Minnesota’s kickers, Green Bay’s mistakes led to the tie

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Bob McGinn

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By BOB McGINN

A whole raft of people made brutal mistakes Sunday afternoon that led to the 29-29 tie between the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings at steamy Lambeau Field.

The Packers led, 20-7, after three quarters, 23-14 midway through the fourth quarter and 29-21 with 1 minute, 45 seconds remaining in regulation time.

Given the fact the Packers had substantial leads, never trailed and were playing at home against the defending NFC North Division champions, they deserved to feel worse about the third draw in the 116-game border rivalry.

“Close to an L” was quarterback Aaron
Rodgers’ assessment of the outcome.
“It doesn’t feel great,” he elaborated. “That last play, it’s either an L or a tie. It’s nice not have a loss on the record right now, but disappointing. Better to be standing here with a T instead of an L, though.”
Nevertheless, the Vikings’ front office and coaching staff should and probably are second-guessing themselves something fierce about the decision to release their veteran kicker and veteran punter from a team that went 13-3 and reached the NFC Championship Game last season and replace them with tenderfoots that played their first regular-season game a week ago.
Mason Crosby’s 52-yard attempt as time expired missed or Green Bay would have triumphed. Give him a slight pass because of the distance and the fact he already had made five field goals from 37, 40, 31, 48 and 36 yards.
OK, rookie kicker Daniel Carlson maybe could get a pass after missing wide right from 48 and 49 yards. Then, as the clock showed :04 in overtime, Carlson missed again, this time from 35 and again to the right. None of his three kicks were even close.

It’s hard to imagine that a contending team such as the Vikings would stay with Carlson for another week. Odds are he’ll be cut early in the week and stashed on the practice squad. Nobody else would touch him.
“You know what?” coach Mike Zimmer said. “Guys are supposed to do their jobs. Maybe we should’ve thrown a ball in the end zone a couple of times at the end, but I believed that the guy was going to make the kick.”
In truth, those three misses are as much on general manager Rick Spielman, special teams coach Mike Priefer and Zimmer as they are on the 6-5, 213-pound right-footer from Auburn.
They’re the ones who drafted Carlson in the fifth round when three NFL special-teams coaches each expressed reservations about him before the draft. One coach thought his foot (size 14) might be too big and he might be too big overall, another questioned his get-off times and a third recalled that he missed a 33-yard attempt and an extra point at the Senior Bowl.

On Aug 20, the Vikings handed the job to Carlson by their decision to waive Kai Forbath. He’s not great, but in 1 ½ seasons in Minnesota he did make 50 of 57 (87.7%) field goals. He also has had seven game-winners for three teams in a six-year career.
Carlson displayed a much stronger leg than Forbath, who hurt himself with eight missed extra points in his 25 games for the Vikings. Still, he had demonstrated that the NFL wasn’t too big for him. All Carlson did was swallow the olive.
Twelve days after waiving Forbath, the Vikings cut Ryan Quigley, a six-year veteran who did a creditable job in his only season punting for Minnesota. Like Forbath, Quigley’s leg strength wasn’t comparable to Mark Wile, the well-traveled free agent who was claimed off waivers from Pittsburgh, but at least he had done it.
The Vikings fell behind on the 15th play of the game when Wile took 2.05 seconds from snap to foot trying to get off a punt. Using a clever block scheme from special-teams coach Ron Zook, Geronimo Allison took advantage of a missed assignment/block by rookie linebacker Devante Downs and blocked Wile’s punt with a perfectly-timed dive. Josh Jackson recovered in the end zone and it was 7-0.

If it’s a seasoned hand like Quigley, maybe he senses pressure and shortens his stroke just to get the ball off. Or maybe he turns his body away from the onrushing Allison.
So the Vikings came to Lambeau Field with newbies doing the kicking after they discarded perfectly suitable options that had helped them win the NFC North by four games. It only cost them the game.
Minnesota didn’t have other enormous blunders although Laquon Treadwell’s three dropped passes didn’t help its cause.
On the Packers’ side, one could count at least seven red-letter plays which, if even one had turned out differently, they’d be atop the division with a 2-0 record. Here they are, in chronological order:

Lane Taylor’s holding penalty … On a T-E stunt, defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson crossed Taylor’s face just as defensive end Everson Griffen wheeled behind him up the middle. Taylor saw it and had respectable position, but when Richardson began to stumble to the ground Taylor’s hands were on the rusher’s shoulder. It wiped out a 12-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham, and a field goal was soon to follow.

JK Scott’s momentum-sapping punt … Scott had delivered three towering punts with hang time of 5 seconds or more in the first half. In the third quarter, with the Vikings scoreless in their last six possessions, Scott got off a shaky punt that was downed at the Minnesota 29. Perhaps overjoyed not to be starting from deep in Vikings’ territory, Kirk Cousins heated up in a nine-play, 71-yard TD drive.

That big bad run … From the Minnesota 12, the Packers called time out before a third and 2. Mike McCarthy decided to run Jamaal Williams off right tackle. On the outside, Graham failed to block Griffen and Corey Linsley got beat inside by Linval Joseph. The result was minus-1, and out trotted the field-goal team.

Adams’ two non-catches … Rodgers ran a bootleg right from the Minnesota 13 as Adams was running an over route from left to right. Eric Kendricks, the middle linebacker, reacted beautifully and was reaching in touching the ball when Adams was clutching it to his midsection. It was a hard catch, but the great ones make those. After a delay-of-game penalty, Rodgers threw a bull’s eye to Adams at the front left pylon. Either Adams dropped what would have been an 18-yard TD or Xavier Rhodes tipped it.

Clay Matthews’ penalty … With 1:45 remaining in regulation, Jaire Alexander intercepted a 60-yard bomb from Cousins that was well over the head of Stacy Coley. Had the play stood, the Packers could have run out the clock by gaining one first down. Instead, referee Tony Corrente penalized Matthews for roughing the passer after he broke through untouched on a stunt. Matthews committed the same penalty late last Sunday against Chicago.
“He picked the quarterback up and drove him into the ground,” said Corrente.
Said Mike Daniels: “It’s hard to play defense now. Just all there is to it. I don’t know what to say.”

Crosby’s miss … For a 12-year veteran he hasn’t had that many game-winning situations. From the left hash, Crosby screw-balled his kick from left to right just inside the left upright. Zimmer, however, called a timeout just before the boot. On his do-over, Crosby’s boot stayed outside the left upright by several feet.

“I was just playing for a left-to-right movement,” said Crosby. “I must have just held it over there left a little too much.”

Rodgers’ botched plays … In overtime, Rodgers decided to keep the ball on a zone-read handoff to Williams. He played with a brace on his left knee, but his decision to keep the ball (and scramble several other times) indicated the injury wasn’t much of a limiting factor.
However, Rodgers fumbled the ball as safety Harrison Smith charged inside, which had created an avenue through which he probably would have gained about 5 yards near the Minnesota 32. Rodgers recovered easily, but the loss was 3.
“Jamaal didn’t know I was pulling it,” said Rodgers. “He was trying to grab for it a little bit. If I had just been a little stronger pulling it … I’m definitely getting a first down and we’re inside 50-yard field-goal range. So that’s disappointing.”
On third and 4, Rodgers reacted poorly to an overload blitz on his left in which nickel back Mackensie Alexander slipped through for a sack. On his left, Randall Cobb was available.
“They had a good disguise on the delay,” Rodgers said. “But I should have stayed with it to the left and hit Randall. Who knows if he gets a first down, but either way we had a more manageable field goal there.”
The 7-yard sack to the Minnesota 47 brought out the punt team with 3:57 to play. The Packers never got the ball back.
Well, at least the Packers aren’t 1-1, which they were five times in the last six years. But 1-0-1 left bitterness all around in what might be only the start of a torrid two-team race in the NFC North.




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