It is impossible to talk about this game without discussing the officiating, because the officiating had such an enormous impact on the game that it swamped the play itself. The officials were alarmingly inconsistent, often flagging one team for pass interference while ignoring a similar foul within a few plays. Holding, as the cliché goes, happens every play, but Tony Corrente and his officials seemed to save their flags for big plays. Some prefer not to discuss officiating, claiming that it is on the teams to play well enough to take the refs out of the equation. That is a flawed philosophy as it is not the responsibility of teams to play a platonically perfect version of football, just to play better than their opponents within the constraints of the rules. We should not use imperfections in play to excuse incompetence in officiating.
The Big Ones
The elephant in the room was an egregious roughing the passer call on Clay Matthews that wiped out a game-clinching interception by cornerback Jaire Alexander. According to the win percentage calculator at Pro Football Reference, the Packers would have been 99.89% likely to win had the interception stood. Matthews appeared to execute a picture-perfect form tackle, but instead of reaping the rewards of a near perfect play, the Vikings received new life. The NFL doubled down after the game, claiming they would use film of this near-perfect tackle, as well as an earlier (also good) tackle of Aaron Rodgers by the Vikings’ Eric Kendricks, to teach what not to do. The NFL risks setting a dangerous precedent by flagging safe, proper football, as some defensive players will undoubtedly decide to “get their money’s worth” and really drill opponents, if the flag will be the same.
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That was hardly the only major ref botch of the day. In the second quarter the Vikings managed to pin the Packers at their own 9 yard line, but Aaron Rodgers quickly dug them out of that hole with a perfect bomb to Jimmy Graham down the sideline. Linebacker Ben Gedeon was in coverage, and clearly and obviously interfered with Graham, pulling down his hands well before the ball arrived.
It was an indefensible non-call, but it would have made a small bit of sense if the refs were allowing rough play in the secondary across the board. Instead, just two plays later, the refs wiped out a 24-yard gain on 3rd and 10, on an offensive pass interference penalty that defies belief.
Xavier Rhodes initiated contact, and Adams extension of his arm had nothing to do with creating separation. This is a standard back shoulder play, and Adams does an amazing job of dragging his toes to complete the perfectly timed catch, but instead of getting a new set of downs, the Packers were forced to punt from deep inside their own territory, and the Vikings turned the resulting good field position into a field goal. Finally, Jimmy Graham lost a touchdown to a holding call that was blamed on Lane Taylor, but was likely on David Bakhtiari. Assuming that was the case, it was a hold that occurred several times throughout the game, almost always without drawing a flag.
All of this overshadowed a great performance from Packers rookie corner Jaire Alexander, who was all over the field, from Graham, showing up in a big way after a quiet first game, and from the Packers best outside linebacker Reggie Gilbert, who created consistent pressure. It’s a shame when that happens, and instead of circling the wagons around a crew of officials who essentially ruined a perfectly good game of football, the league should have told the truth, and offered to correct the issues.
Davon House Must Go
Before the Two Minute Warning of the first half, the Packers kept the Vikings’ passing attack mostly in check holding Cousins to a pedestrian 7.2 yards per attempt, but at that point cornerback Kevin King left the game with a groin injury, replaced by veteran Devon House. King was having a very good game to that point, but as usual, he was unable to stay on the field. The Packers should have moved rookie Josh Jackson outside to cover Stefon Diggs, as only Diggs, and Adam Thielen present any real threat. Instead House got the call, and he was torched mercilessly and repeatedly, including a 75-yard bomb to Diggs. House was easily the worst corner on the team last season, and it was a questionable decision to retain him when better options, like Lenzy Pipkins or Herb Waters were freely available. Tramon Williams has lost a step, but he has excellent instincts and still provides value if the rest of the secondary is sound. House offers nothing, and after he took over outside Cousins averaged almost 10 yards per attempt. The Packers have plenty of tape on House at this point, and they should know better.
