Good morning, everyone. The Green Bay Packers are heading to the NFC Championship game after winning on Sunday night against the Seattle Seahawks. The last home game of the season at Lambeau Field was one to remember for Packers fans (including me). Let’s dive into what exactly happened in this Divisional playoff game.
The Packers started this game with a bang, as they scored a touchdown on their first possession. The 8-play, 75-yard drive ended with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers to Davante Adams. On the first play of Seattle’s possession, Russell Wilson connected to Jacob Hollister on a pass. Hollister was flip-tackled and lost the ball in the process. The officials, however, blew the play dead as down by contact. It was clear that he lost the ball and Chandon Sullivan recovered it. Matt Lafleur threw the challenge flag, as he should when it was clearly a fumble. After review, it was determined that he did lose the ball, but there was no clear evidence of a recovery by Green Bay. That was completely ridiculous because there was footage of Chandon Sullivan having the ball and giving it back to the official. The defense forced the Seahawks to punt after that debacle of a call. After 2 straight three-and-outs (one by each team), the Packers were trying to go down the field. On third and 2 from the Green Bay 23, Rodgers connected with Geronimo Allison for the first down. The first down was called back due to offensive pass interference on Allen Lazard, which pretty much killed that drive. After JK Scott punted the ball back to Seattle, the Seahawks offense went down the field for a score. Kevin King almost intercepted a pass on the first play of that drive. After King gave up a big pass play on the following play, the defense made sure that the Seahawks only got a field goal on their drive. The Packers responded with another touchdown drive to increase their lead. There were a couple of penalties that helped the Packers on the drive, including a defensive pass interference that saved them from a second and 12 (which was caused by an illegal block penalty). 4 plays after Rodgers caught the Seahawks offside for a free 5 yards, Aaron Jones fought his way into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown run. After the extra point, the Packers had a 14-3 lead with 9:49 left in the second quarter. The Seahawks tried to answer back with another score, but the defense kept them from going past the Green Bay 32. The 50-yard field goal by Jason Myers was wide right, keeping the score at 14-3. The offense took advantage of the good field position by scoring a touchdown on their next possession. The drive ended with another 1-yard touchdown run by Aaron Jones, which increased the Packers’ lead to 21-3. The Seahawks still had time to get a score by halftime, but Russell Wilson’s Hail Mary pass fell incomplete on the final play of the second quarter. After 2 quarters, the Packers led the Seahawks by a score of 21-3.
The Seahawks went down the field for a touchdown to start the second half. The one-yard touchdown run by Marshawn Lynch was set up by a fourth down pass completion from Russell Wilson to Tyler Lockett. The Packers responded quickly after a 5-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 40-yard touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers to Davante Adams. Adams got separation from his defender and caught a beauty of a pass from Rodgers. Adams then made some moves to go all the way untouched to the end zone. Unfortunately, the defense allowed the Seahawks to score on their next drive. During the drive, there were a few scrambles from Russell Wilson that kept it alive. The drive ended with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Lockett that cut the lead to 28-17. The Packers offense went three-and-out on their next drive and punted back to Seattle. Rodgers almost threw an interception to Seahawks LB Bobby Wagner, who read the pass perfectly. The Seattle offense went down the field in 9 plays to make it a one-possession game. There were still times where Wilson escaped pressure and made key plays to keep the drive alive. Marshawn Lynch scored again on a 1-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 28-23. The 2-point conversion was no good after Jaire Alexander sacked Russell Wilson. With the Packers’ lead now only 5 points, it was extremely important that they get another touchdown to seal this game. The drive was going well until the offense faced a third and 9 from the Seattle 40. Rodgers was sacked on that third down play by Shaquem Griffin, forcing the Packers to punt it back to the Seahawks with 4:54 left in the fourth quarter. After getting a first down on the first play, the Seahawks did not go that far on their drive. On third and 5 from the Seattle 42, Preston Smith sacked Russell Wilson for a loss of 6 yards. The Seahawks then punted the ball back to the Packers, who needed a couple of first downs to seal the win. After an incomplete pass on second and 8 from the Green Bay 22, they faced third and 8. Aaron Rodgers made a beautiful throw to Davante Adams for a 32-yard gain to keep the drive going. 3 plays later, they faced third and 9 from the Seattle 45 yard line. Rodgers connected on a pass to Jimmy Graham, who went far enough to get the first down to seal the game. Inside the 2 minute warning, everything is reviewable from the replay booth. The officials looked at the play to make sure that it was a first down. Looking at it, it was clear that Graham got the first down (the yellow line on TV was inaccurate with the actual first down marker). The first down stood as called, sealing the Packers’ 28-23 victory over the Seahawks. With the win, the Packers are now heading to the NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers, who won against the Vikings on Saturday afternoon.
For the most part, the offense did better than in previous games. They got off to a great start with a touchdown on their first drive. There were some three-and-outs, but they got the job done in the clutch. I did like that there were a few trick plays, including jet sweeps, during the game. Aaron Rodgers had a good game on Sunday, throwing for 243 yards and 2 touchdowns. Davante Adams set a new receiving yards record for a Packers receiver with 160 yards and 2 touchdowns. Aaron Jones only ran for 62 yards on the night against a Seahawks defense that struggled against the run. There were times where they ran outside run plays against the defense. There were also times that Jones got stuffed immediately due to bad blocking. Jones did get 2 more touchdown runs to increase his total touchdowns on the season (including postseason) to 21. Jimmy Graham had some clutch catches in this game, including the third and 9 catch that sealed the victory. There is no doubt that the offense needs to play great next week against the 49ers on the road. I believe that they can do just that under head coach Matt LaFleur and the trio of Rodgers, Adams and Jones. Before I move on to the defense, I want to give major kudos to Jared Veldheer for stepping in for Bryan Bulaga at the right tackle spot. I thought that he played solid, along with the rest of the offensive line.
Despite giving up 3 second half touchdowns to the Seahawks, I thought that the defense did a great job. It helped that Kenny Clark was active for this game to be the leader of the defensive front. He made a few stops in the running game and sacked Russell Wilson once. Za’Darius and Preston Smith sacked Wilson 2 times during the game. After Za’Darius Smith’s first sack, he flashed a shirt that said “SNUBBED”, which refers to him being left out of the Pro Bowl and All-Pro rosters. I loved that moment, as well as plenty of other things that happened in the game. There were plenty of times where the defense almost sacked Wilson more, but Wilson escaped those pressures. The defensive backs did allow some catches, including chunk plays, but they got the stops and covered the receivers well in this game (sometimes for 9-plus seconds). I think that Kevin King will redeem himself next week after dropping another interception on Sunday night. It will take all 11 men to do their part against the 49ers next Sunday. I believe that they will get the job done on the road.
Special Teams did well in this game, for the most part. There were a couple of times where the snap and hold were not fully accurate on the extra points, but the kicks by Mason Crosby were all made anyway. JK Scott punted well in this game, with his longest punt being 55 yards. The defense bailed him out after the 25-yard punt near the end of the game. Kickoff returns were covered well by the Packers, making sure that the Seahawks returners did not get past the 20 yard line a few times. Tyler Ervin only had 18 return yards in this game, but he contributed well on offense with the trick plays. The best part was that the Packers had no turnovers in this game on offense and special teams. There is no doubt that the special teams unit has to play mistake-free football next week (along with offense and defense). I believe that they can do that against San Francisco.
It is crazy that the Packers are now one win away from the Super Bowl after 2 straight non-playoff seasons. That is the reality for Green Bay, as they take on the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on January 19th at 6:40 PM Eastern (3:40 PM Pacific). Every player has to do their assignment flawlessly in order to be victorious on that day. I have no doubt that they will get it done. For now, it is a Victory Monday for the Packers. Have a great day, everyone. Go Pack Go!
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL's YouTube page)
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