The dramatic pass to Packers tight end Jared Cook had a certain drawn-in-the-dirt feel, but they actually saw the same play in practice last week.
And fortunately for Cook, he was able to make the most of his second chance, since he was out of bounds the first time they ran it.
Via Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, when Cook made the play in practice last week, it looked good at first, but a look at the video afterward showed he didn’t get both feet in. Last night, of course, he was a ballerina, keeping his toes down while completing the catch that set up the game-winning field goal for the Packers.
“It looked like it was good on the field,” receiver Davante Adams said of practice. “Then we watched the film and saw it was a little bit out when we watched it together. But he did it right this time.”
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers did his part, throwing the ball to the one place it couldn’t possible be intercepted, and where Cook’s momentum would carry him out of bounds to stop the clock.
“I was just trying to secure the catch, just making sure that I did what I could to stay in bounds and secure it because anything could have happened if I bobbled it,” Cook said. “They probably would have called it back.
“So, securing it was the most important thing.”
Then it was a matter of getting his big feet down, knowing the scrutiny Sunday would be much greater than last week’s practice film.
“He learned from it,” Adams said. “He converted that size 16 to a 10½.”
And with that, the Packers are taking another big step toward the Super Bowl.