And the most current Packers are 2-4 in the playoffs. 

This Packer team is 0 0 in the playoffs

Shields is still in the concussion protocol. Think we can all but rule him out since there is just no end in sight with this

Green Bay — The following is a summary of coach Mike McCarthy's pre-practice conference on Thursday: 

(On Sam Shields) Sam is still going through the protocol. It’s obviously a process. Everybody’s injury is different.

(On Datone Jones' neck) Datone, he was out of town. I have not got the report on him yet.

(On concern for Datone Jones) We’re not going down that path (as Jermichael Finley). For me to answer how high the concern level is, I obviously have not talked to Dr. McKenzie.

(On the identity) We’re the 2015 Green Bay Packers. We started the season with the theme of living, taking full advantage of the opportunity. This is a one-week season. That’s what playoff football is. It’s important for all of us to stay focused on that. We’re a focused football team preparing to beat the Redskins in Washington.

(On changing identity in the postseason) It depends what your definition of who you are is. We feel we’re a balanced football team that can play well in all three areas.

(On the way defense is playing) Keeping them out of the end zone. Making them kick field goals. Our young corners have really stepped up and played well. Our big men are getting after it. There’s a lot of things I like about our defense.

(On the difficulty of generating running plays) First of all, Josh Sitton needs to play guard. That’s where he’ll play this week. He’ll play left guard. … How you go into a game and which direction the game takes you, it usually (changes) every time you line up and play the game of football. It’s my job to call the plays and it’s the players job to run the plays.

(On the 2010 defense) I think we’ve had way too much personnel change to compare those two. There was a lot more base defense back then compared to now. … The confidence and the cohesiveness, there’s definitely a lot of similarities in that aspect.

(On Andrew Quarless) Well, that was really part of the plan last week was to do more two-tight end personnel groups. We’re definitely leaning that way when we game plan and try to run the ball and run play action off of it.

(On life of an NFL coach after Lovie Smith was fired) The volatility of the coaching profession, it’s hard to understand sometime but it’s the reality of the risk you take being in this industry. Lovie Smith, I have a lot of respect for Lovie. He was in Chicago. The most important part of this is the families.

(On left tackle) It’s going to take the week (for David Bakhtiari to heal). The practice plan for him today is going to be adjusted. We’ll see how it goes.

That's all for McCarthy.

Thank God we went CB 1 and 2 in the draft last year, but we still need Burnett or Hyde on the TE next Sunday, not Ryan....

"It’s my job to call the plays and it’s the players job to run the plays." - MM

I would prefer:  "It's my job to call the plays that utilize our players' strengths and it's the players' job to run the plays."

Bah, these uppity players need to learn who the boss is and McStupidface needs to show some belly fire. Vince would have traded away the lot of malcontents while eating a cake of galvanized roofing nails and we'd have Joe Thomas by now with Eddie Lacy running the fat off his backside!

I like Micah Hyde and Clinton Dix matching up with Jordan Reed in man coverage situations.. Jake Ryan out there should mean zone, hopefully

— Ben Fennell (@BenFennell_NFL) January 6, 2016

I can't wait until Monday

I can't wait for the game.  GO PACK!!!!!

Sunday evening will be fun.

Depends on your definition of fun

YATittle posted:

I would question the wisdom of that concrete-hard barrier he hit on the sideline. Why is it there instead of grass? Appearances???

The cement track circling the field is for the wheeled sideline cameras and also is used by those little vehicles that cart players to the locker room. Unfortunately it's kind of close to the field at the corners.

But it looked like something different than that, was RIGHT at the out of bounds line in the center of the field. I'm sure it protects the turf from all the players standing around, but can't believe it wouldn't be a concussion hazard.

Yeah that's definitely closer to the field than the outer ring. I couldn't remember where he went down.

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/playPopup?id=14522368

2h

Wilde: Quarreling about McCarthy?

An interaction in Mike McCarthy's press conference left Packers reporter Jason Wilde wondering if Aaron Rodgers isn't the only one not seeing eye-to-eye with his coach.

Florio speculating MM could be fired if GB loses badly this week? At the 5 min mark

section19 posted:

Yeah that's definitely closer to the field than the outer ring. I couldn't remember where he went down.

Watched the replay of Dallas game last night and saw the great tackle he made and him hitting that surface. Surprised the NFL allows it.

packerboi posted:

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/playPopup?id=14522368

Florio speculating MM could be fired if GB loses badly this week? At the 5 min mark

Had to read that twice...thought it meant they would fire him with 5 minutes left in the game.

I thought it meant he would be canned after 5 minutes.....

That would surprise me greatly,despite feelings of weird suppositions at the possibility. 

 Ya, I meant that comment in the audio link starts at the about 5 min mark.

It would shock me too.  I am not for that happening, but if there is that much dysfunction then maybe it is time for a complete overhaul.  I like McCarthy, but it does seem like he is losing the team a little.  Hopefully, a Super Bowl win changes everything.  Before the season started I never thought this would be the conversation we would be having at this time.  Wow. 

If the Packers lose badly on Sunday, I can entertain the thought....however, it would have to be an epic beatdown by the Redskins. I honestly don't believe they have the personnel to do that.

TT isn't about knee-jerk reactions either. TT has his finger on the pulse of this team. If he feels it's time for a change then I trust that move.

It wouldn't happen for at least a week after the Redskins game.

I think this game is going to be a very tough, HARD fought, close game.....won by the Packers.

I think it's just that time of year when everybody gets excited about people losing their job. I'd be very surprised if MM was canned, even with a bad loss. Now major changes in the asst. coaching staff, I can see that regardless. My feeling is MM got a little too hands off on the offensive planning and play calling and it blew up in his face. He didn't react soon enough or severe enough to turn it around in time.

Agree completely, Boris.

Two things are worrying me. There is no way Micah Hyde can cover Jordan Reed. There has to be another option.

Second, DeSean Jackson does two things in this offense. Catches WR screens that usually go nowhere, or hits a long pass play for a score. It only takes one play like that to turn a game around. 

If Sam can't play there is no one on this team who can run with Jackson, but more importantly it limits the effectiveness of the packages Dom can throw out there to deal with what has been a pretty high octane passing game.

The only way I see TT firing McCarthy this season is if he feels MM has placed his team in a state where it's just not fixable.

Now maybe with all of these internal, and frankly, ridiculous promotions in an attempt to hoard coaches that has perhaps led to disgruntled coaches, AR's apparent lost faith in MM, perhaps? other players who also aren't buying into what MM is selling, and basic coaching/play calling TT would feel it's time to make a change.

But the other question that has to be asked is who then would replace him? It's one thing to fire MM. It's entirely another to find a coach who would be better.

packerboi posted:

Wilde: Quarreling about McCarthy?

McCarthy has been calling out the players/execution since SDG.

I can't see MM getting fired unless there's an absolute revolt in the locker room and the team totally quits on Sunday. However, I could see an overhaul with assistants. The constant shuffling to keep assistants happy and on staff has probably led to some very unhappy coaches and guys perhaps not in the positions in which they are best coaching at. We may see coaches leaving this offseason, and I'm thinking mostly involuntarily -- from either MM or TT.

Clements would be one example. How do you strip and demote him from play calling and continue to give him a meaningless "OC/Associate HC" label and somehow expect him to remain happy and content going into 2016? I cannot see that happening.

I also cannot see how Ted can't see that since Bennett's promotion has also led, at least in part, to direct and painfully obvious regression in Adams and Cobb. And apparently Janis! having little if any ability to pick up this offense to a point where he can't even handle in a tiny, remote role on the offense. So what you do? Demote him back to WR's coach so he can help fix this? I can't see that either without thoroughly pissing off Bennett.

In retrospect, MM should have let Clements go to the Bears when they were asking about him a couple years ago. Hindsight is always 20-20, but I cannot see how Clements comes back next year.

Today's injury report -- 18 Packers.

@Michael_Cohen13:  New to the injury report: Rookie CB Damarious Randall (groin) was limited today.

@TomSilverstein: Some injury report upgrades: Bakhtiari, Perillo and Sitton, DNP to limited; Linsley, Perry and Taylor, limited to full.

Who at this time would be better than MM?   Be careful what you wish for. A lot of teams are scrambling right now for coaches.  There are not that many good ones to go around.

Changes need to be made, not HC right now.  He can right the ship......he better.

mm is not getting fired, simple.

I don't see MM going anywhere, but if he did get canned, Ted could always hire Ben McAdoo. Pretty much a clone of MM, just a lot younger and maybe more compatible with 12.

Some of the names going around like Shanahan who hasn't done shiit since the 90's and is arguably responsible for ruining RGIII's career, Mike Smith from Atlanta, Chip Kelly and his bag of tricks, you fu***** kidding me? I cannot believe the teams considering these guys.

Wait. Then again. I can.

I'm not having any negative thoughts about the Packers. Is there something wrong with me? Should I seek help?

If MM is fired (and it would be one of the most surprising firings in NFL history), he'd have another job within a month. He's made the playoffs 7 years in a row, has a Super Bowl ring, and was in the NFC championship game a year ago. He's also played all year without 2 of his 3 anticipated WRs and with his entire OL banged up.

Here's a few other things to consider. Other than his first year as a coach and the first year Aaron Rodgers was a starter (situations where you'd give any coach some leeway), he's been to the playoff 8 of 8 years. In 5 of 8 years, he's been in the divisional game and 3 of 8 years he's been in the NFC championship game.

If nothing else, the guy has shown he can develop QBs and that is usually about half the battle. There'd be a lot of teams that would hire him just for that (Mariotta, Winston, Stafford).

Like others have said, who else would be better? Even if they were better in the long run, they'd likely need a couple of years of an adjustment period and by that time Rodgers is 34 years old.

Unless the Rodgers/MM relationship has deteriorated to the point where they can't work together anymore, I can't see any way they'd fire him. I don't see any evidence that that is the case.

From an SI article today on the Texans and how they prepared for last week's game: "Following the blueprint in New England—where O'Brien and Godsey worked under Bill Belichick—Houston has developed what's called a 'game-plan offense,' meaning that it varies based on the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent." (link)

I would like to think all coaches do this, but this season I have wondered about MM's "we do what we do" mentality and lack of imagination... He should be doing better than calling plays where receivers run directly into the safeties or each other.

I expect a whole New Level of confidence (and power) for this Packers Offense for the Playoffs.