CharityStripe34 wrote:The elephant in the room about the Packers game is that Kyle let Purdy down a lot of the time. Both in preparation and (sometimes) play calling. Kyle during the season can be aggressive and likes to try and dictate the terms to the defense, but he was the exact opposite this game because the team seemed (key word) woefully unprepared for a rainy/soggy day. That end of the first half clock/game management was straight up hot garbage. Especially since the offense literally just caught momentum with a great TD drive.
That was the issue for me. You'd just seen the offense put together a good drive. We had a chance to keep them on their heels and really put the game away by getting points - ideally TDs - to end the half and then start the next half. And instead, we played scared. And it carried over into the second half. Instead of putting them away, we gave them a golden opportunity to steal one.
Purdy wasn't extraordinary on the TD drive, but he was 4 of 7 for 67 yards, which is solid, and had the great play to Kittle for the TD. As I sit here now, I can't recall any of those passes being one of the dangerous passes he threw in this game. He started the end-of-half drive with solid completions to CMC and Jennings for 21 yards. I get playing it safe to start that drive. There was a lot of time left, and our offense had been kind of shaky. But there came a point where he needed to adjust to the flow of the game.
First, approaching the two-minute warning, we did that thing I hate where we lined up on the ball and tried to draw the other team offsides. It has literally never worked. Throughout the season, I pleaded for them - in a crucial position - to act like they are doing just that, but then to actually run a play. This was the PERFECT opportunity to do just that. If was 2nd and 8, so not necessarily a high-leverage down. Line up, do the snap count once without snapping. Shift some guys. Make it look like you're just trying to draw them offsides, then RUN A PLAY! Very good chance you catch them off guard, as they are focusing on not jumping. Pick up 5, or 10, or who knows? Break a big play, maybe. Part of why this call kills me is that it's the only time when we actually get to the ball with plenty of play clock left, so it's particularly transparent. Every other play, we're snapping it basically as the play clock expires. Suddenly, we're on the ball with 20 seconds left on the clock. Wonder what we could have called here?!?!
Despite my frustration with that, coming out of the two-minute warning, Purdy had a nine-yard pass to CMC for a first down. At that point, we're basically rolling. It's 1st and 10 from our 49. We were in great shape to kill the clock and come away with points. Instead, we went into a shell. Five-yard run out of bounds on the next play, followed by a three-yard run. It's 3rd and 2. And this is the one that pissed me off the most. We let the clock run all the way down...and then called a timeout!!! I'm fairly certain the PLAY CALL was to try to draw them offsides. What the actual f@%k, Kyle? If you want to kill some clock there, fine. If you want to try to draw them offsides, fine. But you need to run a play out of it, because if you convert, you're going to need those timeouts. Why are you both killing the clock AND wasting a timeout there? You absolutely cannot do both, because....
...we did convert the first down, but then we had to use a timeout. Our second timeout instead of our first. On the ensuing first down play, we gained eight yards...AND HAD TO SPIKE THE BALL TO HOLD ONTO OUR LAST TIMEOUT! We lost a play. Instead of facing 2nd and 2 from their 30 with two timeouts left, it was 3rd and 2 with one timeout. We had one play instead of two to convert, and we were at least somewhat limited in terms of running the ball up the middle because we wouldn't want to use our final timeout. And sure enough, we didn't convert it. Instead of now facing 3rd and 2, we lined up for a FG in wet conditions with a rookie kicker in his first playoff action who had missed two kicks the last time he played and attempted a 48-yarder.
Again, there were spots in there where I didn't mind Kyle's conservatism. We did want to kill the clock so they didn't have a chance to drive on us. But wasting that much clock and using the first TO the way we did was absolutely inexcusable, and it could very well have cost us the game. I thought it showed a tremendous lack of faith in an offense that has been the soul of the team this year.
I REALLY hope someone on the staff has the balls to go up to Kyle and tell him that he blew that one, and we don't see a repeat of that going forward.