King’s injury was crowning blow
Defense gave up big plays after he went out
GREEN BAY – By now, the Green Bay Packers should have enough experience playing without Kevin King to be able to cover up his absence.
But when King, the Packers’ talented but oft-injured cornerback, came out of the game with a groin injury Sunday in the 29-29 tie with the Minnesota Vikings, the defense started giving up big plays.
The worst of the bunch was a 75-yard touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins to Stefon Diggs, which erased all the momentum the Packers had built from a 10play, 62-yard field goal drive that had made it a two-score game with 7 minutes, 35 seconds left in the game.
“We probably didn’t handle Kevin King’s injury very well,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “We just weren’t as detailed down the stretch. It was obviously an ability for them to extend drives and they hit the big play there on the touchdown, too.”
The Packers had to deal with King’s bum left shoulder the first half of last season before he was placed on injured reserve. He had surgery to repair a torn labrum and missed most of the off-season workouts.
In training camp, he injured his right shoulder and has been wearing a brace to protect it. He wore one on his left shoulder last season.
King played all 70 snaps in the season opener, but he only played 26 against the Vikings. In his career, the 2017 second-round pick has played 478 snaps in 11 games or 40% of all Packers defensive snaps over that span.
King left the game in the first half and veteran Davon House replaced him. King and fellow starter Tramon Williams had held Diggs to three catches for 24 yards on six targets, including a deep ball down the sideline King had wellcovered.
In the fourth quarter, Cousins caught fire and the Packers had no answer. House was in man-to-man coverage on the deep ball to Diggs and could have played it better, McCarthy said, but he should have had deep safety help as well.
“I think it’s pretty clear the coverage we were in,” McCarthy said of a singlehigh safety look. “I think the hesitation on the route was something that Davon reacted to probably too much.
“But yeah, they’re not supposed to throw the ball 75 yards down the field like that.”
Later, rookie Jaire Alexander replaced House and was in coverage with Brice on Adam Thielen’s 22-yard touchdown that led to the game being tied with 36 seconds left.
If King is out this week against Washington, McCarthy and defensive coordinator Mike Pettine will have to decide who replaces him and how much help they give him. Washington’s receivers are nowhere near as good as Minnesota’s, so the Packers will be catching a bit of a break.
What not to do
A little after 1 p.m. Monday, McCarthy said the hit Clay Matthews put on Cousins was what the linebacker has been taught to do under the umbrella of the new roughing rules set by the NFL in 2018.
A little under three hours later, the NFL decided that it was going to send out Matthews’ hit as an example of what not to do.
“The goal is for player safety. I think that’s number one,” McCarthy said early Monday afternoon. “Number two, it’s to protect the quarterback. But also I think you have to go further. I think anytime you have a desired result, there’s a formula to get that result. You’ve got to make sure you’re looking at all the variables. I’m not sure that all the variables are clear right now.”
To help clear those variables up, the NFL Network reported that the league will send Matthews’ hit on Cousins – which referee Tony Corrente ruled consisted of Matthews lifting and driving the quarterback into the ground – to each team in the league in a training video.
Rule 12, Section 2, Article 9 of the NFL rule book states that the “technique of grabbing the passer from behind the leg (s), scooping and pulling in an upward motion is considered a foul.”
Corrente determined that Matthews did that, resulting in a roughing penalty that negated an interception and gave the ball back to the Vikings. Cousins eventually directed a scoring drive that sent the game to overtime.
Matthews was asked to comment about the play again on Monday, and he respectfully declined.
The roughing penalty called on Minnesota linebacker Eric Kendricks for hitting Aaron Rodgers will also be included in the film distributed to teams.
“You look at both of the penalties that were called in the game, the quarterbacks, they’re trying to throw the ball,” McCarthy said. “That’s got to be — if you’re trying to throw the ball and you’re totally exposed, I think that maybe you have to potentially factor into the action. I think that’s where a little bit of the gray area is in the judgment of the defender hitting the quarterbacks, they’re trying to throw the ball. That’s got to be, if you’re trying to throw the ball and you’re totally exposed I think that may have to potentially factor in the action.
“So I think that’s where a little bit of the gray area is in the judgment of defender hitting the quarterback because I get what the goal is, and we’re all for the goal being achieved. But in the same breath we’ve got to make sure it’s not a competitive disadvantage to the pass rusher trying to hit the quarterback. Things like that, those are the quality conversations I think you can have with the officials because really we had the one on the 2-minute drill there at half, it’s pretty much the same situation that was called on Aaron — very similar. So, that’s that. It’s as far as I’m going to go.”
Going the distance
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix said he was in the right place at the right time Sunday to intercept a Cousins pass off the hands of Minnesota receiver Laquon Treadwell with 2 minutes, 13 seconds to go — but he said he learned a lesson after watching it on film.
Clinton-Dix grabbed the ball at the Minnesota 37 and returned it 13 yards before being brought down. Four of the Vikings’ offensive linemen were closing in on him, as well as running back Dalvin Cook. The Packers’ safety said in the moment, protecting the ball was the only thought going through his head.
“I think we had a chance to win and I wasn’t thinking end zone,” Clinton-Dix said. “But after watching the play I was definitely thinking, ‘damn I should’ve scored’ and we probably could’ve won the game. That wasn’t my mindset at the time. It sounds good after the game, but in the heat of the battle, you’re just thinking ‘you just made a big play, don’t turn it back over.’ ”
Upon further review, Clinton-Dix said he’ll look at such a play differently the next time.
He referenced how Morgan Burnett decided to give himself up rather than return the ball as far as he could after an interception in the 2014 NFC Championship game.
“We see how that unfolded,” ClintonDix said. “My mindset is now different. Anytime I get my hand on the ball, it’s always going to be to score. That’s next for me.”
Slow red-zone start
The Packers went 1 for 5 in the red zone against Minnesota after going 1 for 2 against Chicago in Week 1. Their 28.57% conversion rate is 29th in the NFL, with only Chicago (25%), the New York Giants (25%) and the New York Jets (16.67%) scoring touchdowns at a lower rate.
The Bears’ figure doesn’t include their Monday night game against Seattle.