The moment Willis Reed walked onto the basketball court after being carried off in agonizing pain two games prior is a moment enshrined in sports history. The part that nobody mentions is that Reed scored just four points in that game while teammate Walt Frazier scored 36 points, had 19 assists, and was the deciding factor in the game. A great game was overshadowed by a returning player who had minimal impact on the game.
The opposite happened on Sunday in Green Bay. Dez Bryant, who had three catches for 38 yards during the game, almost made a spectacular catch to extend a Dallas drive. Instead, Bryant did not complete the catch and the referees correctly reversed the call after Mike McCarthy challenged the initial ruling of a catch. That reversal was the only thing anyone wanted to talk about after the game, insinuating that Green Bay had somehow “stolen” the game from the Cowboys. Even with a touchdown and a subsequent two point conversion, the Packers would have only been down three points with four minutes remaining.
Overshadowed was a dominating, MVP like performance by Aaron Rodgers. Playing with a partially torn calf, Rodgers was noticeably gimpy all game. Known for his elusiveness and proficiency at throwing on the run, Rodgers stayed in the pocket during the first half, often passing up chances to run for big gains in the process. The Packers trailed 14-10 going into halftime and the outcome looked bleak with Rodgers passing for only 90 yards in the first half. Frankly, he did not look like the MVP frontrunner that everyone has him pegged as. By the time the clock hit 0:00 Rodgers had thrown for 316 yards and three touchdowns. He had led his team back from a 4th quarter deficit and limped down the field after completing pass after pass. It was an MVP performance by a quarterback playing on one leg.
After the game, though, all anyone wanted to talk about was the Dez Bryant incompletion. It was fourth-down with three yards to go. The Packers blitzed and left Sam Shields to cover Bryant one-on-one on the outside. Romo threw a ball up for grabs and the taller Bryant out-jumped Shields, but Shields was able to get a hand on the ball as well. As Bryant landed on his feet he bobbled the ball before falling and partially stretching towards the end zone. Upon hitting the ground, the ball popped out of Bryant’s hands and Bryant rolled over to control it once more. It was called a completion on the field but McCarthy challenged and the call was overturned.
The final call was the correct call; it was an incomplete pass. It wasn’t even close, yet that is all anyone wanted to grab on to. Nobody was talking about Rodgers skipping down the field because he couldn’t put much pressure on his leg. Nobody was talking about Rodgers taking every snap from the Pistol or Shotgun position because he wasn’t able to get out of the centers’ way in time. Nobody was talking about the eye-popping go-ahead touchdown pass to Richard Rodgers, where Aaron Rodgers threaded the ball between two Cowboys defenders to hit Rodgers in the back of the end zone.
What a shame. The better team won, so can we move on now?
The Packers are set for a rematch with the defending Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks with a Super Bowl berth on the line. A rematch that has been branded as unnecessary by the media after the Seahawks dismantled the Packers in the first game of the season. The Seahawks defense is being lauded as the best defense since the 1985 Chicago Bears, and their domination in the last seven games is served as proof of that idea. Let me go through the quarterbacks that the Seahawks have faced in the last seven games: Drew Stanton, Colin Kaepernick (twice), Mark Sanchez, Ryan Lindley, Shaun Hill, and Cam Newton (who was playing with a broken vertebra in his back). Not exactly a who’s who of NFL quarterbacks, so maybe facing a quarterback of Rodgers’ stature will prove to be a little more difficult for the vaunted Seattle defense.
I am willing to bet that this game is going to go a bit different from the first encounter, mostly because of the emergence of Davonte Adams and the comfort level that Julius Peppers now has in the Green Bay defense.
Best defense since the 1985 Bears? We will see about that.
Prediction: Green Bay 20 Seattle 16.