Cal in NFL: Aaron Rodgers, Keenan Allen, DeSean Jackson Star in Wins
Aaron Rodgers pulled a rabbit out of his MVP hat on Sunday night, leading a last-minute drive with no timeouts left that resulted in Mason Crosby's game-winning 51-yard field goal on the final play of Green Bay's dramatic, 30-28. victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
"This plane ride is going to feel incredible," Rodgers said afterward.
Rodgers' game-winning performance was one of several topflight efforts by former Cal players in NFL games Saturday.
DeSean Jackson had his best day in two years in the Rams' win, Jared Goff came agonizingly close to an impressive win for the Lions, and Keenan Allen played a major role in the Chargers' victory over the team that won the Super Bowl last season.
But Rodgers' performance outdid all of them.
Here’s how former Cal players fared this weekend:
Aaron Rodgers, Packer quarterback: Rodgers completed his first 12 passes and finished 23-for-33 for 261 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
But his story for the night begins with 37 seconds left in the game. San Francisco had just scored a touchdown to take a 28-27 lead, and Rogers and the Packers took over at their own 25-yard line with 37 seconds remaining, no timeouts left, and the San Francisco crowd in full throat.
Rodgers had thrown incompletions on his previous four passes, but on his first pass on the final drive, he hit Davante Adams for 25 yards to midfield, as you see here:
Adams did not get out of bounds, so the Packers' offense had to hurry upfield, and lineup so Rodgers could spike the ball with 20 seconds left without committing a procedure penalty that would have resulted in a 10-second runoff.
On second down, Rodgers threw an incompletion, stopping the clock with 16 seconds left. Rodgers then connected with Adams again on a 17-yard completion to the 49ers' 33-yard line. Again Adams remained inbounds, so the Packers hurried to the line of scrimmage, and once the team was aligned, Rodgers calmly waited behind center for a few extra seconds before spiking the ball with three seconds left, making sure Crosby's kick would be the final play of the game.
Crosby, who had made his previous 24 field-goal attempts, booted his 51-yarder through the uprights, and the cameras caught Rodgers celebrating as if the Packers had won the Super Bowl.
---DeSean Jackson, Rams wide receiver: The Rams acquired Jackson in the offseason because they desperately needed a deep threat, and Jackson paid off in that respect in Los Angeles' .....win over the Super Bowl champion Buccaneers. Jackson had just three receptions, but he racked up 120 receiving yards and had a 75-yard touchdown catch.
Jackson had only two receptions for 21 yards in the first two games this season, and he hadn't had more than 85 receiving yards in a game since amassing 154 yards and two touchdowns in the opening game of the 2019 season against Washington.
Jackson missed most of the past two seasons with injuries, but at 34 years of age he showed Sunday he still has the speed to get behind defenses.
---Keenan Allen, Chargers wide receiver: Allen had a game-high eight receptions for 50 yards and his first touchdown catch of the season in Los Angeles’ 34-28 win over the Chiefs.
He had a key 15-yard reception on a third-and-2 play in the Los Angeles drive that ended with a touchdown that gave the Chargers a 34-28 lead with 32 seconds left.
Allen has 21 receptions for 258 yards and a score for the season.
Allen got the Chargers off to a good start with a touchdown catch that produced the first points of the game.
Stephen Anderson, Chargers tight end: Anderson was in the starting lineup for Los Angeles, which began the game in a three-tight end alignment. No passes were thrown in Anderson’s direction, though.
Jared Goff, Lions quarterback: Goff seemed to have led the Lions to a game-winning score when he took Detroit 62 yards in a drive that produced a field goal that put Detroit ahead of Baltimore 17-16 with 1:04 left.
It took a Baltimore conversion on a fourth-and-19 play from its own 16-yard line with 20 seconds left followed by an NFL-record 66-yard field goal by Justin Tucker on the game’s final play to give the Ravens a 19-17 win and steal the upset win from Goff and the Lions.
Goff finished 22-of-30 for 217 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions, and generally outplayed Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson before Jackson threw that 36-yard completion on fourth down to set up the record-setting field goal by Tucker. Tucker's record-setting field-goal attempt hit the crossbar and bounced over to hand Detroit the loss.
“So many guys in that [Lions] locker room, in the fourth quarter, we had that. ‘We’re going to win this game.’ There was no doubt about it,” Goff said. “We went down the field on that drive on offense and kicked the field goal, ‘Man, this is our day, We’re going to win this game.’ And it was our day until that last second. If that field goal is a foot shorter, we’re saying, ‘Hell yeah. Here we go, turning it around.’”
But instead the Lions are 0-3.
Patrick Mekari, Ravens offensive tackle: The versatile Mekari was Baltimore’s starting center for much of last year, but on Sunday he was the Ravens’ starting right tackle, as he was last week’s win over the Chiefs.
Cameron Jordan, Saints defensive end: Jordan made an impact in his 148th consecutive start, the second-longest active streak in the NFL. He had three tackles, including one for a loss, and had three quarterback hits and knocked down one pass in New Orleans’ 28-13 victory over the Patriots.
Marvin Jones Jr., Jaguars wide receiver: Jones reached a milestone by catching a pass in his 100th consecutive game. Not many players can claim that.
Jones led the Jaguars with six catches for 62 yards, but Jacksonville stayed winless with a 31-19 loss to the Cardinals.
Camryn Bynum, Vikings safety: Bynum was not in the starting lineup, but he did play and recorded two solo tackles in the Vikings' 30-17 victory over Seattle.
Jake Curhan, Seahawks offensive lineman: Curhan was not in the starting lineup but he did get into the game against Minnesota.
Jaylinn Hawkins, Falcons safety: Hawkins was not a starter in Atlanta’s 17-14 win over the Giants, but he did get into the game, although he did not record any statistics.
Tyson Alualu, Steelers nose tackle: Alualu did not play in Pittsburgh’s 24-10 loss to the Bengals, and he is expected to miss the entire season after suffering a broken ankle last week.
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Cover shot of Keenan Allen is by Denny Medley, USA TODAY Sports
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