Rest In Peace

What a surprise! This team crept into the playoffs on the final week of the season, won a playoff game, upset the #1 seed in the divisional round and will now go on the road to play in the NFC Championship game. No, I’m not talking about the 2011 New York Giants, I’m talking about the 2010 Green Bay Packers.


Every season we are reminded of how important momentum is to the game of football. As I’ve mentioned before, I believe it to be the single most important aspect of a game. We’ve seen some great examples of its effect this year. Tim Tebow’s heroics captivating the Denver Broncos, the New York Giants riding a wave of confidence into the playoffs and now into the conference championship and even the Indianapolis Colts (feeling how the other side of things feels) losing games because of a defeatist attitude that crept into their locker room. Last year, the Packers found out first hand how much of an ally momentum can be. Which is why it’s somewhat surprising that they chose to discard it just in time for the playoffs this season.

After losing the first game all season to the Kansas City Chiefs, the Packers came out the following week and got right back on track against the Bears. Looming large was the paramount decision that faces every team that is lucky enough to secure the top seed before week 17. Do they rest their starters? The Packers decided to sit Aaron Rodgers, Charles Woodson, Clay Matthews and Greg Jennings for the season finale against the Lions. Matt Flynn got the start and passed for 480 yards and 6TD’s (both Packer records) as the Packers offensive juggernaut seemed fine under his leadership. Matthews, Jennings and Woodson all had nagging injuries but Rodgers was in perfect health. The obvious benefit was to have those key contributors at 100% health for the first round of the playoffs. The downside is that Rodgers would be without game action for 22 days – by far the longest stretch since August.

For Packers fans, yesterday’s game couldn’t have been more frustrating to watch. After watching Rodgers play pitch and catch all season, it was painful to see the amount of miscues, dropped passes and inaccurate throws. Early in the game Jennings was wide open for a touchdown – he broke to the post, Rodgers threw to the corner – opportunity missed. On a critical third down Jermichael Finley was open for a first down – Rodgers led him about a foot too far – opportunity missed. These two plays were simply a microcosm for how the game went for the Packers.

It wasn’t just the offence either. The Giants last drive before halftime was a defensive nightmare. The Packers let Ahmad Bradshaw run from one side of the field to the other without tackling him in bounds. That allowed Manning one chance at a Hail Mary pass. As soon as the ball left his hands you could see that he had Nicks open in the endzone. Two Packer defenders had undercut the routes and were standing, covering no one, at the 10 yard line. There was no excuse for such mental miscues at a critical juncture of the game. Rusty? Perhaps.

The New England Patriots (the Packers of the AFC), had to play their starters the last week of the regular season because home field hadn’t been secured. They’re dismantling of the Broncos Saturday would indicate that they didn’t need that extra week of rest (even though Brady actually had an injury to his non-throwing shoulder).

As I mentioned at the start of the article, it’s surprising that the Packers didn’t have better perspective on the importance of momentum. Last year they were able to ride the hot-hand of Rodgers all the way to a Super Bowl title. This year, it might be the Giants who capitalize on that formula.

The debate to rest players in the final week of the regular season will continue on forever and there are examples that resting guys can have a positive outcome. This year though, the argument for playing your starters got much stronger. There’s no denying Rodgers was off. He didn’t look like the guy who led the Packers to a 15-1 record while posting one of the best statistical seasons in NFL history.

Hindsight is 20/20 and I’m sure if Rodgers had played and gotten hurt, Mike McCarthy would’ve been ostracized from Green Bay. It’s never an easy decision, but as the Packers found out – sometimes it’s much easier to be the scrappy underdog than king of the hill.

-Jansen-