with 32 seconds left.
Here’s where the cautious Mike McCarthy decided the Packers
didn’t have time or the ability to go for the win and would set up the field
goal for the tie. The 6th play was a patented run we’ve seen over and over
again like in the “Seahawk Collapse” over left tackle by Jones for 2 yards to
put the ball in the middle of the field for Mason Crosby. I can say this
because if you watch Jones he is running cautiously down the line making sure
he doesn’t get outside very far and goes down when he’s in the middle of the
field leaving. McCarthy then calls a timeout with 29 seconds left to set things
up.
Rodgers: “We had kind
of a RPO (run-pass-option) that buzzword they say all the time (he said
with a smirk). The front and the coverage
dictated to hand the ball off, so I felt good about it. They just made a nice
play kind of squeezing everything down.”
Rodgers come back and works his magic on the 7th play. He
drops back and I’ll let him tell you what happened.
Rodgers: “Their main
coverage in the sequence other than the first play in the 2-minute was 2-man.
They play 3 on the line with 2 backers with either spying or taking the back.
That’s why we were able to hit a run on them. On that play we had a good play
called – bad leverage on the back side with Marty – kind of hoping on the left
a little bit I tried to squeeze through kind of felt I was getting grabbed.
Once I was able to get loose it was about getting a 1st down getting out of
bounds. My eyes got big for a second thinking about cutting it back inside, but
went out of bounds was the smart play gave us a chance to take 2 shots into the
end zone.”
The play only took 8 seconds leaving the Packers at the Dallas 12 with 21 seconds
left. The 8th play was an incomplete pass to Adams
in the left corner of the end zone. It was knocked down by rookie corner Jourdan
Lewis on a great play. With 16 seconds left Rodgers and Adams will tell you
what happened.
Rodgers: “I was going
to call another play, but Te came back and said call it again…with his eyes
said throw a better ball. So I switched up the formation a little bit to put
some speed at 3 Randall at 3 to the strength. I was thinking about going back
there unless Heath got some width with his drop – they play 55 which is some 2
man – I just put a better throw on it and he made a great catch.”
Here’s something we learned about that last drive. Rodgers
was calling the last plays not McCarthy.
Davante Adams:
This is a man who was viciously hit and knocked out by Bears
linebacker Danny Trevathan and spent the night in the hospital. He not only
started the game, but caught 7 of 11 passes throw his way for 66 yards and 2
touchdowns. Quite amazing.
Aaron Jones:
He is a 5th round choice that seemed to be in McCarthy’s
doghouse at the beginning of the season when after leading the team in rushing
during the preseason he was inactive for the season opener while 4th round pick
Jamaal Williams and 7th round pick Devante Mays were active, who were both
horrible during the preseason.
Jones spend the next games as a backup who didn’t play as Ty
Montgomery became the ‘hardest working man in the NFL” leading the league in
touches while not production.
Last week against the Bears Montgomery breaks 5 ribs on his
1st play. Jones finally gets into a game on offense and he produces rushing for
49 yards on 13 carries (3.8 average) and his 1st touchdown. Yesterday in his
1st start he becomes the 1st Packer to run over a 100 yards in his 1st start
finishing with 125 yards rushing on 19 carries (6.6 average) and his 2nd
touchdown. He also caught his 1st pass at the end of the 2nd quarter with a
GREAT catch along the left sideline to set up his touchdown run.
Rodgers: “He’s great.
I told him before the game I have zero worries about him back there. He’s a
great kid – a rookie – but his vision was fantastic. He gives you a lot of
confidence when you can give him the ball on the last drive. He ran the ball
great. His cuts and vision were fantastic. He made a bunch of really good plays
and smart plays. I’m really proud of him.”
Not to toot my own horn, but I’ve been calling for Jones to
be the starting running back since the beginning of the season and predicted he
would eventually be the starter. Look it up.
The Good
Lane Taylor and Justin McCray:
For the second straight game left guard Lane Taylor has
played left tackle instead of David Bakhtiari. Last week Lucas Patrick played
left guard and Justin McCray played right tackle instead of Bryan Bulaga. This
week with Bulaga back McCray moved to left guard.
Both played very well and while Aaron Rodgers was sacked 4
times (2 in the 1st quarter and 2 in the second when he went from moving around
to standing in the pocket) only one came from their side.
Bryan Bulaga:
Bulaga started for only the 2nd time this season and made it
through the entire game for the 1st time.
Damarious Randall:
The “Bad Boy” of the Packers redeemed himself with the
Packers 1st Pick-6 since Julius Peppers against the Vikings Week 5, 2014.
Marty Bennett:
The tight end caught all 3 of the passes thrown his way
including 2 very key passes for 1st downs. 1 for 33 yards to open the 3rd
quarter and 1 for 14 yards on the game-winning drive to put the Packers at the
Cowboys 47.
The Bad
The Packers Defense:
Once again Dom Capers’ defense couldn’t make a stop when it
counted. The Cowboys 26 first downs, 408 total yards, averaged 5.7 yards a
play, rushed for 163 yards, completed 69.4% of its passes, converted 3-of-3 4th
down plays, converted 7-of-12 3rd down plays, was 4-for-4 scoring touchdowns in
the red zone, held the ball for 35:06, had only 1 sack and had only 3
quarterback hits.
After the Packers took the lead on Randall’s Pick-6 the
Cowboys took over on its own 21 with 9:49 remaining. 17 plays later, including
a 5-yard penalty, the Cowboys reeled off 6 first downs, completed 6-of-8 passes
for 33 yards, ran the ball 10 times for 56 yards (including Ezekiel Elliott 8
times for 40 yards) while keeping the ball for 8:43. Remember the Packers are
leading 28-22 and if ever the Packers needed a stop this was it.
If someone needs a boost to his career playing a Dom Capers
defense is just what the doctor ordered. Ezekeil Elliott had his best game of
the season 29 rushes for 116 yards. Rod Smith has his 1st catch of the season.
Keith Smith has his 1st 2 catches of the season. Cole Beasley had his 1st 2
touchdown catches.
Mason Crosby, Justin Vogel, Taybor Pepper:
Mason Crosby missed 2 extra point kicks in a game for the
1st time in his career. The 1st one seemed to be a bad kick by Crosby . The 2nd seemed to be a bad hold by Vogel.
Corey Linsley:
There seemed to be far too many low snaps against the
Cowboys.
The Ugly
Damarious Randall:
Randall was forced into play when Kevin King went down with
a concussion and played well for the most part, including being in the right
place at the right time on the deflection for the Pick-6. However, he showed
his “ass” once again after saying he had to “grow up” following his banishment
from the sidelines after he was benching in the second half against the Bears
by being penalized for taunting when he threw the ball at Prescott . He really needs to “grow up”.
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