Jordan Love’s game-sealing interception against the 49ers reminded everybody a bit too much of a former Brett Favre mistake.
The deep cross-body throw is one of the most difficult feats a quarterback can attempt — it is not a high-percentage play. You’re throwing against your own momentum, usually with one or more angry defenders in your face, and you’re trying to hit a target 30 or more yards downfield, when you factor in the horizontal yardage involved. And if you’re making a throw like that in a game-defining situation.., well, you’d better be pretty sure of yourself.
One quarterback who was always sure of himself, to his own detriment at times, was Hall of Famer and negatively creative financeur Brett Favre. Ol’ No. 4 did most of his work with the Green Bay Packers, but near the end of the Minnesota Vikings’ 2009 season, Favre threw a cross-body pick to New Orleans Saints cornerback Tracy Porter, causing the game to go into overtime. The Saints drove downfield, won the game with a 40-yard Garrett Hartley field goal, and we had the game that changed the overtime rules.
In Saturday’s divisional-round game between the Packers and the San Francisco 49ers, it was Jordan Love who had a similar situation. With 52 seconds left in the game, and the 49ers up 24-21, Love tried a deep cross-body pass to receiver Christian Watson that was intercepted by linebacker Dre Greenlaw.
The throws, and the results, were alarmingly similar.
“I haven’t looked at it yet,” Love said after the game of that last throw. “I haven’t looked at any pictures, so looking back on it, yeah, throw it away. I don’t know if I had an opportunity to be able to run. Maybe get out of bounds, but I forced it across the middle late, which is a mortal sin. It’s something I’ll look at. That’s an area right there where I’ll be able to look at, grow from and get better in the future.”
Aaron Rodgers found that after he had no shot against the 49ers, it was impossible to be immune from Twitter jabs.
After the 49ers sent the Packers packing with a shocking 13-10 upset that was more about Green Bay’s abysmal special teams than anything Aaron Rodgers did or didn’t do, social media was all over the Packers’ future Hall of Fame quarterback nonetheless.
It probably had something to do with Rodgers’ interesting year, in which he initially questioned his own commitment to his team and then performed at an MVP level for the most part, but it really had to do with the COVID conspiracy theories Rodgers frequently espoused on the Pat McAfee Show, and in a recent interview with ESPN’s Kevin Van Valkenberg.
“I don’t want to apologize for being myself,” Rodgers told Van Valkenberg. “I just want to be myself.”
All well and good, but after that playoff loss, Twitter was all about the Rodgers jokes — as they say, freedom of speech does not immunize one from consequence.
The Packers’ defense is a serious problem because new DC Joe Barry isn’t tying pressure to coverage. Barry needs to fix this quickly.
Following a 2020 season in which they made it all the way to the NFC Championship Game, and Aaron Rodgers was named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player, the Packers decided to part ways with defensive coordinator Mike Pettine. Green Bay ranked 14th overall in Defensive DVOA, 15th against the pass, and 18th against the run. So, things weren’t bad, per se, but the organization decide that things could be better.
Through two games in the 2021 season, things are decidedly not better. The Packers currently rank 29th overall in Defensive DVOA, 26th against the run, and 25th against the pass. Joe Barry, Pettine’s replacement, has come under considerable fire, and it’s easy to understand why. When your defense allowed 23 touchdowns and had 11 interceptions through 18 games in 2020, and has already given up seven touchdowns to one interception through games against the Lions and Saints, the new guy is where you start.
This was amplified after Green Bay’s 35-17 Monday night win over Detroit, in which Jared Goff completed 26 of 36 passes for 246 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. Head coach Matt LaFleur recently explained to local media that he had to take Barry aside and explain that Barry should pick a lane between pressure and coverage.
Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry is shown during the fourth quarter of their game Monday, September 20, 2021 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. The Green Bay Packers beat the Detroit Lions 35-17. (MARK HOFFMAN/MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL-Imagn Content Services, LLC)
“You’ve got to give Detroit a lot of credit,” LaFleur said. “They came out ready to play, and I think we did make some necessary adjustments at halftime. One of the things that I talked to Joe about was, hey — either play coverage, or we have to pressure. Because when we were doing out four-man rushes, and playing man coverage behind it, we weren’t hitting. We weren’t getting to the quarterback. So, if you don’t get him off the spot — I’ve been around Jared, and he will be efficient. He’ll make the throws. So, we needed to affect the quarterback much more.”
LaFleur pushed back when asked if this was something the Packers would just have to live with this season.
“Well, I think we have enough guys up front. We have to take a good, hard look at what we ask those guys to do. Detroit’s got a pretty damned good offensive line, and we can’t discredit them. I watched it on tape, and against one of the premier defensive lines in the game of football with the 49ers, and I thought they did a damned good job. But there are things we can do to try and get home with a four-man rush.”
Barry, for his part, denied that the conversation happened at halftime, as was widely reported.
“Matt and I didn’t even talk at halftime,” Barry said, per Tom Silverstein and Ryan Wood of PackersNews.com. “You come in (to the locker room), guys go to the bathroom, you discuss some things as an offensive-defensive staff. You get in front of the players, you kind of hit some of the runs that were an issue. You hit some of the passes that were an issue and then bam, we’re right back out on the field.”
Barry also pointed to the fact that the Packers sat most of their top defensive players in the preseason.
“I don’t want to use that as an excuse. Because we made that decision, Matt and the staff, and I stand by that decision absolutely. But football is a full-speed game, and things happen fast. Not only do they happen fast, it happens physical. You’re getting hit. The weather, it might be hot. There’s a lot of things that go into that.
“I do think it takes potentially some time to get into play shape.”
However and whenever it happened, tt’s not a good time to be figuring this out. After the win over the Lions and a Week 1 loss to the Saints in which Jameis Winston was allowed to throw five touchdown passes, Barry has to test his playbook against Kyle Shanahan’s when the Packers take on the 49ers on Sunday night.
The Packers wide receiver shows great technique on a double-move against the 49ers
The Green Bay Packers are off to a solid start tonight against the San Francisco 49ers, holding a 21-3 lead in the second half. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers and wide receiver Davante Adams have already connected five times for 104 yards and a touchdown. And on this long third-quarter completion, Adams put on a footwork clinic on a double-move:
The 49ers have struggled to find a coverage scheme that works against the Packers, and on this stutter-and-go Adams gets right behind cornerback Jason Verrett. Once the cornerback bites on the move – and the pump fake from Rodgers – Adams accelerates downfield and Rodgers hits him in stride.
If you or someone you love is a prospective wide receiver, you want to pay attention to the footwork from the receiver on this play. It is textbook. As is the fake from the Rodgers, as this is the kind of “manipulation that matters.”
Green Bay Packers (5-2) vs San Francisco 49ers (4-4) Game Preview
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Why Green Bay Packers Will Win
Are any of the 49ers healthy? They had major injury problems early in the season, and now it has huge issues with QB Jimmy Garoppolo out with an ankle injury, TE George Kittle out with a broken foot, and with four key players – including OT Trent Williams and WRs Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel – out on the COVID list.
Now it’ll be Nick Mullens throwing against a Green Bay pass defense that hasn’t been bad lately, allowing fewer than 170 yards in two of its last three games.
It’ll be up to the San Francisco running game to pull this off, and …
The Green Bay run defense has been an issue. It was strong at times early in the season, and it stuffed the anemic Houston ground game, but it got powered on by both Tampa Bay and Minnesota, and lost both games.
This is still a strong team on the lines with an NFL-high 14 rushing scores and a good enough ground game to take over the game at times. It also has the secondary that’s held up reasonably well, allowing fewer than 200 yards in five of the last seven games.
WR Davante Adams, Green Bay
Back after missing a few weeks hurt, he had a good warm-up return game, and then he became unstoppable over the last two games. He lit up Houston and Minnesota for a combined 20 catches for 249 yards and five touchdowns in the last two games. DK Metcalf owned the 49ers in last week’s Seattle win over San Francisco, and now it’s Adams’ turn.
What’s Going To Happen
Green Bay will be ultra-focused after losing two of the last three games, sharpening up offensively with more consistent pop than it showed lately. When it scores more than 22 points it’s 5-0, and it’s 0-2 when scoring 22 or fewer.
Previewing Sunday Night Football’s Green Bay Packers at San Francisco 49ers betting odds, with Week 12 matchup analysis, picks and tips.
Fresh off their bye, the Green Bay Packers (8-2) will visit the San Francisco 49ers (9-1) for the Week 12 Sunday Night Football matchup at Levi’s Stadium. Kickoff will be at 8:20 p.m. ET.
Packers at 49ers: Week 12 preview, betting trends and notes
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The Packers are only 1-3-1 against the spread over their last five games following a bye week. The total has gone Under in four of those five games.
In their last five games against teams with a winning record, the Packers are 5-0 ATS.
The 49ers are just 2-7-1 ATS in their last 10 home games against the Packers. In their last six meetings overall, however, the Packers are just 1-4-1 ATS vs. San Francisco.
The Packers have been very good on the road this year, going 3-1 ATS.
The total has gone Over in each of the 49ers’ last four games.
In the last nine head-to-head meetings, the total has gone Over in seven of them.
Packers at 49ers: Key injuries
49ers TE George Kittle is still recovering from a knee injury and is questionable to play Sunday. RB Matt Breida (ankle) is also uncertain to play, having missed time recently. LT Joe Staley (finger) and K Robbie Gould (quad) are dealing with injuries, as well.
Packers at 49ers: Odds, betting lines and prediction
The 49ers have hit a patch of struggles recently, falling to the Seattle Seahawks two weeks ago and nearly losing to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 11. The Packers aren’t perfect, but they’re healthy coming out of the bye and have Aaron Rodgers.
Bet the PACKERS (+145) to win this one outright, despite being the underdogs. They have the offensive line to neutralize the 49ers’ pass rush at least slightly and give Rodgers time.
The 49ers are 3.5-point home favorites over the Packers this weekend. Given their better record and home-field advantage, that’s no surprise. But with the Packers getting points, this bet is all the more enticing.
Bet the PACKERS (+3.5, -121) to cover the spread Sunday night, given their impressive 7-3 ATS record this season.
The Over/Under is 46.5 points, but bet the OVER (-121). This game could turn into a shootout if the Packers throw the ball often early on.
As good as the 49ers defense has been, it has come back down to earth in recent weeks. They’ve given up 25, 27 and 26 points in their last three games after not allowing more than 20 through their first seven games.
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