Against Miami, the defense did not show up. Yes, neither did the offense, but against the Dolphins we had no pass-rush and less than solid run D. Now, of course, we can blame Capers for not blitzing like he did in OT against the Redskins without Mathews (which, by the way, generated pressure beautifully) and failing to emphasize stopping the run, or we can realize sometimes coaches are restrained by the hand they are dealt.

I totally agree with you that this offense has let the defense down. Let's not, however, get all giddy with excitement and claim Capers a miracle worker; the best statistical QB this defense has faced so far this season is Eagles QB Kevin Kolb.

Remember how awful he was in the half he played in? Well, yeah, he's the best QB we have seen this season. No Brady, Manning, Roethlisberger, or Brees class of QB has faced our defense. Despite this, you show no caution whatsoever in praising Capers for our defense's success.

Last year, we had the second best ranked Pass D at our bye and we'll be in a very similar position this year. That didn't mean Capers could stop the best QBs when they faced our defense; should we assume Capers defense goes into hiding in the second half, therefore Capers is a crappy coach? Did the players really not play any part in, for example, Warner running wild on us in the playoff game?

Again, my point is simple: you are being beyond unfair by already condemning any failures as the direct result of McCarthy. I do not mean to imply McCarthy will not have a bad game plan, because he very well may.

But to accept that possibility (out of many others) as the only one capable of explaining our failure (should we fail on offense this week) is downright moronic. At least let the game begin before setting your mind that there can only be one reason for our failures: McCarthy.

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+1 on both big posts, AADP. Guys like nerd and chutzputz have been reading from the same script every week: it's all McCarthy's fault. It's getting to the point where I'm not enjoying my time on these boards because of the constant shitty bickering. I hate nonsense so I do what I can to break down peoples weak and often unsubstantiated claims, but it gets tiring. More and more the celebration of Packerdom is lost in all the armchair QB's prognostications and "analysis."

Thank you for taking the time and effort to put these posts together and for your healthy respect for logic and reasoning.

+1

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Don't get me wrong. I've supported MM this whole time, except when he had his pants pulled down by Favre last year. MM did the minimum to redeem himself last year.
This year, I would like nothing better than to right the ship. Get your team ready to play. Run some high percentage shit. Win, decisively against a shitty Dallas team.

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Two issues here: McCarthy didn't get his "pants pulled down by Favre" last season. Our defense, however, did. When McCarthy starts calling the defensive plays, I'll hold him accountable.

Secondly, a "decisive" win is meaningless in this league. It's not like our stock goes up with a big margin of victory. Look, today the Browns beat the Patriots, the Jets eeked out a win over Detroit, and Chicago barely survived against the winless Bills. This is the damn NFL -- you hope for the best, which is a W.

And Dallas is NOT a "shitty" team. Okay, I guess three things. They have a "shitty" record, but they're loaded with talent. Even with Kitna, they can pose a number of problems. Their issues are self-inflicted; they don't come from a lack of quality players. If they get their shit straight, they can be very tough to beat.

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The Packers have been letting shitty teams hang around all season. Just like they do every year under MM. Until week 10, when they pull their shit together to salvage the season.
As for Dallas, we are also better than our talent level. We also impose self-inflicted wounds. And if we get our shit straight, we can be very tough to beat too.
And I don't put any of the losses last year on Capers. Was it his decision to start Colledge at LT?

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Shitty teams? Washington, Miami, and Chicago aren't shitty teams -- they're middle of the pack. You employ hyperbole far too often.

What it comes down to is that you are so honed in on McCarthy that your ability to assess Green Bay is severely limited. I prefer taking into account more than just who the coach is when looking at Green Bay's current status.

You have yet to substantiate the idea that we force it downfield. And two or three examples isn't sufficient enough. Moreover, you aren't equipped to differentiate play call from proper execution of a play.

And you don't put any loss on Capers last year? Well, in principle I don't either (because it's absurd to pin a loss on a single person). But if you go back and look at our defensive performances in the two games against Minnesota, the Steelers game, and the playoff loss to Arizona -- how can Capers not take some of the guff?

It's strange. When the offense goes bananas the credit goes to the players (who deserve a bunch of it!). When the defense does well we're all quick to point out Capers' greatness. Hmmm.

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So you expect the Packers to win dominantly each and every week? Do you play Madden, by any chance?

Clearly McCarthy chose to start Colledge at LT instead of his vast array of other options. Please enlighten us as to who would you have started?

I'm also really curious now, whom exactly do you credit for the turnaround of our team after the Bucs loss? We were 7-1 to end the season.... surely someone deserves credit for a tremendous turnaround...

And... um.... you still fail to answer how McCarthy had his pants pulled down by Favre given that Capers was our DC and allowed the other team to score 30 and 38 points the two times we faced them. Rodgers threw for 671 yards and 5 TDs / 1 INT in both those games combined; we had 775 net yards on offense both games combined; our offense had combined possession of 60:48 out of 120 minutes ... we hardly lost those game because our offense sputtered... so I'm not sure how exactly McCarthy is directly responsible for our losses...

Frankly, you supporting McCarthy before means shit. I supported the hell out of him as well, and now for the past few weeks I've been criticizing his playcalls quite vocally (um, as vocally as you can on a message board); something is clearly wrong and he has not been able to fix it.

However, you seem to be incapable of broadening your scope of accountability beyond McCarthy. You realize he has a GM who has not given him a RB that can replace Ryan Grant, or a TE that can even hold Finley's jockstrap, right? I'm not saying McCarthy should be exempt from blame, but I also know better than to pin the blame of every single failure of our team on him. You seem incapable of realizing not everything comes back only to our HC.

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Ok, we let "mediocre" teams hang around. How about we just say we haven't put a team away all year? Are you willing to say that the offense hasn't shown up for 60 minutes all year? How about 2 quarters?
And no, I don't put any losses last year on Capers. Did Capers force the offense to give up two turnovers in it's first three plays against Arizona? BAM, 14 points, 14:00 left in the first.
As for hyperbole, see your last paragraph. "It's strange. When the offense goes bananas the credit goes to the players (who deserve a bunch of it!). When the defense does well we're all quick to point out Capers' greatness. Hmmm."
I don't have a personal issue with MM. I was his biggest defender during the whole Favre fiasco and even before. But it's time his offense starts to show up on a regular basis. Or at least once in awhile. It's not as if he doesn't have the players.

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1: MM was the one requesting "smaller, quicker" offensive linemen. Like Darryn Colledge. Tony Moll. Alan Barbre. Not sure you're aware, but MM has been enamored with the "Zone Blocking" scheme, although in recent years he's gotten more away from it.
Ever since he's been asking for the "bigger, stronger" guys, TT's been hitting on a better percentage. Like Sitton. Lang. Bulaga. Newhouse.
2: I have repeatedly granted that MM's teams show up late to salvage their seasons. Usually. Sometimes the offense even shows up for 1 or 2 quarters per game. Relevance?
3: The showdown was not Capers v Favre. It was MM v Favre. Capers wasn't even here when the fiasco ensued. How many sacks did Jared Allen have again?
4: Earlier you said you were criticizing the "execution." Nice to see you coming around. Are you also willing to admit that high percentage plays are more likely to be successful than low percentage plays, or are you going to continue claiming my logic and reasoning skills are flawed?
5: a: Jackson is better than Grant. Jackson can catch (screens at least. Usually.) He can cut and has vision. He can also pass protect on third downs.
b: Not many TEs can hold Finley's jockstrap. We still have tons of talent on offense.
c: I have stated numerous times that Slocum also totally sucks shit.
6: As I've stated before, I have never ever ever played Madden in my entire life. Not a gamer.

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So, McCarthy's emphasis away from the ZBS meant us getting better linemen? You realize Bulaga played in a ZBS under Kirk Ferentz, right? If McCarthy wanted to move away from the ZBS, then why on earth would he / Ted draft Bulaga, whose success had been entirely in a ZBS scheme?

You realize Sitton has the attributes for an O-linemen that you want in the ZBS, right? He can get to the second level, has quick feet, knows how to use his hands. He was drafted to play in the ZBS, and he has done so contrary to your belief that we have moved away from it more and more.

Lang, outside of showing some potential at Tackle, has done nothing. Thompson hit on Lang? Tough to call that a "hit" since Lang has been inactive for half the games this year and has actually seen more snaps a D-linemen than O-linemen, which he was drafted to be. And it is too early to claim Newhouse a "hit" because he has done absolutely nothing in his NFL career.




3: You realize McCarthy was forced to use Lang at LT the 2nd game because he basically had no other option, right? Lang gave up 3 sacks to Allen. Same game, Tausher gave up 2 sacks to Ray Edward - was that McCarthy's fault too? McCarthy has been short changed with the personnel he has gotten in his time here; not all the shortcomings are entirely his fault.

4: I have criticized the execution of passing plays that have not worked out; I realize that before the ball is snapped Aaron has to make adjustments at the line and then actually throw the ball. The WR can run a wrong route, Aaron can threw a bad ball, Aaron can make a bad read (throwing deep instead of underneath), etc. and these things are the players failing to execute. McCarthy cannot control how far Aaron goes through his progressions, what adjustments he calls, etc.

I've been pretty clear that McCarthy is foolish to call so many pass plays when defenses are inviting him to run the football. This, IMO, has contributed to our bad offense. However, so has the fact that Aaron has thrown to double covered players on occasion (Vikings INT in the endzone), and that our players have failed to make catches (Jones after he beat Cromartie) - it's hard to fault McCarthy when players fail to execute; the blame is not solely on McCarthy's shoulders.

It'd be stupid for me to argue we should run plays with lower success rates than plays with higher ones; I have never argued such a thing. I have argued, however, that if Aaron throws deep then that does not automatically mean McCarthy wanted the ball thrown deep. On a 4th down play against the Vikings in the fourth Q, Aaron decided to try a long pass to James Jones.

During his post-game conference, McCarthy called Aaron out on that and said he has to focus on taking the higher percentage completions underneath; does that sound like a man who wanted Aaron to throw deep? Hardly. That failure to get a new set of first downs has to also be on Rodgers.

I've never said McCarthy is free of blame, but I have also never resorted to laying all the blame at McCarthy's feet. So much can happen from the moment the QB receives the play from the sidelines to the moment the play is over that it is stupid to prejudge that a failure could have only been because of the Coach.

Which is what you did in your first post, implying that only McCarthy should be blamed and held accountable if our offense falters. Um, no, because clearly there is more to the offense playing out than Mike McCarthy.

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