GREEN BAY — Describing his frustration level as "extremely high," Shawn Slocum is well aware of the Green Bay Packers protection problems on special teams all season long. The veteran special-teams coordinator also knows that given the reduced margin for error in the postseason, there can't be an eighth blocked kick given up by his units.
"It's disappointing. We've spent a lot of time, because we've had some problems this season in our placement protection," Slocum said Monday, one day after yet another kicking-game problem didn't come back to bite the Packers in their 30-20 victory over the Detroit Lions. "We've devoted the necessary time in practice. We were very good in the previous game, we were good inside in that ball game. That was a critical play in the game and our accountability needs to pick up there."
Although he didn't name tight end Andrew Quarless by name when asked what caused Mason Crosby's 52-yard field goal attempt to be blocked Sunday, the film didn't lie, so Slocum merely referred to the missed assignment being on the "left wing," which was Quarless. Quarless had two players blow past him on either side, including Lions safety Isa Abdul-Quddus, who blocked the kick.
The reason Slocum was so exasperated with the breakdown wasn't just that the Packers had had six previous kicks — two field goals, two extra points, two punts — blocked already this season, but that the placekicking protection problems had been on the interior of the line.
But after having a 53-yard field-goal attempt blocked by Mario Williams on an inside rush in their Dec. 14 loss at Buffalo, the Packers felt they'd fixed their inside protection by reinserting veteran guard T.J. Lang into the line. Lang and Pro Bowl guard Josh Sitton had been pulled from the unit after both suffered injuries at New Orleans on Oct. 26.
"We've gotten exposed — obviously," long-snapper Brett Goode said Monday. "We'd solved it on the inside and now it's trickled to the outside. We've just got to get it together. Everybody's got to do their job. I think that's the thing — you just have to hone in and get it done."
Slocum called Quarless' mistake "a focus error," saying the protection scheme isn't difficult and should be sound if players merely execute their assignments.
"That protection is uncomplicated by design. It's a zone protection. Everybody's got an area and you need to be accountable for your area," Slocum said. "Frankly, we need to do a better job. We're now in playoff football. We've got an excellent football team. Scoring points in a placement situation is vitally important in these ball games. We must simply do a better job in protection."
Jason Wilde wrote: