Edger Bennet new OC, Clements Assoc HC & will call plays

I like this move. MM's decisions always felt rushed. Think about it: GB on offense, close play finishes, a red flag possible, gotta get a play in; what to call? throw flag or not? attention is not properly on each decision. And you know game planning has to be double hard as he had to worry about the offensive plan, yet oversee everything else.

When MM put his mind on defense, it improved and they finally did something different. Now, he gets a chance to have more oversight and a grasp of the bigger picture. And, he rewards those assistants who have shown they can teach and shown they can produce. How is this a bad thing? Yeah, we're unsure about Clements, but at least he, EB, and AVP are on staff and known vs. just bringing in a guy from outside.

I think that, despite its stats, the offense has some serious flaws that need to be fixed. Our goalline O was one of the worst I've ever seen. We have two elite Guards, we use a traditional FB, and we have one of the top Power Backs in the league. There's no reason or excuse why 1st and Goal from inside the 5 shouldn't be a gimme. There are other minor flaws that could probably use some tinkering. This O is dam good, but it's not perfect. 

I also think McCarthy realized he had some major flaws as a HC. He won 1 challenge this year...fortunately his only win was at the most crucial time (Dez Bryant non-catch). He has to fix that. That's pretty bad. He needs be tuned into what his D is doing and what his STs are doing. To me there's no downside to this move.

I don't know the first damn thing about EB or Clements ability to call plays. I know calling plays is a bitch of a job in the NFL. 

I think MM has play calling tendencies. I think he's stubborn. I think his stubbornness doesnt let him stray too far from those tendencies. If he's actually willing to let a couple of sharp guys like EB and Clements inside the play calling circle of trust then it says a lot about what MM took away from Seattle. 

I dont know if this is going to have a huge effect on the offense. It could. It just says more about MM. 

I'm thinking this is a direct result of Seattle. Our red zone play calls leave a lot to be desired, and it showed up in Seattle again. Maybe Clements would have been more aggressive, maybe not. But I applaud MM's ability to morph once again. Each time he's done so (letting vets take more control, training coaches across disciplines, taking a stronger hand on D, etc.), the team has come out stronger than before. I anticipate no less once again.

The notion that MM is making these moves to put his assistant coaches in a higher profile position because not enough teams where looking at hiring his assistant coaches away makes no sense to me.

Well researched, well written article from earlier this week looks at MM as HC and playcaller.

http://bleacherreport.com/arti...-for-packers-offense

I would feel good about this if it turns out to be true if I trusted Clements more.  Frankly I don't know beans about him except that he pisses off the local beat reporters according articles by both Ty Dunne and Wilde late in the season. 

Some people fail delegation.  They allow others to operate until key points in the game or project and then step in.  If McCarthy does that, then little has been accomplished.  If Clements blows it, they just need to bring someone else in.  It will be interesting to find out what the ground rules are.  

I would have expected more influence from Van Pelt vs. Edgar Bennett, but I don't know the true working relationships there.

as long as AR is the QB, it does not matter who the play caller is. I have a feeling AR had a lot of leeway this past year and with anyone but McCarthy in charge will have even more leeway. AR knows the offense as well as Clements, Edgar and McCarthy combined. Put the game plan together and let him have at it. The guy is the smartest QB in the game. Let him do it.

Considering how much AR was complaining about the play calling after SEA, I would be very interested to know how much influence he had.  For example, after Barnett's INT in the runs with Lacy where SEA had 9 in the box to stop the run, he ran the play.  Why not call a timeout if personnel isn't right?  The clock is already stopped.  If McCarthy actually institutes these changes, it is put up or shut up for a number of people on the team (coaches and players).

Funny, I am having a hoot watching all the people who insisted that MM did NOT need to relinquish the play calling duties and concentrate on being the HEAD coach are now insisting this (apparent) move to relinquish play calling duties is a genius move.

All QBs should be required to call their own plays unless they are shuttled in with players or hand signals. Get rid of the D%$# microphones in the helmets for offense and defense.

I don't think MM and the word leeway know each other very well. This isnt a case of "**** it, AR calls the plays anyways so let someone else carry a laminated card around". 

This smells like trust, fresh eyes, and perspective. 

Get busy livin'. Or get busy dyin'. 

Remember Chilli', trust is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

Dear Mike. If you're reading this, you've gotten out. And if you've come this far, maybe you're willing to come a little further. You remember the name of the town, don't you?

Santa Clara....

Where's that slick?

From what we know of the Packers operation and how tight-lipped their people can be, for info like this to leak out means there has to be some truth to all or some of this news.

I sure hope MM makes these changes or something very similar.  Always loved EGB and hope he gets promoted.   Two weeks ago I speculated AJ Hawk would be on the team next season, but in a coaches capacity.  Would love to see him in that role.  Smart guy playing "D" hopefully that translates to smart guy coaching "D".

I do think had MM been devoid of playcalling duties vs Seattle (and for that matter some other previous games) the outcome of the NFCG would have been a lot more joyous for him and all of us.

Go Packers!

I know nothing behind the changes, Henry, but GD mentions it below your quoted post.

Apparently, there are no longer OC/DC; there are now running game coordinator and passing game coordinator. Titles are getting long with Assistant Coaches now, I think I read one (not Packers) team had an Ass't HC/Running Defense Coordinator/D-Line Coach.

I guess this is the current hot set-up for team staffs. As far as I know, they aren't increasing the numbers of coaches, just juggling their responsibilities. It could be that these are the rumored "several different options" if any are forthcoming.

I'm just gobsmacked you finally posted something that didn't mention the AJ HAWK AND BRAD JONES APOCALYPSE.

Did that leg you've been humping finally shake free of you?

Credos.  Don't let me keep you from your kvetching any longer.  

Just because such a post doesn't exist doesn't mean it isn't true.  After all, I've chosen to believe it, so that's all there is to it.  

Agree completely with this. The last five minutes of the NFCC went horribly awry and MM deserves a lot of credit for a willingness to make some changes he views as necessary. 

Edit:

http://www.jsonline.com/sports...166z1-291219131.html

A really good piece by Silverstein that details some of the game management shortcomings in the NFCC game that MM may be attempting to address.

Might as well get a Fire Clements thread opened up.

That's not the point.  The "Assistant HC" designation was used to protect a coach from other inquiring teams and the designation was supposedly a one time use as far as I remember.  Delegating Clements with the "asst HC" tag would be indicative of moving on from Moss possible changes on the defensive side of the ball.  

Those are my favorite kind.

Agree.

I've been skeptical of MM's playcalling all year as I think the offense is too talented to depend so much on the "AR, just make something happen after the called play doesn't work" gameplan.

He does an afternnoon radio show out of Green Bay that I catch sometimes while out and about. I'm honestly not too impressed with the guy.

He was Favre's go to guy in the media back in those days, when Havel worked for the GB Press Gazette.

This is 100% correct, IMO. Perfectly stated.

I'd say Clements would probably be more like the GPS. We all know who's truly gonna be behind the wheel with final say of where that Ferrari's going.

There's been lots of questions as to how much autonomy Rodgers had with changing plays at the line. He has more now than he did back in 2010, it seems. If these moves in the offensive hierarchy are real, I'd imagine Rodgers probably factors into that as well. Clements and 12 are pretty tight with one another based on the reports, so I see this in another (or maybe final) step in the evolution of Rodgers being the OC on the field, ala Peyton Manning in his prime.

MM has talked quite a bit about empowering players and coaches to become leaders.  He looks for opportunities to help the team with leadership, and to give players and coaches opportunities to provide leadership.  I look at this move as "Walking the walk, and talking the talk", in relation to giving people leadership opportunities.  I think it's a great move, and hope to see further evolution as coaches and players and organization.  

Re other Packers' coaching moves:

@PackerUpdate: FOX Sports reports GB will hire former 49ers offensive line coach Mike Solari. There's currently an opening for an asst. O-line coach in GB.

 

@alexmarvez: Source tells @NFLonFOX that @49ers offensive line coach Mike Solari is joining @Packers staff. 

Solari worked with McCarthy in 1997-98 when the former was the Chiefs' OL coach and MM the QB coach.  Here's his Niners' bio:

http://www.49ers.com/team/coac...45-8a18-970dddf4d611 

Guy's got some coaching chops, for sure. Me likey.

What do you think, Henry?

The Green Bay Packers will be adding one of the NFL’s senior offensive line coaches to their staff.

A source told FOX Sports that Mike Solari is leaving San Francisco for the Packers.

Solari, 60, has 28 years of NFL coaching experience with five different franchises. Solari spent the past five seasons with the 49ers, which fielded one of the league’s most prolific rushing attacks during that span.

The bulk of San Francisco’s offensive coaches have left since defensive line coach Jim Tomsula was promoted to head coach to replace Jim Harbaugh, who left for the same position at the University of Michigan.

It wasn’t immediately known what Solari’s exact role will be in Green Bay. James Campen has served as offensive line coach since 2007, and in 2014 the unit was the team’s strongest in years.

Story here.

http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/s...h-mike-solari-020915

I like the Solari hire. He'll probably coach up the Tackles

During his career he was OL coach for three recent Hall of Famers: tackles Willie Roaf and Walter Jones and guard Will Shields.

Good track record

I dig it

De-cogifying!

Demovsky reporting MM still working through coaching adjustments, looking to finish by the end of the week.

http://espn.go.com/blog/green-...cess-with-assistants

Hard to do anything with that trash. 

sounds like a good hire.

Now that Edgar has supposedly been promoted, will be interesting to see who the next WR coach is.  Can James Lofton be talked into coming back to Titletown ? He has a rather impressive resume and knowledge of that position group. 

Good point, Henry. This could be the perfect time to give an up and comer like Whitt a chance as DC. 

This is just speculation on my part, but I wonder if the biggest issue McCarthy discovered with the offense is how dysfunctional the running game is? That may sound crazy seeing as how we had a 1,000 yard rusher, but I think the running game is easily the weakest part of this offense and needs some work. Eddie Lacy has 2,317 yards in two season, 1,111 of those yards occurred after contact (2nd in the NFL over that span behind Marshawn Lynch). Lacy could be one of the elite RBs in the league, but he's getting hit too soon and too often. So he brings in a vet OLine coach to help improve the blocking AND he promotes a former RB and RB coach to OC. Sounds to me like McCarthy is doing what he thinks will help give them a truly dominant run game so the pressure isn't on Rodgers 1000%.

We still presumably have an opening for a WR coach correct? I'd like to see a young, energetic former player in the same mold as Edgar Bennett be brought in to coach them. 

I would love to see Driver become the WR coach.  I miss seeing him on the sidelines.  If it isn't Driver, Lofton would be great too.  He is my all time favorite player and the reason I started to root for the Packers when I was 9 or 10 years old.