Wide receiver Jeff Janis played four seasons for the Green Bay Packers between 2014 and 2017. He caught 17 passes during the regular season for 200 yards and one touchdown. Although he only started one game in those four years, he was always popular with Packers fans. But in the 2015 NFC Playoffs, Janis stepped up and had the best game of his NFL career. The Saginaw Valley State had some magical moments in the Packers overtime playoff loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
The Biggest Game in the Career of Packers WR Jeff Janis: The Buildup
The Packers finished the 2015 regular season with a 10-6 record which earned them a Wild Card berth in the playoffs. Unfortunately, the Packers lost their last two regular season games including a 38-8 thumping at the hands of the Cardinals in Arizona.
The Packers beat Washington in their first playoff game 35-18 to advance to the divisional round.
They would face the Cardinals again. Arizona won the NFC West with a 13-3 record that season and had a first round bye in the playoffs. The winner of this game would advance to the NFC Championship Game.
The Packers entered the game without receiver Davante Adams, who was out with a knee injury. That left the team with only four healthy wide receivers.
More Injuries Give Janis a Chance
The Cardinals got on the board first. They took possession at the Packers 42 and Carson Palmer led them on an 11-play drive that ended on an eight-yard touchdown pass to Michael Floyd. The Packers almost ended the drive two plays earlier when Nick Perry sacked Palmer and forced a fumble, but Palmer got the ball back. The Packers trailed 7-0.
Late in the first quarter, the injury bug hit the Packers again. Wide receiver Randall Cobb made an acrobatic, one-handed 51-yard catch that would have given Green Bay the ball inside the Arizona five, but offsetting penalties nullified the play. Unfortunately, Cobb suffered a chest injury and had to come out of the game.
Enter Janis who made an immediate impact. He made four catches in the second quarter alone including a six-yard gain that picked up a vital first down on a 3rd-and-4 situation. Keep in mind, Janis made only two catches during the entire regular season.
The Packers got on the board on a 28-yard field goal by Mason Crosby. The drive was set up by important catches by Janis and Jared Abbrederis. James Jones was the only other healthy receiver the Packers had left besides the two inexperienced backups. A 100-yard pick six by Patrick Peterson of Arizona was nullified by a penalty which kept the Packers drive alive.
A second field goal with 1:01 left in the half pulled the Pack to within 7-6. That’s where the score stood at halftime.
The Biggest Game in the Career of Packers WR Jeff Janis: The Second Half
The Packers took the lead for the first time on their second drive of the half after both teams traded punts. The key play was a 61-yard run by Eddie Lacy who found a big hole up the middle and ran to the Cardinals 8. Two plays later, Aaron Rodgers found Janis in the end zone and the Packers had a 13-7 advantage.
The Cards answered with a 28-yard field goal by Chandler Catanzaro. The key play on that drive was a 32-yard pass to wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. The Pack held a 13-10 lead as the fourth quarter got under way.
Palmer moved the Cardinals to the Green Bay 10 but on the second play of the fourth quarter, Packers defensive back Damarious Randall intercepted Palmer in the end zone and the drive ended with the Pack still in front.
The next time Arizona got the ball, Palmer led them on a 14-play, 80-yard drive that took 7:09 off the clock. The Cardinals took a 17-13 lead with 3:50 left when Palmer found Floyd for a nine-yard score.
With time running out, the Packers gambled on a 4th-and-5 at their own 25. The gamble failed to pay off when Rodgers’ pass for Jones fell incomplete. The Cardinals kicked a 36-yard field goal and led 20-13 with just 2:00 left to play.
The Frenetic Finish
The Packers were desperate. They had two timeouts but needed to go 86 yards to score. A sack by Dwight Freeney cost the Pack 10 yards and brought up a 4th-and-20 at their own four. Rodgers dropped back, scrambled to evade the rush and launched a long pass 60 yards downfield to Janis at the Arizona 36.
“That’s Aaron Rodgers,” Cardinals linebacker Kevin Minter said after the game. “I think it was No. 83 [Janis]. Man, he made a play, didn’t he? It looked like they batted it down, and he just made a great play. My [darn] jaw was on the ground.”
But Janis and Rodgers weren’t done. With five seconds left, the Packers had the ball at the Cardinals 41. Rodgers launched another Hail Mary into the end zone. Janis outjumped Peterson and Rashad Johnson and held onto the ball to tie the game at 20-20 as time expired.
“I didn’t know where anybody was really,” Rodgers said. “I saw Jeff briefly, and I just tried to put some air on it to give him a chance.”
Unfortunately, the big plays by Janis weren’t enough to win the game. The Cardinals won the overtime coin toss and on their first play from scrimmage, Fitzgerald took a short pass from Palmer and ran all the way to the Green Bay 5. Two plays later, Fitzgerald scored on a five-yard touchdown pass. The game and the Packers season were over.
The Biggest Game in the Career of Packers WR Jeff Janis: The Aftermath
The Packers were stunned at how quickly the game ended.
“Losing in that fashion, especially with the offense pulling that out, another Hail Mary, is unbelievable,” said Packers linebacker Clay Matthews.
“I can’t say we played our best game,” head coach Mike McCarthy said. “We didn’t play well [and] we didn’t do enough to win. We had a lot of things we needed to overcome, and they just kept battling.”
Janis finished the game with seven catches for 145 yards and two touchdowns. The 145 receiving yards in a playoff game was third all-time in Packers history behind Jermichael Finley who had 159 in 2009 and John Jefferson who had 148 in the 1982 playoffs.
Janis never went on to played two more seasons with the Packers and caught 13 more passes while playing mostly on special teams. But for one game, one important playoff game, he was a real star.
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