B
Bob McGinn
Guest
By BOB McGINN
Mike McCarthy says it takes four or five games for a team to declare its identity and “what path you’re on.”
If three games were the barometer his Green Bay Packers would be headed for the middle of the pack with an average offense, an average defense and average special teams.
They arrived at FedEx Field on Sunday with 21 of their preferred starters in the lineup for the first road game of the season. In reality, it was a neutral site with 22,000 empty seats and about one-third of the 59,827 in attendance cheering for the visiting team.
Coming off an overtime game last
Sunday? Aaron Rodgers’ left knee brace? Game-long rain?
Excuses, excuses, excuses.
Good teams go into Landover, Md., and take charge against an aging quarterback nobody really wants, an ancient running back that sat on the street until late August and an offensive line that by late in the first quarter had different players at three positions than were there in Games 1-2.
Instead, the Packers were careless on offense, feckless on defense and slovenly in the kicking game. The result was a 31-17 drubbing at the hands of the Washington Redskins (2-1) and an early-season wakeup call that not all is right with the Good Ship McCarthy in its 13th voyage.
Needing to come up with something after this abomination, the coach chose fundamentals to explain how his defense could possibly have played one of the worst halves in his tenure (28 points, 323 yards, 9.8 per play) and why his no-huddle offense, something he labeled as the “best thing we do” 14 days earlier, couldn’t even tally a point in its final five possessions.
“We just have to really get back and start focusing on the fundamentals,” said McCarthy, who pulled a new one Wednesday by calling off practice. “Like anything in this game in which you practice and emphasize – you have to carry it over to the game.”
“Fun-da-men-tals! Fun-da-men-tals! Fun-da-men-tals!”
Those snarky prep cheering sections could have offered that kind of elementary diagnosis.
At least the Minnesota Vikings went down, at home and as a 16 ½-point favorite no less, to the winless Buffalo Bills, 27-6. With a late escape in the desert against Arizona, the Chicago Bears (2-1) are your NFC North Division leader by one-half game over Green Bay and Minnesota.
At 1-1-1, the Packers are off to their poorest start since 2014 and their point differential of minus-13 is the third worst of McCarthy’s tenure (minus-26 in 2006, minus-14 in ’14) through three games.
The return of Aaron Jones made running back the best position group on offense. Together with Jamaal Williams and Ty Montgomery, the three-pronged backfield accounted for 87 yards in 15 rushes (5.8) and 69 yards on nine receptions (7.7).
McCarthy might have even featured the backs in a more traditional game plan and used that balance to carry the day on a wet track. The problem was Mike Pettine’s defense was heinously bad in that 28-point first half and so all we got later were dreary check-down and flat stuff.
“(Jones) is a slasher, tough to tackle, always moving forward,” said Rodgers. “With him, what Ty does out of the backfield and Jamaal running between the tackles, it looks like how we want it to look.
“We’re a work in progress on offense. We’ve got to keep finding ways to get Davante (Adams) more attempts and Jimmy (Graham) involved … (and) we’ve got to play better in the first quarter so we don’t have to come back and do something heroic in the fourth quarter.”
In the second half, quarterback Alex Smith, in his 14th season, and running back Adrian Peterson, in his 12th, came back to earth with one first down in the Redskins’ first four possessions of the second half. Still, Green Bay’s defense reverted to form with 5 ½ minutes left when even a front massed to halt the run couldn’t prevent Peterson from ripping off 26 yards in three carries for a final field goal.
“That was the worst game I’ve been a part of last week,” Peterson said of the Redskins’ 21-9 listless loss at home against Indianapolis. “Obviously, we knew last week was terrible. We bounced back.”
So Pettine’s unit ended up allowing 386 yards and 45% on third downs, which was almost exactly the Packers’ yield in the first two games that resulted in NFL rankings of 24th and 27th. For perspective, the Packers haven’t yielded more yards per game than their current 386.7 over a full season since 2011 (club-record 411.6) or a worse third-down rate than their current 45.2% since 1983 (46.4%).
“Well, this game is about big plays,” McCarthy said. “I think we were down significantly there in the first half. And our guys battled back in the second half. We need to do a better job.”
Maybe the game could have started out worse for the D. Well, maybe not.
On third and 1, someone neglected to cover tight end Vernon Davis in the flat and it was a 20-yard gimme.
On the next play, Smith faked a handoff to “AP” and threw a home-run ball to Paul Richardson, the spindly speedster who never cut it with the Seahawks as their second-round draft choice in 2014. The action was much like the 75-yard TD pass seven days earlier that Minnesota’s Stefon Diggs caught against Davon House and Kentrell Brice.
Joe Whitt, the pass-game coordinator for the defense, warned his pupils that they’d see shot plays for the next four weeks because it’s a copy-cat league and teams usually go back four games in tape preparation.
“We have to do a better job of maintaining vertical control from not only the corner but the middle of the field,” Whitt told reporters Thursday. “We’re going to get tested. They should test us because we put a negative play on film.”
Rookie Jaire Alexander, making his first start for an injured Kevin King (groin), ran with Richardson as Brice raced over from the middle. Brice was in position but badly overran the ball and Richardson came underneath him to haul in the 46-yard TD.
“I saw the DB (Brice) and he was just looking up the whole time,” Richardson said. “I knew I was going to come around him and make the play.”
The inept coverage continued on a 10-play, 79-yard TD drive when Alexander, Tramon Williams and House each drew pass-interference penalties for 37 yards within the span of eight plays. There was no need to complain. Their fouls were blatant.
On third and 6 in the second quarter, Pettine tried one of his rare five-man pressures but tight end Jordan Reed eluded Clay Matthews and others for a 34-yard reception. On the next play, Peterson stepped out of feeble tackle attempts by Kenny Clark, Dean Lowry and Brice near the line and then actually outran the 21-year-old Alexander down the sidelines for a gain of 41.
Obviously feeling it, Smith made the kind of tight-window throw he seldom even attempts for a 9-yard TD to Jamison Crowder with Williams in tight proximity.
The onslaught continued to halftime. At the 2-minute mark, Davis slipped away from Josh Jackson on a pick from Richardson and the 34-year-old tight end dashed away for 50 more. With Brice drifting in a zone, Crowder crossed his face easily for an 18-yard catch to the 2.
During the last TD drive McCarthy had every reason to call any or all of his three timeouts to preserve time for the offense. Instead, he didn’t use any and so, when Peterson finally powered over from the 2, just 21 seconds remained rather than about 90.
Rodgers completed three quick passes for 32 yards; another 60 seconds could have resulted in a TD and probably a field goal. Handicapped by McCarthy’s game management, all the Packers got was a botched snap from Hunter Bradley on a field-goal try from 61.
Smith’s passer rating of 110.4 exceeded Rodgers’ 93.5. Peterson, a revelation with 19 carries for 120, led a 166-yard outburst on the ground.
“I think the strength of that defense is up front,” said Smith. “They’ve got a lot of guys up front, especially in the interior.”
Coached by Bill Callahan, the Washington offensive line allowed no sacks and merely two quarterback hits.
Defensive coordinator Greg Manusky blitzed early and often, registering four sacks against Lane Taylor (two), Bryan Bulaga (one) and Justin McCray (one).
Bulaga left with a back injury prior to the final series of the first half and was replaced by Jason Spriggs. McCray sat out the last three series, replaced by Lucas Patrick for one and Byron Bell for two.
Besides the sacks, the offensive line was called for four holding penalties. Green Bay had 11 penalties for 115 yards, and three penalties on the offense and one on a punt return cost the Packers 39 yards.
“We’ve got to clean our own house,” McCarthy said. “It’s sloppy right now We’ll just stay after the fundamentals … it’s about the fundamentals.”
Certainly extra work on the JUGS machines would be in order after Washington didn’t drop a pass and Green Bay dropped five.
Randall Cobb played possibly the worst games of his eight-year career with a third-and-9 drop on the first series, a 17-yard drop in the end zone in the second quarter, a fourth-and-2 drop in the third quarter and a lost fumble at the 5 ½-minute mark.
Rodgers, with 61.4% marksmanship, wasn’t sharp. “I missed a couple throws I usually hit,” he said.
Two of Rodgers’ finest throws came on extended plays and ended up being dropped, anyway. Lance Kendricks couldn’t have looked worse with his hand placement on a drop 31 yards downfield before Jones dropped another 26 yards deep.
Now the question is: Will the Packers schedule practice on Wednesday?
SIGN UP
The post The Good Ship McCarthy is resembling The Titanic appeared first on Bob McGinn Football.
Continue reading...
Mike McCarthy says it takes four or five games for a team to declare its identity and “what path you’re on.”
If three games were the barometer his Green Bay Packers would be headed for the middle of the pack with an average offense, an average defense and average special teams.
They arrived at FedEx Field on Sunday with 21 of their preferred starters in the lineup for the first road game of the season. In reality, it was a neutral site with 22,000 empty seats and about one-third of the 59,827 in attendance cheering for the visiting team.
Coming off an overtime game last
Sunday? Aaron Rodgers’ left knee brace? Game-long rain?
Excuses, excuses, excuses.
Good teams go into Landover, Md., and take charge against an aging quarterback nobody really wants, an ancient running back that sat on the street until late August and an offensive line that by late in the first quarter had different players at three positions than were there in Games 1-2.
Instead, the Packers were careless on offense, feckless on defense and slovenly in the kicking game. The result was a 31-17 drubbing at the hands of the Washington Redskins (2-1) and an early-season wakeup call that not all is right with the Good Ship McCarthy in its 13th voyage.
Needing to come up with something after this abomination, the coach chose fundamentals to explain how his defense could possibly have played one of the worst halves in his tenure (28 points, 323 yards, 9.8 per play) and why his no-huddle offense, something he labeled as the “best thing we do” 14 days earlier, couldn’t even tally a point in its final five possessions.
“We just have to really get back and start focusing on the fundamentals,” said McCarthy, who pulled a new one Wednesday by calling off practice. “Like anything in this game in which you practice and emphasize – you have to carry it over to the game.”
“Fun-da-men-tals! Fun-da-men-tals! Fun-da-men-tals!”
Those snarky prep cheering sections could have offered that kind of elementary diagnosis.
At least the Minnesota Vikings went down, at home and as a 16 ½-point favorite no less, to the winless Buffalo Bills, 27-6. With a late escape in the desert against Arizona, the Chicago Bears (2-1) are your NFC North Division leader by one-half game over Green Bay and Minnesota.
At 1-1-1, the Packers are off to their poorest start since 2014 and their point differential of minus-13 is the third worst of McCarthy’s tenure (minus-26 in 2006, minus-14 in ’14) through three games.
The return of Aaron Jones made running back the best position group on offense. Together with Jamaal Williams and Ty Montgomery, the three-pronged backfield accounted for 87 yards in 15 rushes (5.8) and 69 yards on nine receptions (7.7).
McCarthy might have even featured the backs in a more traditional game plan and used that balance to carry the day on a wet track. The problem was Mike Pettine’s defense was heinously bad in that 28-point first half and so all we got later were dreary check-down and flat stuff.
“(Jones) is a slasher, tough to tackle, always moving forward,” said Rodgers. “With him, what Ty does out of the backfield and Jamaal running between the tackles, it looks like how we want it to look.
“We’re a work in progress on offense. We’ve got to keep finding ways to get Davante (Adams) more attempts and Jimmy (Graham) involved … (and) we’ve got to play better in the first quarter so we don’t have to come back and do something heroic in the fourth quarter.”
In the second half, quarterback Alex Smith, in his 14th season, and running back Adrian Peterson, in his 12th, came back to earth with one first down in the Redskins’ first four possessions of the second half. Still, Green Bay’s defense reverted to form with 5 ½ minutes left when even a front massed to halt the run couldn’t prevent Peterson from ripping off 26 yards in three carries for a final field goal.
“That was the worst game I’ve been a part of last week,” Peterson said of the Redskins’ 21-9 listless loss at home against Indianapolis. “Obviously, we knew last week was terrible. We bounced back.”
So Pettine’s unit ended up allowing 386 yards and 45% on third downs, which was almost exactly the Packers’ yield in the first two games that resulted in NFL rankings of 24th and 27th. For perspective, the Packers haven’t yielded more yards per game than their current 386.7 over a full season since 2011 (club-record 411.6) or a worse third-down rate than their current 45.2% since 1983 (46.4%).
“Well, this game is about big plays,” McCarthy said. “I think we were down significantly there in the first half. And our guys battled back in the second half. We need to do a better job.”
Maybe the game could have started out worse for the D. Well, maybe not.
On third and 1, someone neglected to cover tight end Vernon Davis in the flat and it was a 20-yard gimme.
On the next play, Smith faked a handoff to “AP” and threw a home-run ball to Paul Richardson, the spindly speedster who never cut it with the Seahawks as their second-round draft choice in 2014. The action was much like the 75-yard TD pass seven days earlier that Minnesota’s Stefon Diggs caught against Davon House and Kentrell Brice.
Joe Whitt, the pass-game coordinator for the defense, warned his pupils that they’d see shot plays for the next four weeks because it’s a copy-cat league and teams usually go back four games in tape preparation.
“We have to do a better job of maintaining vertical control from not only the corner but the middle of the field,” Whitt told reporters Thursday. “We’re going to get tested. They should test us because we put a negative play on film.”
Rookie Jaire Alexander, making his first start for an injured Kevin King (groin), ran with Richardson as Brice raced over from the middle. Brice was in position but badly overran the ball and Richardson came underneath him to haul in the 46-yard TD.
“I saw the DB (Brice) and he was just looking up the whole time,” Richardson said. “I knew I was going to come around him and make the play.”
The inept coverage continued on a 10-play, 79-yard TD drive when Alexander, Tramon Williams and House each drew pass-interference penalties for 37 yards within the span of eight plays. There was no need to complain. Their fouls were blatant.
On third and 6 in the second quarter, Pettine tried one of his rare five-man pressures but tight end Jordan Reed eluded Clay Matthews and others for a 34-yard reception. On the next play, Peterson stepped out of feeble tackle attempts by Kenny Clark, Dean Lowry and Brice near the line and then actually outran the 21-year-old Alexander down the sidelines for a gain of 41.
Obviously feeling it, Smith made the kind of tight-window throw he seldom even attempts for a 9-yard TD to Jamison Crowder with Williams in tight proximity.
The onslaught continued to halftime. At the 2-minute mark, Davis slipped away from Josh Jackson on a pick from Richardson and the 34-year-old tight end dashed away for 50 more. With Brice drifting in a zone, Crowder crossed his face easily for an 18-yard catch to the 2.
During the last TD drive McCarthy had every reason to call any or all of his three timeouts to preserve time for the offense. Instead, he didn’t use any and so, when Peterson finally powered over from the 2, just 21 seconds remained rather than about 90.
Rodgers completed three quick passes for 32 yards; another 60 seconds could have resulted in a TD and probably a field goal. Handicapped by McCarthy’s game management, all the Packers got was a botched snap from Hunter Bradley on a field-goal try from 61.
Smith’s passer rating of 110.4 exceeded Rodgers’ 93.5. Peterson, a revelation with 19 carries for 120, led a 166-yard outburst on the ground.
“I think the strength of that defense is up front,” said Smith. “They’ve got a lot of guys up front, especially in the interior.”
Coached by Bill Callahan, the Washington offensive line allowed no sacks and merely two quarterback hits.
Defensive coordinator Greg Manusky blitzed early and often, registering four sacks against Lane Taylor (two), Bryan Bulaga (one) and Justin McCray (one).
Bulaga left with a back injury prior to the final series of the first half and was replaced by Jason Spriggs. McCray sat out the last three series, replaced by Lucas Patrick for one and Byron Bell for two.
Besides the sacks, the offensive line was called for four holding penalties. Green Bay had 11 penalties for 115 yards, and three penalties on the offense and one on a punt return cost the Packers 39 yards.
“We’ve got to clean our own house,” McCarthy said. “It’s sloppy right now We’ll just stay after the fundamentals … it’s about the fundamentals.”
Certainly extra work on the JUGS machines would be in order after Washington didn’t drop a pass and Green Bay dropped five.
Randall Cobb played possibly the worst games of his eight-year career with a third-and-9 drop on the first series, a 17-yard drop in the end zone in the second quarter, a fourth-and-2 drop in the third quarter and a lost fumble at the 5 ½-minute mark.
Rodgers, with 61.4% marksmanship, wasn’t sharp. “I missed a couple throws I usually hit,” he said.
Two of Rodgers’ finest throws came on extended plays and ended up being dropped, anyway. Lance Kendricks couldn’t have looked worse with his hand placement on a drop 31 yards downfield before Jones dropped another 26 yards deep.
Now the question is: Will the Packers schedule practice on Wednesday?
Become a Member
BobMcGinnFootball.com is an independent, member-based website dedicated to analysis, opinion and coverage of the Green Bay Packers and the National Football League draft. Our three writers have covered the NFL for more than 100 seasons combined.
SIGN UP
The post The Good Ship McCarthy is resembling The Titanic appeared first on Bob McGinn Football.
Continue reading...
Last edited by a moderator:
