How in the world did the Green Bay Packers avoid shocking the world? Let’s face it; few of us saw the Packers winning the game, much less having a significant lead throughout the game. And how many of us had heard of Brandon Bostick before late Sunday afternoon? We hear all the time about how well players are treated in Green Bay, and rightfully so. My guess is Mr. Bostick made the flight home, cleared his stuff out and got out of Dodge as fast as he could. But he’s far from the only culprit. So like investigators after a crash, I’ve looked for root causes of the wreck. And to borrow the name of one of my favorite ESPN shows, I’ve come up with The Top Five Reasons You Can’t Blame Brandon Bostick for the Packers loss. No. 5: Faked out – Seattle was desperate for something. Anything. Some sort of spark to ignite the famed 12th Man and get back in the game. I’ve never fully understood why field goal defenses won’t cover a guy who leaves the formation, unless the defense is specifically going for a blocked kick. I’m willing to listen to an explanation. Really. For the Seahawks, they had little more to lose at that point. It was the perfect time to try a trick play, and it worked. No. 4: One-Armed Bandit – On what would be Green Bay’s final possession, they never once threw the ball Richard Sherman’s way, even though the entire free world that cares about American football knew his left arm was far less than 100 percent. Kudos to Sherman for staying in the game, but couldn’t have Aaron Rodgers and Company at least tried to throw the ball his way at least once? Sherman didn’t have to pass a test; he quizzed out on his reputation. No. 3: Slide into the Super Bowl? – I’m not saying Morgan Burnett would have run his interception of Russell Wilson back for a touchdown, but with five minutes to go, you need to go get everything you can. My guess is there’s a reason Burnett plays defense; I wonder if he can’t hang on to the ball. If that’s the case I’d give him a lot more slack, but not let him off the hook. Even if all the Packers can get out of that is a field goal, it completely changes the end of the game. No. 2: Two Point Conversion – Every coach I’ve ever come across will tell a quarterback to never ever ever ever throw the ball back across the field. So why would Wilson do it? The play to extend the lead after Seattle’s go ahead touchdown was failing, and Wilson didn’t have any more options. And the Packer secondary let him off the hook. Luke Willson makes the catch, and basically insures overtime. Even a pass interference call is better than letting Wilson make that happen. No. 1: Three-point shots – As a Kansas City Chiefs fan, I can’t tell you how many times we’ve seen our team settle for three points instead of going for a touchdown early in a game. With some painful research I could probably list a dozen or more games from the last 20-plus years where the Chiefs have given up the comeback. Twice the Pack had the ball inside the five yard line in the first half, and twice settled for field goals. Touchdowns make the comeback all the more difficult, and the way Seattle was playing offensively, the Packers let them off the hook. Then again, if Bostick had simply done his job, blocking for Jordy Nelson rather than try and be a hero, maybe I’m writing an entirely different column. Of course, how many of us remember the names of a hands team member who did his job? Wisconsinites will remember Bostick’s name the way Chiefs fans remember the name Lin Elliott. This is the kind of loss that people remember forever. Not every sports fan pulls for a team that suffers this kind of loss. It’s taken me nearly 40 years to be able to write the name of the Yankee first baseman who hit the home run that beat the Royals in the 1976 playoffs. And no, I’m not going to write it here, just to prove my point. While conceding only the die-hard Packer fans really thought Green Bay would win in Seattle, to come so close to the epic win and have so many things go wrong is going to be painful long term. Packer fans who have yet to graduate high school will remember this loss after they become grandparents. And by the way, I’d like to see NFL overtime rules modified to give each team a possession. It’s better now that the team getting the ball first has to score a touchdown to end the game, but overtime is not all it could be. Send me an e-mail to discuss it, if you like!
Let’s face it; few of us saw the Packers winning the game, much less having a significant lead throughout the game. And how many of us had heard of Brandon Bostick before late Sunday afternoon? We hear all the time about how well players are treated in Green Bay, and rightfully so. My guess is Mr. Bostick made the flight home, cleared his stuff out and got out of Dodge as fast as he could. But he’s far from the only culprit. So like investigators after a crash, I’ve looked for root causes of the wreck. And to borrow the name of one of my favorite ESPN shows, I’ve come up with The Top Five Reasons You Can’t Blame Brandon Bostick for the Packers loss. No. 5: Faked out – Seattle was desperate for something. Anything. Some sort of spark to ignite the famed 12th Man and get back in the game. I’ve never fully understood why field goal defenses won’t cover a guy who leaves the formation, unless the defense is specifically going for a blocked kick. I’m willing to listen to an explanation. Really. For the Seahawks, they had little more to lose at that point. It was the perfect time to try a trick play, and it worked. No. 4: One-Armed Bandit – On what would be Green Bay’s final possession, they never once threw the ball Richard Sherman’s way, even though the entire free world that cares about American football knew his left arm was far less than 100 percent. Kudos to Sherman for staying in the game, but couldn’t have Aaron Rodgers and Company at least tried to throw the ball his way at least once? Sherman didn’t have to pass a test; he quizzed out on his reputation. No. 3: Slide into the Super Bowl? – I’m not saying Morgan Burnett would have run his interception of Russell Wilson back for a touchdown, but with five minutes to go, you need to go get everything you can. My guess is there’s a reason Burnett plays defense; I wonder if he can’t hang on to the ball. If that’s the case I’d give him a lot more slack, but not let him off the hook. Even if all the Packers can get out of that is a field goal, it completely changes the end of the game. No. 2: Two Point Conversion – Every coach I’ve ever come across will tell a quarterback to never ever ever ever throw the ball back across the field. So why would Wilson do it? The play to extend the lead after Seattle’s go ahead touchdown was failing, and Wilson didn’t have any more options. And the Packer secondary let him off the hook. Luke Willson makes the catch, and basically insures overtime. Even a pass interference call is better than letting Wilson make that happen. No. 1: Three-point shots – As a Kansas City Chiefs fan, I can’t tell you how many times we’ve seen our team settle for three points instead of going for a touchdown early in a game. With some painful research I could probably list a dozen or more games from the last 20-plus years where the Chiefs have given up the comeback. Twice the Pack had the ball inside the five yard line in the first half, and twice settled for field goals. Touchdowns make the comeback all the more difficult, and the way Seattle was playing offensively, the Packers let them off the hook. Then again, if Bostick had simply done his job, blocking for Jordy Nelson rather than try and be a hero, maybe I’m writing an entirely different column. Of course, how many of us remember the names of a hands team member who did his job? Wisconsinites will remember Bostick’s name the way Chiefs fans remember the name Lin Elliott. This is the kind of loss that people remember forever. Not every sports fan pulls for a team that suffers this kind of loss. It’s taken me nearly 40 years to be able to write the name of the Yankee first baseman who hit the home run that beat the Royals in the 1976 playoffs. And no, I’m not going to write it here, just to prove my point. While conceding only the die-hard Packer fans really thought Green Bay would win in Seattle, to come so close to the epic win and have so many things go wrong is going to be painful long term. Packer fans who have yet to graduate high school will remember this loss after they become grandparents. And by the way, I’d like to see NFL overtime rules modified to give each team a possession. It’s better now that the team getting the ball first has to score a touchdown to end the game, but overtime is not all it could be. Send me an e-mail to discuss it, if you like!
