 |
| AP / ESPN.com |
Indeed surprising this is the first Dallas-Green Bay playoff in Lambeau since the famed Ice Bowl game. This game will also called by the Buck family. Joe and Troy on the broadcast for Fox with Gene Steratore making the calls.
FIRST QUARTER
Pfft. "Ice Bowl II?" It's 24 degrees in Green Bay. More like Slightly Chilly Bowl. Also, the most-discussed calves in history countdown: 4) Hillary Clinton's cankles; 3) the Golden Calf; 2) Betty Grable's; 1) Aaron Rodgers'. Let's all have some de-calf, shall we?
Dallas won the toss and received and quickly 3-and-outed. Sam Barrington strung out a 2nd-and-5 Demarco Murray sweep for no gain and Julius Peppers pushed by Ronald Leary for a 3rd-down sack/fumble that Tony Romo luckily (for him) fell under.
Big field position win for the Packers, starting at their 40. Bruce Carter jumps Eddie Lacy in the backfield for a 1-yard loss, but Jordy Nelson beats Brandon Carr near the sideline for 11. Giant hole over the right side yields a 19-yard run for Lacy. It's basically a great big hole Dallas just left in the formation. Why do defensive coordinators DO THAT? Lacy continues to prove unstoppable now, with 5- and 11-yard runs, the second one led by John KUUUHN. Packers already in the red zone. It's like Dallas doesn't have a defensive line at all as Lacy takes a delay handoff for another 8 inside the 10, with KUUUHN taking Carter out. Whatever happens this next play, it is automatically awesome because Rodgers' audible was "New York Bozo". Lacy plunges up the middle to make it 1st-and-goal at the 4. Flip-90 to Lacy doesn't work as Jeremy Mincey shuts it down. Davante Adams can't get off Sterling Moore's jam a bit on a 2nd-goal incompletion. Rodgers polishes the drive off, though, by stepping up in the pocket and hitting Andrew Quarless in the back of the end zone, beating Carter. Packers 7, Cowboys 0 A Dallas loss today will be suitable karma for their distinction as the only NFL website that won't let you sort the roster by number.
Dwayne Harris brings the kick back to the 35. Green Bay misses out on a second 3-and-out when Brad Jones holds Murray on a 3rd-4 screen pass attempt. Zack Martin, who's started well, then commits a hold on Peppers, who's started better. So, of course, Cole F. Beasley gets most of it back on a bubble screen. Mike Daniels stuffs Murray on 2nd down, but Murray's cutback appears to fool him on 3rd down and gets Dallas a 1st down at the GB40. Romo scrambles for 7. The Packer secondary has not given up much downfield so far. Murray picks up another first behind Jason Witten trucking Clay Matthews. All day again for Romo with Green Bay rushing 4; he hits Witten over the middle for 8. Murray skips for about 8 feet. Injury stoppage for an ankle injury for Josh Boyd. Dallas, logically, goes right up the middle where Boyd would be. Green Bay actually stacks it up well, but Murray still gets behind Martin to pick up a couple. Red zone, Dallas. Dallas gets their latest refereeing gift of the postseason: Tramond Williams called for defensive holding when all he did was clip feet with Terrance Williams. The little bit of upper-body contact he made fooled the official into thinking he'd dragged Terrance down. 1st down Dallas at the GB1? Thanks for announcing that DPI call as holding, Fox! And, you can't stop TYLER CLUTTS; you can only hope to contain him. He out Kuuuhns the Packer fullback by sliding out into the flat all alone for a 1-yard TD. Packers 7, Cowboys 7. Pretty graceful TD for a Clutts. Matthews took Romo down very late on the TD play, with a hit on the knee, and did not get flagged. Not a refereeing clinic here at Lambeau thus far.
Randall Cobb out to the 32 with the return for the Packers. James Starks? Really? behind left guard for 4. Pretty poor throw intended for Cobb with a blitz coming on 2nd down. Rodgers gets about a week to throw before Jeremy Mincey, already on the ground, just reaches up and grabs him for a sack. Holding on Carr keeps the drive alive, but these last two plays demonstrated Rodgers' injury affecting his throwing form, and he also looks completely unwilling to run.
SECOND QUARTER
Mincey stuffs Starks to force the Packers into 3rd-and-11, but Rodgers hard-counts Anthony Spencer, and despite staring down Randall Cobb even before the snap, hits Cobb beating Orlando Scandrick on a square-in for a 1st at the DAL43. Starks grinds down to the 30 on three carries. But that's it. A blitz induces a hot-read pass to Cobb for only three; pressure from Mincey and Tyrone Crawford get Rodgers to throw out the back of the end zone, and on 3rd down, Yahtzee for the Dallas defense. The center snaps early; Rodgers wasn't expecting it and it also gave Mincey a jump on David Bakhtiari, who he pushed by to drop Rodgers for a sack/fumble that he also recovered.
Dallas at their 36; Murray rips 7 off right guard and sweeps left for another 5. Beasley beats Casey Hayward for another 11. Two plays later, it's once again Terrance Time. Williams takes a quick hitch at about the GB33, breaks Tramond Williams' tackle, puts a fake on Micah Hyde, and while Hasean Clinton-Dix basically gives up on the play, sprints up the middle for a 38-yard TD. Dez Bryant hasn't shown up this postseason at all, but Terrance Williams has shown up bigtime. Cowboys 14-7
GEORGE SELVIE blows up a handoff to Lacy for no gain, and the Packers are spinning their wheels right now. Scandrick and Moore are all over a quick screen to Adams that gets maybe two. Clutch throw to Nelson for 10, though, beating Carr again. Rodgers is then pressured into throwing away a screen pass, and Lacy is stuffed again up the middle. Dallas blitzes a LB on 3rd down and Rodgers doesn't quite hit Nelson in stride downfield and he can't make the catch. This is what you had to worry about as a Packers fan. Rodgers is out of sorts, Dallas is pressuring him successfully and stuffing the running game.
Cowboys at their 21 after an illegal block on the punt. Dez Bryant finally does something, getting 10 on a quick screen. Matthews pressures Romo into throwing away a screen on 2nd-and-7, but a Packer blitz on 3rd down does not pay off, as Romo hits Witten for 18 across midfield. Matthews tries to time the next snap, misses, and Murray runs by him for 5 at the 2:00 warning. Romo and Witten connect again for a 1st down at the 37, as Steratore continues to let the Packer linemen take illegal shots at Romo's knees. Matthews times the next run perfectly but Murray runs through him for 3 anyway. Witten gets 6 more on a square out. The officials tried to give him a first down but retract it after review. Dallas had called timeout, and Jason Garrett wants it back, but doesn't get it back. Seems like he should. On 3rd-1, Romo muffs the shotgun snap, which appeared to catch him by surprise, but corrals it and gets off a deep throw incomplete for Williams. Williams was injured on the play. Dan Bailey continues his postseason to forget with a poor kick wide right. Buck says Datone Jones got a hand on it; also, the snap from center was terrible.
So it's Green Bay at their 40 with 0:29 to go. Cobb makes a tough diving catch for 12 across midfield. It'll be reviewed but it looked like it bounced off Cobb's hand, not the ground. Mike Pereira disagrees with me, but Steratore agrees. Rodgers gets a long time to throw the next play and gets sacked again, as DeMarcus Lawrence beat the center Corey Linsley late. That lost 10, but Rodgers gets forever to throw again and hits Cobb perfectly on a deep corner for 31. They've got time for one shot from the DAL27 with :09 left. No, just a quick-hitter to Adams to get Mason Crosby in a little closer. Crosby nails it from 40 for, as Buck points out, a six-point swing in the game before halftime. Cowboys 14, Packers 10
HALFTIME SHOW
 |
| Olivia Munn (FanPop) |
Olivia's boyfriend is clearly not himself today, though. Rodgers can't run and Dallas appears to be doing a great job picking everything up downfield. And that's even with the Pack having run for almost 70 yards at halftime. They seem to have necessarily adjusted to quicker routes. I'd like to see Cobb worked a lot more on those. Nelson hasn't done squat; maybe time to send him on some double-moves. Get the RBs involved in the passing game, too. Anthony Hitchens has had to replace Rolando McClain due to injury; make him think a lot out there. Rod Marinelli probably doesn't have to change a thing on defense for Dallas, though with Rodgers not moving at all, he may not pay dearly if he blitzes. Just don't go all Gregg Williams with it and blitz yourself out of a game you're winning.
Green Bay's got to improve their pass pressure on Romo but may not be able to. The o-line has been great at picking up their blitzes so far. That's allowed Dallas to survive another half of Dez Bryant not showing up. I expect Romo to keep looking for Williams and Witten, and if they can hit a Dom Capers blitz with a big draw like they did against Detroit last week, they may get another DC too far back on his heels to respond to what they're doing.
THIRD QUARTER
Micah Hyde out to the 34 after a stupid squib kick by Dallas. Lacy charges through Hitchens' strip-out attempt for 5. Church meets him in the hole after 4 on 2nd down. Crawford nearly blew up the 3rd-down run but Lacy barely got the 1st. Rodgers misses Nelson badly with Scandrick blitzing. Dallas nearly blows up a draw but Lacy bulls through Nick Hayden and Crawford for 4. Scandrick blankets Cobb on 3rd down and it looked like Rodgers just threw that pass away.
The over starting to look less and less great as Dallas starts at their 20. That's another dumb one on me, taking the over with Rodgers injured. Mike Neal swallows Murray whole for no gain. Bryant draws a DPI downfield on Tramond Williams. Mike McCarthy challenges that the pass was tipped. Peppers got a hand up, but I don't think it was. Steratore agrees. Dallas at their 36 while Green Bay loses a timeout. Now Matthews jumps offside. Romo audibles to a right-side handoff that gets Murray a huge hole, but here's Peppers AGAIN, making a crucial play by lunging at Murray and using that ridiculous reach of his to strip the ball out from behind. Packers recover.
Murray was carrying that high and tight and everything. Aikman is adamant that Peppers saved a TD. And now here's Mincey AGAIN, stuffing a Lacy run. Was this game billed as Rodgers vs. Romo or Peppers vs. Mincey? Or, how about the Eddie Lacey show. He gets a big turnout block from Josh Sitton, KUUUHN really drills an overplaying Hitchens, Adams gets him a block downfield, and Lacey's got a big 29. Up handoff to KUUUHN for 4; quick hitch to Adams for 4 more. A big late hit by T.J. Lang on Haydfen gets a good brawl started on the Packer sideline. Bakhtiari puts Hayden on his ass AGAIN during the melee. I think this will go as a flag on Lang for hitting after the whistle but not much else. Steratore agrees with me again. 3rd-16 Green Bay at the 22. Dallas only rushes 3 and Rodgers only dumps off to Lacey for 11. Crosby bings it through from about 30. Cowboys 14, Packers 13
Dallas at their 20 with half the quarter gone. Play-action, and here's Bryant, beating Sam Shields for 20. After Murray cuts back for 5, Joseph Randle explodes off the left side for 13 more, off good blocking by Leary and Travis Frederick. Have to like both teams' running persistence this half. Next play is fun - Hyde blitzes in untouched, but hesitates thinking Romo will run and is of course lost. Romo throws a wobbler that Bryant tips, but Witten catches it a couple of yards behind him for 16. Romo is limping after getting taken down by Hyde but it's hard to tell what he's hurt. I think Aikman's guessed right that it's his back. Murray makes everything feel better by getting the right corner and speeding all the way down to the 1 for 25 yards. Key block by Martin. Murray gets blocks from Clutts and Tyron Smith and 4th TE Tony Hills to score easily from there. Cowboys 21-13
Nope, Romo hurt his left knee a couple of plays ago, but nothing serious. Cobb loses the ball on the return kickoff but his teammates recover and prevent a disaster. Holding backs them up to the 10 anyway. Rodgers dumps to KUUUHN for 7. He gets about two weeks to throw the next pass and still nearly gets picked off. Rodgers' non-running played in big there. Adams turns a quick sideline hitch into 17, though. Dallas' pass rush has completely died, and Rodgers hits Cobb up the left seam for another 26. Probably blitz time for Marinelli. Dallas burns a timeout on 2nd down. Rodgers throws a bad pass to no one in particular on 3rd, then Quarless false starts.
Time for some Lambeau Magic, and Dallas Idiocy, on 3rd-and-15. Dallas brings only 4. Adams burns Moore for a first down at the 30, makes J.J. Wilcox look like a complete idiot with a not-all-that-convincing fake inside, then outruns everybody to the pylon for a 46-yard TD. OK, that was more idiocy than magic, not that Green Bay won't gladly take it. Cowboys 21, Packers 20
Dallas at their 25 as Chris Myers essentially reports that Romo has a boo-boo on his knee. Murray bounces off a big hit from Datone Jones for 5. Green Bay forgets Witten on a quick slant and he takes off for 18 more. This just in: RamView still hates zone blitzes. Dallas tries play-action on the last play of the quarter but Romo gets buried for a sack. Daniels almost drove Leary right over him, and Nick Perry beat Tyron Smith around the edge to clean up.
FOURTH QUARTER
Romo gets all day again before the relentless Daniels beats Leary late and takes him down for back-to-back Packer sacks. A screen to Murray doesn't get much, and Uncle Mo has definitely jumped on the Packers' bandwagon. Dallas punts it into the end zone.
Rodgers is nearly sacked by Hayden on an intended screen left, then screens left to Quarless, who turns it into a 12-yard gain. Schottenheimer calls a handoff to COBB up the middle for 2. Cobb has been the tailback this whole drive. Rodgers fakes a quick hitch to him, then goes to the left sideline to Adams, who spins niftily out of a Scandrick tackle and gets across midfield. 7 to Cobb on a drag route. Now a screen to Cobb out of the backfield, and he outruns the defense for 14. This is quite a change-of-pace drive McCarthy has called here. Rodgers gets a month to throw and hits Quarless at the DAL 20 for 7. A downfield shovel to Quarless gets another 6, but they have to burn their 2nd timeout on 1st down. From the 13 - I don't know how Green Bay gained a yard between plays, but they did - Rodgers maneuvers out of trouble and Hammersteins a pass to Richard Rodgers, of all people, the 3rd TE, for a back-of-the-end-zone TD. Jeff Heath breaks up the attempted 2-pointer to Quarless. Packers 26, Cowboys 21 Pretty damn good TD drive for a QB who can barely even run.
Dallas at their 18 with about 9:00 left. Murray gets yet another big hole from Martin and Leary and sprints through it for 30. A rare completion to Bryant gets another first down at the GB40. Romo scrambles around forever on 2nd-8 but eventually gets crushed by Neal and Datone Jones, losing 3. Beasley's stopped about 3 yards short on a middle route; 4th-and-a-long-2 at the GB32. Aikman wants Dallas to take the FG, forgetting that Bailey has turned into a spaz in the postseason.
In a play eerily familiar to Rams fans, with a little less than 4:44 left to play, the Packers blitz, and Romo lobs one down the left sideline for Bryant, who makes an amazing leaping catch over Shields inside the 1 and appears to finish the process successfully.
Ohhh, maybe not. Bryant twists on the way down, slams the ball into the ground, and that act clearly makes the ball loose. Bryant controls it after that, but I don't think that's a successfully completed "process". That's a shame, it was a brilliant attempt by Bryant.
The ball hit the ground, then came out of his hands as he flipped over across the goal line. If it hadn't left his hands, I feel certain it would have been a legal catch. Football is a game of less than inches.
Oh, and almost forgot - that was a 4th-down play. Packers' ball at their 32 now. 4:06 left, Dallas obviously needs a 3-and-out here. Barry Church stops Lacey for 2. Lacey plows left for 4 more. Bad time management by me, I would have used up my timeouts already. Dallas will have to use theirs now, as Rodgers hits Adams at the sideline for a first down, Moore tries to take the ball away instead of tackling him, and he's off for 26. Dallas stops the clock at 2:24 and uses their last timeout at 2:17. Hitchens stops Lacey to make it 3rd-and-11 at the 2:00 warning.
And, what a weird play to seal the game. Rodgers' pass gets tipped at the line by a leaping Crawford, but Scandrick, who came over way late before the snap, is clueless in coverage and Cobb makes the catch behind him for a first down at the 23. Should be victory formation for the Packers from here. Cobb's celebration penalty will not affect the finish, luckily for him.
Final score: Green Bay 26, Dallas 21
POSTGAME SHOW
 |
| ESPN.com / Getty |
RamView's very happy getting the win and the cover right here, though if that Bryant catch had counted, I had a shot at the trifecta.
We already have a very highly-anticipated NFC Championship a week from now with the Packers at the Seahawks. Initially, I don't like Rodgers' chances there if he's still gimping, and the 12th man's going to make it hard for them to run their offense. They also can't give Russell Wilson the tons of time Romo got to throw today. On the other hand, Carolina showed Seattle could be run on even with mostly outcasts on your offensive line. Adams will have to step up again for Green Bay because Nelson will probably disappear again, but Rodgers too has to be salivating at throwing at Tharold Simon if Byron Maxwell's still out. Dallas ran well on Green Bay today, but I wonder if Seattle can do the same after pretty much failing against Carolina last night. It all spells a game as close as the one just played here to me.
For Dallas, I'd look very hard at defense throughout free agency and the draft. They can use more pass rushers, a lot better depth at LB and people in their secondary who can tackle.
On to Denver!
-$-
No comments:
Post a Comment