Allison Helps Ignite Packers' Comeback

It was an impressive Sunday for Geronimo Allison in every sense of the word.

"He's a damn good football player," said head coach Mike McCarthy after the overtime victory. "You could see it coming in the preseason. He's taken that leap from year one to year two and plays with a lot of confidence."

The second-year undrafted wide receiver who made headlines in last year's training camp with his impressive skill set put together the best game of his young career against the Cincinnati Bengals yesterday. His six catches on eight targets for 122 yards -- a career-high -- including a 72-yard completion on the Packers' third play of overtime was enough to provide them with just the spark they needed on offense.

"I felt like it was cover two," Allison said after the win. "I felt the corner sinking up underneath me on the outside release, and when Aaron [Rodgers] put the ball out there, I could feel the safety running high over the top and I just tried to make a play on it."

Geronio Allison (81) breaks free after his 72-yard catch in overtime. (Jeff Hanisch/USA TODAY Sports)

The Packers started sluggishly in the first half, causing them to gradually sink into a 21-7 hole through two quarters. The offense as a whole wasn't putting on much of a show ever since their first drive, which resulted in a touchdown pass to tight end Lance Kendricks. Allison didn't even make his first catch until late in the second quarter.

But from then and into the second half, it was his show to steal.

Allison saw five targets on the Packers last two offensive possessions -- A 12-play, 75-yard drive with 17 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and the 5-play, 70-yard drive that won the game off of Crosby's leg. He caught four of them for 103 yards. 

"We just kind of calmed down, went out there and executed. We took it one drive at a time, one play at a time and just remaining focused and executing."

He had already demonstrated his newfound ability to gain extra yardage after the catch in his limited preseason work. Seeing it in the regular season just had to be postponed.

After being suspended for the first game of the season and finally making his 2017 debut in a loss to the Atlanta Falcons last week, he only caught three passes for 24 yards. It was a different story this week with the Packers' premier slot receiver in Randall Cobb being inactive with a chest injury.

Cobb was one of the seven injured inactive players, taking away the team's leading receiver through the first two weeks of the season. Jordy Nelson was good to go despite the quad injury suffered in the early stages of the first quarter against the Falcons, however, Cobb had been Rodgers' bail-out target in certain situations this season.

To compensate, Allison filled in nicely. 

"That's out of an individual player's control," Allison said. "You just control what you can control, let the training staff take care of that, the coaches. As a player, you have to be prepared for any opportunity that you get blessed with and take full advantage of it and go out there and have fun."

Allison has served as a relief in place of Cobb as the No. 3 receiver twice before. First, against the Falcons last year in which he caught his first career touchdown, and then the final two games of the regular season against the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions, tallying 157 yards on eight catches and a touchdown.

According to Pro Football Focus, Allison's impactful performance against the Bengals earned him the highest overall grade (87.5) on the team, as well as game ball honors. As of right now, he's the Packers' second-most productive receiver in terms of yardage with 146 yards on nine catches through two games.

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Zachary Jacobson is a staff writer/reporter for Cheesehead TV. He's the voice of The Leap on iTunes and can be heard on The Scoop KLGR 1490 AM every Saturday morning. He's also a contributor on the Pack-A-Day Podcast. He can be found on Twitter via @ZachAJacobson or contacted through email at [email protected].

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Comments (18)

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Handsback's picture

September 25, 2017 at 10:53 am

It was a good throw/catch in OT to get the win. I'm not so sure how this will translate to future games, but right now Geronimo is a beast!

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KenEllis's picture

September 25, 2017 at 11:06 am

Allison may have average speed, at best, but on a team where Jordy has been slowed down by age and injury (though he is still a beast in the red zone and in traffic), Cobb and Adams are quick but not fast, and Bennett is playing about as fast as Richard Rodgers, Geronimo really stands out.

This is a really slow group of skill position players, by NFL standards, in Green Bay and that includes Montgomery.

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billybobton's picture

September 25, 2017 at 01:49 pm

Calvin Johnson/40 yard dash time
4.35 seconds
Image result for megatron nfl 40 yard dash

Julio Jones
4.39 seconds

Dez Bryant
4.52 seconds

Antonio Brown
4.47 seconds

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Finwiz's picture

September 25, 2017 at 02:11 pm

Yeah, I'm glad someone posted the actual 40 times, because when Calvin Johnson came out of college, he was not only a big receiver, he was extremely fast. Kind of defeated the entire premise of that 3 paragraphs not knowing he wasn't slow.

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Finwiz's picture

September 25, 2017 at 12:34 pm

They aren't that slow, at least not like you are making them out to be.
Cobb adds needed quickness that's important to the offense.
I don't care if a WR is a 4.6, if he knows how to run a pattern based on DB movements, he can get open, and Allison does.
I think Cobb/Devonte better watch out, or somebody may move up to number 3 and take their spot.

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Packatron's picture

September 25, 2017 at 12:35 pm

I agree. When watching highlights from around the league, I always notice how every team has guys with breakaway speed. Someone that strikes fear into an opposing defense. Someone that defenses have to game plan for. The Packers haven't had anyone like that in a long time.

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SpudRapids's picture

September 25, 2017 at 01:36 pm

Except on every play action play they were double teaming Jordy because he still is that deep threat

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dblbogey's picture

September 25, 2017 at 06:30 pm

I heard Janis is the answer. He's fast and clueless. They could run him out there 2-3 times a game.

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fthisJack's picture

September 26, 2017 at 08:10 am

i see Dez had 2 catches for 12 yards last night. lets trade Geronimo for him straight up...he's so much faster!

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CheesyTex's picture

September 25, 2017 at 10:58 am

Great to see him on the same page when AR catches the defense offside or with 12 men on the field. Bodes well for the future.

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pacman's picture

September 25, 2017 at 12:14 pm

Additional effect of having teams take notice - opening up options for all.

What about Davis' punt returning? Pretty reasonable but I thought he was dancing around a bit.

And all those KO touchbacks is getting pretty boring. Seems like everybody is happy giving opponents the ball on the 25.

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GBPDAN1's picture

September 25, 2017 at 12:16 pm

I jumped out of my chair when Allison made the play in OT. Such a beautiful play in crunch time.

It's just a matter of time for Bennett to start living up to his billing.....right???

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Packatron's picture

September 25, 2017 at 12:39 pm

Hard for Bennett to do that when he's only used for blocking all the time.

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Point-Packer's picture

September 25, 2017 at 02:48 pm

Bennett looked lumbering out there. Agree with previous comment that he resembles a taller Richard Rogers. Effort thing?

Geronimo is the next Donald Driver.

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HankScorpio's picture

September 25, 2017 at 12:29 pm

I love the background of the picture. One Bengal staffer has his head down, a few others are watching it unfold.

Andy Dalton and AJ Green are looking behind the play...I imagine looking at Rodgers...both wishing Dalton could make that kind of throw.

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Cartwright's picture

September 25, 2017 at 03:21 pm

I think he was used as a secret weapon at the end when they had a full game of data to see how he was being covered. It startled me to see how often Rodgers was targeting him. They apparently know what they have. This guys got some pair of hands. Way to go 'MO! More 'Mo. Go pack

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fthisJack's picture

September 26, 2017 at 08:14 am

he's got hands and always gets extra yardage after the catch. remember Jerry Rice wasn't the fastest guy in town either!

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NickPerry's picture

September 26, 2017 at 05:50 am

Yesterday I made a comment about Allison, well really about the haters to stop with the negative talk about his speed. When i went back and read the comments most were about just one of his 6 catches OR the drop.

The dude was VITAL on the last drive of the 4th quarter. He had what, two or three catches on 3rd down to move the chains. Everybody is always so damned concerned about speed. News Flash!! The Packers don't have anyone who has speed AND can run the right route and catch the damn ball. At least Allison is producing when given the chance.

Lets not get so caught up in the times from the spandex Olympics. After all, I'm pretty sure Jason Spriggs damn near looked like a TE at the combine his scores were so good and how did he play in the preseason before getting hurt?

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