Obviously, it couldn’t have been any different when Packers quarterback Matt Flynn, in his first career start, tried to drive for the winning score against the Patriots' defense, right?
Flynn scooted and scrambled his way down the field Sunday night at Gillette Stadium, but he eventually skidded and succumbed to a New England defense that has won four games in the final minutes this season. By knocking off the Packers, 31-27, the Patriots improved to 12-2 and are one win or one Jets loss away from clinching home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Despite a recent string of blowout victories, the Patriots have gotten used to these tight-collared finishes this season. They got a breakthrough performance with a series of stops in the fourth quarter and overtime against Flacco and the Ravens in Week 6, and they had a worthy encore the next week in San Diego, where they quashed Rivers' last-minute drive that concluded with a missed field goal. And in Week 11, Pats safety James Sanders ripped Manning's pass out of thin air in the final seconds against the Colts.
"There's a good feeling on defense, a lot of confidence," said rookie linebacker Dane Fletcher, who sacked Flynn for an eight-yard loss with 1:05 to play. "We're not cocky by any means, but just confident that everybody is out there to do their own job, and that’s what you do."
Flynn played well — maybe above his head — in relief of starter Aaron Rodgers, who couldn’t play due to a concussion he suffered a week ago. But in money time, Flynn couldn’t break through the Patriots' maturing defensive unit.
The Packers' final drive began at their own 43-yard line with 4:22 remaining in the fourth quarter, and they used 10 plays to move it to the New England 15. Yet, on a fourth-and-1 with no timeouts, Flynn lost control of the situation while the Patriots kept their cool. The Pats only rushed three players while dropping eight into coverage, and linebacker Tully Banta-Cain broke through the line before blindsiding Flynn and forcing a fumble that was recovered by Vince Wilfork as time expired.
"We've been in a lot of situations this year," Banta-Cain said. "Some games, we're up. Some games, we're down. This game, we're trying to hold onto a lead. This was definitely a situation where the situational play and the play call was definitely a factor, and we were able to pull it out."
Prior to that stop, New England's defensive effort was anything but perfect and probably shy of average. The Packers gained 369 yards and rushed for 143 yards — just the fifth time the NFL's 24th-ranked rushing attack eclipsed the century mark all season — and they possessed the ball for 40 minutes, 48 seconds.
Yet, cornerback Kyle Arrington returned an interception for a touchdown early in the third quarter, and the defense needed a key goal-line stand to limit the Packers to a field goal that pushed Green Bay's lead to 27-21 in the fourth quarter.
There were missed tackles and penalties, and the Packers' conservative offensive philosophy kept the Patriots on edge for much of the game. This was the type of adversity that would have doomed the Patriots in 2009, but they had enough material to reference when they took the field with the game on the line.
"This defense has a lot of guys — Vince, [Jerod] Mayo, Brandon [Meriweather], James [Sanders], Gerard Warren — they're preaching on the sidelines," rookie cornerback Devin McCourty said. "They're preaching, 'Finish, get off the field, get the stop, let's win this game.' The young guys that we have on that defense just follow those guys."
While not complete, New England's defensive progression has been a tribute to the situational work led by the coaching staff in practice. It's impressed the outsiders, and it has also raised the eyebrows of the guys who have been smack dab in the middle of that growing process.
Sunday's overall performance wasn’t the giant leap forward that the Patriots had in the last two weeks against the Jets and Bears, but the way they closed out the Packers was the latest mark in a string of good signs for this team.
"The overall maturity, these young guys are really stepping up and making plays," said Mayo, a defensive captain. "We need those, especially going into the playoffs."
