ATLANTA -- Aaron Rodgers did his part. He handed the lead to the Green Bay Packers' defense, albeit a depleted one, with less than four minutes left in Sunday’s game at Atlanta.
Dom Capers needed someone -- anyone -- to make one game-changing splash play, as the defensive coordinator calls them.
And, of course, it didn’t happen. By now, everyone has seen the 11-yard touchdown pass that Matt Ryan lofted to Mohamed Sanu over the head of Jake Ryan -- why the linebacker was covering a receiver remains unanswered -- for the game-tying score with 31 seconds left.
The question after the Packers’ 33-32 loss at the Georgia Dome on Sunday that spoiled Rodgers’ best game of the season wasn’t just what happened on the final drive, but who’s going to make the play to stop it from happening again?
Mike Daniels, the team’s outspoken leader on the defensive line, said it should have been him.
“All I know is that I didn't get to the quarterback and that's what I was out there to do,” said Daniels, who had one of the Packers’ two sacks of the Falcons quarterback. “And I've got to do better. If I get to the quarterback, we're not even talking about that [play]."
Perhaps the Packers will get back outside linebacker Clay Matthews, who missed his second game of the season because of a hamstring injury, and he will make the play the defense needs next time to seal a game. Or maybe some of the injured cornerbacks -- Sam Shields (who is on injured reserve with a concussion), Damarious Randall (who had groin surgery less than two weeks ago) or Quinten Rollins (who missed his second straight game because of a groin injury) -- will pick off a pass or knock away a ball to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
For now, it will be just another loss for the defense to lament and another late-game breakdown for Capers & Co. to explain.
It’s hard to imagine Capers wanted Ryan, a linebacker, matched up on Sanu. All Ryan would say is there was “maybe just a miscommunication there, but we’ll see.” Cornerback Demetri Goodson said, “It may have been a busted coverage.”
Three plays earlier, cornerback LaDarius Gunter could have been the one to seal the game. He had a chance at an interception -- perhaps even a pick-six -- on a ball intended for Julio Jones but couldn’t corral it.
“I fully expected to win [and] put ourselves in position to win, and I think this is an excellent illustration, as I told the team, of what these tough games come down to,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. “It’s about making plays and making plays at key times, and we didn’t make enough plays to win the game.”
At 4-3 and heading home for Sunday’s game against another gunslinging quarterback in Indianapolis’ Andrew Luck, the Packers need some defensive playmakers to emerge soon.
At the end of the day, Daniels was the last player in the visitor’s locker room. He looked over a stat sheet that showed plenty of positives -- another solid performance against the run and just three catches for 29 yards by Jones.
And then he chucked the paper aside.
“You hold them to 90 yards rushing, you hold big, bad Devonta Freeman to 35 yards rushing, the offense puts up 32 points and you lose,” Daniels said. “So that's basically what you do. Stats are for losers, really. You've just got to go and play better, flat out."