Exploding Beyond .500: Why Green Bay Packers beat Seattle Seahawks

0-for-2 on 2-for-1

I’ve spoken ad naseum on 2-for-1s this year, and the Packers’ inability to properly handle them from both sides of the coin. When they’ve been the team with this chance, they’ve failed to utilize their opportunities to get back into games or expand their leads; when they’ve had to defend them, they’ve tended to allow the opposition to use these as a boost to overtake or further bury them.

Here we saw them properly handle it from the defensive side.

The first drive was what eventually became Wilson’s second INT, right before halftime. The second ended in Wilson’s third INT. Each time, Green Bay almost screwed up, allowing Seattle to either drive right to the end zone or have a decently open shot at it. The INTs saved them big time, letting them hold their large advantage in its entirety as they got the ball back in the second half.

If the team had not come away with those INTs, this could have been a dramatically different game. Seattle could have scored on both of these halftime-bracketing chances, moving them up from a 21-3 deficit to any of these possible options:

• 21-13 (one touchdown, one field goal)
• 21-14 (one touchdown w/ a two-point conversion, one field goal)
• 21-17 (two touchdowns)
• 21-18 (two touchdowns, one w/ a two-point conversion)

Any of those scores changes so much. This large lead gave Green Bay breathing room on offense and let the defense pin back their ears without fear of being run on. It also allowed McCarthy to rest Rodgers for the majority of the fourth quarter. The 28-3 lead gave them four scores worth of breathing room at that point. Had Seattle gotten some points in those drives around halftime, we are looking at maybe even just a 10 point lead — and that assumes Green Bay still picks up its fourth touchdown of the game in the same manner which they actually did.

No way is Rodgers getting rest in that situation unless he physically can’t be on the field, and with a guy who’s visibly limping between plays at that point he needs all the rest he can get. His injuries have been piling up (to go with the injured hamstring, he now has an injured calf), so he can’t be expected to evade in the way he normally would. All it would take is one more unfortunate hit, and those postseason hopes would be completely wiped away.

More than anything, we can thank the defense’s play in the 2-for-1 situation for giving him the chance to avoid that eminently possible outcome.