You don’t often see a game-changing sequence of plays on the first drive of the game.
But in a contest between the Green Bay Packers and Baltimore Ravens that came down to a two-point conversion try, a Packers defense that struggled all game long changed the complexion of the game by getting off the field on an early fourth-down conversion attempt.
REJECTED ON FOURTH DOWN!#Packers ball. #GBvsBAL | #GoPackGo
FOX pic.twitter.com/DjQHqjxdp7
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) December 19, 2021
The Ravens came out with an extremely efficient and methodical offense, slowly working their way down the field thanks in large part to the contributions of their all-world tight end Mark Andrews, for whom the Packers (and particularly Darnell Savage) had no answer all game long.
Baltimore managed to eat about half of the first quarter clock and got all the way down the field. Sensing the team would need to pull out all the stops to beat Aaron Rodgers while dealing with a hampered roster, Ravens coach John Harbaugh made the aggressive move to go for it on fourth and goal from the Packers’ five yard line rather than kick the field goal.
That decision (one I agree with, by the way) ended up being one of the key differences in the game.
The Ravens attempted to get into the endzone on a designed quarterback draw with backup QB Tyler Huntley. But there wasn’t a whole lot of space for Huntley to go with the football.
The Packers’ defensive line got some okay push up the middle, but the real difference maker here was that both Packer ILBs Krys Barnes and De’Vondre Campbell were clearly prepared for the draw attempt. Neither one turned to a receiver, and both reacted immediately when Huntley made the move to take the ball up the middle.
With Huntley’s path to the endzone clearly sealed off, he tried to bounce to the outside but never was able to get the edge as Campbell followed him all the way.
The Packers promptly went three and out on offense immediately following this, but this result was huge in the overall scheme of the game. The Ravens wasted an eighth of the game on a drive that ended in no points–that in a game decided by a single point at the end.
Despite the uncharacteristically bad performance by the defense, this single stop was a huge difference maker in the outcome.
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Tim Backes is a lifelong Packer fan and a contributor to CheeseheadTV. Follow him on Twitter @timbackes for his Packer takes, random musings and Untappd beer check-ins.