Re: Where is this weeks scapegoat
For what it's worth, I was pretty mad at Brett for "losing" us the game. I now realize that was inappropriate on my part, because ultimately you can never pin the blame on one person.
There were a host of things that led to this loss.
One important thing I feel that people take the wrong way is "the Packers were in it at the half". Yes they were, but it wasn't because of the talent on the roster, it was because the Rams kept shooting themselves by committing penalties.
Ultimately, in th esecond half the teams we have faced reduce their mistakes and that leads to better execution. That is why the Rams were running wild on us, because they have Holt/Bruce at WRs, and Jackson at RB. Those skill positions have better talent than the Packer skill positions.
That said, having 10-12 men on the field is poor game management. One thing I have seen though is that McCarthy doesn't baby his players, he holds them accountable. So to blame just McCarthy on the poor execution is wrong IMO, because the players should realize what plays they are a part of, etc.
Hawk is young, so he needs to be cut some slack. I can only imagine how nerve racking it is to realize the ball is coming your way, and you have a potentially game changing play to be had in all of about 2-3 seconds. He is young, and hopefully he will improve in this area. The Harris dropped INT is somethign he will be the first to say he should have had. However stuff like this happens every game, you have to live with it.
As for the whole "who is the scapegoat", there were factors that led up to why we lost. Tauscher was one of the reasons for the last second fumble, Brett was also a reason, Colledge shouldn't have been put into that position but he deserves his share of the blame, and who knows who else should be responsible (perhaps the RB was supposed to stay back and help block, and didn't do so).
Eventually it is a team game, and the fact that the Packers were desperately trying to catch up means there were other things that went wrong throughout the game.
Who lost this for us? Who cares. (IMO) Ultimately if we are to judge these Packers by W-L, then we will be disaopinted. Judge them as you would judge a rebuilding team, by the improvement they show week in and week out.
And there was no bigger indication of improvement this week than the performance of the O-line overall, and how it did wonders for our running game. So we are improving in some aspect week in and week out, which is the only thing we can ask at this point really.
