A tale of two seasons

[Frozen Tundra]

I doubt LaFleur ever said anything that stupid. The best thing about Love is that he in fact does play like Rodgers in terms of not throwing interceptions.

But you know, one of the things I love the most about Love is that even though he values protecting the ball, he doesn't seem to be as pathologically obsessed with "not throwing picks" as Rodgers was. I've said this 100 times, you could practically see the man working out his revised QB rating after every single pass, and sometimes I wondered if he was fixated on what each pass would do to his QB rating while he was still deciding whether or where to throw it.

Favre's style was loose, spontaneous, and often careless, and that was a big part of why he was so damned much fun to watch. But, also a big part of why a lot of Packer fans threw bricks through their TV screens in January.

Rodgers spent 3 years standing on the sideline next to McCarthy while (every time Brett threw a high risk pass, and god knows he threw a lot of them) McCarthy said, "see what he did there? don't do that." He probably came away with a long list of things Favre did that he shouldn't do. And when it was his turn, there were many, many times Rodgers seemed to prioritize mistake-free ball over keeping the damned drive alive and giving his team the best possible chance to win the game.

Love spent 3 years standing on the sideline next to LaFleur while Lafleur constantly told him, "see that? that was good, do that. But see that one? don't do that."

I'm thinking Love came away understanding that sometimes, a great quarterback needs to take a risk in order to make a play, which is something Rodgers friggin' hated to do. Aaron would rather eat the ball or throw it away than risk a pick, but sometimes a high-risk pass is the best (and even only) play a truly great QB can make.

I'm hoping Love will be the best of both worlds - a man who prioritizes protecting the ball and not making plays that are actually stupid-risky, but at the same time smart enough to understand that the smartest play in any given game situation might be to accept the risk and try to squeeze one in there in order to keep the drive alive - give your receiver a chance to make a play, at least. (Just maybe not quite like that season-ender against the Niners; hopefully he learned a big lesson from that).

[texaspackerbacker]

Yeah, when there's 5 seconds on the clock and you need a TD, THAT's the time to take a risk. Just about any other time, hell no. It seems like Love absorbed that from Rodgers, and I'm damn glad he did. It's gonna get us a LOT of winning football for a long time.

McCarthy being constantly negative, don't do that? LaFleur being even handed - do that, don't do that? I don't know, Maybe, but I think you're reading a lot into it that there just isn't evidence of.

I don't think either Rodgers or Love did a lot of just eating the ball when nobody was open. Both used their legs to either buy time or find somebody open a lot more with safe throwaways as needed. In addition to very very few interceptions in general, both had very very very few interceptions by taking risks. And if that continues another 10 or 15 years, we'll have a whole lot of winning football.

[sharpe1027]

I believe there's a sweet spot between reducing interceptions and being too conservative. It's not as easy as just concluding less interceptions is always good no matter what you give up to get there.

Interceptions give the ball to the other team no different than a punt, but with different average field position. Killing several drives isn't worth saving one interception. I don't know exactly how many killed drives the stats say are worth one interception, but I suspect it's less than many think.

[bobblehead]

I believe there's a sweet spot between reducing interceptions and being too conservative. It's not as easy as just concluding less interceptions is always good no matter what you give up to get there.

Interceptions give the ball to the other team no different than a punt, but with different average field position. Killing several drives isn't worth saving one interception. I don't know exactly how many killed drives the stats say are worth one interception, but I suspect it's less than many think.

Clifford didn't throw a pick all season!!

[Frozen Tundra]

McCarthy being constantly negative, don't do that? LaFleur being even handed - do that, don't do that? I don't know, Maybe, but I think you're reading a lot into it that there just isn't evidence of.

There was a lot of evidence at the time of McCarthy watching the game on the sideline with Rodgerv and discussing plays with them as they happened, coaching Rodgers, and teaching him with Favre's examples. It was never any secret; McCarthy and Rodgers both spoke of it openly.

Before the first game of McCarthy's first season here, he was out in front of the press openly stating that Favre needed to rein in the interceptions; that McCarthy wouldn't accept those mistakes from a veteran quarterback - and for the next 2 years, McCarthy made no secret of how pissed he was when Favre was picked.

During those first couple of years, when reporters asked McCarthy what he was telling Rodgers on the sidelines, he plainly said he was teaching him what to do and not to do from watching Favre, and of course that included the interceptions. Jennings said a couple of times it was clear to the team that Rodgers was taking that lesson seriously, and Rodgers said in interviews afterwards that one of the most important lessons he lerned in those early years was how much an interception just sucked the air out of the whole team - how excited everyone would be on the sidelines watching the drive, and all of a sudden, whomp. D back on the field, morale just shot on the whole sideline.


It's not "negativity", it's coaching. McCarth was never a really great coach, but he was good enough to not waste those opportunities to raise Aaron up right.

[Fritz]

There was a lot of evidence at the time of McCarthy watching the game on the sideline with Rodgerv and discussing plays with them as they happened, coaching Rodgers, and teaching him with Favre's examples. It was never any secret; McCarthy and Rodgers both spoke of it openly.

Before the first game of McCarthy's first season here, he was out in front of the press openly stating that Favre needed to rein in the interceptions; that McCarthy wouldn't accept those mistakes from a veteran quarterback - and for the next 2 years, McCarthy made no secret of how pissed he was when Favre was picked.

During those first couple of years, when reporters asked McCarthy what he was telling Rodgers on the sidelines, he plainly said he was teaching him what to do and not to do from watching Favre, and of course that included the interceptions. Jennings said a couple of times it was clear to the team that Rodgers was taking that lesson seriously, and Rodgers said in interviews afterwards that one of the most important lessons he lerned in those early years was how much an interception just sucked the air out of the whole team - how excited everyone would be on the sidelines watching the drive, and all of a sudden, whomp. D back on the field, morale just shot on the whole sideline.


It's not "negativity", it's coaching. McCarth was never a really great coach, but he was good enough to not waste those opportunities to raise Aaron up right.

This Be the Verse

by Phillip Larkin

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.


Famous opening lines of a famous poem.