On Third-and-Long, Kirk Cousins-Led Vikings Carved Up Packers
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Good teams turn weaknesses into strengths. Bad teams turn strengths into weaknesses.
The Green Bay Packers are a bad team.
For coach Matt LaFleur’s team, it’s like plugging a leaky dam with one finger, only to see another leak. And then another. And then another. At some point, you run out of fingers.
For an intentional misspelling, the Packers are a dam mess.
They entered Sunday’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings ranked ninth on third down. The Vikings torched the Packers for 10-of-18. More often than not, the Packers had the Vikings right where they wanted them – third-and-long – but let them off the hook.
A dozen times, the Packers forced the Vikings into a third down requiring at least 8 yards, which we’ll consider third-and-long for the sake of this story. Including a roughing-the-passer penalty by outside linebacker Rashan Gary, Joe Barry’s unit in a staggeringly horrendous performance allowed seven first downs.
“There were a lot of long third-down conversions where we’re just giving up, whether it’s checkdowns, not getting pressure on the quarterback,” LaFleur told Packers.com’s Larry McCarren in a postgame interview. “There’s a multitude of things and it’s got to be complementary. The rush has to complement the back end, and vice-versa.
“And same with offensively and defensively. We’re a mess right now.”
Officially, because defensive penalties don’t count in the stats, the Vikings were credited with six third-and-long conversions. That wasn’t just the most in the league this week. It’s the most by any team in the league this season.
Vikings WR Jordan Addison moves the chains against the Packers.
Photo by Dan Powers/USA Today Sports Images
For additional context via Stathead:
- Offensively, the Packers had four conversions in Week 1 but are only 4-of-31 their last five games.
- Offensively, Green Bay’s season-long conversion rate is 20.0 percent.
- The league median conversion rate is 21.4 percent.
- Five teams don’t have six conversions all season.
Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins was 8-of-8 passing for 100 yards. Cousins, who ranked among the dubious league leaders entering the game with seven fumbles and five interceptions, never got close to turning over the football.
“Sometimes, we gave Kirk too much time on throws,” defensive tackle Kenny Clark said. “We’ve got to figure that out and win our one-on-ones. We’ve got to find ways to win.”
On the opening drive, which resulted in a missed field goal, Cousins converted a third-and-8 with a 10-yard pass to Jordan Addison and came up just short with a 9-yard pass to T.J. Hockenson on third-and-10.
With Minnesota up 7-0, Cousins found Osborn alone for 21 on third-and-8. That was the key play on a drive that made it 10-0.
With Minnesota up 10-3 coming out of halftime, Osborn was wide open for a catch-and-run gain of 32 yards on third-and-9. That set up a touchdown that extended their lead to 17-3.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, with Minnesota leading 24-10, Gary was flagged for hitting Cousins on third-and-11. Moments later, a third-and-8 pass to Brandon Powell gained 10. The Packers salvaged the drive with back-to-back sacks and Karl Brooks’ blocked field goal.
With Cousins out following his torn Achilles, the Packers – finally – got their one big win with Preston Smith’s sack/strip of rookie quarterback Jaren Hall. That gave Green Bay a chance on the doorstep of the end zone, but Love threw incomplete on third-and-16 and scrambled on fourth-and-16.
On the Vikings’ next possession, Hall on third-and-8 from the 8 hit Hockenson for 16.
Combined, Cousins and Hall completed all 10 attempts on third-and-long.
“We won some third downs, and some of them we gave to them,” cornerback Rasul Douglas said. “We’ve got to know the D and D [down and distance], be aware of that, and just play the sticks and make throws in front of us and we just rally and make the tackle.”
Meanwhile, Green Bay’s offense went 0-for-4 on third-and-long. Jordan Love was 0-for-2 passing with one interception and had a couple worthless scrambles.
On all third-down plays in the first half, Cousins was 6-of-7 for 79 yards. He had a 23-yard completion to Hockenson on a third-and-1 in which the Packers dropped nine into coverage and still didn’t cover the tight end. On all plays overall in the first half, Love was 10-of-15 passing for 69 yards.
“We were in third-and-long for a lot of the game,” LaFleur said of his offense, “and it’s going to be tough sledding when you’re in those situations.”
Tough sledding, perhaps, if you’ve got Love running a dysfunctional passing game. Easy sledding, however, if you’ve got Barry as your defensive coordinator.
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