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Bob McGinn
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By BOB McGINN
You know what the Green Bay Packers looked like Thursday night in Seattle? A big bunch of losers.
The offense belonging to the head coach had a 25% run rate in a tight game despite possessing an outstanding running back. After another sinful display of misusing timeouts, the head coach had only one left and didn’t summon it for a replay challenge that probably would have overturned a long reception that set up the winning touchdown.
The quarterback made two magnificent throws totaling 111 yards but when push came to shove he bounced one at the worst possible time to mark the end of his abominable performance on third down.
The defense caved late for the third time in four games, allowing an opponent to run over and through it to drain the clock.
For the fifth time in 10 games the special teams were guilty of at least two penalties. One wiped out a 53-yard kickoff return.
The 1979 Packers averaged 15.4 points per game, turned the ball over 44 times and allowed an average of 180.3 yards on the ground.
That sad-sack outfit coached and assembled by Bart Starr lost their first five games on the road en route to a 5-11 season. This squad coached by Mike McCarthy and put together by GM Brian Gutekunst is the first in Green Bay since ’79 to start 0-5 on the road.
The Seahawks could hardly have played worse in the first quarter if not the first half. They were 4-5 coming in for good reason. They’re young and rebuilding, with holes almost across the board on defense, in the offensive line and at both wide receiver and tight end.
Mike McCarthy’s objective was a fast start that would take the teeth out of the “12th Man.” Mission accomplished. The Packers leaped ahead, 14-3, after 12 minutes, and the crowd noise at CenturyLink ceased being a major problem.
In the end, Russell Wilson showed more fire and ownership of the moment than Aaron Rodgers, Pete Carroll won the type of critical challenge that Mike McCarthy wouldn’t try, Carroll’s pass rushers played with sheer, unadulterated hustle and the Seahawks put down the Packers, 27-24, in a game the decision-makers at 1265 Lombardi Avenue aren’t apt to forget when the question of a coaching change is at hand.
“It’s a disappointing loss for us,” McCarthy said after his team slipped closer to irrelevancy at 4-5-1. “We still have not quite gotten it done on the road.”
Wilson, the pint-sized ex-Badger, completed seven of 10 passes for 69 yards and two touchdowns on third down. Rodgers, who fell to 3-4 against Wilson, hit two of six for 75 yards and was sacked four times in his 10 dropbacks on third down.
Yes, Rodgers extended his streak of passing attempts without an interception to 258, but other than his 10 completions for 166 yards to Davante Adams neither he nor the passing game measured up. Certainly it wasn’t good enough for McCarthy to call on Rodgers to pass the ball 75% of the time compared to Aaron Jones and the run game 25%.
In their 11 possessions, the Packers had three running plays once, two runs once, one run seven times and no runs twice.
How stubborn is McCarthy, anyway? Jones represents the Packers’ best chance to win, not the Rodgers of 2018 and a receiving corps that has missed Geronimo Allison for all but five games and didn’t have Randall Cobb for five of the last seven.
On the other hand, Carroll ran the ball 49.3% even though you can’t tell me Chris Carson (17-83), Rashaad Penny (8-46) or Mike Davis (4-26) are better players than Jones.
Look at the last 5 minutes, 8 seconds. Trailing by three points and starting from the 25, Jones never touched the ball.
Jones was staring back at Rodgers on a first-down checkdown but he wouldn’t take it and ended up flinging the ball out of bounds when pressure finally arrived. A quick pass in the flat to Marquez Valdes-Scantling picked up 8, setting up third and 2.
Feeling no pressure from a four-man rush, Rodgers saw MVS open at the marker on an out cut from the right slot. What happened next was akin to an air ball on a free throw, a four-putt from 5 feet or missing the net on a penalty kick.
Honest to Pete, the pass from Rodgers got to MVS on the short hop off the FieldTurf.
“It went in the dirt,” said Rodgers. “I could do that a hundred times and probably not do that again. It was a gimme.”
The Packers needed a great punt from JK Scott. Instead, the inconsistent rookie gave them a 67-yard touchback.
Mike Pettine must have been plotting for this moment of redemption because the Rams killed the final 1:56 in their 29-27 victory on Oct. 28 and the Patriots ran out the last 3:48 in their 31-17 triumph on Nov. 4.
That’s one of the most embarrassing moments for an NFL defensive coordinator. It’s just not that hard to bow up and stop the run when everyone in the joint knows it’s coming.
With 4:11 to siphon off, Davis started by running straight at Montravius Adams, who was subbing for injured Mike Daniels (foot), and the gain was 5. When Kyler Fackrell and Tony Brown got caught up inside, Wilson pulled it on a zone read and slid down in-bounds for 8.
At this point, McCarthy elected to use his final timeout. The first was squandered in the third quarter when Rodgers gave one too many instructions in the huddle and then didn’t speed things up at the line. The second came early in the fourth quarter when the unit didn’t reconvene fast enough immediately after a 57-yard completion to Adams.
Davis pounded up the middle for 4 against a 3-4 defense. When the Packers played just three bigs on second down, Adams was washed inside and Davis burst for 7. Pettine’s crew never even got the Seahawks to third down.
Three kneeldowns later, the Packers had to swallow another bitter and close defeat in the Pacific Northwest.
Carroll admitted to considerable relief when McCarthy elected not to go for it on fourth and 2.
“What’s important is our belief in the running game,” said Carroll. “It was, like, ‘Oh, here we go, this is our time.’ It’s four-minute time. Thrilled to see that happen.”
On the Packers’ only other possession of the fourth quarter, they went with five dropbacks and only one run. Mason Crosby, whose miss from 47 in the first quarter proved critical, connected from 36 and the Packers led, 24-20.
Seattle won the game with a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive climaxed by Wilson’s 15-yard shot to tight end Ed Dickson against one of Pettine’s recently successful five-man zone pressures. Three plays before, Tyler Lockett was credited with a 34-yard catch on a deep pass off play-action with Tramon Williams in coverage.
The replays on the Fox telecast aren’t necessarily what the Packers coaches had available to them in their booth upstairs. It took until the third replay on TV before there was doubt cast about it being a legal catch.
There was ample time for the Packers to challenge because Kenny Clark was injured and had to be helped off the field. As more replays appeared, former NFL supervisor of officials Mike Pereira said on the telecast, “I’ll tell you what. I think the ball turns over and hits the ground. Looks to me, if challenged, it would be reversed.”
The fact the Packers already had wasted two of their three timeouts shouldn’t have affected McCarthy’s decision to gamble with his third. It was a worthy endeavor, for sure, and it wasn’t a rush-rush situation.
“We talked about it briefly,” said McCarthy. “It was late and we didn’t have a look at it.”
Fackrell’s career game (three sacks, one knockdown, one batted ball, one tackle for loss) was wasted just like Jones was wasted with merely 11 carries.
One team recognized its strength and played to it with a spirited second-half performance. That team finished. That’s what winners do.
The other team is like a ship without a rudder, hoping against hope that its season can be salvaged. That’s what losers do. They might be finished.
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You know what the Green Bay Packers looked like Thursday night in Seattle? A big bunch of losers.
The offense belonging to the head coach had a 25% run rate in a tight game despite possessing an outstanding running back. After another sinful display of misusing timeouts, the head coach had only one left and didn’t summon it for a replay challenge that probably would have overturned a long reception that set up the winning touchdown.
The quarterback made two magnificent throws totaling 111 yards but when push came to shove he bounced one at the worst possible time to mark the end of his abominable performance on third down.
The defense caved late for the third time in four games, allowing an opponent to run over and through it to drain the clock.
For the fifth time in 10 games the special teams were guilty of at least two penalties. One wiped out a 53-yard kickoff return.
The 1979 Packers averaged 15.4 points per game, turned the ball over 44 times and allowed an average of 180.3 yards on the ground.
That sad-sack outfit coached and assembled by Bart Starr lost their first five games on the road en route to a 5-11 season. This squad coached by Mike McCarthy and put together by GM Brian Gutekunst is the first in Green Bay since ’79 to start 0-5 on the road.
The Seahawks could hardly have played worse in the first quarter if not the first half. They were 4-5 coming in for good reason. They’re young and rebuilding, with holes almost across the board on defense, in the offensive line and at both wide receiver and tight end.
Mike McCarthy’s objective was a fast start that would take the teeth out of the “12th Man.” Mission accomplished. The Packers leaped ahead, 14-3, after 12 minutes, and the crowd noise at CenturyLink ceased being a major problem.
In the end, Russell Wilson showed more fire and ownership of the moment than Aaron Rodgers, Pete Carroll won the type of critical challenge that Mike McCarthy wouldn’t try, Carroll’s pass rushers played with sheer, unadulterated hustle and the Seahawks put down the Packers, 27-24, in a game the decision-makers at 1265 Lombardi Avenue aren’t apt to forget when the question of a coaching change is at hand.
“It’s a disappointing loss for us,” McCarthy said after his team slipped closer to irrelevancy at 4-5-1. “We still have not quite gotten it done on the road.”
Wilson, the pint-sized ex-Badger, completed seven of 10 passes for 69 yards and two touchdowns on third down. Rodgers, who fell to 3-4 against Wilson, hit two of six for 75 yards and was sacked four times in his 10 dropbacks on third down.
Yes, Rodgers extended his streak of passing attempts without an interception to 258, but other than his 10 completions for 166 yards to Davante Adams neither he nor the passing game measured up. Certainly it wasn’t good enough for McCarthy to call on Rodgers to pass the ball 75% of the time compared to Aaron Jones and the run game 25%.
In their 11 possessions, the Packers had three running plays once, two runs once, one run seven times and no runs twice.
How stubborn is McCarthy, anyway? Jones represents the Packers’ best chance to win, not the Rodgers of 2018 and a receiving corps that has missed Geronimo Allison for all but five games and didn’t have Randall Cobb for five of the last seven.
On the other hand, Carroll ran the ball 49.3% even though you can’t tell me Chris Carson (17-83), Rashaad Penny (8-46) or Mike Davis (4-26) are better players than Jones.
Look at the last 5 minutes, 8 seconds. Trailing by three points and starting from the 25, Jones never touched the ball.
Jones was staring back at Rodgers on a first-down checkdown but he wouldn’t take it and ended up flinging the ball out of bounds when pressure finally arrived. A quick pass in the flat to Marquez Valdes-Scantling picked up 8, setting up third and 2.
Feeling no pressure from a four-man rush, Rodgers saw MVS open at the marker on an out cut from the right slot. What happened next was akin to an air ball on a free throw, a four-putt from 5 feet or missing the net on a penalty kick.
Honest to Pete, the pass from Rodgers got to MVS on the short hop off the FieldTurf.
“It went in the dirt,” said Rodgers. “I could do that a hundred times and probably not do that again. It was a gimme.”
The Packers needed a great punt from JK Scott. Instead, the inconsistent rookie gave them a 67-yard touchback.
Mike Pettine must have been plotting for this moment of redemption because the Rams killed the final 1:56 in their 29-27 victory on Oct. 28 and the Patriots ran out the last 3:48 in their 31-17 triumph on Nov. 4.
That’s one of the most embarrassing moments for an NFL defensive coordinator. It’s just not that hard to bow up and stop the run when everyone in the joint knows it’s coming.
With 4:11 to siphon off, Davis started by running straight at Montravius Adams, who was subbing for injured Mike Daniels (foot), and the gain was 5. When Kyler Fackrell and Tony Brown got caught up inside, Wilson pulled it on a zone read and slid down in-bounds for 8.
At this point, McCarthy elected to use his final timeout. The first was squandered in the third quarter when Rodgers gave one too many instructions in the huddle and then didn’t speed things up at the line. The second came early in the fourth quarter when the unit didn’t reconvene fast enough immediately after a 57-yard completion to Adams.
Davis pounded up the middle for 4 against a 3-4 defense. When the Packers played just three bigs on second down, Adams was washed inside and Davis burst for 7. Pettine’s crew never even got the Seahawks to third down.
Three kneeldowns later, the Packers had to swallow another bitter and close defeat in the Pacific Northwest.
Carroll admitted to considerable relief when McCarthy elected not to go for it on fourth and 2.
“What’s important is our belief in the running game,” said Carroll. “It was, like, ‘Oh, here we go, this is our time.’ It’s four-minute time. Thrilled to see that happen.”
On the Packers’ only other possession of the fourth quarter, they went with five dropbacks and only one run. Mason Crosby, whose miss from 47 in the first quarter proved critical, connected from 36 and the Packers led, 24-20.
Seattle won the game with a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive climaxed by Wilson’s 15-yard shot to tight end Ed Dickson against one of Pettine’s recently successful five-man zone pressures. Three plays before, Tyler Lockett was credited with a 34-yard catch on a deep pass off play-action with Tramon Williams in coverage.
The replays on the Fox telecast aren’t necessarily what the Packers coaches had available to them in their booth upstairs. It took until the third replay on TV before there was doubt cast about it being a legal catch.
There was ample time for the Packers to challenge because Kenny Clark was injured and had to be helped off the field. As more replays appeared, former NFL supervisor of officials Mike Pereira said on the telecast, “I’ll tell you what. I think the ball turns over and hits the ground. Looks to me, if challenged, it would be reversed.”
The fact the Packers already had wasted two of their three timeouts shouldn’t have affected McCarthy’s decision to gamble with his third. It was a worthy endeavor, for sure, and it wasn’t a rush-rush situation.
“We talked about it briefly,” said McCarthy. “It was late and we didn’t have a look at it.”
Fackrell’s career game (three sacks, one knockdown, one batted ball, one tackle for loss) was wasted just like Jones was wasted with merely 11 carries.
One team recognized its strength and played to it with a spirited second-half performance. That team finished. That’s what winners do.
The other team is like a ship without a rudder, hoping against hope that its season can be salvaged. That’s what losers do. They might be finished.
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BobMcGinnFootball.com is an independent, member-based website dedicated to analysis, opinion and coverage of the Green Bay Packers and the National Football League draft. Our three writers have covered the NFL for more than 100 seasons combined.
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