GB@AZ game recap 1/16/16

The David Tyree helmet catch.  The Malcolm Butler goal line interception.

We all knew crazy things happen in the postseason in Glendale, Arizona—but no one could have predicted this game.

The Arizona Cardinals defeated the Green Bay Packers 26-20 in a game that defied all explanation and belief.  The Packers’ receiving corps was led by two players that caught a total of nine passes during the entire regular season after Randall Cobb left the game due to a chest injury.  Aaron Rodgers threw another Hail Mary pass to force overtime while falling to the ground.  The coin flip to begin overtime had to be redone because the coin didn’t flip on the initial toss.  And that doesn’t even cover half of the unbelievable things that happened in this game.

Sure, the game started out innocently enough—the Cardinals held a pedestrian 7-6 lead at halftime.  But even the first half showed glimpses of the wackiness to follow.  Green Bay had two drives of 17 plays each, but both ended in field goals.  Cobb’s aforementioned chest injury came on an incredible one-handed catch that would have put the Packers on the 4 yard line had it not been nullified due to offsetting penalties.  On the Packers’ second 17-play drive, the Cardinals’ Patrick Peterson had what would have been a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown also nullified by offsetting penalties—on the only ball thrown his direction in the first half.
The second half began with the Cardinals’ Larry Fitzgerald making two key catches on a long drive for the Cardinals—only to have Carson Palmer throw an interception and leave the Arizona drive empty-handed.  Eddie Lacy, who had been struggling all season, broke a 61-yard run on the ensuing drive to set up the Packers for a touchdown and a 13-7 lead.  A field goal then cut the Cardinals’ deficit to three points.

After a Green Bay punt, the Cardinals then put together a long drive that was kept alive by two critical third down conversions by no more than an inch each time.  Replays showed that the spot of the ball in each case might have been a bit generous, but in each case, Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy felt that there was not enough clear evidence to justify challenging the spot of the football.  Finally, Carson Palmer threw a pass over the middle near the end zone that was tipped by a defender and caught by Michael Floyd for a touchdown that gave Arizona a 17-13 lead late in the 4th quarter.

Green Bay then went for it on 4th down deep in their own territory after failing to gain a first down on their ensuing drive.  The 4th down pass to James Jones hit the ground short of the receiver, giving the Cardinals the ball back in excellent position to possibly score a touchdown and run out the clock.  However, not only did the Cardinals fail to convert a first down on the drive, Cardinals coach Bruce Arians called a pass play on 2nd down that fell incomplete, leaving an extra 40 seconds on the clock for the Packers after the Cardinals kicked another field goal to make the score 20-13.

So with 1:50 left on the clock, the Packers got the ball back at their own 15 yard line, needing to score a touchdown to tie.  Rodgers was promptly sacked on the first play of the drive, back at the Green Bay 4 yard line.  The Packers followed that up with a deep throw to receiver Jeff Janis that fell incomplete; though there was contact on the play and pass interference should have been called.  Rodgers again threw to Janis on the next play; this time resulting in a 61-yard completion with 35 seconds remaining.  Because the Packers were out of timeouts, they quickly rushed down the field to apparently spike the ball, but Rodgers decided not to spike the ball and instead attempted to run a play.  However, the Packers were flagged for illegal motion on the play, leaving just 12 seconds left.  Rodgers threw the ball away on the next play to leave just 5 seconds remaining for one final Hail Mary attempt from the 41 yard line.

And what an attempt it was.  Rodgers scrambled around in the backfield as the Cardinals defense blitzed him in hopes of getting the game-ending sack.  As Rodgers ran to his left while being closely followed by a defender, he stumbled and was beginning to fall as he desperately threw the ball downfield.  It first appeared the ball was going to be intercepted, as there were two Cardinals defenders in the end zone waiting for the ball.  However, Jeff Janis was also there, running backwards into the end zone in a near replay of the Richard Rodgers Hail Mary catch against the Detroit Lions earlier this season.  Janis made the catch, but the ball was knocked loose by a Cardinals defender after Janis had fell to the ground.  The play was reviewed, and was allowed to stand, much to the disappointment of the home crowd.  And thus, we had overtime.

Referee Clete Blakeman explained the overtime rules, and prepared to perform the coin flip.  The Packers called tails.  The coin landed on heads, but the Packers captains complained that the coin never flipped while in the air.  Blakeman agreed and decided that the coin should be flipped again.  The coin again landed on heads, and the Cardinals elected to receive the ball to start the overtime period.
On the first play of overtime, Palmer was blitzed and forced to scramble to his right.  While nearing the right sideline, Palmer threw a pass across his body and nearly all the way across the field to a wide-open Larry Fitzgerald.  Fitzgerald then ran 75 yards down the field before finally being tackled at the 4 yard line.  Two plays later, Palmer threw a shovel pass to Fitzgerald for the game-winning touchdown to cap the evening of insanity.

What an absolutely unbelievable game.  Now I can only hope for the Seahawks to win tomorrow so that we can have another postseason game in the bizarro Twilight Zone known as Glendale, Arizona.