If no one else will say it I will

JoshuaRHuffman

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I'm not sure why we're picking sides. Other than Donald Driver, this loss is on everyone for the most part.

*Defense giving up that Hail Mary and that big run toward the end of the first half
*Receivers dropping passes
*Poor tackling by the defense
*Ryan Grant, John Kuhn fumbling
*Aaron Rodgers having an off-night
*Mike McCarthy making poor decisions such as that onside kick in 2Q, that fullback dive on 1st and 10, and that fourth-down panic attempt on 4th-and-5.

What's done is done: they're just regular-season champions this year.

But here's my big question: I'm not sure any of us can prove how much of an impact Joe Philbin's absence had on the offense. That being said, if the Packers were truly hurt this much by just losing one of their coaches for one week, how much long-term damage will be done if Joe Philbin, Winston Moss, Tom Clements, Darren Perry and even Dom Capers move on to new organizations?
 

longtimefan

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What's done is done: they're just regular-season champions this year.

But here's my big question: I'm not sure any of us can prove how much of an impact Joe Philbin's absence had on the offense. That being said, if the Packers were truly hurt this much by just losing one of their coaches for one week, how much long-term damage will be done if Joe Philbin, Winston Moss, Tom Clements, Darren Perry and even Dom Capers move on to new organizations?

They have all off season to re set with new guys..They had a few days to get set this week with out Joe
 

NelsonsLongCatch

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So... let me make sure I'm understanding you correctly. Aaron Rodgers, who is a grown man of 28 years was so traumatized by attending a funeral that it caused his receivers and running backs to not be able to hold on to the ball? Whew... that explains everything then. Glad you cleared that up.

Yes, the death of a family member of a highly respected coach will effect players and coaches. You have to believe that the death was in the backs of their minds during PREPARATION for the game. The Packers did not get a chance to prepare like they normally would.
 

gwh11

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I'm not convinced the Philbin situation was the overriding factor here.
McCarthy himself said Wednesday's practice was as good as they've ever had, and that nothing in their preparation for the game would've led him to believe that this would've happened.
It was no surprise the D gave up as many points as they did; what was surprising is the lack of execution on the offense's part.
 
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ivo610

ivo610

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I am not sure I buy into that theory..They have had how many months preparing for games? I think the emotions were what was more of an issue

Right but when he was there all season and suddenly isn't you have to at least wonder if it had something to do with the entire offense looking sloppy.
 

longtimefan

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Right but when he was there all season and suddenly isn't you have to at least wonder if it had something to do with the entire offense looking sloppy.

I do think if we dont drop the balls we did, might not even be an issue.

After a while you saw Rodgers get so frustrated in the drops..Then thats when his play faltered
 

NelsonsLongCatch

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I'm not convinced the Philbin situation was the overriding factor here.
McCarthy himself said Wednesday's practice was as good as they've ever had, and that nothing in their preparation for the game would've led him to believe that this would've happened.
It was no surprise the D gave up as many points as they did; what was surprising is the lack of execution on the offense's part.

Was McCarthy supposed to say "we practiced like **** today. If I were a betting man, I'd take the Giants"?
 

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Maybe winning this one for Philbin was a monkey on their backs, similar to the "perfect season" when going to Kansas City. An added pressure to the psyche of the team, coaching staff included. Unfortunately, the monkey appeared during the play-off season, unlike mid-season where the loss would have been just another "L". I guess this type of tragedy can occur at any time and not wait until it works more favorably into our schedules. :(
 

Purplepeopleeater

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Your offensive coordinator has little to do with it. What I saw was 1) Eli Manning just sitting back there all day long waiting for receivers to get open, no pass rush-period, 2) Aaron Rodgers throwing lousy passes-when Rodgers is bad, the Packers are bad, no matter how good the game plan and 3) your receivers dropping balls like they were greased pigs-your coordinator cannot go out there and catch balls, he can only design plays where the receivers get the opportunity to catch the balls. In the final analysis, it looked to me like the Giants wanted that game more.
 

NelsonsLongCatch

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Your offensive coordinator has little to do with it. What I saw was 1) Eli Manning just sitting back there all day long waiting for receivers to get open, no pass rush-period, 2) Aaron Rodgers throwing lousy passes-when Rodgers is bad, the Packers are bad, no matter how good the game plan and 3) your receivers dropping balls like they were greased pigs-your coordinator cannot go out there and catch balls, he can only design plays where the receivers get the opportunity to catch the balls. In the final analysis, it looked to me like the Giants wanted that game more.

So you're saying the same thing we are: The Packers were not mentally prepared for the game. The lack of mental preparation showed in their play.
 

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Your offensive coordinator has little to do with it. What I saw was 1) Eli Manning just sitting back there all day long waiting for receivers to get open, no pass rush-period, 2) Aaron Rodgers throwing lousy passes-when Rodgers is bad, the Packers are bad, no matter how good the game plan and 3) your receivers dropping balls like they were greased pigs-your coordinator cannot go out there and catch balls, he can only design plays where the receivers get the opportunity to catch the balls. In the final analysis, it looked to me like the Giants wanted that game more.
Not so much "who wanted the game" but more of who played the better game. The Packers were in some sort of funk that they couldn't get out of. The fact that the Packers played lousy made the Giants look like they played that much better. Two good teams but only one showed up to play.
 

gwh11

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Your offensive coordinator has little to do with it. What I saw was 1) Eli Manning just sitting back there all day long waiting for receivers to get open, no pass rush-period, 2) Aaron Rodgers throwing lousy passes-when Rodgers is bad, the Packers are bad, no matter how good the game plan and 3) your receivers dropping balls like they were greased pigs-your coordinator cannot go out there and catch balls, he can only design plays where the receivers get the opportunity to catch the balls. In the final analysis, it looked to me like the Giants wanted that game more.
Unfortunately, this is basically a correct analysis of what happened.
 

Kitten

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I think Ivo has a point. It has to affect them on some level. Speaking only of the offense, they looked disorganized, out of synch and the chemistry we are used to seeing in them was noticeably absent. But lets be honest here, this thing that has been going one with the offense has been going on since pretty much the late 2nd half of the season, long before Philbin's son passed. I'm not only talking about offensive line issues and injuries, but there have been dropped balls since then as well. We also started to make more turnovers then. The offense in the 2nd half of the season was NOT the same offense as the first. But yesterday, it was blatantly obvious as we lost a playoff game at home. You can't make those mistakes against a team like the Giants and hope to win the game. But really, these issues have been going on for several weeks before the Philbin family came into it.
 
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If we want to bring Philbin in on this then the fault is MM's for letting him back so early. He should've said "We love you and all but we'll see you next week". And then he should've used the gameplan he worked with all week. You don't change things like that so close to a major game. You just don't. But MM is soft and has no balls.
 

longtimefan

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If we want to bring Philbin in on this then the fault is MM's for letting him back so early. He should've said "We love you and all but we'll see you next week". And then he should've used the gameplan he worked with all week. You don't change things like that so close to a major game. You just don't. But MM is soft and has no balls.

He changed it? got proof?
 
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I agree with some of the others when they said tragedies like this NORMALLY have the opposite effect on a team. Remember the Packer/Raider game right after Bret Favre's Dad passed away? Bret had the game of his career....I would think the team would've been more likely to rally based on the tragedy rather than have a bad game because of it. Yesterday's loss was because of lousy defense (as usual), and a poor outing by the offense (not typical).
But that Packer team was older and maybe had more life experience. With the exception of a few players, the Packers are very young. Rodgers is 28 years old. The same thing happened to the Colts 7 years ago. You wouldn't think something like this affects players but it does. But bear in mind, the year after that tragedy...the Colts won the Super Bowl. Maybe the Packers follow the same path. You can even see it in Rodgers' post game interview...the somberness (is that a word?).
 

LombardiChick

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That's true.... Philbin must have been paid all year to DO SOMETHING during the game-prep weeks.
I heard from the JSonline and GBpressgazette guys that his forte was the preparation of the offense and game plan during the week, crunching film of the opposing defenses and developing plays and schemes against it.

He had to do something to be getting paid......

*******************

Kid was a problem for years, and now he impacted the team in some way, and us fans in some way.

I honestly cannot believe you said this.
 
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I think Ivo has a point. It has to affect them on some level. Speaking only of the offense, they looked disorganized, out of synch and the chemistry we are used to seeing in them was noticeably absent. But lets be honest here, this thing that has been going one with the offense has been going on since pretty much the late 2nd half of the season, long before Philbin's son passed. I'm not only talking about offensive line issues and injuries, but there have been dropped balls since then as well. We also started to make more turnovers then. The offense in the 2nd half of the season was NOT the same offense as the first. But yesterday, it was blatantly obvious as we lost a playoff game at home. You can't make those mistakes against a team like the Giants and hope to win the game. But really, these issues have been going on for several weeks before the Philbin family came into it.
That's true. We even had drops in the Super Bowl so it's nothing new. But Jermichael Finley was agitating me yesterday. Only one ball thrown to him could I say it was Aaron's fault (that 3rd and 5 fastball that could have been a slow changeup) but every other one, it was in his hands and he dropped it. Greg Jennings hadn't played in 5 weeks so his timing was off (hence the fumble that wasn't called and the dropped TD pass), Jordy dropped one, Grant (who is known not to take care of the ball) fumbled once and dropped a couple, Crabtree dropped one, Starks dropped a couple. It was just all bad.
 

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This was a team loss. The offense didn’t do its part but neither did the defense. Look no farther than the end of the first half. That was embarrassingly bad. And on the opening drive and too often throughout the game, third and long was automatic for the Giants. Those harping on the D all year can't legitimately claim it was entirely the D's fault. So that's the "good" news, Packers fans can't tell other Packers fans 'I told you so'. Some good news, huh? :sick: Like it or not, and of course we hate it, they won as a team and yesterday they stunk as a team.

The death of Michael Philbin and its aftermath may have played a part in the mental makeup of the team, no one can measure that. But I don't think the absence of Joe Philbin played much of a part in the poor showing by the offense. McCarthy is the offensive brain and playcaller of the team and Philbin was there when they prepared for the Giants in their regular season matchup. And they had two weeks to prepare. But just like the possible affect of the death of Michael, there's no way for us to know. I don't think the long layoff had much to do with it either. They were as healthy as they've been since about the third week of the season. There were no excuses for the turnovers, missed tackles, TD pass at the end of the first half, or the dropped or errant passes.

Here's my theory on what happened to the Packers this season: Of course the problems on defense were apparent all season, but IMO what happened was the Packers peaked too soon this season as opposed to last season when they hit it perfectly. When was Rodgers the hottest? Certainly not at the end of the season. And make no mistake, he's the 'straw that stirs the drink' for the entire team. What can a coaching staff do to avoid peaking too soon? IMO absolutely nothing. Changes in player personnel, coaching, and the front office can be made. Boatloads of money can be thrown at free agency and still the planets have to align such that the team peaks near the end of the season. Of course a team has to have good people in the front office and the coaching staff, and it has to have talented players. But it also has to be playing its best football at the end of the season and there's no way to plan for that. That's where luck plays a part, big or small, in every champions' season. You'd like to think - or at least hope - your team can turn it on once the playoffs begin. But more and more I think the run-up to the playoffs is very important.

The Packers had a historic run from week 16 of the 2010 through week 14 of this season. But both of the Super Bowl participants were one and done in the playoffs. That's what makes titles so special: They're incredibly difficult to acquire.
 

P-E-Z

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I am not sure I buy into that theory..They have had how many months preparing for games? I think the emotions were what was more of an issue

In part I think your right, also not playing the starters in 3 weeks caused them to be out of sink. Also so some the drops were typical of teams that have not practiced outside enough. Realistically this lose should not have been that much of surprise.
When the two team played the first two the officials were the 12th players Packers. There were at least 2 bad bad calls; one calling Giants touchdown out of bounds when it wasn't, the other was Jennings juggling TD he never really had possession. Had those calls been correct the Giants win by the same margin in this game. The other thing is you can't live off turn over.
You will not always get them. Plus how strong the scheadual you play can cover up problems in the team. You have a great QB and very good reciever core. An offensive line pass blocks pretty good but run blocking marginal. The backs themselves are marginal. The defense has not much in way of a pass rush. You have 2 good line backers, Woodson and Raji. Ultimately you got beat the more complete team. This is not that after a Super Bowl Win. The Giants had the same thing happen in 2008. 12-4 then one and done the playoffs. The Good news you have the core to team than can be a contender for a long time to come.
 
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I have to agree with you too. It would be foolish to think that the death of the OC's son didn't have a negative effect on this team. You could see they weren't "in the game". It had to have been a tough week of prepartion.

I agree with you that the emotional roller coaster they were on this week seemed to effect the offense this week. The offense was definitely off this week. I still put the majority of the blame on the defense. They were off their game ALL season. You had to know that sooner or later the offense was going to have an off week. The defense HAD to step up if that happened and they did not!

I don't know if anyone else has thought of this but I also think McCarthy erred in sitting Rodgers the last week of the year. It was pretty obvious he was completely out of sync yesterday. The extra week off really messed with his timing.

All year long I just had a feeling they were not a SB contender because of the defense. What do you think Tom Brady and the Pat would have done to this defense had they made it to the SB?

TT has his work cut out but he NEEDS to get defense some more playmakers!!
 

P-E-Z

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Your offensive coordinator has little to do with it. What I saw was 1) Eli Manning just sitting back there all day long waiting for receivers to get open, no pass rush-period, 2) Aaron Rodgers throwing lousy passes-when Rodgers is bad, the Packers are bad, no matter how good the game plan and 3) your receivers dropping balls like they were greased pigs-your coordinator cannot go out there and catch balls, he can only design plays where the receivers get the opportunity to catch the balls. In the final analysis, it looked to me like the Giants wanted that game more.

It looked a team that not practiced outdoors.... a lot the drops were typical of a team that had not enough time in the cold.
 

grampi

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Yes, it is a horrible thing to say, and it may very well be a lazy excuse.

And it may be exactly what happened. You can't just discount this fact after the kind of game the offense played, when the defense had one of it's best games of the season, and just mark it as coincidence. Not when the tempo was off, the concentration was off, the intensity was off.

The ddefense had one of it's best games of the season? That's hilarious!
 

grampi

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It's not about how they felt or anything like that, it's about them not being prepared out there.

Offense played the worst game in the season, and our offensive coordinator was gone all week, it's not that hard to connect the two.

The OC didn't turn the ball over 3 times, the OC wasn't dropping passes, the OC wasn't running poor routes and not getting open....face it, the offense just picked the wrong time of the year to come out and lay an egg...
 

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