MONDAY, OCTOBER 25 , 2021. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ SU D9
NFL WEEK 7
PHOTOS BY RICKY CARIOTI/THE WASHINGTON POSTGreen Bay cornerback Chandon Sullivan gets in front of Washington wide receiver Adam Humphries to intercept a pass in the end zone. It was one of several red-zone chances the visitors could not convert.
For the game, Washington
came up short on three pivotal
fourth downs, turned the ball
over twice, finished 0 f or 4 i n the
red zone and, counting a blocked
field goal, essentially squandered
20 points in its 14-point loss.
“It was disappointing,” Coach
Ron Rivera said. “We had oppor-
tunities, and we just didn’t con-
vert when we had a c hance.”
The loss was Washington’s
sixth straight at Lambeau, dating
from 2001, and drew similarities
to the others it has endured this
season: Big plays were followed
by needless errors, long drives
often went unfinished, and any
good simply was not good
enough.
The attention to detail was
intermittent. Take the opening
possession, when Green Bay
capped a 1 3-play, 75-yard drive
with a touchdown — s eemingly a
tradition by Washington oppo-
nents of late. Quarterback Aaron
Rodgers broke contain on fourth
and three in the red zone and
found four-time Pro Bowl wide
receiver Davante Adams open in
the middle of the field for a
17-yard touchdown.
“If we’re disciplined and we do
our job and finish it, we keep him
contained,” Rivera said.
Washington responded with a
scoring drive of its own when
Heinicke, whose play in recent
weeks appeared conservative
compared with his usual free-
wheeling style, rediscovered his
legs and his connection with
wide receiver Terry McLaurin. A
12-yard completion to McLaurin
set up a 40-yard leaping touch-
down to tie the score at 7.
But after Washington forced a
three-and-out, its mistakes
quickly started to pile up.
Chris Blewitt, the kicker Wash-
ington signed to replace Dustin
Hopkins, made his NFL debut
five years after attempting his
final kicks at the University of
Pittsburgh. His first field goal
attempt, from 42 yards early in
the second quarter, was low and
got blocked, denying Washing-
ton the lead.
When Washington made it
back inside the 30, Rivera decid-
ed to go for it on fourth and three
instead of having Blewitt kick
from the 27-yard line. But Hein-
WASHINGTON FROM D1
icke’s pass to McLaurin along the
left sideline was deflected by
Packers cornerback Eric Stokes.
Green Bay responded with a
nine-play scoring drive as Rodg-
ers capitalized on Washington’s
depleted roster. The team’s inju-
ry list ahead of Sunday’s game
featured 10 starters, including
cornerback William Jackson III,
who was ruled out with a knee
injury. In his place, Washington
used Danny Johnson in nickel
packages, and though he held up
well, Rodgers ta rgeted him often
to set up a 10-yard touchdown
pass to Allen Lazard with 15 sec-
onds left in the second quarter to
put Green Bay up 14-7.
“When you get down there
multiple times and you don’tscore three or seven, that kind of
hurts you a l ittle bit,” McLaurin
said. “It puts pressure on our
defense, especially when they
were playing a pretty good game
today. They created chaos and
had Aaron Rodgers just moving
around off his spot. We j ust want
to do a better job as an offense
getting down there and scoring.
Not ju st three but seven points is
very important.”
Late-half touchdowns have
been daggers for Washington
(see New Orleans, Week 5) and
proved just as damaging in
Green Bay, putting a blemish on
the defense ’s best showing of the
season. In the first half alone,
Washington’s oft-criticized
group had five quarterback hits(including three sacks), a batted
pass and a blocked field goal.
But Green Bay’s momentum
carried into the second half. Two
plays in, Heinicke was sacked
from behind by Packers outside
linebacker Rashan Gary. Gary
knocked the ball out of Hein-
icke’s hand just as he was about
to throw, and the ball landed on
the chest of defensive end Dean
Lowry for a fumble recovery
deep in Washington territory.
Less than two minutes later,
Rodgers threw a back-shoulder,
20-yard touchdown pass to tight
end Robert Tonyan as Washing-
ton rookie linebacker Jamin Da-
vis trailed in coverage.
“It was little things like that,”
Heinicke said. “I feel we don’t dothat and a c ouple calls go differ-
ently, we’re right there in it. I
thought the defense played awe-
some. It was a really good colle c-
tive effort from the team; we just
fell short in a couple areas.”
Heinicke’s knack for bouncing
back has kept games alive, but
two rushing attempts that were
ruled short later in the quarter
squandered seven more points.
Heinicke said he crossed the goal
line on both attempts. The offi-
cials, however, ruled he “gave
himself up” too early on his
three-yard scramble on third
down.
“When I w as going toward the
goal line, I saw a couple defend-
ers coming in starting to pursue
me, and I didn’t know if I wasgoing to take a big hit or not, so I
thought, ‘Hey, le t’s just dive and
squeeze my way in there,’ ” he
explained. “So for them to say I
was giving myself up on the
1-yard line, it’s their decision to
call that, but it is what it is.”
According to Rivera, the offi-
cials said they couldn’t tell
whether Heinicke’s knee was
down as he lay atop a pile of
players at the edge of the goal
line.
Either way, Washington let
seven points slip away. Soon,
three more would disappear, too.
Washington’s next drive in-
cluded two fumbles (both recov-
ered), a drop in the end zone by
McLaurin and another failed
fourth down, when Heinicke
overshot tight end Ricky Seals-
Jones. The turnover on downs
led to a 39-yard Packers field goal
that expanded their lead to 24-7.
Heinicke all but sealed it when
he threw an interception in the
corner of the end zone on Wash-
ington’s final trip inside the
Green Bay 20.
“As a football team, I t hink
we’re so close,” said defensive
end Jonathan Allen, who had two
sacks. “Week after week, the
most frustrating part is us just
letting little things slip through
the cracks that affect the game.... There’s so many opportuni-
ties that we’re leaving on this
field, and we’re such a better
football team than what our rec-
ord says. But at the end of the day,
you can only go by what we’ve
done, so we’re what, 2-5? Then
that’s just who we are.”
Heinicke finished 25 for 37 for
268 yards with a touchdown and
an interception for an 86.3 rat-
ing. He also had 10 carries for
95 yards — the third most ever by
a quarterback against the Pack-
ers. Washington topped Green
Bay in yards (430 to 304) and
first downs (25 to 19), and it more
than tripled the Packers’ rushing
yardage (195 to 57).
But as Rivera and multiple
players lauded the team’s im-
provements, they also magnified
its persistent problems. Despite
statistical production, despite a
roster with talent, despite com-
ing off a s eason that ended with a
playoff berth, Washington re-
mains close — but not close
enough.
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Washington goes fourth and squanders in defeat
Chris Blewitt, signed last week to replace Dustin Hopkins, had his first NFL field goal attempt blocked in the second quarter Sunday.