Perhaps LaFleur wants to make a point to the obvious offenders while throwing in a few others to give it the appearance of a team issue, thereby not throwing particular guys all the way under the public bus.
I realize you're not disagreeing, but how about those splendid contested deep ball catches by MVS and Lazard? How many is not enough? It comes down to individual cases. So, I've gone back and looked at every incompletion in the Detroit game, 15 (including the INT) + 3 reprieved by Detroit penalties. I wish there were fewer.
Here are the results. I'm excluding those that were clearly untouched by a receiver:
11:26, 1st quarter: This was Rodgers first throw of the game which I mentioned earlier. At first glance it appears that Allison dropped this short out. On slow mo replay we can see the defender hooked an arm and probably got a piece of the ball. LaFleur may have included this one in his count. I wouldn't.
12:47, 2nd. quarter: At best, Allison extended to get a fingertip on a ball, or maybe not, that was high and wide on a short crosser. Rodgers was looking for a hold or PI call but didn't get it. He does like to throw at guys he sees being held to get the call. We can argue the sense of that elsewhere. By any criteria you would not count this as a drop.
10:13, 2nd. quarter: This was Jones' deep throw drop, a little behind him but entirely uncontested. I don't think anybody would dispute that was a drop.
10:07, 2nd. quarter: This was another Allison play where the defender hooked the arm and/or whacked the ball. That defender was called for a hold. Hold or not, it was not a drop.
14:54, 3rd. quarter: This is the play Allison got knocked out of the game. Allison was the victim of a two-fer. Super slow-mo shows he got whacked on the head a split second after he got two hands on the ball. Then that defender's helmet followed through and whacked his arms and maybe a piece of the ball. This is not a drop whether it was flagged for illegal contact or not. I agree with that ex-official's commetary that it was legal play as the defender was playing the ball.
2:43, 3rd. quarter: This was a short back shoulder to Kumerow that hit him in the leg. In super slo-mo you can see the defender grabbing his arm before the ball arrives. The pitch and attempted catch was clumsily executed. You can decide if Kumerow didn't run it quite right or Rodgers threw it too far inside. Whatever, the timing was off and I think refs are disinclined to give you a call if the execution has an ugly tint to it. Regardless, this is not a drop.
14:11, 4th. quarter: This was a one-on-one jump ball to Graham in the end zone. It's hard to tell if the defender tipped the ball. What you do see in slow mo is the defender pushing his left arm away from the ball before it gets there. Graham's hands were so far apart as a result he'd have had to make a one hand catch. Unfortunately, the defender whacked that catching hand and/or the ball eliminating that possibility. This is not a drop.
13:22, 4th. quarter: This is the Shepherd drop/pick. Again, the ball is either thrown behind or Rodgers was expecting him to sit down into that route and work back inside. Either way, that's a drop. Like Jones' play, we expect those kinds of imperfect uncontested balls to be caught.
9:17, 4th. quarter: Lazard goes high above the DB to get two hands on it. As he comes down the ball hits the defenders helmet but it looks like Lazard is still going to pull it in. Then, before Lazard's feet even hits the ground, the defender whacks his arms and/or the ball and it falls incomplete. I don't think I'd call this a drop.
That's all of them. There's the two obvious ones. I'm not sure which is ESPN Stat's third or LaFleurs additional four. I'd say the leading candidates are the first and the last in the above list along with the Graham play.
The main takeaway, rather than quibbling about one drop or another, is how little separation there is in these routes, other than the two obvious drops, and in many of the completed passes as well. There was some chatter this past week about Rodgers not wanting to throw in tight spaces anymore. Well, go back and watch this tape. That's mostly what you'll find.
