The Packers started with the possession of the ball and they started with a drive full of short passes and few runs on the weak side, once they arrived on the Seahawks 30 yards Rodgers forced on 3rd and 10 a deep pass for WR Adam well picked off by Sherman in the end zone. Seattle has been stripped by the ball quickly by an interception by Clinton Dix o a deflected pass intended to WR Kearse and well defended by CB Williams, the Packs didn’t capitalized completely due to a great goaline stand of the Seattle’s defense who forced Crosby to kick the 1st 3 points of the game. On the following kick off return Baldwin fumble the ball later recovered by the Packers who again have been stopped short of the end zone and again Crosby had to kick other 3 points. The Seahawks continued to struggle offensively and they gave Rodgers the ball at midfield something that let the Packers score again on a perfect pass by Rodgers at the end of the 1st quarter in the back of the end zone to Cobb who got free on a crossing route. The 2nd quarter continued in the same way as the 1st ended with Seattle unable to produce anything offensively and forced again to a 3 and out by an aggressive Packers defense, the Packs moved the ball well especially on the ground but again the Seahawks defense made a good job on 3rd down and forced Crosby to kick another FG. Wilson on the following play tried to do too much with a deep pass intended to Kearse who was double covered and Ha Ha Clinton Dix made his 2nd pick of the game. Rodgers arrived early in Seattle’s territory with a Nelson’s reception on a slant route but once arrived there Rodgers wasn’t on the same page with his WR and CB Maxwell picked him off on a very off target pass. Seattle finally gave the ball consistently to Marshawn Lynch and this choice produce good results and they seemed to be able to score but once they arrived in GB’s redzone they tried to score on the air with Wilson who passed the ball to Baldwin on a curl route very well read by CB Shields who intercepted the ball in the end zone for a touchback.
The 1st half of the 3rd quarter has been dominated by both defenses but the Seahawks have been able to break up this trend with one of their typical ground and pund drive with some Wilson’s pass and this time the Seattle’s QB made a big one to Baldwin for a huge 3rd down conversion but later they have been stopped short of the end zone, when everyone expected an easy Haushka FG Carroll called a FG fake where the holder Ryan passed to the eligible o-lineman Gilliam that resulted in the 1st Seahawks TD of the game. GB got the ball at the beginning of the 4th quarter and they put up a good drive especially on the ground with both Lacy and Starks who made a key 32 yards run to enter in Seattle’s territory, once there Rodgers has been under an heavy pressure and he wasn’t able to find any free receiver so Mason Crosby came on to the field to kick a 48 yards FG to extend the Packs’ lead to 12 points. Trailing by 12 with 5:09 left in the game and the ball spotted nearly midfield Wilson wasted badly the chance to reduce the gap throwing another bad pass deflected in the air and finally intercepted by SS Morgan Burnett. Fortunately for Wilson his defense forced the Packers to a quick 3 and out and on the following drive they have been able to score due to the Wilson’s return to be effective on passing game that brought his team close to the end zone where on a read option the Seahawks QB kept the ball and took it across the line. Seattle tried an onside kick that resulted successful due to the huge mistake of Bostick who missed the catch and let the Seahawks special team to recover it. Seattle used at the best this gifted possession and scored the game ahead TD with a weak side run by Lynch after a drive full of running plays between Lynch and Wilson, after the score they went for the 2 points conversion successfully made by Willson who received a circus pass from his QB. Rodgers got the final chance to at least tie the game and they did with a 48 yards FG by Crosby that sent the game to the overtime after a very good drive by Rodgers on the air.
Wilson reborn in the OT with 2 straight passes to win the game, the 1st one to Baldwin on a fade to convert a 3rd and 6 then he saw a 0 coverage (without any Safety over the top) and he passed on a slot seem to WR Kearse covered 1 on 1 by LB Jones for the game winning TD.
In my opinion the Packers deserved to win due to the great all around performance, in fact GB offensively played a solid game against a very very tough defense thru difficult weather condition, a mix of heavy rain and wind, they have to regret to didn’t try a 4th down conversion on a 4th and 1, their passing game has been efficient despite the Rodgers’ calf injury that didn’t permit him to scramble, on the ground Lacy has been so good producing good gain in the majority of his runs. On defense GB made a very good job on Wilson especially containing him in the pocket with the exception of the OT and the last 2 minutes of the 4th quarter, i saw also a good improvement against the running game even if Lynch had a good game.
Seattle offensively played an awful game especially on the air with Wilson who threw 4 interceptions but he improved so much on the last minutes of the game when he lead his team to the win, he received an huge help from both Lynch who had another impressive game in terms of production and WR Kearse who made some key receptions including the game winning TD. The major reason for their success over the Packers has been their defense who kept them alive put a limit on the damage provocated by the offensive turnovers, the only thing that they haven’t been effective has been the pass rushing due to the poor performances by Avril and Bennett.
The MVP of this game is Lynch who has been continuous for all game long keeping his offense alive even in very difficult moments of it.
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