Originally Posted by
Maxie the Taxi
I bristle a bit when, as a fan, I'm pigeonholed in a group of fans who all react to the game in a stereotypical way. I didn't need sports beat reporters to tell me after the fact what to think about the debacle in Seattle. In fact, though you only have my word for it, I didn't need the benefit of hindsight to tell me what went wrong or right in that game.
*** After halftime I was praying McCarthy and Capers would keep their foot on the gas pedal. Sadly, midway through the second half, I sensed both coaches were beginning to play it safe. ...... I was screaming for Rodgers to throw the ball, for McCarthy to get creative, put Cobb in the backfield, something to move the ball downfield.
*** As for Burnett, I was stunned when he slid down after his INT. I asked myself what does he and Peppers know that I don't?
*** I did not want this game -- and our entire season -- to boil down to having to recover an onside kick, which was totally foreseeable at the time.
*** Yes ... Bostick shouldn't have missed it. But then again, a pro golfer shouldn't miss an "easy" five footer for the win on the 72nd hole at the Masters, a five footer that that same pro probably made 10 out of 10 times earlier in the match.
*** Pressure is real. ..... Everyone who plays any kind of sport is familiar with pressure and the choke factor. Players are known to wilt under that pressure, to "react" emotionally rather than to think. In pressure situations, hands turn to iron and "easy" becomes difficult...and one mistake compounds the pressure causing another and another.
*** As a fan, in the last five minutes of that game, my heart almost beat out of my chest. It had to be the same for coaches and players.
*** The difference ... the Seattle players reverted to the familiar, their comfort zone. They got aggressive and physical on both offense and defense. Because they reverted to the familiar, their mind and body handled the pressure.
*** GB, on the other hand, reverted to the unfamiliar. They played it safe. On offense they stopped trying to push the ball downfield by any means possible. As mraynrand puts it, they knelt down.
*** On defense, they let up on the pass rush, forsook the reckless abandon they played with in the previous quarters and fell back into a passive "prevent" mode. Consequently, the pressure got to them, they made mistakes and the game slipped away.
*** ..... as a golfer. I've done that. I know what choking feels like. So nowadays I try to avoid it by playing like I'm behind right up through the final stroke. If I go out, I go out giving it my best shot.
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