The Green Bay Packers did everything they could to keep the Washington Redskins in the football game for four quarters. In the end, the Redskins finally took advantage to win 16-13 on a Graham Gano 33-yard field goal in overtime.
After a strong first half, the Packers offense failed to do anything of note in the second half. The passing game was out of sync and plagued by dropped passes. Without tight end Jermichael Finley, who was injured on the Packers’ first series, Aaron Rodgers and company looked pedestrian. Receiver Donald Driver was especially inefficient, missing several opportunities to make plays, even though he finished with four receptions for 58 yards. On the other hand, James Jones had perhaps his best effort of the year, catching four balls for 65 yards.
Rodgers finished 27-of-45 for 310 yards, one touchdown and in Brett Favre fashion, managed to throw the game away in overtime by throwing a ball behind Greg Jennings and into the hands of LaRon Landry.
Running back Brandon Jackson broke the 100-yard mark for the first time this season, finishing with 10 carries for 115 yards. Jackson’s day was buoyed by an early 71-yard run. Still, the Packers running game isn’t scaring anyone. The team had only 17 rushes on the day, four of which were by Rodgers.
Rookie tackle Bryan Bulaga, who started for Mark Tauscher, played well despite a couple penalties. In fact, he played better than Tauscher has all year. It’s hard to see how the Packers can take him out of the lineup. The other tackle, Chad Clifton, didn’t look quite as good, getting beaten continually by the younger, faster Brian Orakpo.
The Packers defense played well, making several opportune plays in the passing game and harassing Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb for most of the day. Clay Matthews was his usual disruptive self, adding 1.5 sacks, but the pass rush took a noticeable step backwards when Matthews went out with a hamstring injury in the third quarter. Cullen Jenkins provided a strong inside rush, even though he didn’t finish with any sacks.
Filling in for injured starter Nick Barnett, Desmond Bishop played a solid game, finishing with 12 tackles and a sack. Charlie Peprah, the Packers new starter at safety, looked fairly average. Although he acquitted himself well for most of the day, he did get beat on a couple of deep balls. Peprah finished with five tackles.
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In short.. packers looked like shit… can’t finish a game.. more key players out with injuries.. the world is ending. Fuck this shit.. I’m going to get a beer
Who didn’t think the Packers would lose this game? McCarthy has to go…he looks clueless coaching. Not sure why Bulaga hasn’t been playing all year…anyone notice Okakpo lining up on Clifton’s side after initially starting over Bulaga. Driver…good lord…catch a ball.
Packers D looked pretty damn good but the Offense (something we thought we did not have to worry about) has now become a weakness and/or a liability. Again, w/o the threat of a run game…the Packers offense looks very un-scary to the opposition as a whole. We need Deangelo Williams and we need him NOW!
Packers run offense wasn’t that bad. They had 157 yards on 17 rushing attempts. That is a 9 yard average. Even taking out the 71 yard run by Jackson, they averaged over 5 yards. That is more than enough to keep the defense honest. The playcalling is the problem now. Too much 5 wide receiver sets and not enough smashmouth football.
Get this… Aaron Rodgers suffered a concussion! This season just continues to blow.
So much for the Packers being the favorite in the NFC to go to the Super Bowl. They could easily be 1-4. For Christ’s sake, the Rams beat the Redskins and the Rams got killed today by the Lions. WTF!!!!
Dandy Don Meridith is singing”Turn out the Lights the Partys over”.
Listen, TT and MM are drivng the cart taking this team straight to hell and no one is gonna stop them. There is nothing you or I can say to make them sign a free agent or fire themselves and the special team coach. Nothing happens until Murphy gets HIS head out of HIS ass and does something. TT and MM are hand in hand, ego for ego. Packer fans wanted Rogers and McCarthy and now you gotem. Stop bitching, this is the bed you wanted to lie in, live with it. 9-7 loses out on the wild card in the NFC by one game.
The performance today was a reflection of the head Brick in charge. McCarthy is an average coach with an above average team. Injuries suck, and they hurt us today. But what the hell happens to this team after half time. What ever Mr. Brick says during halftime is does not resonate on the field. Penalties, turnovers, bad play calling.. Need I say more.
The Packers had a nice thing going with the inside zone to Brandon Jackson behind Sitton and Bulaga They could have forced the Skins D to play honest and tone down the pass rush. McCarthy however, didn’t realize it and forgot to hand the ball to Jackson to the right for pretty much the whole second half. A few runs for no gain behind Clifton and Colledge to the left (big surprise) and and a holding call on the back side by Quarless and the run game when to the shelf. Without Finley and with Jennings contributing nothing the Packers offense is not good enough to dictate to the other team. They need to stick with what is working.
Thank God we didn’t trade AJ Hawk.
Thank God we didn’t trade a draft pick away when this team is one more injury away from a lost season.
This was an all around team effort, the kind of team commitment to losing that is reminiscent of the 6-10 2008 team, though I hate to say that because the Pack is 3-2, which is fine if you can ignore the injuries and the other tell-tale signs.
In the team effort:
Donald Lee fumbles on our first drive. He and Finley are injured in the scrum, which should have never happened.
Donald Driver has a horrible game, including a dropped pass that would have given the Pack 1st and goal with a 13-3 lead. Instead, the Pack has to kick a FG and misses.
Mason Crosby misses two FGs, either would have won the game. Both long tries, true, but 2 misses sux.
A-Rodge still hasn’t put together 4 good quarters, though brilliant at times, and doesn’t run out of bounds with the clock running out in regulation. If he steps out, the Pack has a 1st down, near midfield, with 32 seconds left, and a TO still to use.
Clifton allows Orakpo to run right by him and crush A-Rodge on a key play in the 4th.
Josh Sitton, Darren College and Brian Bulaga all blow blocks that allow A-Rodge to get crushed late in the 4th and in OT.
MM debacles: maybe the worst coaching performance of his career
Brandon Jackson breaks a 71 yard run on his first carry. That is a longer run, BTW, than Ryan Grant has ever had. And yet, Jackson is rewarded with only 9 more carries during the game. Even on those, he averages 5 yards per carry, but MM refuses to feed him.
In post-game analysis, Jimmy Johnson claims the Pack “can’t run the football.” Wrong. The Pack “refuses” to try to run the football.
The Packers don’t take a shot down the field ALL game.
MM refuses to challenge the play where Nelson was ruled down at the one. No replay conclusively showed Nelson out of bounds. The Pack end up not scoring.
MM calls a QB sneak on the goal line instead of giving Kuhn or Jackson the ball. He then goes for it on 4th instead of kicking the FG. When on the road, TAKE THE POINTS. Packers lose by a FG.
MM doesn’t call TO with 1:40 left and the Redskins facing 3rd and 2. If the Skins get that 1st down, the TO becomes meaningless. The Pack stops them. The Skins kick the tying FG. The Packers get the ball back with 1:05 left and 1 TO, instead of having the ball back with 1:35 left and no TOs. Since it takes about 16 seconds to line up and spike the ball, MM cost the Pack about 14 seconds by not taking that TO when he should have. Give the Pack 14 more seconds, and instead of spiking it with 7 seconds left, they run another play and likely pick up more yardage. With even a single yard, Crosby’s kick is good. Packers win.
Instead? Suckage.
Amazing breakdown iltarion I felt the exact same way. It’s the little plays that seemingly go unnoticed that make the biggest impact.
100% agree with everything. Sad thing is, unless we go through a 6-10 or 7-9 season, we will NEVER see change. It makes me sick, that for some reason, this team cannot make halftime adjustments. We end up below .500 this season, the expirament did not work. Time to clean house!!!!!!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-McCarthy-must-go/150928431613335
JOIN ME!
Let’s not forget McCarthy with his thumb up his ass as the Redskins lined up for the game tying field goal. We had too many men on the field and Derrick Martin was sprinting off the field. They showed Aaron Rodgers basically sprint down the sidelines to try and get McCarthy to call a time out.
I really wish Martin wouldn’t have made it off the field giving the Redskins a 1st down. I really wish that penalty led to a game-winning TD drive for the Redskins and the Packer offense never got back on the field.
For if that would have happened, we would have seen the replay of Rodgers trying to call timeout all week long and that would have further revealed to the rest of the world, what most of us have known for a very long time.
MIKE MCCARTHY MUST GO!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-McCarthy-must-go/150928431613335
Couldn’t agree more with Denny and Chitter. McCarthy is really hamstringing this team (no pun intended Mr. Matthews). With all the receiving talent this team has, they should be able to score at will.
Question for everyone, will the league fine that head-hunting douche bag from the Skins that speared Rodgers during the interception? Nice no call stripes.
I have to direct my rage towards the coaches and management of the Packers for that. They are extremely remiss if they are not calling the NFL and a coach isn’t talking to the head referee before every game to tell them we expect the same protection for our QB as for every other QB in the league. The weak-ass NFL rules that we all have to put up with because they supposedly protect the QB from concussions, and here we are, our QB with a concussion from a helmet-to-helmet hit, and NO EFFIN CALL.
I am so tired of this shit.
But like I said, the same thing keeps happening again and again, at this point, it is on us more than the NFL. Someone for the Packers needs to stand up for our QB so we can stop seeing him take shots that no other QB in the league has to take without a penalty being called.