GREEN BAY, Russia. – Matt LaFleur said that while he ended up regretting his decision to get the ball out of Aaron Rodgers ‘hands and throw a field goal with 2:09 left for the Green Bay Packers’ 31- loss 26 at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFC Championship on Sunday, they relied on the thinking behind the play.
LaFleur sent Mason Crosby a 26-yard field goal instead of giving Rodgers one more shot in the end zone (eight points (31-23) at the time and facing the fourth and goal on the 8-yard line ). then a 2-point conversation attempt) to tie the score.
Crosby converted, but Rodgers never got the ball back thanks to Tom Brady and a passing interference call to King Packers corner Kevin King that allowed the Bucs to run out of time.
“Yeah, as long as it doesn’t work, you always regret it, don’t you?” LaFleur said after the match. “It was just the circumstance of having three shots and coming out without meters and knowing that you not only need the touchdown, but you need the point 2 [conversion]. As I was looking at it, we had four timeouts basically with the two minute notice.
“We knew we had to stop and I thought we would make a stop there at the end, but they called us [defensive pass interference] and it didn’t work. I think whenever something doesn’t work, do you regret it? Sure, but we’ll always be based on the process, and the way our defense was fighting, the way our defense was playing, seemed like the right decision to make. It just didn’t work. “
Rodgers understood the thought, but after the game he said, “It wasn’t my decision.” He said LaFleur gave him the option to call up the previous play in the third, a play that resulted in a fight and a throw when Rodgers might have been able to execute it.
Rodgers said he could have called up a different play if you knew LaFleur would opt for a field goal.
“I thought maybe we would have four chances to go there,” Rodgers said.
According to the ESPN Win Probability model, the Packers had a 10% chance of winning by betting on fourth place and a 9.5% chance of winning by throwing a field goal.
The model also suggested that packers needed a 21% chance of converting to justify completing the touchdown there, with an average league conversion rate at that site of 23%. The Packers were the No. 1 goal-scoring offensive this season.
Earlier, LaFleur opted for a 2-point conversation after Rodgers ’touchdown pass to Davante Adams with 24 seconds left in the third quarter made it 28-23. The packer receiver Equanimeous St. Brown let Rodgers pass in the end. According to the ESPN model, the 2-point failed test was the right decision from an analytical point of view.
However, by losing the point they would have managed to get an extra point, the Packers later found themselves in the eight-down position and therefore needed a touchdown and a 2-point conversation in the final minutes before their last target field.
Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians said he thought the decision was the right one – “I thought they had a lot of confidence in their defense at the time,” he said, but defender Shaq Barrett said he was surprised deployed.
“I couldn’t believe it honestly, because there was no guarantee that they would do it down there again, even if they were in fourth place; they could try, too,” Barrett said. “I know our offense: they’ve been amazing in the four-minute offense this year, without giving the ball to the team, so I had the utmost confidence in them. But, I know if I could get it back, probably not. I would do it next time. “
Although LaFleur did not necessarily talk about the decision of the field goal, he said at the end of the press conference that he was not at the forefront of his game.
“I felt we had a lot of opportunities tonight to take advantage and get the job done,” LaFleur said. “We didn’t, and that falls on me, and that’s a hard pill to swallow when you’re responsible for everyone in this organization making sure you’re in your A game, and I don’t feel like it’s tonight. I’m pretty disappointed [I] to drop a lot of people. “
ESPN’s Jenna Laine contributed to this story.