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

I didn't realize that HANK was a concept.

Packers named an offensive strategy after one of our posters

 

http://jimlightfootball.com/20...-concept-adjustment/

 

 

If it were named after our Hank then it would involve Rodgers throwing the ball into James Campen's testicles.

That's pretty good GD, everybody funny - now you funny too

 

 

I'm ubiquitous.  

 

I have a full notebook on plays involving Campen's testicles.

Yeah, and I wish you'd get out of my ass.

McGinn goes deep on MM. Many, many interesting threads here.

 

http://www.jsonline.com/sports...616z1-293322301.html

Indianapolis — The blistering criticism, even outrage, of Green Bay Packers' fans directed toward coach Mike McCarthy after the overtime defeat in Seattle caught me by surprise.

Turns out, it was a sentiment not much different from some of those that work at 1265 Lombardi Ave. in Green Bay.

The NFL scouting combine is a melting pot of general managers, scouts, head coaches, assistant coaches, contract negotiators and assorted club functionaries. People talk, and talk, and talk some more during the week-long event in downtown Indianapolis.

Some in the know say members of the Packers' organization were devastated by losing a game in which the team played so well building a big lead only to succumb partially because they believe McCarthy wasn't aggressive enough in his play-calling and game decisions.

They were upset that McCarthy didn't put the ball in Aaron Rodgers' hands down the stretch and let him decide the Packers' fate.

In a season almost miraculously free of injury, they still can't believe it wasn't Green Bay playing New England in the Super Bowl three weeks ago.

At the same time, one player said several of his teammates still were upset with the head coach. In the week leading up to the NFC Championship Game, the player said McCarthy promised the team he would keep the pedal down if the Packers gained the lead. After the Packers led by as many as 16 points, some players think McCarthy did nothing of the sort and instead displayed a glaring lack of killer instinct.

No matter what's said publicly, it stands to reason there is a degree of doubt within the organization whether McCarthy can win another Super Bowl...

Oh, lookee here.  Another "Bad Bob" article with his usual unnamed sources, and the Bob take on it all..  One day it's the Packers are a dynasty, the Packers can win without Rodges because of their talent---and the next it's "doubters say McCarthy will never win another Super Bowl."

 

As for the unamed player allegedly upset at MM for not being aggressive---we all know it was McCarthy, not Peppers, who decided not to be aggressive on the interception with 6 minutes left and told Burnett to lay on the turf with the sidelines open for a long return.  

Nice catch about Bob, slowmo.

I am very interested to see how the packers play in 2015.

In still disgusted over the loss after getting 5 takeaways. Just stupid

quote:

As for the unamed player allegedly upset at MM for not being aggressive

Has to be one of Brad Jones, Bostick, or Hawk.

My money is on Greg Jennings.

My money is on Greg Jennings sister...or Favre

On Thursday MM held a lengthy Q&A session with the Packers' beat reporters. In one of the resulting stories (sorry, can't remember which one) it was apparent that MM is finding himself stretched too thin. A big part of that results from the changes in practice schedules whereby the team isn't on the field on Fridays but in meetings all day, then on Saturday an actual brisk practice is held. By all accounts this change in regime has really helped with player health but a downside of it from McCarthy's perspective is that he was just swamped at the end of the week when preparing for playcalling is still in the mix. McCarthy also noted how at times during the week he just isn't available enough to the other coaches and to the players.

 

I think Aaron Rodgers' mindset has played a lot into this as well. He is clearly equipped to shoulder all playcalling à la Peyton Manning and I wouldn't be surprised if he is chafing under MM's playcalling at this point of his career. It's no secret that MM and Rodgers have been at odds a little bit about playcalling, not just in the Seattle game. There have been a few sideline shots of the two of them bickering after a series going back a couple of years now. Rodgers' comments after the Seattle loss are well known (Packers not aggressive enough down the stretch) but something I saw during Super Bowl week was even more telling. Aaron's younger brother Jordan, the former Vandy QB who had a cup of coffee in a couple of NFL training camps, was being interviewed during the SB media week cluster**** and repeatedly, with emphasis, bitched about how the playcalling was among the biggest contributors to the loss. Interviewer was too clueless to follow up but I was struck by how vociferous Rodgers' fil complaints were. Maybe Jordan's a total doofus but to come on that strong suggested he wasn't the only Rodgers who felt that way.

 

So, an overworked HC, rare continuity at the QB and senior offensive staff positions, the closeness between an irritated Rodgers and the new playcaller, and the salutary effects of McCarthy getting more involved across all aspects of the team, or as Hank and others have said, his growing into becoming a true head coach. All worked together to lead to this decision.

 

Again, works for me on paper. MM will clearly have as much input as he wants on the playcalling end and if Clements-Rodgers crash and burn, then he can always step back in.

What gets me is that MM TRUSTED Arod near the end of the Detroit and Dallas wins and we moved the chains, took the clock down, won the games by not hampering our best player. 

That interception was a microcosm of the team taking the foot off the pedal and not the main issue.  The defense did everything right until the team as a whole closed up shop a third of the way through the 4th.  At he 9 minute mark in the 4th quarter MM thought he had this game won and it showed with that ****ING prevent offense of running Eddie into the pile again and again.  

 

MM deserves the criticism.  He shat the bed hard.  I'm excited to see MM learned from it and is moving in a new direction but I also think this shows that endless loyalty of his to failing coaches bit him in the ass.

All they are, are farts in the wiiiiindddd ahhhhh

 

 

 

That is just more evidence of poor playcalling by MM.

Exactly.

 

And I would expect that an effing gut-punch loss like the one vs Seattle would have some fans, players, coaches and even board members pissed off and playing the blame game. 

Bob McGinn's latest article gives a voice to that crew, that's his job.

( See, I told you MM sucks !)

 

Bob happily plays both sides of the story, pandering to homers like me, and then following it up by giving voice to the detractors as well. Lather, Rinse, Repeat

 

Onward to 2015

 

I don't think I agree with that. I think there are some planning, adjusting and bigger picture non-emotional aspects of playcalling that are better suited to a coach who can commit the proper amount of time during the week and during the game. HC has a lot on his plate at all times and QB has physical and emotional stresses during the game and limited time to think about bigger picture schemes and opponent adjustments during the game.

 

That said I do think AR is one of the most capable QBs and a lot of the team's success is because of what he can do both physically and mentally despite the plays coming in from the sidelines. 

 

 Rodgers' comments after the Seattle loss are well known (Packers not aggressive enough down the stretch) but something I saw during Super Bowl week was even more telling. Aaron's younger brother Jordan, the former Vandy QB who had a cup of coffee in a couple of NFL training camps, was being interviewed during the SB media week cluster**** and repeatedly, with emphasis, bitched about how the playcalling was among the biggest contributors to the loss. Interviewer was too clueless to follow up but I was struck by how vociferous Rodgers' fil complaints were. Maybe Jordan's a total doofus but to come on that strong suggested he wasn't the only Rodgers who felt that way. 

I think Satori needs to needs to chat with these two Rodgers brothers and teach them a thing or two about football and how awesome MM is as the world's greatest (former) playcaller. Like how stupid it would have been to call a screen pass towards a one armed Richard Sherman late in the game.

quote:

but I was struck by how vociferous Rodgers' fil complaints were.

AR has a son? 

Alternatively, Jordan Rodgers is like Greg Jennings' sister.

The Rodgers' brothers own a bar here in San Diego, I'll stop by and see what they have to say about the number 1 offense in the league

 

Using the pissed- off comments of a relative a few days after a gut -punch loss means absolutely nothing . A brother is upset, very upset - ipso facto Aaron agrees 100%.

Yeah OK.

 

Some will see it as a smoking gun and vindication of their long-held (and erroneous) beliefs.

It carries as much weight as gerg jennings sister act and the projection in those comments is laughable.

 

Every single QB in the history of the game has questioned the HC/OC calls at some point because they see it from their POV and the coach sees it from his.

Players play, coaches coach. GM's build teams and fans gripe because they always know how to do it all better.

 

By the way, the primary responsibility for stopping screen passes in a Cover 3 lies with the safeties and LBs. DickShermans' job in their primary defense is to get enough depth to take away the deep ball outside - so he is bailing at the snap and running away from the screen pass . Shermans' one-armedness has little/nothing to do with stopping/not stopping a screen.

 

None of this will change your mind about anything, and that's fine too. Its a free country

 

Just spitballin', bro. Curation my better suit.

Tolzien never questioned Mike's playcalling.

 

Never.

 

He also loves throwing screens

Jordy caught 1 ball after Sherman's injury and Sherman had no problem tackling him.  

It wasn't the same situation though. Remember, the run 3 times for a net loss and punt strategy came into play when we were up by 12 points. Another offensive play wasn't called until we were down by 3. McCarthy has been decent with letting Rodgers kill off games by moving the chains when up by a score, but that situation just never happened. I'm sure he thought they'd kill clock now, then if Seattle scored they'd go for however many first downs they needed to wrap it up. Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather see a balanced offense out there in that situation, and if they sell out to stop the run, then let Rodgers audible to take advantage and kick the corpse of the game right there. It still wasn't bad strategy per se, just conservative.

 

Now, as for the final Packers possession, I actually have more of a problem with that. They were down 3, and really didn't seem too concerned about going down and winning the game. It's pretty common when they're going down the field towards the end of a half, for them to be out of clock, and for them to still have timeouts in their pocket. I know when they rattle off a gain they like to sit on the timeout in favor of 'transition opportunities'. Make them keep a personnel group on the field that you feel good about beating, don't give them time to call a good play, etc... But I think when you have 1 minute to score, it needs to be all about the clock. If you get a nice gain, but it's going to bleed 20 seconds to get the next play off, you call the timeout whether the defensive personnel have you salivating or not. On the flip-side they should probably push for those beloved 'transition opportunities' more during the meat of the game. Treat every big gain like it's about to be overturned by replay.

4 Favre: "On the flip-side they should probably push for those beloved 'transition opportunities' more during the meat of the game. Treat every big gain like it's about to be overturned by replay."

 

This is what the hurry-up offense is about: trap guys on the field who aren't suited to stop the called play. But the point is taken: MM needed to keep his foot on Seattle's throat and he didn't do that. I gotta think that as the overall guy rather than the playcaller, he should sense that and do it. As the playcaller, he might have felt like "not losing" rather than "going for the win."

Bad Bob rips MM on Zook

 

Bob ain't done blastin' MM

Bob is getting pressure to overhaul the coaching staff, otherwise he'll be ousted from his armchair.

We need to get some "unnamed sportswriters" to rip McGinn.

Look, most of us have ripped MM at some time for being too loyal to his coaches, and his hiring of Zook seems to be in that same mode. Now when McGinn calls MM out for doing it, all of a sudden we think it's bad? McGinn has every right to call MM out on this. MM is hiring a guy without doing due diligence and talking to other potential coordinators. He hired Zook with the idea of elevating him in some way on the staff; Slocum was so incompetent it was easy to see he was gone. (Yet we all worried he'd stay since he wasn't fired the next day, which McGinn points out as well.) Does McGinn use the "unnamed source" all the time? Yup, but if these guys would give their names, no doubt he'd use them. And it's a column, not a news story. He can say whatever he wants. In the end, it seems McGinn says a lot of the same things many posters here have about the same thing: MM being too loyal to his guys, and hiring a guy he knows rather than checking who else was out there. So, why is McGinn so far off on this one? 

McGinn is spot on.  Particularly when it comes to the other coaches he missed on.  It's pretty clear there is a promote from within policy, which is all fine and good if those candidates are actually deserving of a promotion within the NFL ranks.  As McGinn stated, this also has as much to do with MM being more involved in the daily aspects of game planning for every unit.  This is the maturation of MM as well.

 

It's uncharted territory and while the criticism isn't wrong the outcome from the moves are unknown.  MM just went all in this coming year.  In the immortal words of Gene Belcher, "Could be great, could be a disaster".

Not just all-in for the coming year, but for the duration of the Rodgers era. McCarthy is smart, and he knows that the success of the team is connected to the hip of Rodgers.

So it's automatic that McCarthy could have gotten these guys? I love it when people rip on a coach or GM for these wild hypotheticals. This is no different than ripping TT for not signing a free agent with no regard to how that player fits or even if they want to come to GB. "The mere presence of Aaron Rodgers would lure any assistant to GB..." what a load of horseschit! I'm not saying Zook was the right guy, but this business of ripping a coach based on hypothetical situations is beyond stupid and pointless. We have absolutely no way of knowing if these guys would have even come to GB or if they would even be able to turn around our ST units. Why didn't McCarthy do more to lure Bill Cowher out of retirement to be our assistant OL coach? Why didn't McCarthy convince John Harbaugh to quit the Ravens and be our ST coach? McGinn needs to retire because his stupid is showing more and more as the years go on...oh I forgot I'm sure he's right because he's been doing this for 1000 years and definitely has sources and knows what he's talking about.

The fact is he didn't even try to get any of these dudes.  He went straight into crony mode. I  can't believe any coach would pass over Bobby April and choose Ron Zook.

We don't know that though and that's the point. Maybe he did make some phone calls and guys weren't interested. One guy was about to get elevated to ST coordinator on the team he was already with and another guy got hooked on with the other team in the Bay Area so he didn't have to move. It's just as likely McCarthy called those guys and they said they were happy where they were at. The Packera aren't going to acknowledge that they reached out to someone and were turned down, just like they don't comment about free agents in that way. And does anyone else think it's weird that Bobby April has never been an ST coach more than 3 years anywhere and is almost always on losing teams? He consistently has coached for crappy teams for a decade.

I prefer to rip on coaches for their lack of production

 

Yes, who would want to be part of an organization with a HOF QB and a chance of being part of multiple championships.  

 

I love the "we don't know", "football is so complex" arguments.  Occam's razor, use it.

Does anybody know why the uber-awesome ST coach Bobby April averages 2 years per stop and then moves on to a new team ? I don't.

But he spent 2 years in ATL, followed by 2 years in Pitt, followed by 3 years in N.O followed by 2 years in St Louis and on and on -  always coaching STs and never moving up in any of the organizations he worked for.

 

8 NFL teams in 15 years. I find that fascinating as McGinn and others are only too happy to worship at the altar of his awesomeness.

 

McGinn has a lot of contacts and can really burrow deep into a story - culling a select set of negative comments to support his theory. He's really quite good at it and there is always something to be learned. But he alone picks the comments he runs with, omitting the ones that don't fit his premise

 

Fans need to dig deeper too and wonder why this awesome coach can't seem to hold a job

 

I also wonder how a Bobby April-type would coalesce with MM's decision to be a bigger part of STs and defense. Would an acknowledged ST guru be happy to have the HC sticking his nose into the ST room ? I don't know the answer to that one either, but given April's complete inability to stick around any of 7 other NFL coaching staffs that's an immense red flag for me. But not for Bob, cause Bob has papers to sell and meme's to write and pitchforks to pander to.

 

MM will sink or swim with his decisions, McGinn has no such yoke over his. He can write whatever he likes, right or wrong and he'll still have a job next year

 

Gonna be exciting to see how it all unfolds and the fine folks at X4 will make sure to keep score.