McCarthy sets sights on 10 wins
GREEN BAY - There are multiple scenarios in which the Green Bay Packers can keep their playoff hopes alive despite their 5-6 record.
For coach Mike McCarthy, there is only one scenario that matters: winning 10 games. The Packers would need to run the table to reach that milestone.
“You can sit there and you can jump around and look at schedules and all that,” McCarthy said. “I’m sure that’s fun for the fans and all the potential scenarios and all that, but at the end of the day, if you don’t get to 10 wins, to me there’s nothing else to talk about.
“We’re at five. We’ve got to get to six, and that’s what really it’s all about. Got to get to six. We’re at six losses. That’s always been our mindset when we get to this point in the season. It’s no different this year.”
Defenseless: Any number of plays could have swung the game in the Packers’ favor — or at least sent it into overtime — but two plays in the final minute will haunt the defense in the 31-28 loss Sunday to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Starting at his own 30 with 17 seconds left, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger drove the Steelers 35 yards in four plays to set up Chris Boswell’s 53yard, game-winning field goal with no time left.
Two pass plays accounted for all of the positive yardage the Steelers had, both connections between Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown.
On the first, Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers wrapped Brown in a triangle of defenders to keep him covered. Safety Morgan Burnett cut off the middle, cornerback Kevin King took away the flat and safety Josh Jones played the corner route.
Brown ran the corner and with linebacker Kyler Fackrell bearing down on Roethlisberger, the quarterback threw the ball where only Brown could catch it. He reached high to snare the ball, got his left foot down and then dragged his right toe before going out of bounds, completing a 23-yard catch.
“The very first play we rolled to him, we were rolling to three deep,” Capers said Monday.
“That was what that play was designed for, that route that he ran.
“When I saw it from the press box I thought he was definitely out of bounds until I saw the replay of it. It looked like (he was) catching the ball out of bounds. But he got his feet down. He made a tremendous play.”
The Steelers still weren’t in field goal range at the Packers 47, but they had 13 seconds and two timeouts remaining.
All game, Roethlisberger had been free to stand in the pocket and throw against mostly four-man rushes, but Capers decided to put some pressure on him. Slot corner Damarious Randall and linebacker Blake Martinez blitzed as part of a six-man rush.
“We hadn’t pressured them much during the whole game,” Capers said. “We were doubling Brown a lot, so we felt at that point we’d pressure them and we had a come guy from free on the pressure, Ben just got rid of the ball.
“That play is why we didn’t pressure as much because you saw the timing of it to where he was going to throw the ball on the boundary to Brown, and that’s hard to defend one-on-one out there.”
The 14-yard pass to Brown set up the Steelers at the Packers 33. After a 2-yard loss, Boswell came out and provided the winning points.
Swing and miss: Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell racked up 183 total yards on 32 touches against the Packers. He carried the ball 20 times for 95 yards (4.8 per carry) and caught 12 passes for 88 yards (7.3 yards per reception).
And if there was a common theme to Bell’s success, missed tackles might have been it. Whether he was in the backfield, along the sideline or over the middle, Bell made Packers defenders swing and miss like they were facing Clayton Kershaw.
“We felt confident that we were going to win the tackling battle, and that wasn’t the case,” McCarthy said. “I think we were minus-10 in that area. We missed way too many tackles. I think it was our worst performance of the year.”
Watt vs. Biegel: It took one play for Packers rookie Vince Biegel to cross paths with former Wisconsin teammate and Steelers rookie T.J. Watt on the field.
On the opening kickoff, Watt was part of a double-team block against Biegel. Receiver Martavis Bryant returned the kick up the right side to the 41-yard line, helping set up an opening-drive touchdown.
“It was kind of a different aspect,” Biegel said. “I’m usually on the same side that he is, but it was nice to kind of go against him. Wish him the best of luck, and we’ll continue to move on.”
The Packers could have drafted Watt with their 29th overall pick in the first round in April, but instead traded out of the slot. The Steelers drafted Watt one pick later.
Watt had a good game against his home-state team.
He finished with four tackles, including one tackle for loss, with a defended pass. He also helped kill the Packers’ potential game-winning drive with a sack inside the final 90 seconds.
Left tackle David Bakhtiari did not seem impressed after the game.
“I never saw (Steelers outside linebacker Bud) Dupree, I just saw Watt,” Bakhtiari said. “On that end, I’m happy that we took Biegel, to be honest. I’m very happy that we ended up getting (Kevin) King and took Biegel.”
Practice squad moves: The Packers released linebacker Derrick Mathews and offensive tackle Francis Kallon from the practice squad Tuesday.