'It's on me.' Packers' Randall Cobb has uncharacteristic afternoon vs. Redskins
-- It was undoubtedly a day to forget for Randall Cobb.
The Green Bay Packers' longest-tenured wide receiver struggled right out of the gate on Sunday, catching only four passes on 11 targets in a loss to the Washington Redskins Sunday at FedEx Field.
"I didn't give us an opportunity to win," Cobb said, according to ESPN's Rob Demovsky. His words are putting his performance in somewhat of a more lenient light, but the reality is, Cobb had arguably his worst game since being drafted by the Packers in the second round in 2011.
He had two drops -- one on third down and the other on a critical 4th-and-2 -- and was stripped of the ball in the fourth quarter when the Packers were trying to rally late in the game down 28-17. That helped the Redskins take over at the Green Bay 29-yard line and increase their lead with a field goal, as well as burn a majority of the clock in the process.
"A third-down drop on the first drive, the fourth-down drop, a fumble, I played terrible and I didn't give us an opportunity to win."
Cobb's four receptions on 11 targets were his lowest number of catches with as many targets in his career; a total he's matched five other times.
Cobb started the season hot, setting a career-high in receiving yards with 142 against the Chicago Bears in the season opener. His 10 targets dwindled to just six the following week against the Minnesota Vikings, and so did his production, accounting for just four catches and 30 yards.
But like Cobb typically does, his role in the offense was more so an underlying factor in helping open up targets for other players; somewhat of a decoy. He also helped pitch a big block for Packers tight end Jimmy Graham last week against the Vikings, a contribution that doesn't show up on the stat sheet.
The Packers were playing in slick, rainy conditions on Sunday, but Cobb didn't attribute any of his shortcomings to the weather.
"No, that has nothing to do with it. We've played in these conditions before. It's on me."
Cobb has been one of the league's most sure-handed receivers overall over the last few seasons, not just accounting for what he can do from his natural slot position in the offense.
That's why Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is typically looking Cobb's way in pivotal situations. He was far from much of a safety valve on Sunday, however, but more so in the realm of a liability in the midst of the entire offense struggling to fight off its deficiencies throughout the game.
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Zachary Jacobson is a staff writer/reporter for Cheesehead TV. He's the voice of The Leap on iTunes and can be heard on The Scoop KLGR 1490 AM every Saturday morning. He's also a contributor on the Pack-A-Day Podcast. He can be found on Twitter via @ZachAJacobson or contacted through email at [email protected].
Comments (37)
GBPDAN1
September 23, 2018 at 07:50 pm
Our team didn't look ready to play this game. They looked uninspired, half asleep , out of sync and lacked concentration.
At least the D woke up in the 2nd half, but the O never really got it going. I blame MM regarding this lackluster effort
Yukon_1449
September 23, 2018 at 09:08 pm
But MM is a "very successful coach".
bjkdad44
September 24, 2018 at 02:27 am
Hahaha!!!
NickPerry
September 23, 2018 at 07:56 pm
Without Cobb in week one the Packers are 0-2-1. I'm not going to trash Cobb for having a horrible game. There's plenty of blame to go around this week including Rodgers who once again was holding the ball forever in the first half and killing drives.
Bearmeat
September 23, 2018 at 08:17 pm
Yep. Nailed it.
splitpea1
September 23, 2018 at 09:03 pm
The concept of ball control is totally missing with this offense. What's wrong with trying to move the ball incrementally down the field instead of always hoping to connect on a deep ball or a long RAC? Those things will open up once some rhythm is established. Rhythm is not established when you're continuously sustaining sacks or holding calls because the plays take too long to develop. And when you have a defense as porous as we unfortunately do, I would think ball control would be more of a priority.
bjkdad44
September 24, 2018 at 02:29 am
When you’re consistently playing from behind in the score... this is what you get... they ALL need to wake up and Mike needs to have them prepared a whole lot better!
Pierre
September 23, 2018 at 09:21 pm
I agree. Rodgers continues to hold the ball too long. No offensive line can hold up regularly when you get past 3-4 seconds. With the OL injuries if Rodgers continues to not throw more quickly and let his receivers make a play on the ball we’ll only see more sacks and the OL getting called for more holding penalties. Why can’t MM see that?
Jones needs to be running the ball A LOT MORE with Rodgers injury limitations and the defense has to play better from the start. Not sure the talent is there to be more effective however.
bjkdad44
September 24, 2018 at 02:31 am
Short passes? Slants etc.? So much for the new playbook!... :-(
carlos
September 24, 2018 at 06:57 am
Unfortunately if we run him he’ll probably get injured. It seems to be the norm in the NFL. Especially in Green Bay. Need OL help also not to mention safety and linebacker.
PackfanNY
September 23, 2018 at 08:35 pm
No one player cost the Packers the game. There was widespread crappiness all over the field today. I hope McCarthy has a tough week of practice scheduled. Lots to fix and clean-up this week.
stockholder
September 23, 2018 at 08:58 pm
I agree with him. 12million and this is no way to stay in Green Bay. He's got to be going through what Nelson did last year. He's expendable. Thing is Nelson still got money, Cobb will too. Cobb will rebound. He's still got the tools clubs want. He must play better.
NickPerry
September 24, 2018 at 04:52 am
Just imagine if Thompson hit on those 2 secondary players in 2015, I mean 2017.... We possibly could have drafted Calvin Ridley and Josh Jackson instead of drafting yet another CB in Round 1.
Now that's not to say Alexander won't turn out to be a great CB or I'm in the least bit unhappy with his play, it's actually quite the opposite. But ALL those picks in the last few drafts from Thompson lead up to the choices Gutekunsts made in his first draft.
I bring this up because you wanted Ridley and you were RIGHT. You took some Shi* for that and I at least want to say boy were you right on Ridley. BTW...YES he was worth either the 14th or the 18th selection.
carlos
September 24, 2018 at 06:59 am
At least Alexander plays with passion.
egbertsouse
September 23, 2018 at 08:41 pm
How did Jordy do today?
CAG123
September 24, 2018 at 09:03 am
Does it matter? He still lost
Pierre
September 23, 2018 at 09:12 pm
Jordy Nelson was 6 catches for 173 yards today!! Could of used that kind of production against the Redskins. Why oh why did the Packers not work with bringing him back as he wanted to take less money, but they refused to work out a deal.
4thand1
September 23, 2018 at 09:47 pm
I............got.............nuthin
PAPackerbacker
September 23, 2018 at 10:25 pm
It's NOT all on Randall Cobb. It's on the coaches for not having the team prepared to play another professional football team!! Another sluggish half and then a mad rush to catch up the rest of the game. Maybe someone needs to remind the coaches that this is a 60 minute game, not 30 minutes. The Redskins were well prepared!! I do not blame just one player. Randall Cobb may not have been on his game, but he is not the only player on the team. This loss is solely on the coaches. Jones was doing well running the ball and yet his touches were limited. Was that Cobb's fault? The game plan was crap. Was that Cobb's fault? Sure he had a bad game, but did he have 3 pass interferences called on him on just one drive? It was a team effort that lost this game and it all started and ended with horrible coaching.
Coldworld
September 24, 2018 at 06:01 am
I agree. Unprepared for what the Redskins threw at them and just played badly as a team. I do think that we have been out thought by each of the teams that we have played in the first half.
This should be a wake up call to coaches and players.
Beyond that, the officiating is not going our way and is not consistent. Not that it changed the game this week.
korbie33
September 23, 2018 at 10:42 pm
One more "sorry" roughing the QB call and I will call it quits for watching NFL football until the referees get their shit together. They are taking the fun of watching football completely away from us. It must stop now.
I think that they should take 10 referees and place each in a separate room and have them watch and grade 25 QB sacks and determine if they should be penalized or not. Then compare them to the actuals calls. Then we will know who is hurting who.
bjkdad44
September 24, 2018 at 02:34 am
Too pig-headed... they need to be full time...
carlos
September 24, 2018 at 07:02 am
Right on. Full time refs. Pay them whatever?? FULL time refs. Still would have questionable calls, but at least it would come from professionals.
NickPerry
September 24, 2018 at 04:56 am
Now THAT would be interesting. What irritates me the most is they don't hold one of their "Mini Conferences" in the middle of the field to even discuss it. They'll talk about a stupid ass grounding call for 5 minutes but not a TEXT BOOK sack.
RCPackerFan
September 24, 2018 at 07:13 am
What pissed me off the most about the Mathews sack/roughing the QB was they didn't call anything on Payne who body slammed Rodgers into the ground.
Which of the 2 were more egregious?
That is what pissed me off the most about those.
Clearly they have Mathews marked!
CAG123
September 23, 2018 at 11:18 pm
After stinkers like this it’s easier to think that this team could really be 0-3 and after what the Bills did to the Vikes on the road this defense has the ability to make Josh Allen look like a star for at least a half. We need a complete game from the Off and Def.
4thand1
September 24, 2018 at 12:08 am
Some season so far. The bearsstillsuck in 1st, the Bills mauling the queens, the lions stomping the pats? The mighty jags put up a whopping 6 points. The 9ers look to have lost their QB, Gruden wishes he stayed in broadcasting (he was bad there too). The Packers looking lost in game 3 when it's time to start putting things together. Slow starts are nothing new to a MM team, you'd think he'd figure it out by now. F Nick Perry, he's a tackling dummy out there. The Pack has some more TT rejects to dump.
4thand10
September 24, 2018 at 10:55 am
I honestly think they ran out of draft picks and options. The dumpster fire in the secondary last year could not be ignored. Bringing a DL over was necessary because we didn’t have enough to even run base and have back ups. Look at how many DL other teams carry and you’ll have an answer there...we didn’t have enough. They knew 3-4 OLBs were going to be a problem, but at the same time they are/ were stuck with Perry’s /Clays contracts...and the injury history. We all knew Cobb is a slot guy.Period. But we are stuck with that contract for one more year also.
Pettine has had good defenses everywhere he has been, but the personnel is not there until next season. This is why I recommended a 4-3 until we got the personnel...it only required 2 more DL to make the defense average until next year rolls around...then, we could look at ends and edge...Mo was more than capable of rushing as an outside defensive end in an older 4-3 look....it would have been a very good bandaid.
I don’t like 8 on 8 football and I don’t like the one sidedness of basketball and I’m afraid that that’s where the NFL is going. It’s terrible. I say Tonyan makes the catch Kendrick’s drops and the use of Graham/Lewis or lack there of is just not right....we could make a living with 2-3 tight end sets and I have seen that used maybe 3 times in 3 games....total waste and I’ll put that on coaching.
croatpackfan
September 24, 2018 at 02:21 am
It was one of the worst performances of Aaron Rodgers era I witnessed... Two others would be against KC 2011 and vs Bills 2014... There was some bad games in the span, but team was pretty flat, no energy on both side of the ball. Lets hope this was "that" bad game Packers always have during the season!
Plus stupid referees. There was 2 RTP penalties on Aaron Rodgers and wrong call (AGAIN!) on Clay Matthews...
What looks interesting is that Packers D, after gave 28 points in the first half, allowed only 3 points in the second half... That was impressive how they were stopping Washington and how offense lost the game completely!
bjkdad44
September 24, 2018 at 02:36 am
Washington... foot off the pedal? Maybe?
Thegreatreynoldo
September 24, 2018 at 04:54 am
I think Cobb took it on the chin. I have no fault to find with his public comments after the game.
Coldworld
September 24, 2018 at 06:05 am
All players have bad games. It is the nature of sports. Often part of the problem is trying too hard to get the extra inch or to otherwise compensate.
Cobb should be judged on the season, not on one game. Let’s face it, he was not responsible for the first half. The coaches have been outwitted in 3 out of 3 first halves. That looks like a trend we should pay attention to.
CJBauckham
September 24, 2018 at 06:42 am
2/3 first halves. Vikes got us in the second half
EdsLaces
September 24, 2018 at 05:12 am
They shouldn't have been throwing it to ya in the rain on 4th down anyways Cobbers.......I'll say again .....SEVEN YARDS PER CARRRYYYYY!!!!!
Donster
September 24, 2018 at 07:42 am
This team couldn't get excited at a striptease club. That first half was so bad I just had to turn it off and walk away. Where is this new offense Peanut talked about?
Matthews needs to stop whining and change his way of playing. The league isn't going to change the rule for him. The league is using him, and he is to stupid to realize it.
ILPackerBacker
September 24, 2018 at 11:59 am
Any possible excuse put in for Cobb. he was average v the bears. Not their focus and covered by nobodies.
He was not quick, not fast, did not run precise routes and after 5 seconds on the long td he was STILL covered like a blanket.
take your eyes off the conclusion of a TD and watch the facts of the play. Give the credit to rodgers or start identifying your writing as fiction.
PatrickGB
September 24, 2018 at 08:55 pm
“Rodgers holds the ball too long”. Why? Maybe because his receivers are not open. Maybe because he needs the long ball to catch up. Maybe it’s the play calling. Teams have caught on to it. Plaster our receivers in man and rush the rest. Where are the slants? Where are the innovations that I see other teams use to get the receivers open? Cobb no longer fits this defense. He would succeed in NE. This is probably not on Cobb.