Williams admits frustration over decision to punt
GREEN BAY – Frustration is mounting within the Green Bay Packers locker room over the close losses the team keeps suffering on the road, but veteran cornerback Tramon Williams said there’s nothing wrong with that.
Williams said he was extremely frustrated with the Packers’ 27-24 loss Thursday at Seattle, which is why he said after the game that he would have liked coach Mike McCarthy to have gone for it on fourth-and-2 with 4:20 remaining.
McCarthy punted and the Seahawks were able to run out the clock.
“There’s going to be times guys come in here and show frustration,” Williams said in the locker room Monday. “But showing frustration may mean just coming in here and talking to your teammate. It’s a family. We’re all going through the same thing.
“We have to use each other to get through that. I got one game a year that I’m really frustrated. One game. I think it was the Seattle game.”
Williams said he did not feel the need to speak to McCarthy about his comments after the game. He said it’s obvious he cares about winning and was only expressing some of that frustration from the Seattle loss.
The most important thing, he said, was that everyone was focused on the same thing: winning.
“Everyone should care about winning and losing because ultimately that’s what it’s about,” Williams said. “We just have to stick in this thing together. I’d never turn my back on anybody – player, coach, anybody.”
Williams wasn’t on the ’16 team that won its final six to finish 10-6, win the NFC North and then make it all the way to the NFC Championship Game. But he was on the ’14 team that won seven of its last eight and also made it all the way to the NFC title game.
There are enough examples of the Packers pulling playoff spots out of their hat under McCarthy that Williams is not giving up on that possibility, even though it probably means winning out, starting with Sunday’s game at Minnesota.
“I’m optimistic guys can get this done,” he said. “That’s just the competitor talking, which should be, but I think we can get it done.”
Start to finish
Slow starts have not been the Packers’ problem of late. Finishing has been.
The Packers were up 10-0 on the Los Angeles Rams and lost, 29-27.
They were tied with New England, 1010, in the second quarter, and 17-17 at the start of the fourth and lost, 31-17.
They were up 14-3 against Seattle and lost, 27-24.
In L.A. and Seattle, the Packers couldn’t sustain the momentum they created in the first quarter.
“Some teams, some games, particularly some environments that you play in, the potential for momentum swings seems to maybe be higher,” McCarthy said. “Those are all things you prepare for.
“I know one of the last things I talked about before Thursday night’s game was the shifts in momentum and the ability to use it as an energy source.”
In their only two games against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium, the Packers have faded at the end. They led, 7-0, in 2016 and fell, 17-14. They lost quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the first quarter last season and scored just twice in a 23-10 defeat.
Dubious distinction
The Packers came into this season 52-44 on the road under McCarthy.
Even during their two losing seasons under McCarthy, the Packers managed to go 3-5 in 2017 and 2-6 in 2008.
But their 27-24 loss Thursday in Seattle marked their fifth road loss in as many games this season.
The Packers hadn’t lost their first five on the road since 1979, when Bart Starr’s team lost seven straight and finished 1-7 away from home.
Between Starr and McCarthy, the longest streaks to start the season was four losses (Mike Sherman in 2005, Lindy Infante in 1989 and Forrest Gregg in 1984 and ’85).
The fewest road wins since the 1970 merger all came under Starr (one in the ’75, ’76 and ’79 seasons). The last Packers team to lose all of its road games was Ray “Scooter” McLean’s 1958 team, which went 0-6 on the road and 1-10-1 overall.
After visiting Minnesota on Sunday night, the Packers play just two more games on the road, at Chicago on Dec. 16 and at the New York Jets on Dec. 23. The Jets game likely is the only one they will be favored to win.
“We need to turn that around and get a win on the road, but we’re not thinking about the past losses,” linebacker Clay Matthews said after the loss to the Seahawks. “It’s all about this week.
“Each and every week, you’ve got to flush the old stuff, and we just didn’t get it done this week. We were close. It’s just opportunities, we need to take advantage of that. We’ve set ourselves up for a pretty difficult path, but we’ve just got to get back to work. We have no other option.”
Coming up empty
Although the Packers defense caused a turnover on Matthews’ forced fumble on Seattle’s first possession Thursday, the unit has not been able to make opposing quarterbacks pay for throwing the ball an average of about 30 times a game against them.
They have just two interceptions in their last five games and just one since safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix was traded to Washington after the Oct. 28 loss at the Los Angeles Rams. They had been averaging five pass breakups a game but came up with just two against the Seahawks.
“We’re not doing enough to take the ball away,” rookie cornerback Jaire Alexander said.
“We’re not making enough plays on the ball. That starts with us in the secondary. You can see we’re getting sacks, but we’re not getting our hands the ball enough when they do throw it.”
By the fourth quarter of the 27-24 loss to the Seahawks, the Packers were playing with three rookies — Alexander, Josh Jackson and Tony Brown — at cornerback. Starter Kevin King (hamstring) has been out for two weeks and veteran Beshaud Breeland gutted it out as long as he could with a pulled groin muscle before leaving the game.
Jackson and Brown were beaten badly on key plays against the Seahawks and someone blew a coverage on tight end Ed Dickson’s winning touchdown catch in the fourth quarter.