The Green Bay Packers haven't had too many close calls this season. But when one came up Sunday, they executed their offense with routine efficiency.
Tied with the New York Giants on the road and starting at their own 20-yard line with 58 seconds left, the Packers quickly moved down the field. Rodgers threw to tight end Jermichael Finley for 24 yards, then hit wide receiver Jordy Nelson for 27 yards.
After the only hiccup of the drive, a short pass to running back Brandon Saine that lost 1 yard, Rodgers found Greg Jennings for an 18-yard gain to set up Mason Crosby's 30-yard field goal to win the game, 38-35.
"That was as clean of a two-minute drive that I think I've been a part of," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Monday.
McCarthy acknowledged that having to pull off a last-minute victory was a healthy situation for his offense to be in, just in case the Packers face a similar test later in the season.
"We needed that as an offense," McCarthy said. "We needed that opportunity. Aaron's an excellent manager at the line of scrimmage, let alone his ability to play the position. And it was great for us to do that, especially in that environment. That's something we can definitely draw from."
On NFL Network
"NFL Replay" will re-air the
Packers' 38-35 win over the
Giants on Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 8 p.m. ET.
McCarthy said the Packers spend part of their Thursday quarterback meetings discussing plays they might use in two-minute drives, differentiating between situations where they have more than a minute or less than a minute left to move the ball. McCarthy talked about Rodgers working "right off the script" Sunday, although he said his play calls in the two-minute drill aren't strictly scripted.
"There's no absolutes," McCarthy said. "I've lived in that world where you try to script the first 15 plays, and to me, they're more the first 15 thoughts. There are things that can happen during the course of the game -- you may have run that play three times already in the course of a game, or two times, so you maybe don't want to go back to it. We have a long list."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
