Meltdown in Minneapolis

By Eric Goska

Trey Smack kicked three field goals in Minnesota.
He could have had a fourth.
(photos by Eric Goska)

Next time, perhaps, Matt LaFleur might side with his placekicker and not his defense.

With the fourth quarter not yet two minutes old, the Packers head coach took a field goal off the board believing he could get a bigger payout against the Vikings. The decision backfired spectacularly as not only did Green Bay come up empty, but Minnesota dialed up 22 unanswered points, more than enough to bounce its division rival 39-22 in the season opener for both teams.

Implosions such as the one at U.S. Bank Stadium are as rare as they are alarming. Unfortunately for the Green and Gold, these late-game failures have become too familiar. Think Packers-Bears rivalry circa 2025.

This latest collapse broke new ground. LaFleur’s desire to hold Minnesota to the fire added fuel to a Vikings’ team eager to break out after having trailed for most of the game.

Said inflection point arrived early in the fourth quarter. With his team up 22-17, LaFleur opted to take a five-yard penalty (Minnesota’s Dallas Turner had been offside) rather than stick with a 40-yard field goal by rookie Trey Smack. That decision left Green Bay with a fourth-and-one at the Vikings 17-yard line, an assignment bungled when Jordan Love failed to gain on a quarterback sneak.

While understandably stoked by the stop, the Vikings were assured of nothing. To that point they had gained 168 yards in 45 plays (3.7 average) with the majority of their snaps (25) bringing fewer than four yards.

Packers head coach
Matt LaFleur in 2025

Not to worry. Aided by a Packers defense beset by penalty—and an officiating crew only too happy to help—Minnesota could not help but prevail.

Three times did Minnesota quarterback Carson Wentz face third down. Three times was his unit stopped. Three times did a flag fly with the promise of a first down.

Three penalties. In the fourth quarter. On the same drive. Each moving the chains.

How often had that happened to the Green and Gold over the years?

Six times since 1937. Six times in the team’s last one thousand, two hundred, seventy-eight regular-season games.

But until Sunday, never had all three infractions come on third down.

For six-and-a-half minutes, as Wentz marshaled the Vikings goalward, yellow flags flew. A 10-yard sack (Edgerrin Cooper and Devonte Wyatt) wiped out by an illegal contact penalty on Javon Bullard. A Wentz incompletion was negated by a roughing the passer infraction on Chris McClellan. Evan Williams’ end zone interception erased by Xavier McKinney’s defensive holding.

Green Bay could not get off the field.

Aaron Jones finally capped the affair with a 3-yard run that put Minnesota ahead for good (25-22) with 6 minutes, 37 seconds remaining. Toss in Jonathan Ford’s encroachment infraction at the outset of the advance and the Packers gifted 28 of the 83 yards the Vikings needed to reach paydirt.

Green Bay’s lead, good for more than 50 minutes, was toast.

Christian Watson led all receivers
with 147 receiving yards.

Possessing a five-point lead after three quarters as the Packers did in Minnesota usually spells victory. Green Bay is 574-38-6 (.934) in the regular season in such games.

Until this debacle, Curly Lambeau (161-5-2) had lost most often when afforded a 5-point cushion after 45 minutes of play. LaFleur now joins him (53-5) courtesy of his ill-advised gambit.

Eight seasons deep into his Green Bay run, LaFleur coached his 118th regular-season game in Minneapolis. His teams have surrendered at least one first down by penalty in 98 of those contests (83 percent).

That’s the highest percentage of any head coach who lasted a full season or more in Green Bay. Ray Rhodes (81.3) and Mike McCarthy (80.4) are second and third, respectively.

Of course, there is no way to know if the Packers would have won had LaFleur opted to stick with Smack’s fourth-quarter field goal. But had it counted, Smack would have joined Chester Marcol (1972) as the only players to have kicked four field goals in their first game with Green Bay.

Fourth Quarter Fizzles
The six regular-season games in which the Packers were outscored by more than 21 points in the fourth quarter.

Pts.   Date                  Opponent   Location                                         Result
31      Sept. 13, 1981      Falcons          Lambeau Field                              GB lost, 17-31
27      Nov. 5, 1950        Colts               Memorial Stadium                      GB lost, 21-41
24      Oct. 12, 1952       Rams              Marquette Stadium                     GB lost, 28-30
24      Oct. 18, 1959       Rams              Milwaukee County Stadium      GB lost, 6-45
24      Dec. 2, 1979         Redskins       RFK Stadium                                GB lost, 21-38
22      Sept. 13, 2026    Vikings           U.S. Bank Stadium                      GB lost, 22-39

People Needed to Wait and See: Myles Garrett Injured Knee On Way to Being One-half of Greatest Defensive Duo Ever

 By John Turney 

A couple of weeks ago, we opined that it might be better to wait and see what the "duo" of Myles Garrett and Aaron Donald do on the field before they are crowned the greatest-ever duo, whatever that is defined to be.

Last Thursday we saw why. Donald did not make the trip to Australia, and Garrett had been nursing a knee/leg issue and was non-existent in the game versus the 49ers, which they lost handily. Now, Garrett will miss at least a month while he goes under the knife.

It's a good object lesson that people cannot predict the future. Projecting the Donald/Garrett duo as one of the "best ever" based on their past number of NFL DPOY awards was a fool's errand.

Again: Wait and see. Be entertained with what happens, not with what you think MIGHT happen. Sure, that can be fun, picking games or picking Super Bowl winners, but it will never, ever be exact enough to crown all-time greats before they play a down together.

So, message to @NFL, the NFL's X account: it's not your fault; it's just a risky parlor game you're playing. But we also acknowledge you're trying to engage social media users, so it's not all that serious one way or another. It was all in good fun. 

Oh, and we suppose the other social media post predicting Rams would break the single-season sack record will be cautious next time, as well. Even if healthy, that was a reach, too. A big one.

TUESDAY TIDBITS: "Faulkner would trade his entire coaching staff for Sestak"

By TJ Troup 

Tomorrow night the season begins, and no doubt a joyful time for so many across this great red, white, and blue Nation. 

My first question to all of you: which game is the most compelling? When you are a fan of a team, you most likely will watch your team play and maybe check out a couple of the other games. Minnesota and Green Bay have forged a nasty rivalry, and since my favorite rivalry is the Niners vs. the Rams will be watching or paying attention to updates on the games. 

The well-coached Houston Texans easily won their wild card game, then lost. The Buffalo Bills won their wild card game, then lost a heartbreaker to Denver. Buffalo travels to Texas to take on Houston and for me this game is the most compelling. 

Tom Sestak

Additionally, the Buffalo Bills have had a couple of dandy games on Sunday, September 13th in their history. After losing to the Boston Patriots in the '63 playoffs, the expectations for the Bills in '64 at the Rockpile were gonna be fun/rewarding! A crowd of 30,157 saw their team score 31 points in the 1st quarter in demolishing the Chiefs. Leading 24-0 with just a couple of minutes left in the half, Tom Sestak "read the set-up and smelled a screen pass, so I drifted over to the right". 

Big Ses returned the interception 15 yards for the touchdown. Denver assistant coach Red Miller scouted the game and commented with the title for this week's column. Though the Chiefs answered with 17 points, was not near enough in the Buffalo 34-17 victory. Many of the Bills players had rock-solid games, yet the game belonged to "Big Ses" as he also pillaged the Kansas City pass pocket to record multiple sacks and recovered a fumble. 

How many defensive tackles in league history have recorded a sack, a fumble recovery and an interception in a game? For those of you who don't remember '64 (I do), that Bills team was a juggernaut and won their first Championship. 

Now, let's turn the page to 1992. By far the #1 question for the Bills was: could they return to the AFC title game for the third consecutive season? Buffalo will be at San Francisco for the September 13th game against a 49er team that has everything you want in a team. Buffalo gains 598 yards in total offense in their "K-gun" offense as Jim Kelly becomes the first Bills QB to throw for over 400 yards in a game. Since Steve Young shreds the Bills secondary for 447 yards, we have, for the just the third time in history, two quarterbacks gaining over 400 yards in passing in the same game. 

San Francisco leads at the half 24-17, but the Bills will not be denied as Thurman Thomas dashes 11 yards for the winning score. The 1,086 yards gained by both teams is the fourth most total yards gained in a game through 1992, yet what still stands out to me the most. NEITHER team punted! 

Will we see that this weekend? 

Enjoy the games, see ya next week.

Calais Campbell—Eighteen Seasons Of Elite Play. Soon to be Nineteen? Probably.

 By John Turney

Calais Campbell just turned 40 this past week. Most men that age are thinking about tee times. Campbell is thinking about five-technique alignments, twists, stacking and shedding and how many more snaps he can give the Baltimore Ravens in what he says is likely his final NFL season.

It will be his 19th.

When Baltimore opens their season this upcoming week, Campbell will sit five regular-season games from passing Jim Marshall for the most games ever played by an NFL defensive lineman. Marshall finished with 282. Campbell has 278 and has not missed a regular-season game since 2022. He has started 259 of those.

If he plays at least a dozen games, he will have a total of 290 games played. That alone is impressive.

Last season, back in Arizona where the Cardinals drafted him 50th overall in 2008, the 6-foot-8, 307-pounder started all 17 games and posted 6.5 sacks and 43 tackles. Those 6.5 sacks would have led last year's Ravens. He then signed a one-year, $5.5 million deal to return to Baltimore, where he played from 2020-22.

"This year, I feel as strongly as ever that this is probably going to be my last year," he said this summer. He has probably said versions of that before. The difference now is the it may actually happen. Or not. If he plays like last year, why not go for an even 20 seasons?

Either way, if healthy, Campbell will extend his career totals in two diverse stats: quarterback sacks and run/pass stuffs.

We have long preferred stuffs (developed by Nick Webster) as the cleanest single number for interior and hybrid defensive linemen over the NFL's TFL stat. Campbell’s unofficial stuff total stands at 108.0. Add the 117.0 official sacks and you get 225 plays behind the line of scrimmage. But if you prefer TFLs he has 196 of those, six behind Terrell Suggs for most all-time, and in this case "all-time" starts in 1999.

That is Hall of Fame territory (if you value stopping the run and don't overvalue sacks, that is), even before you count 65 passes defensed, 18 forced fumbles, 13 recoveries, three interceptions, three defensive touchdowns, 11 blocked kicks and three safeties. Throw in Football Outsiders and Pro Football Focus pressure totals in our tracking (677 and 810).

Proscout, Inc, once wrote that he "Defines a HOFer ... Tall-fast-strong-moves on all downs ... Blue when playing tight end, tackle, guard and center ..." 

Yes, he can be seen as a starting 3-4 end, a 4-3 end, a defensive tackle in 4-3, and even as a nose or shade tackle. And he has started games at nose, even if not always shown that way in season-ending position listings. Make no mistake, he was good no matter where he lined up. However, as edge rusher he was not as good as when he played further inside. 

Hall of Fame conversations will follow the retirement announcement, whenever it actually comes. The case is already made strong on the combination of longevity, that 2017 peak, all-decade recognition, and the stuff/sack double almost no modern lineman matches. Voters can argue the exact slot. They cannot argue the career.

Like Cam Jordan, the Hall's new rules would seem to make it more likely for induction but probably not a first-ballot guy based on possible position bias. Pure pass rushers seem to get in quicker to 30 ends/40 tackles and only J.J. Watt has a shot to break out of that voter bias, he'll get in right away but he had the sacks and awards that Campbell and Jordan didn't.

The apex for Campbell remains 2017 in Jacksonville. In his first Jaguars season, Campbell posted 14.5 sacks, 72 tackles, three forced fumbles and a defensive touchdown. The Associated Press named him first-team All-Pro. The Pro Football Writers of America named him Defensive Player of the Year. He was six votes shy of the AP Defensive Player of the Year. That front, with Campbell as the hub, carried Jacksonville to the AFC Championship Game.

He was second-team All-Pro in 2014 and 2016 with Arizona, a six-time Pro Bowler (2014–15, 2017–20), All-NFC in 2014 and All-AFC in 2017 and 2019. The league put him on the 2010s All-Decade Team with J.J. Watt, Julius Peppers and Cameron Jordan with Watt and Peppers a mythical "first-team" based on out survey of the voters. 

Calais Campbell made the NFL Top 100 Players list 6 times and received postseason notice (if you count PFF) five times in his time in NFL and that might give voters pause. heck, Kevin Williams was a five-time first-team All-Pro and seems not to have a lot of buzz from voters, though he didn't play as long.

Off the field, he collected the 2019 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, the Bart Starr Award and later the Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award, all great awards but are not going to move the needle much when his case is presented by a Hall official in the early 2030s.

A career in five cities

Nine seasons in Arizona built the foundation: a 2008 NFC Championship as a rookie reserve, then a long run as a 3-4 end who could slide inside on passing downs. Three seasons in Jacksonville produced the statistical high-water mark and the only first-team All-Pro. Three seasons in Baltimore (2020–22) added another Pro Bowl. One year in Atlanta (6.5 sacks in 17 starts) and one in Miami (5.0) proved he could still hold up as a 17-game starter in his late 30s. Then the 2025 return to the Cardinals: 17 more starts, 6.5 more sacks. Pretty consistent.

That is 18 seasons with 5-plus sacks in all but four years, and two of those four were shortened by injury or snap-count management in Baltimore. 

From age 36 through 39, he still delivered 6.5, 5.0 and 6.5 sacks and totaled over 15 run/pass stuffs in that same span. Not spectacular, but solid. The Ravens would love that kind of production, you'd think.

The Ravens do not need Campbell to be a 60-snap, every-down player. They need the veteran who can two-gap, collapse a pocket on third-and-long, and set a standard in a room that has injury questions on the interior. Thirty to 40 defensive snaps a week, used well, is a winning role for a 40-year-old who still generates pressures.

Five more games and he passes Marshall. Another 6.5-sack season would push him near the top 20 in official career sacks (he sits 25th at 117.0). Neither mark is why he came back, he's never been a stats guy. He came back because he still loves the game, he is still fairly good at it, and a team still wants him and will pay him well. In the meantime, we get to watch, for at least one more season, one of the most durable players in league history.

And he can still play. Nothing has really changed since the time Jonnu Smith said a couple of years ago on the Pat McAfee Show, "(Calais) is like the LeBron James of the NFL right now as far as his age and the production that he brings to the game, still playing at a high level. I mean, the guy is 1,000 years old and playing like he’s 21."

Nineteen seasons and still good. NINETEEN.

Career stats—

Pressures: FO = Football Outsides, PFF = Pro Football Focus

Honors by season—

Old Man Cam—Saints' Cam Jordan Enters his 16th NFL Season

 By John Turney 

Thirteen headshots of Cam Jordan

One city. One team. Year 16. Cameron Jordan is walking into the 2026 season the way a franchise player is supposed to: still in black and gold, still wearing 94, still the Saints’ all-time sack leader—and calling it his last ride.

Earlier this summer he signed a one-year deal to return to New Orleans after three months as an unrestricted free agent. The contract is a base $7.5 million ($6.15 million signing bonus, $1.35 million salary) and can climb to $11 million with sack incentives. 

He did not leave the announcement vague. "One city. One team. One final season," he posted on social media. At the press conference, he added that he would treat every snap like the last one he might ever take, "because I believe between God and my wife that’s the only two people that can get me back through."

The Saints took Jordan 24th overall in 2011 out of California. Fifteen seasons later, he is still here. He is now the longest-tenured player in franchise history, passing the 15 seasons he shared with Drew Brees. He has a case for being "Mr. Saint" since Brees played with the Chargers early in his career. 

He has appeared in 243 regular-season games and started 242 of them—both club records. The only games he has missed were one for COVID protocols in 2021 and one with an orbital fracture in 2022. That is the kind of availability Hall of Fame voters used to take for granted and now treat as a separate skill. More on that in a bit.

After two down years—2.0 sacks in 2023, 4.0 in 2024— Jordan led the Saints with 10.5 sacks in 2025, his first double-digit season since 2021 and the seventh of his career. With that, it's likely that he's confident he can contribute like that again, rather than what he did in '22 and '23. 

In 2025, Pro Football Focus (PFF) graded his run defense 82.1, fourth among qualified edge defenders. The pass-rush grade (59.5) was ordinary despite the 10.5 sacks. His fellow players put him 100th on the NFL Top 100 list for 2026—his ninth appearance on that ballot, but the first since 2023. So, it seems, he's seen as productive.

If Jordan is as productive this year as he was last year, he could reach some real career milestones — 140 sacks, for example. Career totals still become talking points in Hall of Fame presentations if a player can get to the Final 15, the round where voters debate and vote.

A few years ago he would have been viewed as a borderline-plus candidate under the old rules. Not a first-ballot lock, but a Final 15 guy who would eventually get in. In most years there were five modern-era slots, and in years without a cluster of obvious inner-circle names, a career like Jordan’s often found a path.

His case was always going to rest on being a complete defensive end — someone who could rush the passer and still play the run. The testimonials would include the NFL Top 100 rankings, a scouting group that had him in the top five at his position five times, and several highly graded seasons from PFF.

The bottom line: five years after retirement, he was going to be a viable candidate. Until he wasn’t.

The Hall tightened the rules a few years ago. There simply were not enough votes to go around for large classes, and that made a Jordan-type career harder to get across the line.

This week the process changed again. The new structure appears more open for players of Jordan’s profile than the last couple of cycles — though not for seniors, because that category was eliminated. Whether that actually produces larger classes remains to be seen. Time will tell.

Regardless of how that plays out in the next decade, he will still be a fun watch in his final year. He's an "eye-test" guy more than anyone else. He's been used in several ways, dropping into a hook/curl zone, even taking the flat in coverage. He's got a fine array of pass rush moves and could easily be considered a technician. And as was mentioned, he can stack up a tackle or tight end, shed and make a tackle for loss for you.

PFF reflected that in his career run-stop grades, six times he was above 80 (their "blue") and seven more times he was above 70 (their color is green, still high) and were usually higher than his pass rush grades, with eight of his seasons ranked in the top ten at his position group. Of course that is just one source, but it's a reasonable take because it is what you see when you watch him.

And watching him is the point. Here's hoping he will get at least eight sacks, play a full or near-full schedule, and all that, but what will be enough is that he can be one of those who, at age 37 or older, play at a high level, guys like Reggie White or Bruce Smith or Doug Atkins or Andy Robustelli. You can throw in Coy Bacon, Julius Peppers, and Chris Doleman. All of those players had at season one excellent season from age 37 or older.

And maybe it will be a special season, like Kevin Greene's final year. He had 12 in 1999 before he called it quits, the most for an edge rusher in his final season. But even if he does not get to double digits, there have been other long-term pass rushers who had eight sacks or more in their last season. 

After what Cam Jordan did in 2025, that is not outside the realm of possibility and would put him among the best-ever final seasons for ends/edges. 

Can't wait to see what happens. 

Career stats:

Key: FO = Football Outsiders, PFF = Pro Football Focus

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TUESDAY TIDBITS: "32 Puzzles"

By TJ Troup

Years ago, when visiting NFL Films in late summer, the master filmmaker Steve Sabol responded to my question about the upcoming season with the following: "Coach, there are 32 puzzles waiting to be put together, with 16 teams talking Super Bowl, and the other 16 talking playoffs!" 

Are we ready for the 2026 season? Plan on being here each week attempting to enlighten, and possibly entertain, all of you. Page 16 of The Sporting News magazine has their breakdown of the playoffs and SB 61 will be the first SB victory for Buffalo over the Bears! 

Was honored to have lunch this summer with the distinguished Mr. Rick Gosselin and we both agree that the Bears might make the play-offs but will struggle. Instead of the last-place schedule, they have the first-place schedule, and that will make a difference, and as such we both like the Lions to rebound. We can all ask those fateful questions for each team, yet am slow to decide how strong a team is, thus usually takes me to the end of October to have a "feel" for each team. 

Have read more than once how bad both the Cardinals and Dolphins are gonna be. Dr. Z and I enjoyed how Vegas would list the amount of wins they projected for a team, then of course you could bet over or under the total. Saw that both Miami & Arizona have 4-1/2 wins listed. 

Ok, folks, which team finishes with a better record, and are they the two worst teams in the league? Next week will address the games of the first week of the season. 

See ya round campus!

Ridiculousness. Can We See Them Play a Game Together?

 By John Turney 

This is not from some random X account. This is the NFL's official account, and it poses a ridiculous question. It seems quite premature to call them a duo, much less the greatest duo.

Obviously created for clicks and attention; no problem with that. But there was an interesting response from Gregg Williams: 

Williams coached both players when they entered the NFL, so he's biased, but while Donald's signing is a big story, it might be wise to see them play together before they can be rated in any way.

If that is not bad enough,  Dan Orlovsky is hyping Matthew Stafford again. They were teammates for a few years. So, of course, no bias there. But same thing applies. Cart before the horse. 

Sometimes you just sit back and chuckle. But, hey, they played and coached in the NFL, so they must know better than us, right?