GREEN BAY – Numbers can lie, especially when those numbers are generated by the actions of humans, largely because the human element is a terrific variable. You might have a good idea of what can happen, based on the numbers created over a large sample size – say 11 NFL games – but it’s not a surefire predictor of what will happen.

Take, for example, the key 76-second window late in the fourth quarter in the Green Bay Packers’ 26-21 victory over the New England Patriots Sunday afternoon at Lambeau Field.

The numbers may have said the Patriots would score, and take the lead.

The human element proved otherwise.

"We wanted to take advantage of it," Packers safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix said of that moment.

Following a 12-yard LeGarrette Blount run down to the Packers’ 21-yard line with 4 minutes, 41 seconds to go, the Patriots continued to move methodically against a Packers defense that was ranked near the bottom of the league against the run, and was slightly above average against the pass.

In that possession alone, in which the Patriots were moving down the field in the hopes of taking a late lead, New England converted one fourth down and one third down to keep the drive alive. On first-and-10 at the 4:10 mark, Packers safety Morgan Burnett stuffed Blount for a 1-yard gain.

Tick, tick, tick …

Brady saw a matchup he liked on the outside – 6-foot, 6-inch tight end Rob Gronkowski in space against Clinton-Dix, a rookie who was giving up five inches and nearly 60 pounds.

Gronkowski extended, and caught the ball as he fell to the ground in the end zone.

Burnett, No. 42 in the picture above, had perhaps the best view of what happened next in the entire stadium.

"Coach (Mike McCarthy) preaches this all the time – about finish, finish, finish – and it couldn’t get any better than Ha Ha’s play on Gronkowski in the end zone," Burnett said. "Gronkowski had it in his hands but he didn’t give up. He kept fighting for it, boom, knocked the ball out. That’s a thing of beauty.

"That’s what you look forward to. That’s our mindset as a team, is like to just keep fighting, to keep pushing, because you never know what can happen at the end."

The clock stopped, and the Patriots faced 3rd-and-9 from the 20. In the shotgun, Brady was wrestled to the ground by Packers lineman Mike Daniels and linebacker Mike Neal.

Datone Jones took up two blockers, allowing Daniels and Neal one-on-one. They won those matchups, and met at the quarterback.

"Whenever they try to put two on one guy, the guy with a single-team has to capitalize," Daniels said. "And that’s what we did and that’s just the tale of the game."

Pushed nine yards further back, Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski missed a 47-yard field goal that would have made it 26-24 with 2:40 to play.

Instead, Aaron Rodgers and the offense was able to salt away the victory.

When the clock struck zero, the Packers defense – which for most of the year ranked at or near the bottom in many of the major team statistical categories – had held the Patriots to 21 points, 20 first downs and just 340 yards of total offense.

"There’s something to be said about finishing a game in the manner in which we did (Sunday)," Clay Matthews said. "It feels good, especially within these last four games we seem to be carrying our weight a little bit more, especially with how well our offense has been playing.

"(The defense) has kind of been our Achilles heel these past couple years in getting back to where we want to go, so it was good to see (Sunday), especially against a very good, quality opponent."