Game Changing Play of the Week: Crucial Jaguars Penalty Ends Up Making the Difference

A late-game penalty gave the Packers breathing room in an unnecessarily close ball game.

I have to say, it was rather difficult for me to pinpoint a "game changing play of the week" that resulted in the Packers winning this week. 

Just about all of the plays that would have been potentially obvious "turning points" went in the Jaguars' favor, just another sign of how fortunate the Packers were to escape with a victory. There's the Davante Adams fumble, the Aaron Rodgers interception, the punt return for a touchdown... it just felt like the Packers were making mistake after mistake to allow this team every opportunity to steal a win at Lambeau.

Ultimately, the Packers got the win and currently sit at the top of the conference. There were some positives to take away from the game, but not too many, as once again the Packers came out of the tunnel in a bad weather game at home against a bad opponent completely flat and looking uninterested in playing football.

Thanks to @ProFootHistory on Twitter, who gave me a bit of an assist this week, I do have a play that I think moved the needle in the Packers' direction more than any other, and fittingly for yesterday's game, it doesn't have so much to do with what the Packers did, as it does with what the Jaguars failed to do.

The play

On the second play of the fourth quarter, Jaguars running back James Robinson took a handoff from quarterback Jake Luton, broke a couple tackles on the left side of the line and dashed toward the endzone, breaking a couple more would-be tackles to put the Jaguars up 24-17.

However, a holding penalty brought the ball back. The Jaguars ended up kicking a field goal to go up 20-17 on the drive.

The Packers didn't do anything "right" here; in fact, the run itself was another display of poor tackling and poor discipline in the run game. But this certainly ended up being a big moment that altered the rest of the game for the Packers. Rather than being forced to tie the game and hopefully get the ball back one more time before regulation expired, the Packers were able to get a go-ahead touchdown and a four-point lead thta meant the Jaguars could not settle for a field goal.

That's a fairly large turn of events for a single penalty, and it may have been just enough for the Packers to escape Lambeau with a win.

 

The Packers get the Colts this week, a much tougher test with an outstanding defense, but, perhaps in good news for the Packers, they get to play the game indoors. Regardless, they're going to need a better effort than they put forth this week to get past a very tough, well-coached ball team.

 

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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.

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4 points
 

Comments (15)

Fan-Friendly This filter will hide comments which have ratio of 5 to 1 down-vote to up-vote.
Coldworld's picture

November 16, 2020 at 05:33 pm

Reasonable choice after that game. Damning with faint praise by implication seems apt.

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lawatrain's picture

November 16, 2020 at 04:53 pm

Packers somehow avoided disaster. Poor play and very poor play calling. I know there aren’t any fans but, come on!

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Lphill's picture

November 16, 2020 at 05:46 pm

The Packers will go as far as the 3 man front takes them , and that's not going to be very far, A weak armed QB , everyone knows the Jags are running the ball except Mike Pettine who plays a 3 man front and two safeties deep in 40 mph winds? What ?

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Bearmeat's picture

November 16, 2020 at 05:49 pm

I'm not going to freak out. They've played two poor games their last two games at home. They won one of them and had a shot at the end of the last one.

We'll see if they pick it up vs the Colts.

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TheBigCheeze's picture

November 16, 2020 at 05:51 pm

Pack is a farce.....Indy will embarrass them.....Pettine must go.....

0 points
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fastmoving's picture

November 17, 2020 at 04:13 am

The langue is even dumber than the content and that means something.
But you are just kidding, right. Otherwise you embarras nothing more than yourself.
Fake news and alternative facts are over, we are back to sciense.

-2 points
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WMA's picture

November 17, 2020 at 08:48 am

fastmoving. Your football comments are fine but the constant political jabs are growing tiresome.

0 points
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deerskinlake's picture

November 17, 2020 at 10:23 am

The Packers defense is fake news.

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deerskinlake's picture

November 17, 2020 at 10:19 am

The Packers have been a farce for many many years.
The organization has no interest in defense or getting a head coach to put Rogers in his place.

0 points
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Dzehren's picture

November 16, 2020 at 08:35 pm

Such a farce when MLF is 20-5 as a HC. Yup GB has no chance against the Colts. So glad you filled us all in.

4 points
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deerskinlake's picture

November 17, 2020 at 10:30 am

The regular season and an elite quarterback can be window dressing. It is the playoffs and how you stack up to playoff caliber teams that shows what you have and the Packers for the last decade have been lacking.

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Packer_Fan's picture

November 16, 2020 at 08:52 pm

You are right. Most of the breaks went Jacksonville way. Poor play calling, perhaps a better way to say it is too predictable, drops , turnovers, punt return, holding penalty just before the half all gave Jacksonville chances for a win. But this play messed it up. Would the Packers have come back from a 24-17 deficit. I don't know.

That third and one at the end of the game was si predictable. Especially since the running game was not doing that well. And I always thought that Jones is better when the offense is spread out.

1 points
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deerskinlake's picture

November 17, 2020 at 10:21 am

Jones is too small for third and one if you are going to run it down the middle.... you need a full back or larger running back.

1 points
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Thegravedigger's picture

November 16, 2020 at 09:29 pm

And lets be real it was a bogus call. Who was even held on this play?

1 points
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Razer's picture

November 17, 2020 at 07:18 am

Didn't see the game, but, sounds like we were lucky.

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