Helmet-to-helmet hit costly to Packers on final drive
The Green Bay Packers came very close to upsetting the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday night. And if you ask Mike McCarthy, a late helmetto-helmet hit on quarterback Brett Hundley was one big reason they fell short.
With the score tied at 28, the Packers started their final drive at their 18-yard line with 1:20 and one timeout left. Hundley was sacked by T.J. Watt and, as the play unfolded, Hundley tucked his head and the right front of his helmet struck the middle of the helmet of the onrushing Watt. Watt wasn’t flagged on the play and the Packers were left in some disarray.
“There was a hit on the first play,” the Packers coach said via ESPN. “We all recognized it. The quarterback wasn’t checked.”
McCarthy said he asked Hundley, who lost six yards on the play, if he was OK through the helmet speaker, delaying his play call. Hundley hit Jamaal Williams with a short pass, but Williams ran out of bounds after a short gain, stopping the clock with 32 seconds left.
“The play entry from the boundary went in late because I thought there was a helmet-to-helmet hit on Brett Hundley,” McCarthy said. “You obviously check to see if your quarterback’s OK. That’s a natural reaction in the flow of the game. It might affect how you’re going to call the second play, too. That’s what happened as far as Jamaal. I don’t fault Jamaal for going out of bounds on the second down.
“Jamaal didn’t know we were out of the two-minute mode . ... It’s football. It happens. Hey, I don’t want to see officials make calls in the fourth quarter of a game. It happens sometimes. It happened tonight. That’s the reality of what happened. No excuses. That’s where we were.”
The Packers were playing for overtime; the Steelers, who got the ball back with 17 seconds left, drove for the win and got it on a 53yard field goal by Chris Boswell as time ran out.
It was a tough loss for the Packers, who were heartened to see Aaron Rodgers airing out passes during pre-game warm-ups, less than six weeks after having his broken collarbone mended with plates and screws. Behind Hundley, the Packers hardly looked like 14point underdogs as he threw for 245 yards and three touchdowns and that was clutch enough to prompt NBC’s Cris Collinsworth to say that he didn’t know whether Rodgers would’ve played better than Hundley did against the AFC’s top seed.
Hundley and the Packers must regroup, with two winnable games looming. They’ll hope to run the table and stay in contention for a playoff berth.
As for Rodgers, who was throwing passes of 35 and 50 yards before the game, he is on schedule for his recovery. He can return to practice later this week and, if his collarbone has healed, he and the team will decide whether his health and the playoff situation in a tough NFC warrant the risk.