NEWS UPDATE: As a result of the incident, Green Bay’s manager has suspended a cornerback….
The Green Bay Packers have announced that they would be suspending CB Jaire Alexander for Week 17 after a bizarre event during last week’s coin toss.
Jaire Alexander, a Packers cornerback, has been punished for unsportsmanlike conduct following a coin toss incident.
Alexander’s absence hurts Green Bay’s already struggling defense, which now faces Justin Jefferson without him.
Green Bay’s playoff hopes are heavily reliant on a win over the Minnesota Vikings this week.
The Green Bay Packers’ odds of winning in Week 17 have flipped on a dime.
The Packers announced on Wednesday afternoon that top cornerback Jaire Alexander has been suspended for one game for “conduct detrimental to the team.” Brian Gutekunst, the general manager of the Green Bay Packers, made the decision:
As a company, we expect everyone to prioritize the team. While we are sad, we had a wonderful talk with Jaire this morning and fully expect him to learn from it as we work together in the future.
Alexander joined weekly captains Aaron Jones, Quay Walker, and Eric Wilson at midfield for the coin toss before of Sunday’s road game against the Carolina Panthers. He called tails, giving the Packers the option of deferring, kicking, or receiving the ball to start the game.
“I want our defense to be out there,” Alexander says he told referee Alex Kemp, without specifying if he meant the team intended to kick or defer. The Panthers would have received the kickoff to start both halves if Kemp had not requested clarification, which he did.
Alexander informed reporters after the game that he went out for the coin toss because he is from Charlotte, where the Panthers play.
While the coin toss incident is grabbing the headlines, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur alluded to other factors playing into the team’s decision during his own Wednesday press conference, telling reporters that suspensions are “never for one thing.”
ESPN’s Rob Demovsky reported Alexander, who had missed the last six games due to a shoulder injury, had been healthy enough to practice for more than a month prior to returning to action on Sunday.
Green Bay’s defense has been holding LaFleur’s team back all season long. Through 16 weeks, defensive coordinator Joe Barry’s unit ranks in the bottom ten of nearly every analytical category except EPA/rush (expected points added per rush), where they rank 11th-worst.
The Packers’ inability to prevent big gains in the passing game directly lines up with the strength of the Minnesota Vikings offense. Head coach Kevin O’Connell’s offense has produced the NFL’s ninth-best explosive pass rate (pass plays of 20-plus yards) despite a rotating cast of signal callers, an inefficient rushing attack, and superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson’s seven-game absence due to a hamstring injury.
Jefferson, now healthy, gets to face reserve cornerbacks Carrington Valentine and Eric Stokes, among others, on a defense ranking 30th in the NFL in explosive pass rate.
With two weeks remaining in the regular season, the Packers have a 29% chance of making the playoffs, according to the New York Times’ playoff simulator. A win over the Vikings would improve their odds to 61%; a loss drops them to a measly two percent.
Source: Green Bay Packers
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