LUCK-Y STRIKES

 

Luck and Wayne Shine for Colts as Pack Collapses

 

After five games in the 2012 season it is time to ask the question: what in the name of Jim Grabowski is going on with this year’s Packers? The Pack entered Indianapolis heavy favorites over the Colts and exited after rookie QB and overall 1^st pick Andrew Luck carved up the new and improved Packers pass defense. In the process he made the passing combination of last year’s MVP Aaron Rodgers and Jordy Nelson look as stale as last year’s cheese as Luck and WR Reggie Wayne hooked up 13 times and 212 yards. In the process the Packers blew a 21 – 3 halftime lead, the largest lead ever in franchise history to be squandered.

The Packers look nothing like the Packers. What is ailing the preseason Super Bowl favorite is hard to define. It is the aggregate total of a lot of little things not quite right, much like the engine of a Ferrari missing on a few cylinders that make it sputter and jerk and not run like a well-oiled machine. Aaron Rodgers’ accuracy. The dropsies of the receiving corps. The offensive line play. Penalties. Injuries. Bad calls. Missed calls. Horrendous calls. Missed opportunities. Lack of focus. Not generating enough turnovers on defense. Mismanaging the clock.

Against the Pack Luck stood tall and delivered a win dedicated to ailing Colt Coach Chuck Pagano. Reggie Wayne had a career day and delivered the game ball to Pagano himself. While the Colts had emotion on their side Green Bay looked like the team that won 15 games last year and the Super Bowl the season before. That team, however, stayed in the locker room as Green Bay lost in time of possession, total yards, points and big plays. Wayne was spectacular and saved his best for last.

With the clock down under a minute and the Colts out of timeouts Luck drilled a seeing-eye pass into Wayne through a forest of hands and Wayne somehow contorted his angular frame over the goal line as 3 Packer defenders lowered the boom. The Wayne catch gave the Colts a lead of 28- 27 and Indy needed no luck on the 2 point conversion as RB Donald Brown found a hole to put the game away.

Rodgers continued to look off his MVP form once again. He managed to drive the Packers into field goal range with less than a minute but was forced to burn Green Bay’s last precious timeout with 8 seconds left and the clock stopped as the play clock was at :01. In a highly charged emotional game played by the Colts K Mason Crosby drilled the kick but almost as soon as it cleared the line it took a dramatic turn to the left, a turn so sharp it looked like a knuckleball.  The miss gave the Colts a win they dedicated to their Head Coach Chuck Pagano who has left the team as he battles leukemia. Even Crosby was shocked at the kick. “I’ve never had a ball do that on me ever” he said after the game. “I don’t know if the ball was moving at impact or what. I’ll have to wait to see the tape, slow it down, and see what went wrong.”

Perhaps it was fate. The Colts looked out of it as Green Bay looked like their offense was finally untracked in the first half. The Packers lead of 21 – 3 did not accurately tell the whole story. While the Packers dominated as a team in the first half the offense looked sluggish at times and plagued with the little hiccups that have begun to haunt them. RB Cedric Benson could not find room to run on the outside while his Indy counterpart Donald Brown made the out rush a routine 5+ yard pickup on most of his scampers.

Rodgers has been very un-Rodgers like with misses, overthrows, and going back to his Rubicon of 3 seasons ago by holding on to the ball far too long. What has to be troubling to Head Coach Mike McCarthy is throughout the entire camp when the Packers ran their hurry-up offense McCarthy had a very loud horn go off after 2.5 seconds to ingrain into everyone how fast the ball needs to come out. It isn’t working. Rodgers has begun to hang on too long looking to make magic and ending up on the bottom of a pile. WR Jordy Nelson has enjoyed a connection with Rodgers and has become a threat every time he is on the field yet somehow he and Rodgers have not been able to get in sync. While the Rodgers to Nelson combo has failed to ignite forgotten #4 receiver James Jones has become a touchdown scoring beast as he caught another one on Sunday. Randall Cobb also had a big day with a nifty catch and run for 6 while FB John Kuhn bulled in from the 2.

There was a sense of confidence as the Packers dominated the first half in limiting the Colts to 3 points.

Apparently the Packers believed one half of football was enough. Luck came out and outplayed the Pack and Wayne made every kind of circus catch he could. Quick hitters, deep outs and over the middle catches were highlighted by Wayne’s spectacular one handed catch as he was covered by the Pack’s Charles Woodson. After Indy’s fire sale last year, after a dreadful season that put them into position to grab Luck, Wayne watched as former Colt stalwarts Peyton Manning and Jeff Saturday were cut loose. Wayne made the difficult decision to stay behind and has found chemistry already with Luck.

That chemistry is glaringly missing from the Packers offense. Widely regarded as having the finest receiving corps in the NFL to go with Mr. Rodgers the Packer offense has looked rather suspect all season. TE Jermichael Finley has all world talent but a nagging penchant for dropping the ball. Finley leads the NFL in one dubious category; he has 17 dropped passes in the past 2 years to lead the NFL in this ugly category. Greg Jennings’ absence has clearly impacted the Packers and Rodgers as well. Nelson benefitted from seeing far less double coverage as Jennings drew much of the attention. As the Pack’s go to guy the combo of Rodgers to Nelson as largely fizzled this year as Nelson finds it much harder to get open and Rodgers legendary accuracy has betrayed him mightily this year. Even when he is open the chemistry Rodgers once had with Nelson has been strangely AWOL. Nelson could only wave his arms at a pass that sailed over his head in the first quarter after getting a two step jump on his man.

The Packers went into the draft thinking they had a pat hand on offense and paid all their attention to defense. But the loss of All Pro Scott Wells and injury to LT Derrick Sherrod has slowed the offensive line as a whole. Saturday is still competent center but that is hardly a ringing endorsement. As the Colts exploded in the 3^rd quarter Saturday found himself unceremoniously knocked on his can by the Colts’ unheralded DT Cory Redding who registered 2 sacks. The offensive line as a whole has fallen from their production from last year across the board. After Benson left with a foot injury the Packers ground game was nonexistent until Alex Green tore off a beautiful 41 yard run that set up the Packers final attempt to tie the score.

Even the defense is not exempt. A much improved group from a year ago the learning curve went backwards as penalties and injuries took their toll. In a continuing theme of being snake bit the Pack once again found themselves being flagged on D for some very questionable calls. Rookie LB Nick Perry rang Luck’s bell with a vicious blind side hit that was so violent Luck’s head snapped back as he never saw Perry coming (photo/ left). In replay Perry clearly led with his shoulder into Luck’s chest; the violence of the impact drew a flag for a head high helmet hit. Sam Shields once again saw a yellow flag on another phantom pass interference call that begs explanation. From every conceivable angle and taking off the green and gold homer glasses both calls are true head scratchers. Perry came in hard, untouched, and unseen by Luck. It looked like a perfectly timed form tackle – head up, arms out, driving the shoulder in, balance in the legs, wrapping up his man – that had such force Luck’s head snapped back causing the referee to penalize the ferocity but not the act itself of the play.

Shields has to be wondering what he is doing wrong. Twice he has had almost perfect blanket coverage running step for step with his man, eyes up on the ball, being grabbed by the receiver and twice he has come away being flagged. As Shields had Donnie Avery every step of the way well positioned on the inside as Avery clawed at Shields from the outside Luck’s pass sailed far over everyone’s head out of bounds, an uncatchable ball if ever there was one.

And just like in Seattle Shields could only shake his head at the yellow laundry at his feet.

The penalties don’t end with Shields. Sir Charles, the future Hall of Famer Charles Woodson, has taken far too many unnecessary penalties for holding this year. As Woodson gets older he isn’t getting faster, and he has been flagged far too often for it to go unnoticed.  Depending on Woodson at safety for over the top help is shaky.

The Colts clearly outplayed the Pack in every facet of the game in the second half. The injuries certainly did not help the cause. Cedric Benson left the game with a foot injury. Without their new feature back in came 2^nd year man Alex Green. But Green Bay went from a run/ pass balanced attack into passing mode. It wasn’t until the final, futile drive that Green showed what he could do. When Rodgers was picked off by unheralded CB Jerraud Powers early in the 3^rd quarter it started the Colts stampede. After Raji left with an injured ankle the middle of the defensive line could not stop the run. Luck stood tall in the pocket narrowly escaping Clay Matthews to keep a drive alive. “He’s strong” said Matthews. “Slippery, hard to bring down.” When he needed to Luck did a pretty good Aaron Rodgers imitation by extending the play with his feet, running for first downs, and going right up the gut for a score of his own.

The charmed life the Packers have led for almost 2 years now, starting with the last 6 games of the ’10 season, has clearly done a 180 degree turn. Last year the Packers found ways to win. This year they have been equally creative in finding ways to lose. At some point McCarthy will stop expecting his players to be professionals and do their jobs and go to the whip.

After 5 games the season is far from over. But as Minnesota and Chicago open up a 2 game lead over Green Bay there is a sense of urgency in getting the job done. The Pack has frittered away their chances too often and with AFC powerhouse Houston next on the schedule it doesn’t get any easier.

The time is now for the Packers to put up or shut up. The clock is ticking louder and louder every week.