Tuesday, 22 September 2015

Packers beat Seahawks for first time in four tries: 10 things to know

 . (USATSI)
There were no replacement officials to blow a last-second touchdown call. There was also no conscious decision by Aaron Rodgers to stay away from Richard Sherman. And there was no confluence of unlikely events -- from botched onside-kick coverage to coach Mike McCarthy's inexplicably conservative play-calling -- that spelled playoff defeat.

Instead, the Packers beat the Seahawks for the first time in four tries and it was a group effort. Aaron Rodgers' performance only solidified his place as the game's best quarterback, but Green Bay's defense stiffened late and an interception midway through the fourth quarter all but sealed the win. Rodgers marched the offense 34 yards down the field, bleeding five minutes off the clock in the process, and Mason Crosby kicked a field goal to make it 27-17 with two minutes remaining. Five plays later, Fred Jackson fumbled and that, as they say, was that.

1. The Seahawks are 0-2! Seattle might be the best 0-2 team in NFL history. Unlike, say, the Texans or Giants -- two truly awful outfits -- the Seahawks should be fine for two simple reasons. One, Russell Wilson is legit. Yeah, the nanobubbles nonsense was weird but he's one of the best young players in the game. He proved that again on Sunday night -- even with the untimely interception.
And two, Seattle's defense also remains legit. Safety Kam Chancellor continues to hold out for a new deal, and he's a critically important cog in that secondary. But DeShawn Shead, who replaced Chancellor in the lineup Sunday, held his own. And, unlike a week ago, Chancellor's absence had nothing to do with the outcome.


So while we're not worried about the winless start, Seattle has to figure out how to put together a complete game on both sides of the ball. The bad news: the Cardinals are 2-0 and aren't going anywhere. The good news: the Rams and 49ers are 1-1 after getting manhandled by the Redskins and Steelers.
If Seattle is looking for more inspiration, how about the 2014 Packers, who started 1-2, prompting Rodgers to tell fans to "R-E-L-A-X." Green Bay won 11 of its next 13 regular-season games before eventually losing to Seattle in the conference championship.
2. Credit to the Packers for going after Richard Sherman. Nothing against Sherman, who is every bit as good as he thinks he is, but there is no circumstance where "DO NOT THROW IN THAT DIRECTION" should be an option in a Rodgers-led offense.
Of course, Rodgers admitted to just that in the 2014 season opener -- a Packers loss -- but he showed no such trepidation on Sunday. Making it easier: defensive end Michael Bennett twice jumped offside, giving the Packers a free play and Rodgers took advantage of it -- and Sherman -- starting on the very first series:
It happened again at the end of the first half -- Bennett jumped, Rodgers targeted Sherman -- and Sherman was flagged for pass interference. The Packers eventually settled for a field goal.
3. Bennett jumping offsides is nothing new. Cris Collinsworth is one of our favorite analysts and it's for nuggets like this:
And eight months later, that storyline still held true.
4. Rodgers doesn't just put up mind-blowing numbers at home. Entering Sunday's matchup, Rodgers had gone 17 home games without throwing an interception, a streak that spanned 512 pass attempts and 41 touchdowns. Put another way: The Seahawks had their work cut out for them before the first snap. But Rodgers isn't exactly a slouch away from Lambeau Field either:
5. We wonder if Marshawn's mom has seen this. Delisa Lynch, Marshawn's mother, said last week that Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell "is the worst play-caller ever." Partly for the decision to throw it from the goal line in the Super Bowl, but also for giving it to Lynch on fourth-and-1 last week. Hey, funny story:
Marshawn, for all his greatness, isn't even replacement-level at the goal line. Maybe Bevell was serious when he explained that his game-planning consisted of more than playing Madden for ideas.
"People are the armchair quarterbacks, are going to be able to poke holes in whatever you're doing," he said last week. "I can promise them that we're spending a lot of time on what we're doing. There's rhyme and reason for everything, and there's not a play I throw out there that I don't believe is going to be successful and that's not putting the Seahawks in the position to win.”
Of course Seattle is 0-2 but that's not the point.
6. Jimmy Graham was invisible. Graham finished with one catch for 11 yards and went unnoticed for much of the game. Perhaps part of that was a function of the Packers' defensive game plan, or maybe Graham is continuing to find his place in this offense. Either way, he hasn't approached the form we saw in New Orleans. For some perspective, Graham had as many meaningful catches as coach Pete Carroll:
7. James Jones looks like he never left Green Bay. Jones finished with just one reception, but it went for a touchdown and got the Packers on the board first. But he almost had a second touchdown, courtesy of what almost certainly would've been referred to as the butt catch -- the butt fumble's more respectable sibling.
James' butt was ruled to be out of bounds, so the pass was ruled incomplete. Which led to this ridiculously appropriate explanation via referee Gene Steratore:
One more thing: Remember when the Giants cut James Jones before the season?
8. K.J. Wright vs. Adam Jones. A week ago, Bengals cornerback Adam Jones removed Raiders wideout Amari Cooper's helmet and then slammed Cooper's head into it. He wasn't ejected or suspended. On Sunday, Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright was ejected for this:
9. Obligatory Fat Guy Interception that helped seal the win.
Great play, Jarone Elliott. NOW PLEASE SECURE THE FOOTBALL.
10. A fitting tribute to a Packers win.
The only way this gets better is if we find out that's really Mike McCarthy.
Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...