The Seattle Seahawks keep their playoff hopes alive with a 27-24 victory over the Green Bay Packers. Russell Wilson brought Seattle into the lead late in the game with a pass to Ed Dickson. Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy then made a decision that will certainly generate a lot of discussion next week.
The Seahawks went into the game with great expectations and started it exactly as they had not imagined. With the first carry of the game, Chris Carson fumbled and invited the Packers, who, like the hosts, desperately needed a win, to the first touchdown of Aaron Jones in a fantastic location. Visibly shocked, the Seahawks first went further and at the same time got stuck. And this while the guest continued to work on a dream start.
The Packers Open clicked very well during the first drives. This was mainly due to Rodgers and his connection to Davante Adams. It was due to a missed field goal attempt by Mason Crosby that the Packers didn’t score on their first three drives. When the Seahawks Defense broke the Packers pocket on the third drive at a third down, Rodgers sidestepped, improvised once again and found his only playable receiver in Tight End Robert Tonyan for his first NFL catch and a 54 yard touchdown.
Seattle did not recover until the second quarter, when play action gaps in the Packers’ secondary were repeatedly identified. Thanks to a precious PI-Penalty against Green Bay they even found themselves in the lead shortly before the break. Three passes to Jones for a total of 63 yards and the touchdown, however, destroyed them when Green Bay went into the second half with the lead.
Here it was the Defensive Lines who won their duels in the Trenches. Frank Clark and Kyler Fackrell now made play for play and gave the entrepreneurs a busy day. In the final quarter, Wilson (21/31, 225 YDS, 2 TD) more often than Rodgers (21/30, 332 YDS, 2 TD) managed to play against strong Pass Rushs and so the Seahawks playcaller brought his team into the lead late in the fourth quarter with a pass against the Packers Blitz. McCarthy didn’t trust his offense to do a 4th and 2 and threw the white flag in the decision despite only a timeout to puncture.
The Seahawks improve their balance to 5-5 and keep their playoff hopes alive. Next week, the away game in Carolina will face another direct competitor in the race for a wild card spot. The Packers, on the other hand, face another ungrateful trip to Minnesota, where they run the risk of losing their seventh away game in a row.
For Russell Wilson, another fourth-quarter comeback is made in the books after a game that is not really intoxicating. The 29-year-old had a few inaccuracies in the first half, including a simple touchdown attempt to pass the completely free Doug Baldwin in the end zone, where he beat his favourite receiver miserably. Wilson, however, rehabilitated himself and showed once again why he is one of the best play-action quarterbacks in the league. This is how he found his rhythm and self-confidence to get back to top form in the fourth quarter. Here, even against high pressure, David Moore and Tyler Lockett got their famous throws into his hands, where he didn’t give even the tightest coverage a chance and finally decided the game with a correct Blitz-Read and a fast pass to Ed Dickson.
The playcalling of the Packers may be discussed. Green Bay once again concentrated enormously on the passing game and let Aaron Jones run only eleven times despite a lead over long stretches of the game. In addition, Offensive Coordinators have once again been presented very little to the league, which makes it tempting to consider including Packers plays in their own Playbook. The mistake that could have cost the Packers the game, however, was to call the punter to the field when they had 4:20 minutes remaining and a remaining timeout at 4th and 2. A decision that will not only result in more minus points for Aaron Rodgers.