Good evening, everyone. On Sunday afternoon/evening, the Green Bay Packers took on the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. The game turned out to be a very tense one that went into overtime. The Packers had a chance to win, but they came up short in agonizing fashion. Let’s get into detail on what exactly happened in this game.
The Packers got the ball on offense to start the game. On the first play from scrimmage, Aaron Rodgers found Davante Adams for a 33-yard pass completion that got them into Colts territory. After an 8-yard completion to Allen Lazard on the next play, there was a botched snap exchange with Rodgers and center Corey Linsley (who left the game with a back injury). The fumble was recovered by Darius Leonard, giving the Colts the ball at their own 39 yard line. 3 plays later, the Packers defense responded with their own fumble recovery. On third and 6 from the Indianapolis 43, Philip Rivers completed a pass to Mo Alle-Cox. Before the receiver went down, Raven Greene punched out the football, which was recovered by Darnell Savage at the Green Bay 49. From there, the Packers offense went on a 7-play, 51-yard drive that ended with a touchdown. On second and 9 from the Colts 29, Aaron Rodgers found a wide-open Robert Tonyan in the middle of the field for a touchdown pass that gave the Packers a 7-0 lead (thanks to the extra point by Mason Crosby). That 7-0 lead did not last long, as the Colts went down the field in only 5 plays. 2 of them stick out the most. The first was third and 12 from the Colts 23. This was a prime opportunity for the defense to hold them to a three and out and get off the field. Instead, Rivers found a wide-open T.Y. Hilton, who had enough room to get to the first down marker after the catch. 2 plays later, Rivers found Michael Pittman, Jr. for a 45-yard touchdown pass. For some reason, LB Christian Kirksey was covering him to no avail. The other bad thing was that Pittman was mostly untouched on his way to the end zone. With the game now tied, the Packers offense looked to take another lead. They went three and out on that drive, with Rodgers getting sacked on third down by Justin Houston. After the Packers defense forced the Colts to punt, the offense had another chance to score points. 2 plays later, Rodgers threw an interception to Rock Ya-Sin, which gave the Colts possession at the Green Bay 35 yard line. Luckily, the defense held them to a 50-yard field goal attempt. The kick by Rodrigo Blankenship actually bounced off the crossbar and was no good, keeping the score at 7-7 and giving the Packers the ball at their own 40. From there, they went 60 yards in 6 plays for their second touchdown of the game. The 2-yard TD run by Aaron Jones was set up by Equanimeous St. Brown’s 23-yard catch and run that almost resulted in a touchdown. Had he scored, that would have been the play of the year with him leaping during the play. Regardless, the TD run gave the Packers a 7-point lead. On the Colts’ next offensive play, Billy Wynn tipped a pass from Philip Rivers. The ball went into the hands of Kirksey for an interception that gave the Packers great field position at the Indianapolis 29. 4 plays later, Rodgers found Davante Adams on a WR screen for a touchdown that gave Green Bay a 21-7 advantage.
That lead changed to 21-14 after a 12-play, 75-yard drive that lasted nearly 6 minutes of game time. During this drive, Rivers was substituted for Jacoby Brissett, who handed the ball off to Jonathan Taylor for a third and 2 conversion. After that play, Rivers went back onto the field, kinda making that substitution pointless. The drive ended with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Rivers to Trey Burton, who was somehow covered by Preston Smith (who was signed to be a pass rusher) to no avail. After the extra point, the lead was cut to 7 points. On the ensuing kickoff, Darrius Shepherd did not get the ball at first because he thought that the ball was going to bounce into the end zone for a touchback. Somehow, the ball did not bounce that way, meaning that Shepherd had to field the ball before more disaster happened. He was stopped at the 4 yard line after fielding the ball. Seeing that there was less than 2 minutes remaining, the replay booth looked at the kickoff. Watching the replay, the ball barely touched the goal line, resulting in a touchback and a more comfortable field position. During the drive, there was some awful clock management by the offense. After 2 plays, the Packers faced a third and 1 from the 34. Rather than get the ball out quick, Rodgers wasted over 40 seconds trying to get the defense offsides (which did not work). After that time was wasted to just get the first down, the Packers had less than a minute to work with. 3 plays later, they faced another third and 1. Rodgers heaved the ball 65 yards to the end zone for what should have been a touchdown to Marquez Valdes-Scantling. MVS was arm-locked by Rock Ya-Sin, who was called for defensive pass interference. On the next play, Rodgers found Jamaal Williams for a 4-yard touchdown pass that gave Green Bay a 14-point half-time lead.
The Colts had the ball first to start the second half. For most of the drive, they ran the ball down Green Bay’s throat. They got all the way to the Green Bay 10-yard line before the Packers defense clamped down on them and forced them to a field goal. On second and 11 from the 11, Philip Rivers was sacked by Kenny Clark for a loss of 8 yards. After an incomplete pass on the next play, Rodrigo Blankenship was called upon for a 37-yard field goal. This time, the kick was good and the lead was cut to 11 points. The kickoff return by Darrius Shepherd only got Green Bay to the 15 yard line, where the offense started their first drive of the second half. That possession ended up being a three and out, and the Packers were forced to punt back to Indianapolis (JK Scott did play, but he did not punt well at all). The Colts then went on another time-consuming drive that took nearly six minutes off of the game clock. The 10-play, 55-yard drive ended with a 6-yard touchdown pass from Philip Rivers to TE Jack Doyle. The 2-point conversion run by Nyheim Hines cut the Packers lead to just 3 points. Unfortunately, the Packers offense responded with yet another three and out, forcing the defense back onto the field. The Colts were driving down the field, looking to take the lead from Green Bay in the process. The Packers defense got a second stop in the red zone, with Adrian Amos tackling Hines for a 2-yard loss on third and 2 from the Green Bay 12. The field goal by Blankenship was good, tying the game at 28-28. Things went disastrous on the ensuing kickoff for Green Bay, as Darrius Shepherd fumbled the football during the return. The fumble was recovered by the Colts, giving their offense the ball at the Green Bay 28. Luckily, the defense kept them to only a field goal on the next drive. With the Packers now trailing by 3 points in the fourth quarter, it was time for the offense to drive down the field and take the lead right back. During the drive, they faced a 1st and 20 after a holding penalty against Marcedes Lewis wiped out a 14-yard run by Jamaal Williams. They almost overcame that on the next 3 plays, getting 1 yard shy of the first down marker. Rather than do a QB sneak or do a run play with Williams, Matt LaFleur called for a play-action fake. It almost worked, but Rodgers was pressured to throw the ball out of rhythm (Davante Adams was double-covered as well on the play). Williams could not get the ball into his hands, forcing Green Bay to turn the ball over on downs in Colts territory. This next possession is completely weird, to put it bluntly. After 2 straight defensive penalties against Green Bay (though the too many men on the field was maybe intentional), the Colts offense were hit with a bunch of offensive penalties (mostly holding). 2 of those penalties were declined by the Packers, which almost led to their downfall. Eventually, the Packers forced the Colts into a third and 19. Philip Rivers found RB Jordan Wilkins for an inexcusable 15-yard gain, setting up a fourth and 4. Rather than kick the field goal to go up by 6, the Colts (led by head coach Frank Reich) decided to go for it. Rivers completed a pass to Hines for a 13-yard gain. After that, I thought that the game was going to be over. To my surprise, the Colts were called for 2 more holding penalties on offense, forcing them to get 30 yards for a first down. Unsurprisingly, they did not get those yards. On 3rd and 26, a touchdown almost happened for the Packers defense. At first, it looked like Za’Darius Smith strip-sacked Rivers and the ball got into Kirksey’s hands. Kirksey proceeded to return it all the way for a Packers touchdown. Unfortunately, Rivers’s arm was going the slightest bit forward before Smith got too him, which resulted in the ruling being an incomplete pass. Even with the defense robbed of a TD, the Packers still forced the Colts to punt back to them.
The Packers offense started their final drive of regulation at their own 6 with 1:25 left and 1 timeout. After 2 straight incomplete passes to Allen Lazard, Aaron Rodgers found Marquez Valdes-Scantling on a 47-yard pass that got them into opposing territory. Using their last timeout, the Packers had 1:10 left to work with. On 2 straight occasions, Rodgers completed a pass for a first down and then spiked the ball to stop the clock. I am not entirely sure why he spiked it the second time. That spike was pretty much burning a down when that could have been used as a quick out of bounds route. With 42 seconds left, Rodgers found Robert Tonyan for a 7-yard gain to set up 3rd and 3 from the IND 8 yard line. Rodgers had a wide-open Tonyan for a touchdown, but he was pressured to throwing it out of the end zone (intended for Adams). That incomplete pass sent out the field goal unit to tie the game up. Mason Crosby did just that from 26 yards away, setting up overtime. Tim Boyle came up clutch on the coin toss by saying tails when the coin flipped to tails. That meant that Green Bay was going to have the first chance to win the game with a touchdown. Darrius Shepherd returned the OT kickoff to the Green Bay 22, setting up the opening possession. On the first play, Rodgers found Adams for an 8-yard gain. After that, Valdes-Scantling caught a WR screen pass that looked like a sure first down at least. Unfortunately, he was stripped of the ball by Julian Blackmon on the play. The fumble was recovered by DeForest Buckner, giving the Colts the ball at the Green Bay 29. 3 run plays later, Blankenship made a 39-yard field goal, which gave the Colts a 34-31 win.
To put it bluntly, this loss was painful. The Packers had chances to win the game in regulation and in OT, but they couldn’t get it done. There is no one person to blame, not even MVS for the fumble. Every facet of the team shares the blame for this defeat. The Packers had 4 turnovers during this game, including 3 on offense. There is no excuse for the botched snap exchange on the opening possession of the game. Turnovers like that, plus the interception by Rodgers, should not happen for Green Bay against teams that are playoff contenders. I know that MVS had the fumble in overtime, but they don’t get to OT without his big catch in the fourth quarter (plus the PI at the end of the first half). Even with the turnovers on offense, they still put up 28 points against the #1 defense in the first half (including 3 touchdown passes from Aaron Rodgers, who threw for a total of 311 yards on the day). I wish that the Packers had that much production in the second half so that the last drive heroics were not needed. Other than 1 sack, Rodgers was kept upright by the offensive line, despite Corey Linsley leaving the game early. Elgton Jenkins took his spot at center and he did very well at it. So far, he was played every position on the O-Line except for left guard. Hopefully the Packers get the issues fixed from this week (including terrible clock management in the final 2 minutes of each half and the turnovers).
On defense, it was a mixed bag (though most of it was on the negative side). There were times where the defense was doing well and getting stops and turnovers (including a fumble recovery and an interception). Other times, there were the same old problems of playing too much soft zone and giving up easy first downs to the Colts offense (plus some bad tackling). Philip Rivers killed the defense with short and intermediate passes all game long, including screen passes that got too many yards. I have to give the defense credit for responding well when the Packers had a turnover on offense or special teams. For example, the defense held the Colts to a field goal miss after Rodgers threw an interception in the first quarter. Another example was holding them to only a field goal after the kickoff return fumble by Darrius Shepherd. One thing is for sure: the defense has to play better and for all 4 quarters while not giving up easy first downs to struggling teams.
Other than Mason Crosby making every kick, the Special Teams unit struggled again for Green Bay. Darrius Shepherd was pretty much forced by the Colts to return each kickoff, aside from the one that barely hit the goal line near the end of the first half. There was not one time where Shepherd got past the 25 yard line on kickoff returns. JK Scott was able to play on Sunday despite not traveling with the team due to a personal matter. None of his punts did not surpass 40 yards, mostly giving the Colts good field position. At the very least, there were no blocked kicks or punts in this game. I really hope that the Special Teams unit gets better in these last 6 weeks, even with the cold weather.
Overall, this was a tough loss for the Packers that maybe decreased their chances at the top seed in the NFC. They are still first place in the division, so that is a plus. The Packers have another chance to increase their lead in the NFC North with a home matchup against the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field. I expect the Packers to win on next Sunday night, but they need to play well for all 4 quarters to make the win a reality. In the meantime, I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving. Have a good night, everyone. Go Pack Go.
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL's YouTube page.)
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