Mason Crosby back on track! The rest of the team, not so much, even with the win!
What a football game this turned out to be! The Packers looked like they were in big trouble, but they rallied and defeated the San Francisco 49ers 33-30 on the final play of the game at Lambeau Field.
Playing under the bright lights in Green Bay on Monday Night Football, the 49ers got the ball first and wasted no time, driving down the field for an opening drive touchdown. The Packers answered back quickly, and it looked as if they might outlast SF on offense. No way would their offense hang with GB, right?
Unfortunately, the Packers took a huge step back on defense in this game. When they weren’t being gashed for huge chunks of yards on the ground, quarterback C. J. Beathard was looking like a polished veteran out there, not the turnover machine that he has been in games throughout the season. Of course, it’s easy to look good when receivers are wide open, and I mean seriously wide open. How does a team that lost at home to the Arizona Cardinals come into Green Bay and put on a show on offense? The Packers found themselves trailing 24-20 at halftime, and it was incredible that they weren’t trailing by more than that. The two fumbles by SF (1 on a punt return by D. J. Reed and 1 by receiver Kyle Juszczyk on a reception) kept the score close.
The Packer offense wasn’t much better this game. Aaron Rodgers was under pressure much of the night. When he wasn’t sacked, he was throwing the ball away, even getting called for another intentional grounding penalty, his third so far this year. There were too many breakdowns in the red zone once again, forcing them to settle for field goals instead of getting touchdowns. A good example of this offense that frustrates many Packer fans to no end happened in the fourth quarter. Trailing 30-23, they drove to the SF 11 with under 9 minutes to go in the game. They ended up burning a timeout, and after a scramble by Rodgers, they faced a 4th and 3, which they did not convert. Since the Packers couldn’t stop a dry tissue on defense most of the game, chances of victory seemed to fade away quickly.
It was at that point that the Packers actually started playing defense, forcing 2 punts. The Packers got the ball back and found Davante Adams in the endzone for his 2nd touchdown of the game. The 49ers got great field position due to a good runback during the kickoff plus a personal foul by the Packers for a late hit out of bounds. Beathard tried to hit Marquise Goodwin, who burned the Packers twice in the game for touchdowns, but Kevin King made a huge athletic play for the interception, the huge turnover the Packers needed all game.
For a moment, it looked as if the Packers would have to settle for overtime since they weren’t getting anything going on offense, but an illegal contact penalty by Richard Sherman (still strange to see him wearing anything but a Seahawks’ jersey) on a 3rd and 15 wiped out a sack and kept the drive alive. From there, Rodgers scrambled up the middle for 21 yards, spiked the ball, and then really went to work. The next 3 plays are as follows:
An 8-yard pass to Davante Adams
A 19-yard pass to Equanimeous St. Brown
A 19-yard pass to Davante Adams
All 3 receivers ran out of bounds to stop the clock.
After an incomplete pass to Adams, probably just to burn some more time off the clock, Mason Crosby was sent in for a 27-yard FG attempt, which he nailed as time expired and sent the fans home with a win.
After Crosby struggled mightily in Detroit, he was 4/4 on field goals in this game, including a 51-yarder, and was 3/3 in extra points. Hopefully this means that he got his groove back.
With the victory, the Packers are now 3-2-1. A win is a win. That doesn’t mean that the Packers don’t have some major holes that they must fix if they are to make any kind of a playoff run or to even make the playoffs for that matter. I know that many fans are calling for Mike McCarthy to be fired, and one win vs a team we should have handled easily won’t change their minds. I hardly feel like celebrating either, even though I enjoy Packer wins more than almost anything. Moving forward, I want to see the Packers start games like they are a team on a mission. They too often come out flat and very sloppy. This is unacceptable, especially when you are on a national stage like Monday Night Football. The Packers may have won this battle, but they are not out of the woods yet, and neither is Mike McCarthy.
Either way, the Packers got the win, and they now head into their bye week. That gives the players and coaches a chance to take some time off and get prepared physically and mentally for the huge stretch of games they will be facing. The schedule after the bye is no joke. They return to action on October 28 with a road game vs the Los Angeles Rams, the only undefeated team in the league.
We will see what this team is made of during the next month or so. For now, enjoy the win and the bye week Packer fans!
Go Pack Go!
@DieHardPackrFan #DHPF #GregGoshaw @gg901
