Why They Won: Green Bay Outlasts Jacksonville’s Heat
By Kenn Korb
Fourth down stop
This game had many twists and turns, helping it to be one of the (in my opinion at least) more exciting games in a weekend chock full of them.
Even with the success Green Bay had at times with their rediscovered passing game, they couldn’t do enough to put the game away themselves, and following a bad punt by Tim Masthay’s surprise replacement Jake Schum the Jaguars took over with a chance to pull the upset on the game’s final drive.
Starting at their own 37, the Jaguars started moving the ball as they had much of the game: somewhat erratic, but capitalizing just enough on matchup advantages and good timing to keep moving forward.
A completion to Marcedes Lewis — matched on the much smaller LaDarius Gunter — started things off.
After a couple misses, stops, and small gains, penalties hit: first, Bortles scrambled for a first down on fourth down, only to see holding called on tackle-turned-guard Luke Joeckel take it back; then, what seemed like a game-sealing pick by Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix, Burnett was called for a defensive hold, gifting Jacksonville a first down.
Bortles immediately hits Yeldon and then Robinson to get the ball to the Green Bay 23. After two incompletions sandwich a 9-yard gain, we come to the final play.
I must say, I was not feeling too confident on this foruth and 1;
after all, the Jaguars had already successfully completed multiple fourth downs to this point, and the Packers’ defense has shown an unseemly (if somewhat overblown) propensity under Dom Capers’ leadership to not be able to make the key stops necessary at the most important moments of games.
My nerves were on edge, waiting for that ball to snap.
But, against seemingly all the odds, they stepped up.
Jacksonville decided to call a wide receiver screen; a pretty safe decision it would seem, giving one of their best playmakers (Hurns) the ball quickly.
He had Micah Hyde lined up on him, with his teammate Robinson to his outside and Randall in off coverage; based on the play design, this could have worked as planned.
Once it’s snapped, Hyde gets taken on by Robinson immediately, leaving Randall as the only guy capable of making a stop, but being multiple yards behind the first down marker.
Fortunately for Randall, Hurns isn’t given the ball in stride; he has to stop to gather it, giving Randall time to recover.
Hurns is able to evade the initial tackle attempt by Randall, but he was funneled slightly inside by Randall’s position — right into Hyde. He’s held up for a moment, but that’s all that was needed; a cavalcade of other Packers converge upon them, swallowing Hurns up behind the line of scrimmage for a one-yard loss and finally sealing the victory for Green Bay.
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The defense — especially the young secondary players outside of Randall (his 87.8 PFF overall grade was by far the best of anyone on the team) — showed their inexperience far too often throughout the game and definitely must do better going forward, but the grit they showed to hang tough and finish out strong in a game featuring sweltering conditions and top-quality receiving talent is undoubtedly heartening.