During Week 11, Aaron Rodgers found himself in a sticky situation in the second half of the Green Bay Packers’ loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Rodgers was on the cusp of calling a timeout on a big drive, but referee Shawn Hochuli didn’t award it to him.
With the score 23-17 Vikings, Rodgers and the Packers faced a 3rd-and-6 from the Minnesota 18-yard line. The play clock began to tick down to three seconds as Rodgers quickly motioned for a timeout.
At that very moment, Packers center Lucas Patrick snapped the ball back to Rodgers.
Rodgers spoke on the situation Tuesday to talk show host Pat McAfee.
“I gave a long silent cadence in the huddle,” he told McAfee and co-host and former Packers teammate A.J. Hawk. “As we broke the huddle, Lucas [Patrick] goes, ’15,’ meaning 15 on the play clock. And I said, ‘Yeah, we’re fine. We’re fine.’ Because in my mind, I was gonna see if they’d jump on the first two.”
He then went to explain how the ref made the play possible by not granting his timeout request.
“I was thinking about calling a timeout. Now, because of the timing of my leg kick and the snap, Shawn Hochuli — the referee — rightly allowed the play to go. I’m happy about it now because the way it turned out.”
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Here’s that play:
In the end, the play kept them in the game, but it ended in heartbreak as the Vikings hit a last-second field goal to win the game.
The Green Bay Packers got back on the winning side of things when they took down the visiting Los Angeles Rams on Sunday at Lambeau Field.
The win improved the Packers to 9-3 entering the bye week.
