What is one thing that could happen that would make you optimistic about this year?

[vince]

It's one thing to criticize when it's warranted but that's just ridiculous IMO.

Here's the Packers' point production and league rank over the last decade under McCarthy. You want to criticize him for not using RB's enough?

Yr. .. Pts. .. Rank
2007 .. 435 .. 4
2008 .. 419 .. 5
2009 .. 461 .. 3
2010 .. 388 .. 10
2011 .. 560 .. 1
2012 .. 433 .. 5
2013 .. 417 .. 8
2014 .. 486 .. 1
2015 .. 368 .. 15
2016 .. 432 .. 4

Avg. .. 439.9 .. 5.6

That's as consistently elite as it gets. There's likely one team in the league who can outperform that decade of production. How exactly has McCarthy's utilization of RB's hurt the team?

Packer RB touches generally go up when the team is winning/controlling/finishing games - not vice versa - which is why I think RB production is cause for optimism. That doesn't mean they should be running the ball more early in games. Running more (and effectively) and/or controlling the clock with short passes to backs throughout, but particularly late in games is also the sign of defensive and passing game success I'm hoping to see.