Bill Belichick, Mike McCarthy head dream coaching staff

that couldn't possibly have been due to the fact that we were playing against one of the best - if not the best - defenses in the league (in 2014) could it? i'm not so sure that those are really bad stats when you consider the fact that rodgers threw only four passes in the entire fourth quarter - until the final 1:19 when we suddenly needed to score because we gave up 15 unanswered points in less than 150 seconds. if rodgers had been throwing for the whole game, he would have had at least 250 yards.

when the packers were up 19-7 and burnett intercepted a pass at midfield, that was the time to go for the stone-cold kill shot. momentum was on our side and a td would have put the game out of reach. instead, we did this:

Seattle Seahawks at 5:13
(5:13) (Shotgun) R.Wilson pass short middle intended for J.Kearse INTERCEPTED by M.Burnett at GB 39. M.Burnett to GB 43 for 4 yards.
Went down on his own. (bh()

Green Bay Packers at 5:04
1-10-GB 43 (5:04) (Shotgun) E.Lacy left tackle to GB 39 for -4 yards (K.Williams).
Timeout #1 by SEA at 04:57.
2-14-GB 39 (4:57) (Shotgun) E.Lacy left tackle to GB 37 for -2 yards (M.Bennett).
Timeout #2 by SEA at 04:50.
3-16-GB 37 (4:50) (Shotgun) E.Lacy up the middle to GB 39 for 2 yards (B.Wagner; M.Bennett).
4-14-GB 39 (4:00) T.Masthay punts 30 yards to SEA 31, Center-B.Goode, out of bounds.
Spin it how you want but we ran the ball better for 3 quarters. Rodgers had limited mobility. Sacks, incomplete passes stop the clock. Again the bitching about clock management would have been off the charts after an Int or incomplete pass.

The offense did not move the ball all day in the air
 
spin it how you want but when the win was within easy reach we got ultra-conservative with three straight rushes by eddie lacy for -4 yards. and then when we got the ball back we were down by three points and we ran six straight passing plays for +48 yards and the tying score.

which is better? -4 yards or +48 yards?
 
And when we got the ball back it was no huddle hurry up with Seattle playing more prevent. So up until those passes for 48 we had thrown for robust 130 or so and ran for over 110. Yes we moved the bass ll on the ground more efficient than thru t he air. Would you really want to throw the ball up 12 and risk stopping the clock? It's not like we moved the h all thru the air all day

If I'm looking at my play sheet up 12 I'm sticking with what was working. Running the ball
 
And when we got the ball back it was no huddle hurry up with Seattle playing more prevent. So up until those passes for 48 we had thrown for robust 130 or so and ran for over 110. Yes we moved the bass ll on the ground more efficient than thru t he air. Would you really want to throw the ball up 12 and risk stopping the clock? It's not like we moved the h all thru the air all day

If I'm looking at my play sheet up 12 I'm sticking with what was working. Running the ball

if you want to talk about sticking with what is working, on the only touchdown drive of the game for the packers, which was in the first quarter, we had a good mix of pass and run plays, but we passed for 39 yards and ran for 17.

Green Bay Packers at 3:39
[bcolor=#00ffff]1-10-GB 44 (3:39) (Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass short left to J.Nelson to SEA 41 for 15 yards [/bcolor](B.Maxwell). P6
1-10-SEA 41 (3:02) (Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass incomplete short left to J.Nelson.
[bcolor=#339966]2-10-SEA 41 (2:58) (Shotgun) E.Lacy right tackle to SEA 32 for 9 yards[/bcolor] (B.Wagner; T.McDaniel).
Timeout #2 by GB at 02:10.
[bcolor=#339966]3-1-SEA 32 (2:10) (Shotgun) J.Kuhn up the middle to SEA 29 for 3 yards[/bcolor] (K.Williams). R7
[bcolor=#00ffff]1-10-SEA 29 (1:28) (Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass short middle to R.Rodgers to SEA 18 for 11 yards[/bcolor] (K.Chancellor). P8
[bcolor=#339966]1-10-SEA 18 :)46) (Shotgun) E.Lacy up the middle to SEA 13 for 5 yards[/bcolor] (B.Irvin).
[bcolor=#00ffff]2-5-SEA 13 :)06) (Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass short right to R.Cobb for 13 yards, TOUCHDOWN[/bcolor] [O.Schofield].
 
if you want to talk about sticking with what is working, on the only touchdown drive of the game for the packers, which was in the first quarter, we had a good mix of pass and run plays, but we passed for 39 yards and ran for 17.

Green Bay Packers at 3:39
[bcolor=#00ffff]1-10-GB 44 (3:39) (Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass short left to J.Nelson to SEA 41 for 15 yards [/bcolor](B.Maxwell). P6
1-10-SEA 41 (3:02) (Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass incomplete short left to J.Nelson.
[bcolor=#339966]2-10-SEA 41 (2:58) (Shotgun) E.Lacy right tackle to SEA 32 for 9 yards[/bcolor] (B.Wagner; T.McDaniel).
Timeout #2 by GB at 02:10.
[bcolor=#339966]3-1-SEA 32 (2:10) (Shotgun) J.Kuhn up the middle to SEA 29 for 3 yards[/bcolor] (K.Williams). R7
[bcolor=#00ffff]1-10-SEA 29 (1:28) (Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass short middle to R.Rodgers to SEA 18 for 11 yards[/bcolor] (K.Chancellor). P8
[bcolor=#339966]1-10-SEA 18 :)46) (Shotgun) E.Lacy up the middle to SEA 13 for 5 yards[/bcolor] (B.Irvin).
[bcolor=#00ffff]2-5-SEA 13 :)06) (Shotgun) A.Rodgers pass short right to R.Cobb for 13 yards, TOUCHDOWN[/bcolor] [O.Schofield].

Any chance Seattle adjusted? Picking out small samples is just like the Janis discussion. I digress

Bottom line Rodgers only completed 55%of his passes. He was limited as to mobility. We ran t he ball effectively for 3 quarters. We lost that game because of a botched special teams play, the inability to score 6 in the red zone, botched special teams play on a fake kick. And the inability of number 38 to cover deep. I'll never change your mind. I'm out
 
For me, the beginning of the end was when Burnett went down. It sent a wrong message. It said "we have the game won and now we'll just play it safe". He had room to run further, maybe much further. Maybe into field goal range. Run 3 times, kick the FG, then game over. Don't play safe and fall down by yourself with over 4 minutes left to play.

A agree with realitybytes that I might have passed on one of those down, but of course with our mediocre passing game we might well have ended up with an incompletion and the result of the game could have been the same. There are no guarantees that different play calls would have changed the outcome.

I still get a little sick thinking about the last 5 minutes of that game.
 
okay, well you started out this conversation with "I'll play Devils advocate", which is what i assumed you were doing. bad assumption on my part. you obviously were personally vested in this argument.

you are correct in your assessment that you'll never change my mind. i do believe in my heart of hearts that this game was poorly coached. this was a classic game of one of the best defenses in the nfl vs. one of the best offenses in the nfl. and in theory, strong defense wins out in the playoffs. but lo and behold - for over three and and a half quarters of this game the great offense was beating the great defense. then the stone cold killer took his foot off the gas and tried to coast to a victory. almost immediately, the wheels fell off. my theory is that this is due at least in part to the players not having confidence in mccarthy's decision to play it safe because they've seen that movie before and it didn't end well.

now, was this a subpar game for rodgers? yes, of course it was. as you said - he was playing hurt. and as i said - he was playing against a top-notch defense. those two factors combined do not bode well for a strong statistical performance. but subpar day or not - he was doing enough to win. and then the coach took the ball out of his hands.

did special teams let us down? absolutely they did. many times. this was one of the worst special teams performances in packers history in my opinion. so yeah, if they had played well, we might have overcome mccarthy's bad decisions. but they didn't.

you can certainly disagree with me. everyone has that right. but stating your opinion and doing the mic drop (i'm out) doesn't make you right.
 
I, too, believe that loss was on MM. And I am a huge MM fan, thinking he's got a great offensive mind, and an excellent coach with exemplary leadership skills. His one great flaw? He gets conservative much too soon.

Burnett going down was just a reflection of MM's effective leadership on his team. In this case, his "conservatism" philosophy. When we ran three going three and out I thought, "Too soon, they're only two scores down!" It is not uncommon to score, recover your own onside kick and score again in very little time. (Especially against a Capers' D that can't seem to ever make a critical stand.) Now coming back three scores down in the fourth is very rare.
 
It would be nice if we had a defense that could make that critical stand. Until they prove they can, MM has to keep the pedal on in the 4th qtr into the two minute warning, until we're up three scores, not two.
We need help in the pash rush dept badly. I agree, no lead is safe.
 
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