You saw it. Aaron Rodgers’ final pass of the game against the Atlanta Falcons fell harmlessly short of receiver Davante Adams. A reception would have put the Green Bay Packers in or very close to field goal range.
A made field goal would have beat the Falcons, but it wasn’t to be.
Immediately after the play, Rodgers’ body language suggested he felt Adams did something wrong on the play. It seemed he wanted Adams to break his route to the outside. Rodgers didn’t quite say that when he was asked about it postgame, though.
“He was thinking he had a step on his defender and the ball was coming over the top,” Rodgers said. “I was thinking that he might break it off to the sideline. As I was on the roll I couldn’t tell whether or not he was over the top, so in retrospect maybe a ball that’s closer to him allows him to cut off his route.”
And that would seem to be Rodgers saying he didn’t make the right throw, which is something you don’t often hear Rodgers say.
Unfortunately, this is nothing new for the Packers. Regardless of how good Aaron Rodgers is or has been, he’s never really been great at winning games late.
He has just 14 game-winning drives in his career. That’s fewer than the guy he played against on Sunday, Matt Ryan, who has 33. It’s also fewer than plenty of guys who don’t get the recognition that Rodgers gets. Here’s a sampling: Tony Romo (30), Joe Flacco (26), Jay Cutler (25), Matthew Stafford (24) and Alex Smith (18).
Rodgers is tied for 94th all time in career game-winning drives. These quarterbacks also have 14 game-winning drives — Erik Kramer, Jim McMahon, Rodney Peete, Matt Schaub and Kordell Stewart.
You could certainly make an argument that Rodgers doesn’t handle these pressure situations well, but then he never really has.
The recipe for the Packers really has to be to get a lead and hold on late.
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Thank God it wasn’t Janis – Aaron Would have him hanging from the goal post by his thumbs.
Fantastic insight Rob.
14 “game winning drives” vs 33………uhhhhh ok…….how many WINNING GAMES VS WINNING GAMES??????
How can you fault rodgers for not getting put in a situations where he needed a drive at the end to finish?
Show us as a percentage the opportunities to win games on the last drive vs successful game winning drives
Exactly. I’m really sick of this fabricated non-clutch story. Show us some percentages or STFU.
Good post XLV.
And didn’t Rodgers just orchestrate a 8 1/2 minute td drive to take the lead with under 4 minute left?
Is there anyone who could write an article bitching about Rodgers not being on the field during the Falcons winning drive?
Rodger’s reasoning is completely sound. It’s not Like Davante had his guy beat by a mile. At that point, you’re just trying to extend the drive, not go for the home run shot. He has to have the instincts and break for the sideline to get out of bounds. If Rodgers threw to where Adams went, and had he made a miraculous catch while being tightly covered, he would have been tackled in bounds.
Ok, i’ll help……The ball is on the 32 yard line, it’s 4th and 3. There are 14 seconds left in the game, the play took 5 seconds. The Packers have 1 time out left. It doesn’t take a genius to know they need a long play, and stop the clock (get out of bounds). Which i’m sure was brought up in the huddle. Rodgers throws it to the Falcons 39 yard line, expecting Adams to break right, catch, step out of bounds with 8 or 9 seconds left. Adams never breaks right, nor was Adams over the top of coverage by Goodwin. If he catches it, stops the clock there are 8 seconds left to gain some more yards. call a time out, and kick a field goal to win the game. They could have kicked the field goal if they had to, from the 39, but that isn’t a gimme at 56 yards. regardless of your viewpoint, getting out of bounds was a priority. Now you have the rest of the story.
I just love to read articles harping that Rodgers doesn’t have a lot of 4th quarter comebacks from clueless f****…….. Completely ignoring the fact that you can’t have any 4th quarter comebacks…When you’re ahead most of the time.
Want to write an article? Write it with some context and substance and knowledge of the subject matter.
Now….you can call me an asshole, because bs articles like this piss me off.
Good points for an asshole….
Just kidding PF. Your explanation makes total sense…
The clock ended up not playing a role, but certainly didn’t help when MM didn’t use TO yo stop ATL from using 40 clicks before what was clearly going to be a TD on their final play.
Yeah, this one was on Dom Capers and the Buffoon period. Rodgers put the team up with a nice drive. Capers shit the bed again, with that fucking fuck MM letting Atlanta eat up the clock; most likely knowing that Capers schemes would fail.
Rodgers consistently scores late in the 4th quarter, then the defense gives up the game winning score or Crosby misses a field goal.
The Arizona game is a good example. Rodgers ties the game on a miraculous throw only to have the defense lose it in overtime on blown coverage.