Green Bay Packers

Maurice Drayton Never Delivered On His Promises

Photo Credit: Jeff Hanisch (USA TODAY Sports)

The writing was on the wall since the game against the Cincinnati Bengals early in the Green Bay Packers season. They chose to ride it out with their special teams despite all the evidence to the contrary. Matt LaFleur stood behind Maurice Drayton, and it blew up in their faces.

If you want to blame the offense for only mustering 10 points against the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional round loss, that’s fine. They deserve some of the heat. But anyone who still doesn’t understand that the special teams and Drayton lost the season for the Packers needs to take a second look.

Drayton said all season long that the special teams would get better with him leading the charge. Time and again, he reiterated that it would change, that Green Bay would get better. They were relatively quiet in the last few weeks of the regular season before it all came crashing down predictably against the Niners. It is unfathomable that Green Bay thought they could get by and how Drayton thought he could snake through the playoffs with no reoccurring issues. He said all the right things, and plenty of people bought into it, but Drayton never delivered on a single promise.

On Oct. 21, Drayton said, “We will be where we need to be when it truly, truly counts in November, December, January.”

Drayton’s hollow words ended up being the farthest thing from reality. San Francisco only scored six points on offense, but it was enough for the 49ers to win on Saturday night, thanks to Drayton’s special teams.

Mason Crosby had a field goal blocked on the final play of the first half. When Green Bay led 7-0 in sloppy weather, it was evident that points would be at a premium. Crosby’s chip-shot attempt from inside 40 yards never had a chance because the kick was blocked after Tyler Lancaster stayed cemented in position on the left side of the line. A two-score lead in that game would’ve felt like a four-possession difference. Instead, the 49ers left the field fired up and dapped one another up as they filed into the locker room. Green Bay was left wondering what would come next in Drayton’s special-teams circus act.

On the next play of the game, the third-quarter kickoff, Deebo Samuel returned the kick 45 yards to midfield. The 49ers had done nothing on offense but started at midfield. The Packers’ defense stood tall again, but the starting field position was too great, and San Francisco put up a field goal. It only got worse from there.

After the Packers’ offense sputtered out with just a shade under five minutes to go, the punt unit trotted out onto the field. San Francisco got the push, found a sliver of space, and blocked Corey Bojorquez‘s punt straight up into the night sky. The ball seemed to hover in the air for an eternity before the 49ers scooped it up and waltzed into the end zone. Instead of 10-3 Green Bay with Jimmy Garoppolo needing to make plays, the Packers’ special teams handed the advantage over to the Niners on a platter. We all know what happened after that.

In truly poetic fashion, Drayton’s field-goal unit had only 10 players on the field as Robbie Gould buried Wisconsin’s hopes and dreams with a game-winning field goal. You’re allowed 11. It was the final play of the season for the Packers and once again showed how laughable it was that Drayton was able to keep his job this whole time.

Green Bay’s offense was not in typical form; nobody will argue otherwise. Ten points won’t win you many games, but it should’ve been good enough on this night. It would have been if not for Drayton’s special teams. One of the greatest offenses ever, the “Greatest Show on Turf” St. Louis Rams, earned that nickname in 1999. In that season, they won the NFC Championship by a final score of 11-6. The Greatest Show on Turf was bottled up, harassed all day, and still won.

There was a debate over whether firing Drayton during the regular season would have made things any different. The blunt truth is that it couldn’t have gotten any worse. That unit needed a shot in the arm. And in a year where Green Bay’s salary cap situation indicated that they were all in, they kept deferring further action and saying that Drayton would turn it around. Dumping him mid-season wouldn’t have turned the Packers into a top-tier special teams group, but it wouldn’t have hurt either. Instead, they let the charade continue. It cost them their season.

Green Bay should be playing for the NFC crown this weekend. There are many culprits to blame, but no one is entirely as responsible as Maurice Drayton. He failed miserably, and every single person inside the walls of Lambeau Field knew it would likely be a problem. The grim suspicions just happened to be born out on the grandest stage. Drayton continued to talk the talk without delivering, and now Green Bay will be watching the Super Bowl from their couches. The harsh truth is that this year will always be looked upon as a gut-wrenching missed opportunity because Drayton was horrible at his job.

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