10/18/22 Hometown Broadcasting Sports Tuesday
18 October 2022 Sports
Tuesday Sports
From Wayne Mausser
There are plenty of issues hindering a Green Bay Packers offense that has produced just 10 points over its past six quarters and they have a pretty good idea where the problems start.
“If we don’t block better, it’s hard to do anything,” coach Matt LaFleur said Monday, a day after an embarrassing 27-10 home loss to the New York Jets. “And I think that was the No. 1 issue yesterday.”
The Packers are searching for ways to boost their offense as they carry a two-game skid into a three-game road swing. Green Bay is scoring 17.8 points per game to rank 24th out of 32 teams, and a closer look at the numbers tells a more troubling story. The Packers have scored on 27.9% of their possessions. The only team with a worse percentage is the Washington Commanders, who host Green Bay on Sunday.
“This is the NFL, so nobody is going to feel sorry for you,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said after the game. “Let’s get back to business. If it is good enough when we were 3-1, it’s got to be good enough when we’re 3-3. We can’t ride the roller-coaster wave of emotions.”
Rodgers was sacked four times by a Jets defense that produced nine quarterback hurries.
“The film, the eye in the sky, doesn’t lie,” left tackle David Bakhtiari said Sunday. “We’ve got to go back, we’ve got to correct, we’ve got to be honest with ourselves. It’s something that we talked about with the line. When you put that out there, that’s blood. And that’s what the defense — sharks — are going to look at. Until you fix that, they’re going to keep attacking that.”
The Packers (3-3) tried making one change to the offensive line Sunday when they put Jake Hanson in for Royce Newman at right guard, though Newman returned once Hanson went down with a biceps injury.
LaFleur was asked Monday about the possibility of moving right tackle Elgton Jenkins back to guard, where he was a Pro Bowl performer in 2020.
“I think everything’s up for discussion,” LaFleur said.
The versatile Jenkins filled in for an injured Bakhtiari capably at left tackle last year before a torn anterior cruciate ligament ended his season, but he has struggled at right tackle this year.
“I’m not opposed to any position at this point — especially with these past two weeks,” Jenkins said Monday. “Whatever helps the team and whatever helps us win, I’m with it.”
Jenkins had two holding penalties and a false start. … Newman’s struggles resulted in his temporary benching before Hanson got hurt. … Jones, who entered the game averaging 6.4 yards per carry to lead all running backs, was limited to 19 yards on nine rushes.
On the injury front, WR Randall Cobb was carted to the locker room with an ankle injury and likely will miss multiple games. “It’s not going to be like a one-week deal or anything like that,” LaFleur said Monday.
In other team notes:OLB Rashan Gary got his sixth sack. He’s had at least one sack in every game other than last week’s 27-22 loss to the New York Giants when his sack of Daniel Jones was nullified by a penalty on Darnell Savage. … TE Robert Tonyan had a career-high 10 catches for 90 yards. … WR Allen Lazard has a touchdown catch in four of the five games he’s played this season.
0 — Number of takeaways by the Green Bay defense in each of the Packers’ past two games. The Packers have a minus-4 turnover margin.
The Packers begin a three-game road swing by visiting Washington (2-4), followed by trips to Buffalo (5-1) and Detroit (1-4).
Meanwhile, Carson Wentz underwent surgery Monday to repair a broken right ring finger, sidelining the Washington Commanders starting quarterback six games into his tenure with the team.
The Commanders announced Wentz had surgery in Los Angeles, but did not provide a specific timeframe of how much time Wentz will miss. If he goes on injured reserve, he would be out at least four games, which would mean missing returns to Indianapolis and Philadelphia.
Taylor Heinicke is expected to start Sunday when Washington hosts Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers, his 17th NFL start since being a surprise playoff star in the playoffs in January 2021.
Wentz was injured when his throwing hand got tangled up with Chicago Bears defensive lineman Justin Jones while delivering a pass during the second quarter of the game Thursday night. He continued to play despite the injury and helped the Commanders snap a four-game losing streak.
On his third team in as many seasons, Wentz has thrown for 10 touchdowns and six interceptions. He was the Commanders starter after they traded multiple picks to the Colts for him in March.
They now turn to Heinicke, who started 15 games last season after replacing Ryan Fitzpatrick in the first half of Washington’s opener. He made his first NFL start against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild-card round the previous season, completing 26 of 44 passes for 306 yards not long after being out of the league and taking college classes online.
In Monday Night Football the Los Angeles Chargers won at home 19-16 in overtime over the Denver Broncos on a 37-yard field goal by the injured Dustin Hopkins. The Chargers kicker exited the game due to a hamstring injury suffered on his first kick of the night, an extra point following an Austin Eleler touchdown. But he came back in and finished with four field goals.
Each required Hopkins to fight through the pain, and each ended up putting three points on the board. The last of the four kicks — all attempted between 31 and 39 yards out — was the most important, lifting the Chargers to a 19-16 overtime win that seemed destined for a tie until a muffed punt gave Los Angeles a chance at victory.
The Broncos Russell Wilson got off to a fast start, going 10-10 in the first quarter as Denver took a 10-0 lead. The Broncos led 13-10 at the half. The Chargers tied the game in the third quarter and each team kicked fourth quarter field goals to send the game into overtime.
A fumble on a punt led to the Chargers winning field goal.
After that fast start Wilson finished 15-28 for 188 yards and a touchdown. The Chargers Justin Herbert was 37-57 for 238 yards and an interception. Los Angeles improves to 4-2 while Denver drops to 2-4.
In the ALDS Monday the Cleveland at New York game was postponed until Tuesday with the Yankees and Indians tied at 2-2.
The NLCS begins tonight as Philadelphia plays at San Diego.
After Saturday’s disappointing loss at Michigan State, Wiscosnin will host Purdue Saturday on Camp Randall Stadium. Badgers interim coach Jim Leonard said Monday he disappointed at how things ended, saying the Badgers had muitiple opportunities to stretch their lead early in the game and have to find ways to close a game out. But he did say he was pleased with the effort.
The Badgers are 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the Big Ten while Purdue is 5-2 overall and 3-1 in the conference.
Portage County Circuit Court Judge Michael Zell sided with the WIAA on Monday and won’t grant a temporary restraining order filed by the Amherst High School against the WIAA.
“It is a difficult decision for everyone. But looking at the law that the court must apply here today, it’s the only conclusion the court can reach,” said Judge Zell.
The legal action comes after the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association ruled the football team must forfeit its six wins this season related to an ineligible player. The WIAA said a student-athlete participated in high school athletics for the 5th year, which is a violation of the rules.
Heading into Monday, the school knew it wasn’t going to be an easy case.
“We knew we had a tough, uphill battle walking into the courtroom today,” says Mike Richie, District Administrator. “Just like we did with the board of control appeal process, we knew it was going to be tough. What we’re simply asking for is to use common sense.”
Amherst argued that “common sense” was the idea that the ineligible player did not contribute to the victories of each game.
“To take away the three games that we won handily, shutouts, and to make us forfeit the entire season is way above and beyond,” says Richie. “We call it the death penalty and that’s exactly what happened.”
Judge Zell called the situation unfortunate and troubling. The Falcons are ineligible for the playoffs due to the violation.
On Oct. 10 the WIAA received an anonymous tip that one of Amherst’s players had played high school football when he was in 8th grade. WIAA rules state that players only have 8 semesters of eligibility. On Oct. 13, the WIAA Board of Control ruled by a 9-0 vote to uphold its decision that the Amherst High School football program must forfeit all six of its 2022 season victories leaving the team 0-8 and ineligible for the playoffs.
“I don’t know why we are in this situation,” Zell explained in court Monday before issuing his decision.
Zell said there is a member agreement and the member schools have to abide by those rules. He said while Amherst wanted this case to be an ‘us vs. them’ situation, he said this is really an ‘us vs. us’ situation. He said it is up to the member schools to police the rules as the WIAA does not have the staff to do that.
Zell said the court must apply the law when making a ruling, but called it a sad day for the players in the courtroom, the village of Amherst, and likely the WIAA.
“Appeals like this to the court to override decisions of the WIAA are an invitation to a chaotic, interscholastic sports league where courts would have to go back and review as is essentially being requested here, the details of each and every game put itself in the position of super referee without the benefit of instant replay,” said Zell.
With the ruling in place, Amherst will require the athletic director to do a thorough background check for any transfer students.
All to ensure an issue like this never happens again.
“Every athletic director’s gonna have to go back and question ‘did you play high school sports prior to your ninth-grade year in high school’,” says Richie. “Or did you attend two years of your freshman year of high school or any year?”
After the news of the incident, Amherst students and family created a go-fund-me to help the school pay for the cases’ legal fees. Amherst says no tax dollars will be used towards the legal fees, instead being covered by GoFundMe.
Excess money will be directed toward the ‘Falcon Pride Project’.
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