Confidence is an important part of being a skilled player in the NFL, but it’s especially important for cornerbacks who must recover quickly from fatigue in today’s offense-centric league.That’s part of the appeal of Green Bay Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander. The Packers selected him 18th overall in the 2018 NFL Draft, and he has the confidence and rawness of a first-round pick.It’s worth noting that he backed up his statement with walks in his two Pro Bowl seasons, 2018 and 2022. He has pure confidence behind him, but his attitude could cost the Packers against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.
Alexanderpulled the “wedding batch” during the pregame coin toss and made a surprise exit with the team captains before the game. That may be unusual in itself, but such an over-the-top cornerback took it a step further and actually called out the tailback and said after the win, “I want our defense on the field.”Yahoo Sports’ Jack Baer explains that this could be a huge problem for Green Bay. Instead of kicking or punting, teams choose to go to halftime or return to halftime. If your team says, “We can do this,” that’s fine. They’re just saying they’re making a choice now and they want to have the ball. But you should never say, “Let’s kick it.”
The umpire can interpret this as you choosing to start the ball game and the opposing team choosing to start the second half, at which point they will of course choose to receive it, causing your team to start the first half altogether. . That’s why I always say “late” because the players leave the team selection for the second half. Fortunately for the Packers, coach Matt LaFleur told the refs before the game that if they won the toss, they decided to call it off.
However, there was a scenario where the Panthers could have received the ball to start both halves if the referee had ruled that Alexander would have elected to punt after the gain.In the game that Green Bay won 33-30, it could have been the difference between victory and defeat and could have decided whether to advance to the playoffs. With the win, Green Bay is now 7-8 and completely on the bubble.All ended well in Green Bay, but LaFleur wasn’t happy with Alexander after the game and called the move a “big mistake.”
If Packers legends like Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers had done the same thing in their prime, it still would have been seen as a pretty stupid decision. And despite two Pro Bowl seasons, Alexander never made the Hall of Fame. This is a problem that even Deion Sanders, let alone Alexander Sanders, would have trouble with.Simply put, Alexander wasn’t impressive enough to be as bold as he was, especially during an injury-riddled regular season.
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