I got nothin'. Rodgers is hurt.
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I got nothin'. Rodgers is hurt.
Bill Barnwell @billbarnwell 24m24 minutes ago
Did he get to punt tonight? Nah Masthay. #nahmasthay
Someone with a twitter account, please call out AJ Fucking Hawk.
Typical at Saints game for the Pack. Hang with em early, get blown out late.
Green Bay Packers @packers 16m16 minutes ago
#Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy is now at the podium. #GBvsNO
Green Bay Packers @packers 15m15 minutes ago
McCarthy on Rodgers: He hurt his hamstring on the scramble. We kept him in the shotgun. Our QB movement package was gone. #GBvsNO
Green Bay Packers @packers 14m14 minutes ago
McCarthy: I thought he played smart and didn't put himself in position for further injury. #GBvsNO
Green Bay Packers @packers 14m14 minutes ago
McCarthy: This is a tough place to play. The crowd was phenomenal. #GBvsNO
Green Bay Packers @packers 12m12 minutes ago
McCarthy on Rodgers: He was limited to play from the pocket and hand the ball off. #GBvsNO
Green Bay Packers @packers 10m10 minutes ago
That's all from Mike McCarthy. #Packers QB Aaron Rodgers will be at the podium shortly. #GBvsNO
Green Bay Packers @packers 59s59 seconds ago
Rodgers on hamstring: I'm not going to miss any time. #GBvsNO
Green Bay Packers @packers 5s5 seconds ago
Rodgers on Eddie Lacy: He made a big impact in the passing game. #GBvsNO
Green Bay Packers @packers 45s45 seconds ago
Rodgers on INTs: Felt good about the first throw, on the second one I missed my spot a little bit. #GBvsNO
Green Bay Packers @packers 20s20 seconds ago
Rodgers: (The Saints) are better than their record. Good football team with a good QB. #GBvsNO
Green Bay Packers @packers 12s13 seconds ago
That's all from #Packers QB Aaron Rodgers. Visit http://packers.com for complete #GBvsNO postgame coverage.
I had to miss the game, was it as bad an ass whuppin as the score indicated?
I too missed the game. My impression was Payton again out coached Big-Boned Mike?
I was glad to see Lacy involved in the passing game. It really brings another dimension to the offense
Yeah, but as usual, patient offense against that Cover 2 did not generate points for the Packers. They did get yards and kept field position reasonable, so that is better than previous efforts.
But red zone offense was terrible.
Chief among the culprits was another poor effort in pass protection on the road. Lang being replaced by Taylor wasn't ideal either. And then to run behind the kid twice in key situations was dumb. Maybe the first, to show you aren't scared. But after that, you should have been scared.
On the short yardage run behind Taylor.
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packe...2.html#packersQuote:
"It was game-planning," McCarthy said, explaining his decision. "We expected a form of the 'Bear' defense, a jam front. Poorly blocked on the front side. Frankly, the tougher blocks were on the back side. They stuffed us.
"Plus, Eddie was hot. He was running the ball extremely well. I was very comfortable with the call."
All said above is true, but the key, I think, was when Rodgers tweaked his hamstring.
Tie game at half with the teams matching each other TD for TD and FG for FG.
NO takes possession with the 2nd half kickoff to a first down, but then the Packer "D" holds on 4th down for a huge change of possession without a score in a puntless game.
Packers drive down field quickly, have 1st and goal from the 6, but with Rodgers clearly a bit hobbled.
With Rodgers out of sync, the expected run on 1st goes no where, Rodgers quickly gets rid of the 2nd down pass on a play he would normally have extended, then tries another quick, no movement pass that is intercepted.
A chance to go up by 7, or at least 3 evaporates, and the Packers can no longer keep up without Rodgers at his best.
Not saying they would have won, but until Rodgers' injury, I think the game looked like a classic shoot-out with teams matching score for score, but with the Packers looking to be in the leadership role and NO playing catchup, at least for a while. Up to that point, there was no evidence that the NO defense could stop the Packers any more than there was evidence GB could stop NO.
"The packers can no longer keep up without Rodgers at his best."
Sadly this is very true. I had a bad feeling about this game. Since 2009, I have far too many memories of packer defenses under Dom Capers allowing 40+ points when playing the elite QBs in the league. Warner, Brees, Manning, Brad, etc. The QBs who know where to go with the football before the snap always kill us. Against the next QB tier down, the defense usually plays very well. See 2010 superbowl run: Vick, Ryan, Culter, Big Ben. I know we are in for a long game when I see Brady, Manning, Brees, and now Kap and Wilson (b/c of read option). Avoid those five somehow in the playoffs and I think we have a decent chance at winning the superbowl.
They say you make your own luck, and to a large extent in athletic contests, I think that is true. Skill and all out effort make a lot of things look "lucky".
That said, did any "thing" go the Packers way all night?
On the first long pass to Stills, House actually dislodged the ball. Stills fell with the ball completely out of his control, but it fell on his inside forearm, and he was able to clutch it.
Later, of course, was the "pop-up" deflection that came straight down to the receiver.
Two onside kicks each looked like decent opportunities for GB to recover, and both end up in NO hands.
Two deflections off GB receivers bounce straight to NO defenders.
One week Lang gets a Rodgers fumble in a sea of opponents.
Another week everything goes the other way.
I guess that's what makes sports exciting.
For all but a season here and there, that has been the story in GB under both Favre and Rodgers ever since 1997. Most seasons the team went only as far as the offense carried it, and the offense went only as far as its QB could take it. This has been going on a long time.
Still would have lost. Its just one of those games were the QB snaps the ball and as fast the WR can run down the field its a 30 yard completion with no packer in sight. I always scratch my head wondering way this always happens against the elite QBs we face. Obviously one explanation is simply that they are elite, but why does it seem that guys are always wide open uncovered.
Now you're starting to sound like Collinsworth and his broken record last night. Too much was made about it, IMO. Just a whole load of bad play/luck turned the game.
* INT on a deflected pass, not on the hammy just bum luck. Stopped GB from going up at least 3 as you said. Not the hammy.
* Defense simply couldn't slow down, let alone stop NO on the next drive. Not on the hammy.
* Rodgers looked fine the next drive but Adams loses where the first down marker is and then the OL completely botches the 4th down run blocking. Not on the hammy.
* Defense again gets plastered by the NO offense. Not on the hammy.
* Next drive, the Packers are moving down the field and magically the hammy isn't mentioned by Collinsworth. Adams then stops running his route and Rodgers assumes he's going to keep running and another deflected ball is intercepted. Not on the hammy.
Boom. There's your game. Defense was putrid. The offense came up short too often in the red zone in getting TDs. They score one on 2 of those drives instead of FGs and they could have afforded some bad luck turnovers.
On a lot of plays last night, the receivers were not "wide open uncovered". Open? I suppose, but on many it took excellent throws to get the completion and not a batted ball or an interception. That is what the elite QBs give you that guys like Cutler do not give you on a consistent basis.
Yes House had good coverage on that play. I'm talking about the other 500 yards of offense I guess.
What you say is true, and points to several moments where the team could have rallied but before the hammy, Rodgers was pretty well in the driver's seat. He can play from inside the pocket, and still play like a top 5 QB, but there was clearly a bit of adjustment for him and for the offense during which the Saints just took over.
I agree with a lot of what you said. It's not hard to imagine a situation where the Packers would have been up 10-14 points in the third quarter.
- Better red zone production early on, Peppers not dropping the TD
- The tip drill pass to Cooks that somehow fell between 3 Packers directly into Cook's chest
- If Rodgers doesn't tweak his hamstring, he most likely steps up into the pocket and hits Adams running across the back of the end zone
Oh well, it is what it is. 6-2 sounds a whole lot better than 5-3 but the Packers still control their destiny. Detroit still has to play at NE, AZ, and GB and they are extremely lucky to be 6-2 right now.
Rodgers at full speed extends the play on 2nd down instead of quickly throwing it away without even moving. Rodgers on the move is his most dangerous. A TD on 2nd down with Rodgers on the move, and you don't even get to the play resulting in the first interception.
After the hamstring tweak, Rodgers was not as accurate, nor were things as in sync in the passing game as they had been. The first interception wasn't a bad throw, but it could have been better, and if better maybe not tipped by the DB for the interception. We have all seen Rodgers deadly accurate many, many times. He was early in the game, but not after the hamstring.
No, the defense could not stop NO after that, but the NO defense showed no signs of being able to stop GB until the injury and watered down passing game thereafter.
Rodgers didn't look right for the remainder of the game. Adams didn't lose awarenes of where the first down was, he had to shift his momentum backward to catch the pass that was just a bit off. Rodgers at his best makes a better throw for the 1st down.
Rodgers made some plays work the rest of the game, but it wasn't the Rodgers of the first half + the drive before the injury, and therefore a different passing offense.
The complexion of the game changed with the tweaked hamstring. Maybe the result didn't change, but the run-away victory would not have been as dramatic, in my opinion.
I'm even willing to take the 1st half as it was, dropped pass by Peppers, missed onside attempt and all. 16-16 at half was fine with me, because NO had their missed opportunities as well Someone needed to steal a possession, and GB did it first with the stop on 4th down. It could have moved them into the drivers seat for the second half, and who knows where it might have gone from there.
Pro games change on a few plays. The last 4 plays of the Packers 1st possession in the 2nd half changed the game.
Everything you said is spot on. If the Rodgers that started the game would have finished the game the score would have been something like 38-35. But by your same argument that means they would have scored 60 points if Rodgers say missed the whole game. Brees hasn't played amazing for most of the year. Even in the two home wins before our game hes made bad throws and big mistakes at times. We made him look stoppable last night. All I'm saying is that what happened to Rodgers in the second half doesn't change how the defense always folds when facing elite qbs. I'm not looking for a shutout. But a few punts would be nice.
There are some of those in most games in today's NFL and all the QBs hit those. That's why most of the QB's have completion percentages above 60%. The plays that kill you are the ones where you don't have great coverage, but are close, and the QB nails it. A bit overthrown and the WR doesn't get it, a bit underthrown and the DB can redeem himself. The elite QBs hit those regularly. If they miss those, you soon forget about the ones that were wide open, because the drive stalls anyway.
Perfect example is tipped passes. NO had one and it landed on their receiver. Packers had two and both bounced to defenders.
I remember a lot of them, a couple to Jimmy Graham right off the top of head. How about he one near the sideline when Hyde waited for him to pick up another 10 yards and almost score. Or how about 3rd and 8 early in the game and a freakin RB walks out of the back field over the middle and picks up 10. And many others. If I really did have the game tape I would easily find ten.