1. Mike McCarthy - Last year, early on in the season for the rookie HC, he made some DUMB decisions. Most of us remember the goal line stand with the throw sequence instead of running it. He had his reasons(catch em off guard, use your hoF QB,etc), but afterwards he knew he messed up. THIS YEAR, so far, in 1 game, there haven't been any bonehead decisions. The only thing so far is the seemingly lack of running plays. Mike McCarthy Said: The game plan going in was to throw the ball, particularly early in the game. 2. Bob Sanders - A lot of people have been getting credit for the play of the defense, but the defensive coordinator doesn't seem to be getting much of it. This is his third year in Green Bay, and it looks like that 'put up or shut up' third year for Sanders is going to be nice. Basically I like the progression of our coaches. It's one of the best signs that this team will be good, and continue to improve. (It's Saturday, which is when I start to get anxious for the game. Sorry)
I haven't had too many problems with McCarthy's playcalling, even last year. I don't think he's given up on the running game too early. It just hasn't been there most of the time, and I give him credit for adjusting his strategy when circumstances dictate that he do so. Up until the final four weeks of last season, I thought Sanders might need to be canned, and so did a lot of other fans. He's had quite a turnaround since then. After having four different coordinators in four seasons, we finally have some continuity, which is a good thing.
I heard the FOX announcers talking about McCarthy wanting to be more aggressive this year. We saw a little of that with a couple of deep routes that McCarthy called. It'll be interesting to see how much more aggressive McCarthy is the rest of the season; I for one didn't mind his extra attacking attitude one bit. But props to Sanders, he has done a lot of maturing in one year. It's hard to believe less than a year ago, our D was as bad as it was. Also, props to our DB coach Schotty. Collins and Bigby looked solid out there, and they should continue to grow. Who'd have thought that Schotty could be this decent.
I'll admit I scratched my head on a few of MM's playcalls but what can you expect from a rookie. I think the nice thing is this year he's realized how good they can be on D and he knows he can scale back on offence and make sure not to lose the game on one play. As for Sanders I think he'll make a lot of fans by the end of the year. So far seems to have a good mix of being aggressive and conservative. If Bigby steps up this D has no holes
Maybe Schotty just needed talented DBs to work with, and not AFL talent like Manuel,Roman, and Carroll.
I thought MM was really slow to make adjustments last year. Especially in the Seattle game. They just kept running on KGB over and over again. He did finally make the adjustment, but only after it cost us a win. And he never has stuck with thr run. We aren't going to have a winning record this year if Brett leads the league in passing attempts again. I do like his toughness, and it has carried over to the players. It is no accident that we were the ones who came up with all those lose balls last week. Our guys wanted it more. I think our defense and special teams will be known throughout the league as a tough group. Now, if we can just get that running game going, our offense will have the same identity. I don't think our offense really has an identity right now.
Maybe Greg Jennings sat Schotty down, and told him to get his act together or he'd make his head explode... Or perhaps Gregorious has possessed Schotty, thus allowing us to have a competent DB coach. My bad for bringing up Jennings in everything lately, I'm suffering from Greg withdrawl symptoms. I think it's safe to say it'll end tomorrow.
I agree trom. No one has given the def. coordinator any credit this year. good job pointing that out.
My only problem with this offense is the lack of touchdowns. This offense simply does not produce. I know there are many possible reasons which have already been debated here on PF.com, but does anyone else notice this? I don't think we get to the red zone nearly as much either. It's sad not watching Favre throw TDs anymore.
I'm probably a minority on this forum, but I don't think that call was a dumb move. it used to work, almost every time. It's exactly what I would have called. I think the problem with MM last year is he was too predictable and he didn't make halftime adjustments. I'll defend him with the small number of runs too, because he knew we had to keep the ball in the air to move against the Eagles. Their DL was awesome that game, and completely shut down our RBs. It was like running into a brick wall. Jackson had nowhere to go. Do we want to waste our plays pounding Jackson into a brick wall? Besides, with Morency hurt and Herron out for a year, no need to risk Jackson too. Tomorrow will be different. We'll rush for over 120 yards, easily.
I applaud McCarthy for embracing the fact that we probably wouldn't run the ball as much against the Eagles. It's better than beating your head against the wall all day with 3 and outs. Fact of the matter is, we're probably not going to be able to run against the Vikings either. Their run-D is arguably the best in football. So; Air it out! i don't care about runs, i don't care about passes, all i care about is points. Do what you have to do to get the job done.
Very well said! The only stats that matter are Points For & Points Against. If we have to throw 80% of the time to get points on the board because our running game goes nowhere, then by all means, throw the ***** ball. Yes, we may face similar problems against the Vikings that we did against the Eagles. And it won't be because our OL sucks or Jackson sucks. It will be because their run D is good. It's like saying LT sucks because he couldn't run against da Bears. da Bears gave him nowhere to run to, so he threw for a TD instead.
i couldn't resist. my two thoughts, Jim Bates or Sean Payton over MM. but it is the GM's call i wonder how well using the pass to set up the run will work in 2007?
We'll see in a few hours. The Eagles D shut down both our pass and run last week. I too was disappointed we didn't hire Bates for our HC. But now MM is our HC and we have to cheer for him to do well.
I think lost in this thread is the deserved props for Washington and the committment and improvement of depth at the CB. Look at the development of the CB's verse the Interior of the DB's. Schotty is still, to me, the weak link in the coaching staff of the Defense. One of the best moves was to divide the coaching responsiblities of the secondary between Schott and Washington, instead of Washington being under Schott. Since that move was made last year, look at the improvements in the CB play on the Packers. IMO. Great thread!
I think it's more than just your opinion. I think most of us share that opinion. The best thing we can hope for is Schott to be made more and more irrelevant. If his only job is to hand off towels to our team, then I'll be even happier.
The coaching staff has been exceptional. We'll see how Philbin does as O coordinator. Sanders revamped that defense and started playing the guys who were making plays. Nothing makes a player better than competition for his job. The players who will make the money are the players who make the plays. Making KGB a third down lineman was one of his best moves. The only problem was that most fans knew this four years ago, I'm only surprised that it has taken the coaches this long to know it. Mike McCarthy seems like a good guy and he's fair. He also expects you to perform and once again, having consequences for poor play is the best assurance for good and positive play.
