CLAY MATTHEWS
Packin’ it in.
GREEN BAY, Wis. — One play here yesterday summed up a season’s worth of futility for the Packers’ last-place defense.
Aaron Rodgers’ wondrous passing arm had bailed out Green Bay’s defense all year while the Packers were rolling up a 15-1 record, but there was no masking the defensive warts in a 37-20 NFC Divisional playoff loss to the Giants at Lambeau Field.
For evidence, look no further than the final play of the first half, when All-Pro cornerback Charles Woodson and ex-Giants safety Charlie Peprah let Hakeem Nicks get open in the end zone for a 37-yard Hail Mary score that sent the Giants surging into the break with a 20-10 lead.
PHOTOS: GIANTS BEAT PACKERS, 37-20
Nicks’ ability to find that much real estate in the left corner of the end zone in that circumstance was shocking and left Woodson visibly disgusted.
“That’s just a play that shouldn’t happen, but it did,” Woodson said somberly as he stood in the Packers’ deathly quiet locker room. “It definitely gave them the momentum going into the second half.”
The Packers’ miserable pass defense did a good job of handing the Giants and Eli Manning momentum most of the afternoon.
Green Bay ranked dead last in the league in yards allowed during the regular season, making up for it with Rodgers’ MVP performance and by forcing 38 turnovers (including 31 interceptions).
But the Packers picked off Manning just once and sacked him just once last night as defensive coordinator Dom Capers’ gameplan of employing a three-man rush while dropping eight into coverage completely backfired.
Practically given enough time to buff his fingernails on plays in which the Packers didn’t blitz, Manning threw for a whopping 274 yards in the first half en route to 330 yards and three touchdowns overall.
“When you only rush three and drop eight, you can’t let things like that happen,” Raji said. “We just didn’t make the plays. We got outplayed today. There’s no excuses. The Giants straight-up beat us.”
Particularly Nicks, who torched the Packers’ clueless secondary for 165 yards and two touchdowns on seven receptions.
“Today showed a lot of what we were during the regular season — a lot of big plays [allowed], some missed tackles, some missed assignments, not getting to the quarterback,” Woodson said. “It really bit us today.”
Woodson put much of the blame on the pass rush — specfically, the almost complete lack of one yesterday and much of the year.
The Packers’ lone sack yesterday came on a blitz, which is a dangerous way to make a living in the playoffs.
“That’s kind of been the story of the season, not being able to get to the quarterback,” Woodson said. “We didn’t get the turnovers we usually do to make up for that, and we couldn’t really rattle Eli back there today.”