As we prepare for another year of NFL football, let's take a look back at the highs and lows from 2014 for each team. Welcome to NFL Dos and Don'ts. If you missed one, you can read all our recaps right here.DoThe Green Bay Packers finished the regular season with a 12-4 record and made it all the way to the NFC Championship game against the Seattle Seahawks. That's a pretty good season! The finality of losing, specifically losing in the playoffs, makes it impossible to appreciate these things most of the time, but most Packers* should feel a sense of pride in a job well done after last season. Aaron Rodgers is operating on an entirely different level than his peers and it seems like they can just throw anyone out there and move the ball down the field. That's why the loss of Jordy Nelson may be difficult, or it may just open the door for the next scrub-receiver-turned-star to shine.All they need to do is find a guy who can catch something right in front of his face because the quarterback can Do this:What a luxury to have a guy who can make this throw, even while injured. The window he's throwing into is tiny, with two Dallas defenders converging to sandwich Richard Rodgers, and it doesn't even matter. Rodgers threw this right on the other Rodgers's numbers for a 13-yard touchdown. This is insane and unfair. It takes incredible skill, total confidence in that skill, and the borderline recklessness that comes with having giant balls to pull this off. If you've ever seen an Aaron Rodgers press conference you know all those things are true of the Packers quarterback. Dude replaced living legend Brett Favre and didn't bat an eye.Don't
Oh. God. If this happened to a team I supported as they tried to get into the Super Bowl, I would immediately turn the TV off and go to sleep. Yes, there were two minutes left in the game, and the Packers still had a lead over the Seahawks, but in one bit of slow-motion slapstick, Brandon Bostick put Green Bay fans on notice that their spirits will eventually be crushed. Bostick jumped in front of Jordy Nelson on a Seattle onside kick and had the ball bounce right off his face and into the hands of Seahawks receiver Chris Matthews.Seattle scored about 30 seconds later on a 24-yard Marshawn Lynch run and that was basically that. The Packers twisted the knife a bit by tying the score and forcing overtime, but Seattle scored in ridiculous fashion on the opening drive of overtime to advance to the Super Bowl.That whole game was nuts, with a handful of outrageous plays—including a Fat Guy Touchdown on a fake field goal—but everyone will remember the ball bouncing of Brandon Bostick's face. Don't be the guy who makes everyone forget about a Fat Guy Touchdown on a Fake FG. Don't be the guy ridiculed by a small child.*Not Brandon Bostick, who is no longer on the team.
Advertisement