Memo to McCarthy: Apologize for this Loss

In many ways, the Packers' loss this afternoon to the Atlanta Falcons had the makings of a moral victory. The Packers were on the road against an excellent team, gave up 100 yards rushing, failed to force a turnover, failed on a fourth down conversion, fumbled the ball at the goalline, got nothing from their star defensive players, and reverted to their penalty-prone ways, but still had a chance to win the game. This demonstrates that they can, indeed, compete with anyone in the league on any given day. What held them back today? Coaching, specifically McCarthy's boneheaded clock management decisions.

At the end of the first half, Atlanta had a first and goal with roughly 80 seconds left on the clock. The Packers had two timeouts remaining. But as the last minute of the half ticked away, McCarthy chose to use neither of his timeouts, and the Falcons went on to score a touchdown with 8 only seconds left. Why, in God's name, would McCarthy not call timeout in that situation? The Packers had moved the ball in the first half. You know Atlanta is either going to kick a field goal, turn the ball over, or score a touchdown. If you use your timeouts, you give Rodgers and company a minute on the clock and see if they can get somewhere close to field goal range. And Atlanta had all three timeouts left. You know they're not going to run out of clock, even if you stop them on third down. So there was ABSOLUTELY no reason not to use your timeouts. Terrible, terrible mismanagement of the clock. And three points (what Crosby could have gotten at the end of the first half) turned out to be the margin of victory.

Then, at the end of the game. Unless Rodgers is constantly audibling into passes, the Packers' failure to call at least one run play during the goal-to-goal series was inexcusable. Have confidence that you're going to score. Think ahead, milk the clock, and make sure that Atlanta does NOT have enough time to march down and kick a field goal. By not running at least once on those four downs, McCarthy essentially lost the game. He gave Atlanta, with a great quarterback, and an excellent offense, playing at home, in a dome, more than a minute to march down and at least attempt a makeable field goal. Of course, Wilhem (who should be booted off the team for his double-penalty performance today) and the special teams made it easier. But the Packers have done this before in recent years--- they don't pay attention to the clock and end up shooting themselves in the foot, undermining what are often heroic offensive performances.

The NFL is a highly competitive league. Any offense in it has the ability to move the ball forty yards in a minute and kick a field goal. Every week games are decided by who has the ball last with some time to move down the field. And so, so often, McCarthy has ignored this fact. He's been a head coach for over five years now. He needs to learn. If he doesn't, the Packers' terrible record in close games (in his tenure) will only continue.

McCarthy should man up, learn from his mistakes, and apologize to the team for this loss. It's on him.

Two more cents...

Without looking at stats, which can often be misleading in this type of situation, I think the Packers finished with about the right record +/- 2 games. As has been previously stated, AR had good stats, which is partially reflective of the fact that we threw the ball a lot to catch up/keep up, but his relatively low number of INTs is encouraging. Another part of that equation is that McCarthy is inconsistent in his willingness to stick with the running game. When the Pack is successful on the ground we win; when we are unable to run, we lose (More on this later).

I think the fact that we played multiple playoff caliber teams close down to the last drive, won the games we should have won, and lost the games we should have lost places the Pack squarely in the middle of the overall NFL picture. We had some bad breaks/lapses that led us to lose a couple games that we might have won, but we finished right about where we belonged: somewhere between 8-8 and 6-10. In the long run, it is better for us to have a worse record if we do miss the playoffs so we get better draft picks.

I will not get into what are needs are, because they have been and will be discussed at length in other posts. Needless to say, our needs are obvious and we have the capability to fill them if we so choose.

Back to the non-personnel part of the Packs struggles: It seems to me that part of the Pack's problems on offense (sputtering on many drives) is our inability/unwillingness to commit to a running game. Some of this has to do with our O Line, but another part has to do with play calling. McCarthy, it seems to me gives up on the run too easily, if it doesn't work early. Case in point is last year's divisional playoff and NFC championship game. Against the Seagulls, we ran, and ran, and then ran some more. We dominated the entire game and won easily. One week later, granted against a monstrous front 4, I think we ran the ball maybe 4-5 times in the first quarter before McCarthy jumped ship on running the ball as a legitimate game plan. This was in freezing, windy conditions with a QB who clearly wanted nothing to do with playing that day. Would we have been successful running against Strahan, et al? Maybe not, but I think it would have been wise to try a few more times. Perhaps then the Fearsome Foursome would have had to think more about pinning their proverbial ears back and going after Brett. When I look back at that game, it wasn't much different than this entire season. Play a quality opponent close, and then lose at the end with unclutch plays.

So apart from personnel changes, I think McCarthy needs to use the quality he has in the offensive back field, even if we have a couple of 3 and outs in the first quarter. Running = winning.

Oh No! Not Marriage!

Did anyone else see this article and experience a feeling of dread? Not to besmirch or mock Mike McCarthy's personal happiness. But I really liked having a divorcee as a coach, one whose teenage daughter was several states and many degrees of latitude away. That way you knew that McCarthy had nothing else going on besides the Packers. You knew he was going to slave away, work all day, and then bolt out of bed in the middle of the night to jot down an original offensive-play call. Hell, last season verified this theory, as McCarthy rolled out a bunch of bizarre formations. Remember the five receiver shotgun spread, the two-fullback inverse wishbone formation, and the occasional tight end lining up in the backfield? It's these sort of unique ideas you're going to get when a guy's life is his job. Sure, he'd probably burn out in a few years, but no one coaches forever.

Alas, now McCarthy's happily married (uh oh), has two grade-school-age stepsons that will live with him (further trouble), and his new bride is preggers, expecting a baby in the middle of next season (Oh, crap). Distraction city, my friends. Beware, beware. This may be cold-hearted and cynical, but I would not be surprised to see McCarthy's "coaching performance," however that might be judged, drop off some this next season. Which is a shame, since with Favre gone, we'll need him even to be on top of his game more than ever.

"We were just off. We were off."

-- Packers' Offensive Line Coach (and former center) James Campen, September 10, 2007.

At least someone is acknowledging the suck-a-thon. I generally think Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy are doing an okay job so far, but the Professor Positive, refusing to level with the media thing has got to stop. When people stink up the joint, admit that they played poorly and move on.

Thompson also needs to explain whey he makes certain moves. I'm sure many fans would feel better if Thompson, for example, explained that he had Harrell rated right next to Marshawn Lynch, and well above any of the wide receivers available at sixteen. What he may not realize is that the Packer board and Harlan aren't the sole owners. He is not accountable just to them. There are thousands of owners all over the country, myself included. I want to know why the hell he does things, and the press is my only method for finding out. So cut out the unnecessary obfuscation, Ted, and level with the media. The people who own your team want to know why their most important employee is doing what he's doing. Sheesh.