Why was Randall Cobb invisible in the 1st half?

Fire this whole coaching staff and start over. It is decided.

My 11 year old over-reacts all the time.

Oh, so that was him posing as you who's been bleeding all over the board the last two days. Musta hacked your account huh?

I'll defer to your bleeding expertise.

(And yeah, I'm sick of watching hawk. Sue me.)

Why did DuJuan Harris not get utilized in the second half?

Gezus, how dare you come up with a valid question.

quote:

Originally posted by Herschel:
Why did DuJuan Harris not get utilized in the second half?

It's a question MM deserves to hear more then once. Too many times this season GB faced very managable 3rd and shorts (under 5 yards to go) and the play was for AR to try and hit a homerun ball 20-25 yards downfield.

I don't know if Clements is just over his head or if MM isn't involved enough in offensive game planning or it's plain his being stubburn but we didn't see much creativity or adjustments when we faced SF twice or even going back to the Colts game where up 21-3, we open the 3rd Q with I believe it was 7 straight pass plays.

I don't ever expect MM to use a RB in a game for 30+ carries but he's gotta find ways to keep his offense on long, sustaining drives.

And Randall Cobb can do things athletically that few WR's can do in this league. Here again, you gotta find ways to exploit that.

MM failed on both fronts.

I have a feeling they were saving Cobb for later in the game due to the flu kicking his arse. If he had/has the same flu bug that's going around here and dropping people right and left, I can't imagine him functioning at the high level we are used to see him playing at for a whole game.

The lack of Harris in the second half is the real question. Then again, it's not like we have never seen MM abandon the run when it's been moderately successful before. Frustrating

Anothing thing that bothers me is why go for the 15+ yard passes so much on 3rd downs when you only need 5-6 yards or less? What's wrong with a few short passes to get first downs and sustain drives?

Lars, You need to fire your son. I'm sure there are some promissing son candidates coming up in the next draft. LOL

I read something about this yesterday, just can't remember where. Anyway there are certain things MM does not use in the 1st half because he does not want teams to adjust to it over halftime. He comes out with different plays in the 2nd half because he feels the other team won't expect it since they did not see it in the 1st half. Why that didn't work Sat. we'll never know.

quote:

Originally posted by ammo:
I read something about this yesterday, just can't remember where. Anyway there are certain things MM does not use in the 1st half because he does not want teams to adjust to it over halftime. He comes out with different plays in the 2nd half because he feels the other team won't expect it since they did not see it in the 1st half. Why that didn't work Sat. we'll never know.

What are these half time adjustments of which you speak?

The Packers had the ball 9 minutes the first half. I think it is a miracle they were still in the game at that point.

quote:

It's a question MM deserves to hear more then once. Too many times this season GB faced very managable 3rd and shorts (under 5 yards to go) and the play was for AR to try and hit a homerun ball 20-25 yards downfield.

This drove me nuts all season!!

quote:

Originally posted by Music City:
The Packers had the ball 9 minutes the first half. I think it is a miracle they were still in the game at that point.

I agree. They ran 20 plays in the first half. One of their TD drives had a long pass to Jones and featured a heavy does of Harris. By definition, when you have the ball so little, your guys will get limited opportunities.

In the 2nd half they looked to feature Cobb a bit more out of the backfield and also Nelson, who was shutout in the first half as well.

i'm sure MM will have plenty of time to think about it when he's sitting at home watching the rest of the playoffs.

i think you guys are forgetting that rodgers is the one who generally decides run or pass at the line of scrimmage. he shares some of the blame for abandoning the running game.

McCarthy knows you have to run, and he's been both preaching it and practicing it. The last time we saw an unbalanced attack? Week 5 against Indianapolis with 16 runs and 32 passes (loss). It was after that game he started preaching patience and commitment with the running game (and not coincidentally the start of our playoff run).

It's hard to say if yesterday's 16 run to 39 pass was a cause or a result, but it does seem like McCarthy and/or Rodgers want to strike big and get the lead before "committing" to the running game. The fact that Rodgers is saying we should have used Harris more leads me to believe it was McCarthy this time.

Personally, I wish Rodgers would take matters into his own hands and use his feet more and run for the first down himself. He's done it before with great success. That I recall, he only did it twice Sunday, once for a first down out of bounds, the other time the defender knocked the ball loose from behind him, which I think may have surprised him and shied him away from doing it more. He says Joe Montana was his idol. Montana made it a regular part of his arsenal.

All I know is, when your defense is getting gassed, you need to be more patient with the running game or at least the short passing game. Incompletions on 3rd down and 3-and-outs will not cut it in the playoffs.

They want to score quickly with the passing game and then milk the clock with the running game. McCarthy doesn't actually want to use the running game for anything other than keeping the DEs honest and milking the clock when he's 3 scores up.

Yup.

Not sure if that counts as "commitment," and it is potentially disastrous when your opponent knows it is coming.

quote:

Originally posted by johnnie gray:
i think you guys are forgetting that rodgers is the one who generally decides run or pass at the line of scrimmage. he shares some of the blame for abandoning the running game.

After the Packers tied the game at 24, they were empty backfield more than not... who's he supposed to hand it to?

lmao. that's a fair point. i hate that empty backfield crap.

From what I recall one of the 49er corners went down and they were trying to go with the empty backfield to get after the replacement.

I was trying to figure out if Harris had been concussed on that hit possibly. I cannot remember him on the field after that play.

That was a cheapa$$ hit too. Harris was pretty much stuck in the pile and the DBag submarined in head-first to his helmet. Pretty easy to read that as an attempt to knock a player out of a game.

quote:

All I know is, when your defense is getting gassed, you need to be more patient with the running game or at least the short passing game. Incompletions on 3rd down and 3-and-outs will not cut it in the playoffs.

+1

MHO, p'boi, is Cobb was hurt worse than what the team 'reported'.
We'll likely hear the line from MM about "reacting to how the game unfolds" or similar, but my guess is there wasn't any intention of using Cobb, or severely restricting his snap count.
There will be another MM cliche about the pass/run ratio, but when the game is tied in the 3rd quarter, there's no reason to go pass-heavy. Quite the contrary; even more reason to rush the ball at that point.
Again, JMHO, but going to the pass on 3rd and short came about during the years when we had no rushing game to speak of, and it seems there is still a bias against any rush attempt that doesn't involve Kuhn.
Whatever the case, I'd like to see a rush attempt on 3rd and 1.

I just think MM didn't call a very good game, or have a consistent plan in place. I think he was going too often for the quick strike. He got a little impatient again. He would have been better to grind it out more and let his D get some rest and let his Oline do a bit of road-grading to wear down, or at least take the edge off, the SF line. Once in a while MM just seems to lose patience and try for the big one when a methodical grinding would be better. Or is it Clements? Hmm.....

quote:

Originally posted by packerboi:
It's a question MM deserves to hear more then once. Too many times this season GB faced very managable 3rd and shorts (under 5 yards to go) and the play was for AR to try and hit a homerun ball 20-25 yards downfield.

That is the most maddening things the Packers do offensively, packerboi. It seems they do it at least once or twice every game. The did it 3 times against San Francisco, if I remember correctly. One fell to the ground. One James Jones went up, tipped the ball to himself, and came down with the catch for about a 40 yard gain. Another was the pick where Nelson was overthrown.

I understand that once in a while you'll catch a defense napping, and taking a shot can get you a big play. But when you do it several times each week, defenses look for it. On Sunday we'd have been better served going for the first down, and moving the chains. Time of possession was so lopsided, and our defense was gassed. So not only did we not put any points up on the board, we put a bunch of guys back on the field that were still trying to catch their collective breath after chasing Kaepernick around.

quote:

Originally posted by Music City:
The Packers had the ball 9 minutes the first half. I think it is a miracle they were still in the game at that point.

What kills me, Music City, is even with ToP clearly favoring San Francisco at that point, if Ross doesn't fumble the punt return, and we put even a field goal on the board, it's a completely different game from then on. Going up by 10 means that Kaepernick is looking to pass much more often than he did. Our defense would have been more effective had they contained him in the pocket.

I hear recollections of "...even all things considered, they were still close..." pop up here and there but even had those things gone right, SF was still dominating up and down. One can always hope to steal one vs a better team but the real task is figuring out how to win more matchups, whether that entails better personnel, scheme, or both.

Regarding the 3rd and short bombs: didn't they pick up a 1st down in the first half by running on 3rd and short? IIRC I made a comment to the guy next to me that AR would look deep and lo and behold, they ran it and picked it up. I almost couldn't believe what I just saw. Or was that one of my flufever induced hallucinations?

No, I think that Harris picked up a first on a 3rd and short.

I'll look.

Second drive, third and 1, Harris up the middle for 4. Same series, third down and 5 was the deep pass to Jones. Harris ran it in the next play.

7 plays, 80 yards, 2:44 elapsed

Next 3rd down, 3rd and 7 at the Green Bay 26, Rodgers deep ball intended for Nelson. Intercepted at the San Francisco 13. So, on third down and 7, the ball was thrown 61 yards.

The Packers had 4 3rd downs in the entire first half.

1. 3rd and 3 to John Kuhn, incomplete. Punt
2. 3rd and 1, Harris gains 4, first down.
3. Same drive, 3rd and 5, 44 yard pass to Jones.
4. The only 3rd down in the entire second quarter, 61 yard pass intended for Nelson intercepted.

So, in 4 3rd down attempts, two were thrown over 40 yards downfield.

Again, in the 4th quarter, 3rd and five, 38-24 Niners, with about 12 minutes to play, Rodgers throws a deep ball to Jennings, incomplete.

3 times on a third down with manageable distance to move the chains, drives stalled because a deep ball was thrown.

Here's someone who believes we're playing it too "safe."

No killer instinct

which is it, they need to run the ball more (conservative) or take more risks in the passing game?

I think Cobb was under the weather. I don't know, but I suspect he couldn't give us more.

Probably why Ross was in there fumbling the punt in the first place.

So we have one of our most dependable WR chains mover MIA, Jennings and Nelson coming off injuries, our D is gased, Harris is averaging 4.8 yards and we abandon the run.
Sheer jeeniyus.