Yes, the defense tackled, but not before 10 or 15 yards. They were playing so soft and deep that almost every forward pass was a guaranteed gain. The purpose of tackling is to stop forward progress, preferably before the first down marker. These guys didn't think it was necessary to touch their man until he had gained the first down.

Tramon Williams looked simply abysmal. He was repeatedly caught flat footed and forced to play catchup, and his tackling, such as it was, involved the bare minimum amount of required contact. He played exactly as if he was trying to avoid injury, which made him virtually ineffective. At least his uniform ended up stained all over, which is more than could be said for some of our other defenders.

Originally Posted by: Nonstopdrivel 

I heard from a lot of Lions fans that the officiating was biased, and that the refs protected and helped the Pack all the way through the season. What's your opinion?

Originally Posted by: gergobacsi 

No, as I pointed out in the chat room yesterday, this has nothing to do with the location of the ball. The "going to the ground" rule applies anywhere on the field, whether it's at the goal line or between the 20s. The reason why the officials got that call right was that Johnson was in no way "going to the ground" when he caught the ball. Therefore, he established possession the moment his second foot hit the ground. The fact the lost or did not lose the ball out of bounds is therefore irrelevant. It's only when he is going to the ground at the moment of catching the ball that the receiver must maintain possession all the way through the ground. Johnson jumped up to catch the ball, but at no point was he falling -- he landed firmly on his two feet and then went out of bounds.

Originally Posted by: Nonstopdrivel 

Excellent observation. I noticed this while re-watching one of CJ's TDs while the Lions were inside the 12. Simple play-call on 😨 ILBs and OLB in Clay's spot dropping into zone, with single-man on the outside. Morgan Burnett is close to halfway back in the endzone. OLB drops into zone, Megatron releases from the slot and finds the big gap between the OLB and Burnett, catches and goes in for easy TD.

Similarly, often times Tramon was in off-man, which is very unusual given his strengths and the fact that traditionally Capers' scheme calls for press-man on the outside.

Someone mentioned that these deep / off coverages were the result of our inadequate pass rush most of this season. You can't press when there is a decent chance the receiver will have time to recover and run past you. You also can't play too aggressively with Safties when there is a good chance the QB will have good time to throw to WRs who run deeper routes.

In short, we may be beginning to see the effects of our abysmal pass-rush. It was a very interesting comment, and I was particularly surprised at how much off-man and how deep our safeties were playing yesterday. Granted the Lions were going to be pass happy, but it was surprising to see Capers play in a "take what you want, but you're not getting behind our DBs" manner. I guess it's better to keep long plays in front of you with a chance to stop them than let them happen behind you with TDs almost an inevitable result.

Originally Posted by: all_about_da_packers 

Matt Flynn and Aaron Rodgers spent about an hour together last night going over plays, especially the no-huddle. Rodgers also assisted from the sidelines by calling no-huddle plays for Flynn and the Packers, said Flynn.


I really admire this about Aaron Rodgers. I read this and think, true team player.

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 

I have a problem with how they have been doing the going to the ground in the process of a catch rule lately.

The game before this one, Finley caught a ball with his knee on the ground. He was hit and knocked to the ground, where he lost the ball. My understanding is that he was down by contact before he hit the ground. They called it an incompletion. Which I believe is a wrong interpretation but at least consistent with the Johnson catch last year.

This week I saw 2 they ruled the other way.

The lions receiver caught the ball, got two feet down and before making a "football related move" was taken to the ground where the ball was jarred lose and the defender wrested the ball away. They called him down by contact when the contact with the ground obviously cause the ball to become dislodged and therefor a free ball. Since the ball itself didn't hit the ground.

The other was the Johnson catch on the sideline. Johnson got both feet down and stepped out of bounds going to the ground where he bobbled it. He was already out of bounds when he regained control of the ball and should have been called out.

I have watched many game where a WR gets both feet in, takes 2 steps out of bounds and then goes down losing control of the ball being called incomplete. Why the difference with Johnson? Why the difference in them middle of the field?

I am not complaining about the fact we got screwed on a call or that the officials blew it. I am complaining about the fact that the replay failed to be called consistently. The League backed up the failure on the Johnson call against the Bears last year. My guess is they will back up contradictory calls this time.

This is horrible inconsistency by the officiating. They need fix that rule.

Originally Posted by: Dexter_Sinister 

Two feet down is not enough. They have to make a football move.

Originally Posted by: Dexter_Sinister 

Is that actually in the rule though? I don't remember reading that in the rule. I think it's more of an informal guideline given to officials as a way to judge when possession has been secured. I think the reasoning goes that if the player has gotten both feet down and is subsequently able to make a football move, that is a good indication he has made solid possession, whereas if he loses it before making that move, he probably never secured it in the first place. There has been talk of the Competition Committee codifying the "football move" guideline, but I do not believe that it has been done to this point.

Originally Posted by: Nonstopdrivel