OldSchoolSnapper

I've always found MJS coverage to have abhorrent knowledge of the Minor League system. Possibly not a fair criticism, as it is not the team they cover.

It wasn't a good play any way you slice it. But at that point, I think 3rd and 11, he decided he was giving the best player a chance to end game, and on the other end, that a throw that deep that's picked off was better than another punt...after what just happened on a punt. But he did a poor job all night of finding another guy to be a difference maker. They really had to do that and just did not try hard enough. Just overall, another horrid final few minutes of a playoff game that will go down in Packer lore. I've still been waking up unable to figure out how they lost after that 4th down stop with about 5 minutes to go. That was the first moment of the game where I thought, OK, they're gonna gut this out. Awful.

The ramping up of piling on Rodgers has been a thing for years and just gets added onto anything happens. Whether it is logical to pile on him for it or not. I don't really think the vaccine thing makes that much of a difference. People are piling on him for the offseason and wanting to win...then not playing like an MVP and losing in the divisional round. Yeah...I think this is way off the mark. He is getting absolutely skewered online, 90% of it jokes about being "unmasked" or "not getting his shot." Anyone of his stature will have their share of detractors. But in the last 12 months he has probably become the most-hated player, or most polarizing player in the league. You don't stick your face in such a hot-button issue and speak vocally about your position without making a lot of new enemies. What you're saying is true but it was localized to football/sports. You have the president of the country calling him a goofball now. It's elevated.

My concern level went up a lot when I saw MVS was inactive even though it wasn't surprising. Early in the game when the short stuff was dominant, it eased my worry a bit. But when that stopped, his absence was felt. He wouldn't have had to anything more than 3 catches for 48 yards. Just the idea that he could run around a bit would have helped. I'll second that Rodgers looked his age for the first time I have seen. A lot about that game was similar to the 2007 Giants loss.

I think the ST problems have more to do with how the Packers build a roster than the coach. Drayton compounded that with some truly unbelievable blocking alignments, but when you keep 4th TEs and extra OL, that is a spot for a backup LB/S who is not playing ST. That is the real difference. They have never prioritized guys like Nick Bellore, who built decade+ careers essentially only making a difference on ST.

Poor Josh Allen indeed. He had an absolutely white hot playoffs, ridiculous talent.

Josh Allen is gonna get the Bills a Super Bowl. Looks like a man on a mission. Good to have new blood in the final four. Just get Garapollo out of there, he's embarrassing.

If the Bills do hang on, I've thus far called one game incorrectly in the playoffs. The only one I actually cared about.

Too much time.

3/4 anyway...

MLF is a young coach and it's pretty obvious that they did not think ST mattered. They can say otherwise all they want but it has been a bad unit for years. The roster construction alone is proof that they do not value that facet of the game. Maybe now they will, a year too late. Oh and yeah, the coordinator should obviously be canned. Just not sure what doing it midyear would have done. Couldn't have been any worse though. Honestly though this is really the first year I'd even describe as problematic as far as MLF goes. First year was a foregone conclusion and last year was a hard fought game with a good team. Last night was a complete debacle against a team they had no business losing to, who could not move the ball 20 yards, and the total inability to BLOCK ON KICKS cost them a season. It's inexcusable.

It honestly doesn't make any difference for me. I'd have no real reason to believe it. On paper they should have won yesterday and they should beat the Rams at Lambeau. In reality they couldn't figure out a way to win when the defense played the game of their lives and the opposing QB was terrible. If they had somehow hung on last night, it would have been pure dumb luck, Maurice Drayton would still be our ST coordinator next weekend and I'd have no reason to think we'd be any better prepared than we were yesterday and that our ST wouldn't cost us the game in some spectacular fashion. All these years of playoff futility is was said universally that if the Packers had an even average defense they would have at least two more championships. Well, they had a better than average defense this year. There's no more excuses. Rodgers has to shoulder his share of the blame and the excuses for him have come to a halt. Well, both things can be true. If they'd had consistently better defense, they may have more titles. Maybe not. But having a good defense for a year or two and not winning doesn't negate the central point. Obviously the more well rounded you are consistently the more chances you will have. One would think that by sheer luck alone, they'd have two by now though. This year really stinks though, because they were quite good. There are a lot of playoff losses in there where they met or exceeded expectations based on the roster. This is one where I feel they truly fell short. That always hurts a bit more. This team was good. I think better than last year. And last year was better than the year before. They just can't put it together.

I know the cope of the weekend is probably going to be that the Rams would have pounded the Packers but I just don't see it. If we had somehow survived last night in the ugliest of possible ways, I'd have felt really good about reaching the Super Bowl. This is going to hurt for a long time. I thought last year was a great chance. This year was better.

I'm more referring to national media and the Twitter verse. That whole piling on has been due the vaccine and ramped up with the whole "I'm immunized."

It's the vaccine and nothing else. The minute he decided to be some vaccine debate symbol (don't think that was his intention but inevitable when someone of his stature makes his opinion known) he was setting himself up for this when he lost. The rest of it, i.e. the off-season, discontent with Packers, was nothing. Nobody would have really cared about any of that. He made himself a mascot on the most divisive thing in the country at the moment.

It's honestly going to be such an enormous relief as a fan to go into a season without the expectation that it's a failure if you don't win the Super Bowl. Totally ready for that if that's what is happening.

My issue with the whole "lack of #2 WR" thing is that, while it was a factor in this game...they easily win this game with the even the slightest competence on ST. I don't think this loss is terribly complicated. They did not care about ST and thought they could compensate for it with offense and what ultimately was a pretty good defense. Gross oversight by MLF and a disaster that unfortunately MANY of us thought could be their undoing.

I don't think he did plenty to win. He had a nice drive and then did nothing. He didn't make any horrible mistakes though and that should be enough when your defense is as dominant as it was. It's inexcusable and perfectly Packers that they lost a playoff game almost solely due to ST blocking. Incredible really. They could have even possibly withstood ONE block, just not two.

I mean it's possible something better happens if they can take a safety there or even tackle someone at the 10. Just another Packer comedy of errors.

And the truth is that the one season Rodgers won a title he was indeed bailed out of a horrible game with a QB rating in the 50s in Chicago and singlehandedly dominated another in Atlanta. It can be a cruel game for sure. He did seem to fall on the bad side of luck more often than not, particularly in the playoffs. Even that punt block was almost comical, how long the ball hung in the air and then landed precisely in front of the wrong guy who had nobody in his way.

Rodgers didn't have a great game. But their guy was downright awful. Packers should be playing next week, easily, with the game Rodgers had. Rodgers stats are misleading I admit, but when you're 19 of 25 or whatever with 200 yards and don't turn the ball over, and Jimmy's line is what it is, something went horribly wrong for you to lose. He deserves his share of blame for a bad performance but at least part of me feels bad for the guy seemingly always having to be "on" to compensate for some other catastrophic failing. Literally almost every single time.

I think Lazard breaking free is only relevant if you're selling that he was wide open which he really was not. However that throw seems at least a WAY better decision than the one he made. Most plays don't get psychoanalyzed like that though so it probably happens fairly often.

not only was he wide open but he probably would have run all the way to field goal range Except he wasn't wide open when Rodgers threw the ball - he was wide open after the throw was made. Look at the :04 mark of that video - Lazard has one defender behind him and one in front of him and Rodgers was already in his throwing motion when Lazard made his break. Now, Rodgers had another second to let the play develop and Lazard would have been open. But when he looked over at Lazard early in the play he wasn't open. Sort of. The safety definitely breaks toward Adams before the ball is thrown and likely because he can see Rodgers lock on to him before that.

What Rodgers did last locking in to Adams is what happens in the 4th quarter when nothing to that point has been clicking. It's a dead horse at this point but they appeared to be sharing the wealth nicely early in the game, even trying to get ESB involved, then Dillon gets hurt and Lewis coughs it up, the game tightens up. Rodgers is a human being, with previous losses definitely on his mind. So he does what most people do, starts leaning on his crutch way too heavily and it ultimately bit them. We will rue that fumble for years I think. If we go up 14-0, I believe that game is likely a cakewalk.

It's not a "personal attack" lol. I'm only saying that you have a habit of talking authoritatively about absolute outcomes and then having those things not happen at all. Pretending that you have the inside track in Rodgers's trade value has the potential to be one of those things. If one GM thinks Aaron Rodgers is the missing Super Bowl piece, he will surrender two firsts. It's not this crazy no way in hell thing you're acting like it is.