Please quit blaming the coaches.

[yetisnowman]

The players lost the game! They did not execute well enough to win. The staff put them in great positions and they failed. Particularly Aaron. Have you people looked at his numbers?
Hindsight is 20-20. Had we thrown incomplete passes or god forbid another pick instead of running it late, MM would have faced even more criticism for being silly and not running the ball to milk the clock down and force Seattle to take timeouts. You can take any game and second guess a few coaching decisions when the decision made didn't work....its ridiculous. We tried to throw on 3rd down when it was 19-14 and guess what incomplete. We had the ball down 3 on the Seattle 35 with all 3 timeouts and guess what incomplete, incomplete, 5 yard gain. The defense forced 5 turnovers! 4 in the first half! Are you kidding me? We should have had a 24 plus pt lead going into half time. Russell Wilson had the worst game of his career and all A rod had to do was outplay him, and he couldn't.
People hating on MM and Slocum, sheesh they can't hold the players hands. At what point are the players accountable for choking away the game? There are a handful of poorly executed stupid plays that led to the collapse that all had nothing to do with the coaching. Not to mention an entire game of crappy decisions and poor execution by your MVP quarterback. I am already so sick of people chalking up this loss to the coaches.

[Harlan Huckleby]

I think the team went into prevent mode a few minutes to early. Who can I blame if not the coaches?

[yetisnowman]

I think the team went into prevent mode a few minutes to early. Who can I blame if not the coaches?

Well let me ask you this....
With 5 minutes left and seattle with 3 timeouts, let's say they throw 3 straight incompletions, can you honestly say u wouldn't blame the coach for that decision?

[Harlan Huckleby]

Well let me ask you this....
With 5 minutes left and seattle with 3 timeouts, let's say they throw 3 straight incompletions, can you honestly say u wouldn't blame the coach for that decision?

I think they should have tried to get a first down, not kill the clock. I so rarely blame coaches for play calling. I doubt 3 incompletions would have bothered me.

[yetisnowman]

I think they should have tried to get a first down, not kill the clock. I so rarely blame coaches for play calling. I doubt 3 incompletions would have bothered me.

While I agree they play calling was conservative, the clock was our best friend at that point. I assure you had we taken only 15 seconds off the clock and thrown three in completions or a pick in that spot, all while letting Seattle keep all their timeouts, MM would have been demonized for that. I don't think his plan was to not try and get a first down. He didn't anticipate losing 6 yds on the first two plays, then it did make sense to run again and move the clock since completing 3rd and 16 is unlikely.
Remember Aaron was a shade over 50% for the game with 2 picks. Its not like putting the ball in his hands was a can't miss thing. A lot of coaches would have opted to keep the clock moving and force the coach to take timeouts, that's the sound decision. I'm sure mm wanted to run for a first, but the last thing he wanted to do was throw incomplete passes up 12 with 5 mins left. Seriously the decision to run there was a fairly obvious one. You guys are hating the result, not the decision making process. The result was 95% on the players, 5% on conservative coaching.

[mraynrand]

Coaches get the blame too. Because they are coaches. They are indirectly responsible for every success and error on the field. This is boilerplate.

[oldbutnotdeadyet]

Coaches MUST take a share in the loss, which is what pisses me off about MM press responses. Some here say he should not say anything negative but I disagree. There is nothing wrong with saying the coaches share this loss with the players and all, coaches and players, will be evaluated as part of our normal process.

[Carolina_Packer]

I agree that trying to milk the clock and make Seattle use their time-outs was the best strategy at that point. Far worse on the coaches and players was not coming up with the right play call/execution for the trips to the red zone, especially goal line. Turn that Rodgers end-zone pick into a TD and Lacy getting stopped short into TD and you've put Seattle into a much bigger hole, and helped the defense. 6 points in the second half, not good enough, but it's the points you should have had in the first half that hurts the most.

[oldbutnotdeadyet]

'I agree that trying to milk the clock and make Seattle use their time-outs was the best strategy at that point'

I don't know. It sure seemed like when the Packer coaches let up, the players let up. Both, in my opinion, contributed to the utter epic collapse in the final minutes.

[Teamcheez1]

I think PFT sums up the coaching issue with MM quite nicely:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...arthy-blew-it/

[oldbutnotdeadyet]

Yeah, I agree with most of this. Players are supposed to be extensions of the coaches and it sure looked that way yesterday.

[Carolina_Packer]

'I agree that trying to milk the clock and make Seattle use their time-outs was the best strategy at that point'

I don't know. It sure seemed like when the Packer coaches let up, the players let up. Both, in my opinion, contributed to the utter epic collapse in the final minutes.

Red zone TD's instead of field goals, a bigger lead make the milking of the clock easier than trying to protect a 12 point lead. Games should have been at least 24-0 at half, given how the Packers D was playing. Now, I know Seattle tried to up their game on defense in the second half, but MM's going into a shell contributed greatly to helping Seattle. I still think you have to punch the ball into the end zone when you have a chance and not leave points off the board. That ended up hurting the most.

[mraynrand]

Red zone TD's instead of field goals, a bigger lead make the milking of the clock easier than trying to protect a 12 point lead. Games should have been at least 24-0 at half, given how the Packers D was playing. Now, I know Seattle tried to up their game on defense in the second half, but MM's going into a shell contributed greatly to helping Seattle. I still think you have to punch the ball into the end zone when you have a chance and not leave points off the board. That ended up hurting the most.

But if they don't punch the ball in, they have no points. And I wanted them to be up 24 or 28 to 0 at half, but the other team is playing hard too. Packers tried to milk the clock and play odds (all coaching decisions) and they got burned. 99/100 the clock milking like that works, but it didn't yesterday. It's both on the coaches for going into a shell a bit early, the players for not getting it done, and some bad luck (esp. the two point conversion).

[Carolina_Packer]

More point in the first half likely means no Bostick moment.

[oldbutnotdeadyet]

I think it is difficult to name any one play as the reason we lost. It was a collective effort by the players, coaches, and the football gods.

[mraynrand]

More point in the first half likely means no Bostick moment.

less points too

[pbmax]

More point in the first half likely means no Bostick moment.

Or an earlier Bostick moment. You still have to deliver against a desperate offense at some point.

Advanced Football Stats can make a tremendously convincing argument how 4th and short near the goalline is an ideal time to go for it. Even if you do not score, you have the opponent trapped on the longest possible field, You are going to get great field position back, esp. in this game in the first half.

After a nap, my only complaint about the coaching strategies in the late second half is tapping the breaks on offense and defense. They weren't just running it on three downs, they put Burnett back deep (got an INT out of it too). If one side stays aggressive, might have been the difference.

[yetisnowman]

less points too

Of course the coaches share SOME blame. But I just can't get behind the venom towards McCarthy. Its 20-20 hindsight. He was conservative because that was the smart thing to do. The scoreboard and the game clock are your friend. Every coach is going to try and milk the clock in that situation. As I said if we tried to throw late and stopped the clock with incompletions and allowed them to keep their timeouts, ending in a GB loss, I'm pretty sure you guys would be railing him for that too. Then outcome is what sucks, the decisions were sound. Now if you want to say the coaches deserve a lot of blame for not getting certain players prepared to handle key situations, and execute that makes more sense. I don't necessarily agree, but that makes more sense.

[Teamcheez1]

MM had four different 4th & 1 situations during the game. Each time he chose not to go for it. That is playing way too conservative, and playing not to lose rather than win.

[ThunderDan]

MM had four different 4th & 1 situations during the game. Each time he chose not to go for it. That is playing way too conservative, and playing not to lose rather than win.

And if he went for it and they didn't get it people here would be screaming for MM's head.

I know this, you know this.