Sunday, December 14, 2008

Dark Days Ahead

I'm not even sure where to start after today's disappointing performance by the Green Bay Packers. I wish I could at least say that they were finding creative ways to lose games, but it's the same script as it has been.

1. Don't come out ready to play and fall behind early
2. Fight back, play well, and take control of the game
3. Have a couple of defensive breakdowns to allow a late opponent score
4. Destroy any chance of a last minute drive by throwing an interception

There might be one of those four in some loss, but the majority are there every week.

No one will let me blame it on the fact that the Packers sorely miss Brett Favre's leadership and the way guys, offense and defense, rally around him. The way, that despite his interceptions that everyone remembers, he found ways to win games. Which led to countless 4th quarter game winning drives and one losing record in his time as Packers starting quarterback.

So, since I can't blame it on that, who is to blame?

Is it the coaches? The blatant lack of discipline on display by the costly penalties week after week, or the fact that they have to constantly call timeouts to get alignments correct. Breakdowns on defense, blown coverages and improper personnel could be placed on the coaches. A lack of blitzes, or effective blitzes could be a product of the system and be put on the coaches, or....

Is it the players? Losing recievers at key moments, penalties, and poor tackling should be blamed on the men who get paid millions to not do those very things. I'm forgetting dropped passes, not knowing where to line up and missing blocks. That's on them.

So who is it? Probably a combination of the two. When th Packers ended their 14-3 run last year with a loss at home to the Giants in the NFC Championship Game, it seemed like a disappointing end to a great run. It turns out, it began the Curse of #4. It's all downhill from here. Ask the Cubs how curses work out for a team. It's going to be a long century!

7 comments:

K said...

It's obviously the Madden Curse in effect. It doesn't seem to be affecting Favre, so it must have filtered through to the jersey that he was wearing on the cover.

And what's wrong with James Jones. The guy makes some decent catches, but he runs out of bounds to avoid contact and if he does get hit at all, he is hurt.

They might miss Favre's leadership, but the defense is awful. They don't get any pressure on the quarterback. The whole season everyone talked about how awful the Jax o-line was and they all looked like All-Pros out there today. Sanders is probably gone at the end of the year and McCarthy will have to rebound next year or he could be on his way out too. I don't think they should fire him even if they get off to a slow start next year, but in this day and age of win now he has to.

Kosi said...

James Jones never makes a clean catch either. He always bobbles it once or twice it seems.

No they do not get pressure on the quarterback and they blitz so infrequently that they do it poorly as evident on the touchdown pass to Jones-Drew late in the game. The best defenses in the league, the Steelers, Ravens, Bucs... they blitz all the time! In a copycat league like the NFL, I don't know why they don't copy that.

I don't think they should fire McCarthy cause I'm not big on blaming EVERYTHING on the head coach, but the lack of discipline evident on penalties is usually a reflection of the head coach. I blamed the same thing on Bielema earlier this year, so I don't know. I'm confused and depressed.

Scottage Cheese said...

So here's a scenario...

It's 4th & 1
What play should McCarthy call?

How about a FB dive up the middle...Brilliant.

Better yet, let's line up in the split I formation. That won't give away our play.

Done. Done defending McCarthy to those who despise him. It's getting to hard to.

Kosi said...

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/36075694.html

K said...

I think you should sue the JS for obvious plagiarism.

Kosi said...

I've been saying that for weeks. They must be fans. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery

Scott said...

You also called the Melky trade. Why? I do not know. But you called it.