As a Packer fan of quite a few decades, I learned to take the good with the bad. If the team wasn’t winning, then if a player was putting up numbers then my interest was maintained. The Packers didn’t make the playoffs in 1983, but Lynn Dickey was having a team record-setting season. They didn’t make the playoffs in 1989 either (the Packers only made the playoffs once between 1972 to 1992), but Don Majkowski seemed to be a potential next franchise quarterback that year; that hope lasted exactly one year.
Coming into today’s game against the Cowboys, the Packers lost five straight games and seemed on pace to probably lose nine straight. That’s just how the cookie crumbles sometimes. Even with two Hall of Fame quarterbacks in 30 years, the Packers have only been to three Super Bowls, and each has one just won one. Most of these teams have gone to the playoffs, but after Mike Holmgren left, it was like it would be “nice” if they actually made it to the Super Bowl, but it was cover your eyes and hope for a miracle. In 2010 the Packers were not expected to reach the Super Bowl as the sixth seed, and “shocked” most people by actually winning it. In 2011, the 15-1 Packers were expected to march to the Super Bowl in a cakewalk, and were embarrassed by the Giants in the divisional round, just like they were last season by the 49ers going in as the first seed. So much for expectations.
In this game, the Packers seemed to operate on Matt LaFleur’s offensive philosophy for most of the game and never really abandoned it despite falling behind by two touchdowns. Nothing “exciting,” but just your “old fashioned” three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust kind of thing. They opened the game by running the ball and picking up two first downs. After another 5-yard run by A.J. Dillon, well you know Aaron Rodgers was feeling left out so he threw two incomplete passes and Mason Crosby missed a field goal try, which now makes him 0 for 2 from 50+ yards this season. On the Packers’ second possession, the Packers ran the ball on third-and-two instead of throwing the ball deep as “expected,” but lost yardage.
But this time the coach decided not to allow a little adversity change the plan and give-in again to Rodgers' pouting, which has resulted in five-straight losses. The "experts" say it's time for LaFleur to "coach," so let him. The Packers continued to run the ball, with Aaron Jones scoring on a 12-yard run, and with the Cowboys defense having to respect the run, Rodgers managed to catch a lucky break by throwing a deep ball to Christian Watson on third-and-one to take a brief 14-7 lead before halftime. Rodgers threw just six passes the entire first half, and one wondered if the run-first philosophy was the best one at this point.
After the Cowboys took a 28-14 lead into the fourth quarter with an “assist” from another special teams fumble, the Packers didn’t give up on the run, although again after setting up a fourth-and-long situation thanks to missed passes, Rodgers decided he wanted to see what this Watson kid with his speed could do and threw a deep ball for another TD pass to him, who because of his speed was racing past Cowboy defenders who were flailing to keep up with him, even when the ball was thrown slightly behind him:
But on the next possession the Packers continued to run the ball, with 61 of the 89 yards gained during the drive was via the ground, ending in a 7-yard-touchdown pass to Watson, his third of the game, to tie it at 28-28. Is Watson the next Davante Adams? Well, it seems that every week someone is getting a try-out for the role.
This was an utter surprise at this point, although we remember that game with Matt Flynn at quarterback when the Packers trailed 26-3 at halftime and pulled out a 37-36 win on the road against the Cowboys. The same old Cowboys. In overtime, the Cowboys decided not to go for the field goal and misfired on fourth down, and that allowed a 36-yard catch-and-run by Allen Lazard to put the ball in field goal range for Crosby, this time at a more comfortable 28 yards for the 31-28 victory.
You have to hand it to the team this time, at least the offense: it stuck to the “game plan,” rushing for more than 200 yards, and won against a “better” team. The media is showering Rodgers with praise, but he threw only 20 passes the entire game, even into OT (don't tell me that's his offensive philosophy) but he manage to make the passes he did throw count, with four covering 156 of his 224 total yards, three of them key for the win. So will this change the team philosophy? Is this the coach’s team now? Who knows how this will play out. The Packers play the Titans on Thursday and they are no pushover. But at least this win gives one pause to think of what could have been.
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