Should they have tried the Hail Mary?
Instead of attempting a Hail Mary from the Philadelphia Eagles‘ 46-yard line, Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur chose to have kicker Brandon McManus attempt a would-be, game-tying 64-yard field goal with two seconds remaining in the fourth quarter on Monday night; McManus ultimately missed the kick as time expired in the fourth quarter.
LaFleur explained his thinking at the moment.
“Basically, the information I got was that he [McManus] was close when he took the swing at the 64-yarder. I don’t know what the percentages would equate to, but a Hail Mary’s not by any stretch a gimme,” LaFleur said after the 10-7 loss on Monday night. “Trust me, it definitely crossed my mind, but I think we had a little bit more confidence with how close the first kick was, so you take a shot.”
Philadelphia called a timeout before Green Bay could snap the ball, but McManus still fired away a kick, and it missed a tad to the right. On the season, McManus is 11-of-17 on field goal attempts and 2-of-4 on attempts of 50-plus yards.
In what was a grueling defensive showdown, which saw neither team score in the first half, Philadelphia outgained Green Bay, 294-261 in total yards. Packers quarterback Jordan Love totaled 176 passing yards, 28 rushing yards and a 68.8 passer rating, while completing 55.6% of his passes.
The win improved Philadelphia to 7-2 and dropped Green Bay to 5-3-1 and third place in the NFC North. Next up for LaFleur’s Packers is a road matchup against the New York Giants on Sunday (1 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app).
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