Jayden Reed learns tough lesson in Packers' loss to Falcons
Jayden Reed may have scored his first touchdowns as both a member of the Green Bay Packers and as an NFL player, but it came at a cost as the team dropped what looked like a surefire win against the Atlanta Falcons. It was easily the best game of Reed's young career. He finished with […]
Jayden Reed may have scored his first touchdowns as both a member of the Green Bay Packers and as an NFL player, but it came at a cost as the team dropped what looked like a surefire win against the Atlanta Falcons.
It was easily the best game of Reed's young career. He finished with four receptions for 37-yards and two touchdowns on eight targets. The touchdowns came off a jet sweep in the second quarter and then his 10-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter was the last points the Packers put on the board.
Reed, like the rest of the young players on the Packers offense, learned really quick that the NFL is all about bringing your best game for all 60 minutes. Not 56, 57, 58, or 59 minutes – it has to be all 60.
Or else, you're likely to suffer the same fate Green Bay did in Atlanta.
"Those guys played a great game; they kept swinging," Reed told reporters after the game. "That's what the games are like in NFL -I'm learning you got to bring your A game every week…
"… You have to bring it for four quarters in the NFL. You have to keep swinging to the last the last whistle. It doesn't stop. So you know, that's what I learned."
The Falcons led the Packers in time of possession by about three minutes heading into the fourth quarter and finished the game with a final TOP of over 36 minutes to the Packers' 23. The Packers offense had the ball for just 3:23 in the final 15 minutes of the game and went 0-for-3 on third down and 0-for-1 on a fourth down. The latter was a mistake by Jordan Love and it cost the team not only a shot at converting a 4th and inches, but it cost them the game, too.
"I just messed up the operation with the cadence on that one," said Love. "And so not everybody got the call to get the sneak. So I just missed that operation up, right there.
"I said the wrong thing. So it's pretty much not a play until I give the live word, pretty much. I gave the wrong live word on that one."
The humility and honesty is a great sign. It means Reed and the rest of the offense are willing to look themselves in the mirror, own their mistakes and then proceed to learn and grow from them.
If they keep doing that, then, hopefully, they won't see too many more games like they did on Sunday. But at the same time, this is the NFL: You always have to prepare for war.
And that's what is sounds like Reed is going to do moving forward.
"You always feel momentum swinging, said Reed. "They kept fighting to the end, we all kept fighting to the end and, you know, sometimes that's how the game goes. And in the NFL, you just gotta learn how to bounce back. Don't let it affect you until the next week. So we need to watch it, be critical with the film, and then correct it and come back harder next week."
Did David Bakhtiari sit out Packers-Falcons because of turf?
There are some breadcrumbs that point to “yes”.
Featured image via Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
