THE INTERCEPTION BY BURNETT

[HowardRoark]

I edited this simply for brevity and the main points.

speachless

[ThunderDan]

speachless

And some people think that irony is a dying art.

[Smidgeon]

And some people think that irony is a dying art.

Unintended irony is often the best kind.

[woodbuck27]

The best part of Packerrats?

Try this test boys:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a4Uxdy9TQY

[woodbuck27]

Here's another one for any 'genius's' here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5-oiIW69RU

[mraynrand]

The runner up is like all the rest...a loser.

[hoosier]

I think at that point in the game if you were to run a Monte Carlo Simulation on either playing conservative (even knowing you would go 3 and out) vs. playing more aggressive, the math would favor what he did. The reason we (as well as all sports fans) are so dumbfounded and fascinated by this game is because of the series of events that happened after that. The odds that all of those things (coin flip included) happening were statistically highly, highly improbable.

My conclusion is that the coach did the right thing, but there is horrible leadership (from a player perspective) on defense.

Yeah. I agree. But I would conclude that there was no 100% certain path to victory at the point (duh!) and that a good analysis of the game and MM's decision making cannot be based on results mongering. Just because the result sucked does not mean that he made the wrong decisions.

[vince]

I confess I only played one year of organized football in high school, so my interest in the game is purely as a fan. However, 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. At one point Capers rushed only two and Wilson began to have time in the pocket. Plus, there was less penetration on running plays. After Burnett's interception, and Lacy's first dive into the stacked defense, 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? There was five minutes left and Seattle had three TO's left!

Yes, by all that's probable, we still should have won playing it safe. But I've watched too many NFL games turn in the last 30 seconds, let alone in the last 4-5 minutes. At the time, 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. If we were going to blow this game, I wanted us to go out with our boots on, so to speak.

Yes, yes, yes. It was an "easy" onsides kick to recover. 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. (I DO know something about competitive golf.)

Pressure is real. It's palpable at the end of a close football game or a golf tournament. 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, as far as I can tell, is 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.

I've been there 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.

But that's just me.

This debate has gone round and round and is once again at the place it started so I'm gonna end with this.

When the golfer misses the 5-footer on the last hole at the Masters to go into sudden death, you can look back to the 10th hole when he had the three stroke lead and blame his caddy for telling him to lay up instead of trying to fly the creek and reach in two (though I doubt you'd be doing that). Because he desperately needed to play like he's behind and avoid the pressure situation at all costs, right? And laying up just made him tight down the stretch... Not many pros lack that kind of confidence in their ability to finish at that point.

Instead, you say, "Damn. If he just would have made the gimme putt, he'd have won the Masters. Pressure goes with the territory, and sometimes champions have to make easy putts when major championships are on the line."

The rest may have been true, but it's all just bad excuses for missing the putt at the end.

[woodbuck27]

Ayn, I changed my sig in your honor. Immediately after the game, when everybody else was ranting, you concisely put your finger on the reason for the debacle. Football is about emotions as much as it is about anything else. After Burnett's interception our emotional state flat-lined while Seattle's began to ascend.

End of story.

" If your going to play the game boy... you've got to learn to play it right. "

[esoxx]

Does anyone know if Peppers was asked about his "wave down" decision after the game? Or did he just slink out of the locker room with no comment?

[Joemailman]

Does anyone know if Peppers was asked about his "wave down" decision after the game? Or did he just slink out of the locker room with no comment?

To the best of my knowledge, Peppers did not talk to the press.

[woodbuck27]

Julius Peppers thinking ... ' We lost this game. '

Is this the last pic we'll see of Julius Peppers wearing Packers colors? A Packers 'Leader' has nothing to say after the collapse !? He was a part of that loss.

This question should have been asked and answered:

Why would Julius Peppers with all his experience wave Morgan Burnett to the ground after his pic and with so much game left?

[denverYooper]

To the best of my knowledge, Peppers did not talk to the press.

M3 in his presser yesterday mentioned that he understood why Peppers did so and that he "expected the offense would move the ball" (and take time off the clock).

[Maxie the Taxi]

M3 in his presser yesterday mentioned that he understood why Peppers did so and that he "expected the offense would move the ball" (and take time off the clock).

I heard that said, but something does not compute. Stubby's subsequent actions do not square with his expectations.

[pbmax]

I heard that said, but something does not compute. Stubby's subsequent actions do not square with his expectations.

Actually, of everything he said about the team yesterday, this made sense to me. He goes into a 4 minute offense full expecting to be able to run (did it twice this year with big long drives) but willing to live with eating clock and TOs.

In retrospect, I am sure he wished Peppers doesn't do that.

What worries me more is that he notices the backside pursuit is killing his goal line run game earlier in the game. But he doesn't adjust when the Seahawks are sending 8 at the box late in the game. Now normally you play action, and Rodgers was unable to get under center and take that deep drop (or they were unwilling to take that risk) but what was the game plan for this?

Because while no one foresees Bostick's drop or Burnett taking a knee, M3 knew play action would be tough to run. You have to have a counter or something to wrong foot the attacking defense. Normally that is Rodgers on a boot or play action, but there has to be something else.