Monday, January 19, 2015

Green Bay Gut Punch

I had a 3.5 hour drive home last night in which I was able to ponder many different aspects of the Packers gut-punch of a loss to the Seahawks yesterday. But three things stand out more than the rest, at least to me.

1) It felt like, early on, the Packers were playing not to lose, rather than playing to win. Mike McCarthy could have went for it on 4th-and-short on a number of occasions, and decided to play it safe and hope it wouldn't bite you in the ass. Too bad it did. If you kick five field goals, you don't deserve to win. Step on someone's throats, damnit.

2) Sure, you can point to Brandon Bostick and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix not making plays, but they were just two of many different things that went wrong for Green Bay. Bostick went up and tried to make the play, and didn't execute. Clinton-Dix found himself on an island on a crazy two-point conversion play. I can forgive heat-of-the-moment execution errors. But the ones that get isolated, I think, are unfairly done so.

3) Momentum is a real thing. Once the Seahawks recovered the onside kick, Seattle was destined to win. I know that can't be proved, but what Packers fan had any confidence at that point? Sure, it was nice to see the Packers drive down the game and tie the game on a field goal, but at that point, I think they were spent. There was no doubt in my mind that Seattle was going to score to start overtime, but I was just hoping that somehow, some way, Green Bay could hold them to a field goal. Nope. Sad day.

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