NFC Divisional Round Game Thread: Packers @ Arizona 7:15 LFT

The Packers were on the road against a 13-3 team that beat us by 30 points three weeks ago. We were one more injured receiver from asking one of our fans to suit up at halftime,  and with Patrick Peterson basically taking James Jones out of the game, Aaron Rodgers had two receivers with a combined 11 career catches to throw to. 

With everything that could possibly go wrong going against us (deflected passes going for touchdowns, refs blowing pass interference calls left and right), with basically no time on the clock, we went 100 yards in two pass plays to take this high-powered Cardinals team to overtime. Yes, the way the game ended is another gut punch, but I think we should all be pretty damned proud of how this team fought, and gave everything they had, when everybody in the free world said the Packers didn't have a chance in hell to win. 

Go get this team some more help at linebacker, and maybe find a stud tight end. Get Jordy back healthy next year. Build on the bit of momentum Davante realized against Washington before tweaking his knee. Get Ty back healthy. With these guys ready to go, with the experience Jared and Jeff gained in a huge game tonight, and with an improving defense featuring a bunch of young studs in the secondary (Randall, Rollins, Dix), nobody is going to want to play us next year. 

It would be easy to feel down right now. But I saw something from our team tonight, and it has me really excited about the future. 

Tavis Smiley posted:

The thing that frightens me the most is that I'm getting used to **** like this.

Since 1993 the Packers have had 18 post season appearances  including 2015 that resulted in two Super Bowl wins. So 16 times in that time frame we have lost at some point in the playoffs, lots of heartbreak. As a fan base we sure have got to see the Packers hoist Lombardi's but man have we had to deal with some post season pain. We have experienced quite a lot over the years good and bad. Its just part of the deal of having consistent playoff caliber teams. This loss tonight is just another step of the process we have to deal with till we get to see the Packers once again win it all.

Rob Demovsky ESPN Staff Writer 

How did Larry Fitzgerald end up so wide open on the first play of overtime? "We blew a call," Packers cornerback Casey Hayward said. "We blew a coverage and he got open. I think everybody was kind of confused on it, but we shouldn't be confused on the back end. It was a simple call for us. I think they were a little confused up front."

Really fine post, Lambeausouth.

Only thing I'd change is add tackle to your wish list.

And punter.

San Doggy posted:

Tavis Smiley posted:

The thing that frightens me the most is that I'm getting used to **** like this.

Since 1993 the Packers have had 18 post season appearances  including 2015 that resulted in two Super Bowl wins. So 16 times in that time frame we have lost at some point in the playoffs, lots of heartbreak. As a fan base we sure have got to see the Packers hoist Lombardi's but man have we had to deal with some post season pain. We have experienced quite a lot over the years good and bad. Its just part of the deal of having consistent playoff caliber teams. This loss tonight is just another step of the process we have to deal with till we get to see the Packers once again win it all.

It hurts because we love this team. But, there are 32 teams in the league now, and the fan bases of 30 other teams will experience this same pain that comes with unrealized expectations. It happens. Winning in any professional sport is hard. The NFL is very hard. 

I've seen the Packers win it all twice in my lifetime. After watching this team muck it up in the late 70s and the 80s, that's two more Super Bowl wins than I thought I'd ever see. I'm happy with that. If we win more before I kick the bucket (hopefully many years from now), great. If not, I'm satisfied. Win or lose, I get to root for the greatest franchise in the NFL, year in, year out.

lambeausouth posted:

I saw something from our team tonight, and it has me really excited about the future.  

me too, I'm pumped for 2016

cuqui posted:

Really fine post, Lambeausouth.

Only thing I'd change is add tackle to your wish list.

And punter.

Another tackle would be a real nice security blanket. I think Bakhtiari and Bulaga both had good games tonight, especially considering the injuries they were still dealing with, and the quality of opponent they faced. 

I also think they should explore getting Tretter a few more practice snaps at the tackle spot. After a slow start against the 'skins, he held his own. The Washington defense certainly isn't on the level of the one we saw tonight, but Tretter's versatility will get him more playing time. 

Agreed on the ginger cannon. It's time for Masthay to go. He's too inconsistent. 

Tomorrow???  Gonna be all Aaron Rodgers......all Packers, 50th anniversary of super bowl I .......oh yah, gonna be all Aaron and his dang Hail Mary's . I might be wrong, but not this time.  

slowmo posted:

YooperPackfan posted:

This defense gave up a full games worth of points and yards in the second half, please explain how that's outstanding defense

They gave up 13 points in the second half, three of which were gimmes because we turned the ball over inside the 25 on downs.  6 points came in OT.

Keep on posting and cementing your status as the board moron.

The defense had breakdowns in ot, but I think you could very well make a case that they did more than enough in the first 60 min to get the W. Credit to Arians for making adjustments coming out of halftime. It seemed like the stacked wr with Fitz helped, and chipping pass rushers with rbs kept the rush off of Palmer.

That said, I think Compers called a vg game for the most part. I'm not going to put this on the defense. I think the game was over if, at 13-10 having held Ariz to a fg, MM puts his foot on the gas and they put a td drive together. To me, that was the pivotal point in the game. GB had just assumed control, in the trenches and on the scoreboard.  MM needs to quit putting his players in position to lose games.

Artis, we had the ball up 13-10 with about 5 minutes left in the third. I was watching the game with my Dad, and told him "we need a score here, any kind of score". While a touchdown would have been great, a prolonged drive ending in a field goal would have had nearly the same effect. It would have tired the opposing defense once again, just as they were for much of the second quarter. Instead, we got a three and out. 

We ran a run play to Lacy for a few yards, and then Kuhn had a false start on second down, putting us back to second and thirteen. At that point, we tried the deep ball to Abbrederis. I thought that was a mistake. It was a low percentage play, especially considering who was covering him. Now, I'm not going to criticize anybody, because it's easy to sit on the sofa and watch a high def overhead shot. Maybe Aaron thought somebody jumped offsides, maybe he saw a safety rotate off that route for an instant. It didn't go for the catch, and I felt that we should have been focusing on moving the chains. That left us with third and 13, and the ball went three yards to Richard Rodgers, who isn't going to break a tackle and go another ten yards most of the time.

That's where I felt the momentum started shifting back to the Cardinals. They stopped us cold, and then their offense started to get in a rhythm. They didn't score on the next drive (Randall picked them in the endzone), but they I felt their offense woke up. 

Oh well. It was a thrilling, enjoyable game. I think not having Cobb and Adams allowed me to enjoy the game even more than usual, because my expectations were tempered somewhat. I believe in this team, and my love for the green and gold is unwavering. You could hold a gun to my head, and I'd never stop believing in the Pack. But when four of your top five receivers are out, well, even the most optimistic of fans will have to accept the difficulty of the road ahead. Yet, something great happened. The Packers gave all of us a gift. If they had to lose, they did it kicking and clawing. They hung tough with the most complete team in the NFL, in their house, depleted by injuries, and took them to overtime. 

Sometimes, you can take away real positives in a loss. This is one of those times. If Aaron Rodgers didn't feel this way before, now he'll truly believe that no deficit is insurmountable. And that should scare the living piss out of the rest of the NFL. 

michiganjoe posted:

Rob Demovsky ESPN Staff Writer 

How did Larry Fitzgerald end up so wide open on the first play of overtime? "We blew a call," Packers cornerback Casey Hayward said. "We blew a coverage and he got open. I think everybody was kind of confused on it, but we shouldn't be confused on the back end. It was a simple call for us. I think they were a little confused up front."

If ever there was a time to use a time out.  It's sudden death overtime.  There's no reason not to.     

@weshod

Image I'll have burned in my head from locker room is Julius Peppers, slunk into his locker and still in uniform, staring and emotionless

Post game show 

[Packers Coverage] 01-16-15 Green and Gold Postgame Show => http://media.1057fmthefan.com/...p-show-112596952.mp3 

45:00 Mike Clemens comes in. 

@espnstatsandinfo

Larry Fitzgerald's 75-yard Rec in OT was the 2nd-longest play from scrimmage in overtime of a postseason game in the last 20 seasons.

Aaron Rodgers' 41-yd pass to Jeff Janis was 1st game-tying or game-winning Pass TD to end regulation in NFL postseason history. @EliasSports

@ryanwood 

#Packers WR Jeff Janis caught 7-11 for 145 yards and miracle TD. Aaron Rodgers had 146.8 rating targeting him. Maybe he'll play next season.

titmfatied posted:

@weshod

Image I'll have burned in my head from locker room is Julius Peppers, slunk into his locker and still in uniform, staring and emotionless

Putting aside my own self pity I really feel for the players who have the clock ticking on their careers. The Packers not only need to shore up ILB and TE they've got to have some better luck with injuries. They're going to happen. But all your starting WR's and, in a couple of games, 3/5 and 4/5 of the offensive line? 

Peppers has nobody to blame but himself. I'm referring to last year in Seattle when he told Burnett to "go down" with 5 minutes on the clock instead of slicing off their heads with a back-breaking def. Pick 6.

Sorry Julius. Great career though

Peppers out of position, five players missed tackles on Fitzgerald's 75-yard catch

Picture pretty much says it all.

Boris posted:

Peppers has nobody to blame but himself. I'm referring to last year in Seattle when he told Burnett to "go down" with 5 minutes on the clock instead of slicing off their heads with a back-breaking def. Pick 6.

Sorry Julius. Great career though

Yep

Boris posted:

Peppers has nobody to blame but himself. I'm referring to last year in Seattle when he told Burnett to "go down" with 5 minutes on the clock instead of slicing off their heads with a back-breaking def. Pick 6.

Sorry Julius. Great career though

I blamed Burnett even more. He had the ball.

michiganjoe posted:

 

Picture pretty much says it all.

Reminds me a little bit of the Favre play against the Giants.  Only Favre didn't throw to the open receiver(s).  Wish Palmer would've made a rushed throw to the right flat.  Maybe a pick 6.

Mike Neal needs to make that play. PERIOD end of sentence. That's the difference.

Blown coverage or not (and yes I'm still trying to figure out how NOBODY had at least 1 eye on Larry F.)

In the view from the Cardinals' end zone, it looks like HaHa breaks to his left as Palmer breaks the pockets.  Maybe that's what he's supposed t do, but he had to notice Fitz running wide open without Peppers anywhere near by.  Regardless, it's not the openness/catch that faulted the TD, it was the horsesh!t tackling....or lack thereof.

there was no lack of horses$hit tackling on that play

Goalline posted:

Az vs GB should be an automatic playoff game every year. WOW!

What a game, another classic. The hail mary to tie was a gut punch, AR's throw was superhuman. I love Fitz and BA.

If we lost I'd be doing the pussy second team **** and be rooting for you guys. Hopefully there will be a rematch next year. Go Big Red!

I made a thread for you

Packers-Cardinals divisional playoff game: Along the Lines

Randall is the one to blame on the 75 yard play. 

I still don't know why Clay let up when he chased down Fitzgerald. It would have been a 30 some yard gain. 

Shields completely whiffed on Fitz near the 50 - that was really bad.  

Just a whole lot of suck on that long pass and run.  It was Kaepernick long run like D in the playoffs and once again Rodgers was totally let down by lack of fundamental play by the D when it mattered most 

It looked like some of the DBs thought it was Zone and at least Shields thought it was Man. Shields stuck with his guy while the DB on Fitz (Hayward maybe?) let him go on the crossing route. Eithet Shields or the guy on Fitz screwed up IMO. The D played a really solid game against the best O in the NFL, hard to have it end that way. 

lambeausouth posted:

The Packers were on the road against a 13-3 team that beat us by 30 points three weeks ago. We were one more injured receiver from asking one of our fans to suit up at halftime,  and with Patrick Peterson basically taking James Jones out of the game, Aaron Rodgers had two receivers with a combined 11 career catches to throw to. 

...

It would be easy to feel down right now. But I saw something from our team tonight, and it has me really excited about the future. 

 

This. 

Was there any update on Cobb other than chest injury and coughing up blood? Scary! 

Grave Digger posted:

Was there any update on Cobb other than chest injury and coughing up blood? Scary! 

During the game some beat reporters tweeted "bruised lung". Haven't seen anything since.

He had to stay in Arizona hospital overnight for observations, bleacher report notification on my phone called it a bruised lung

Hard to fathom we lost almost the exact same way we did last year: Heavy underdogs away, we take our opponent to overtime, then the defense which had played so well for 60 minutes just totally falls apart.  I can't fault the offense considering Rogers was left to throw to his 5th, 6th and 7th WRs (with the 5th, Jones, understandably blanketed by a perennial All-Pro CB, therefore really leaving him with just the 6th and 7th WRs) and a TE with good hands but zero speed. The OL played very, very well, Lacy and Starks had a number of good runs (though didn't like McCarthy continually calling those first down runs for Lacy for 1 yard -- didn't work all game!). But all in all, this undermanned offense generating 20 points against an excellent defense was more than admirable. And against the best offense in the league, our defense really only gave up 13 points in regulation from my view. Played awesome run defense, and overall good pass defense. Though I liked the pass rush and man-to-man more so in the 1H. The pass rush appeared to lose some steam in the 2H (don't understand why with all the fresh and healthy bodies they could rotate in) and that damn zone gave up too many easy/uncontested completions. Yet with all of that, the defense held them to 10 points most of the game, and then that great deflection by Demarious Randall becomes a gift TD for them. Should have been 3 points max. Luck-ass Cardinals! And lucky-ass because you're right, Shields should have caught that ball. Coming right at him, not a Favre-type laser, and with both hands well-positioned, he blows it. Yes with all of that, we force overtime. But just like last year, they get the coin toss and boom, the defense crumbles. Mind-boggling and gut-wrenching. Hard to believe the stat of how we've lost so many overtime playoff games the last 15 years, winning only one (Al Harris' OT INT against the Seahawks in '03). And I know in the almost 50 years I've watched the Packers, they've never completed a 4th and 20 to be then followed by a Hail Mary TD. To experience both those miracle, once-in-a-lifetime type plays and still lose the game -- and only moments later -- was just the worst. All playoff losses are bad. But some just tear your heart out: Like the Terrell Owens catch against the 49ers in '98. Or the 4th and 26 loss to the Eagles in '03. Or the Favre INT in OT to the Giants in '07. Or the non-facemark call against Rogers vs. the Cardinals in '09. This one just seems worse because at least with all those, we had a year or two in-between. To follow the way we lost to the Seahawks last year with almost the same scenario a year later is just unfathomable.

But it is what it is. The bounces (and coin toss), once again, did not go our way. I believe we will again next year field a Super Bowl-competitive team. I'm hoping we'll get excited by what Thompson does to retain a few more of our key free agents, then improve the team -- especially at TE and LB (inside if they move Matthews back to OLB, or OLB if they don't). I'm hoping McCarthy figures out how to get his offense back to its usual top-10 standard -- whether that involves coaching changes, play-calling, whatever. And while the defense played well overall, McCarthy also should decide if Capers is still the right man for the job. I tend to think with all the talent on that side of the ball, they still underachieved. Oh -- and let's hope for a healthier season next year. But we'll have all off-season to discuss and analyze this stuff. For now, I think about how much fun it was to follow the Packers, and do it with family and friends. That was, as it always is, the best part of it all. Stay well X4, and Go Pack!

cuqui posted:

Grave Digger posted:

Was there any update on Cobb other than chest injury and coughing up blood? Scary! 

During the game some beat reporters tweeted "bruised lung". Haven't seen anything since.

Randall tweeted this about 2 hours ago:

@rcobb18: Just an update: I just got discharged from the hospital here in AZ. I'm feeling much better. Thank you all for the prayers and support.

I'm assuming Cobb had a punctured lung with a broken rib

That's what I thought too, leader

Boris, I wanted Julius to get a Super Bowl ring with the Pack but as you point out he told Burnett to go down when he had a sure Pick Six. Ask yourself this: what would Ariens or Bellichick do? They'd keep the foot on the throat till the clock reads :00. 

YATittle posted:

Boris, I wanted Julius to get a Super Bowl ring with the Pack but as you point out he told Burnett to go down when he had a sure Pick Six. Ask yourself this: what would Ariens or Bellichick do? They'd keep the foot on the throat till the clock reads :00. 

I don't think he has a pick 6, but he could have picked up another 10-15 yards with no risk just by running to the sideline and going as far as he could have before getting hit. 

http://bleacherreport.com/arti...fter-4th-quarter-int

Thanks for making go back and rewatch that epic lack of killer instinct.