McCarthy's Offense: McAdoo Edition

[vince]

In those three games, I count 4 catches from the traditional TE spot or perhaps slot/wing, in the middle third of the field.

He might be headed left or right, but those routes traverse and are defended by interior defenders. I'd be curious the effect this had on Cobb and Monty's catches.

One thing they did not do with Cook, which surprised me even last year with his speed and height, was attack deep down the middle. His most common route was that flat route he ran while the WR ran a slant. McCarthy is still using that this year to get the ball out quickly.

Right I missed the run after catch on those. But even if we assume that they increased their middle of the field attack when they got their receiving TE back (The data I've seen still doesn't support any change to that effect. If anything it's slightly the opposite.) I don't see how that constitutes some kind of epiphany on McCarthy's part to become more creative and varied with playcalling and/or personnel groupings.

McCarthy said right from the start when Cook was signed that a TE who can attack the middle of the field is important and he brings that. So we all agree the threat is important. I also agree that it's interesting that they (with Cook at least) didn't actually do it more, perhaps because they continued to have far lower production when they did. It depends on defensive schemes and tendencies. Teams whose coverage schemes demand their inside backers to track receivers down the deep middle are soft there, but the Tampa 2 scheme where the deep safeties play wide and that's a key component isn't featured much throughout the league any more. 2 deep safety nickel and dime defenses where there's a guy on each hash 10 yards off the ball covering the seams from the get-go and a defender head up on the TE at the line disrupting his release also tend to negate that.

This is consistent with how the Packers offensive scheme operates (and pretty much always has under McCarthy) to put players in the best position to succeed through preparation, planning and dynamically attacking the defense where they're weakest as opposed to some new creative "scheming" (in your words) for new and more combinations of players and formation so they can throw it to Cook down the middle more by design because he's pretty good. The latter just hasn't and doesn't happen - not since that blew up with Finley one of the many years he got hurt.

The former has always and continues to be their approach - with improvements/adjustments related to player health/available skill level, offensive play style, tempo, rhythm, etc. designed to take advantage of the unique skills and intelligence of their QB to first attack by plan with quick release and accuracy based on tendency, but then also with opportunities that creates for what they really want/need to win - to capitalize on their unique and highly effective competitive advantage - their QB's off-the-charts football IQ and his unprecedented ability to extend plays, see things before they're there - and deliver the ball downfield with velocity, accuracy, and timeliness.

Defenses adjusted to prevent all that. For awhile they succeeded (they still do to varying degrees) because 1) the Packers committed too much to their "second phase" attack right from the start of games before establishing the fast pace tempo and play style that they've found it needs to succeed, and 2) the Packers receivers were unsuccessful in separating from man coverage and/or the QB was more averse to throwing into tighter windows associated with shorter throws.

Then the Packers adjusted with simpler attack and emphasis on getting into rhythm to establish play style and speed up game tempo to their advantage and enable Rodgers to be more effective at the things he's uniquely good at. It's been strategic adjustments to overcome what defenses did to offset all that more than tactical adjustments to personnel groups, formations and/or the plays they run. Those change (or not) game to game based on opponent and how they think they can exploit the defensive scheme, match-ups, etc. they think they'll encounter as well as the status of their own lineup, player health, availability, strengths, exposures, etc.

Maybe McCarthy errs at times by overestimating his guys or expecting too much from them (not a bad flaw if you're a football coach), but it's not nor ever has been because of a lack of ability or willingness to "scheme". Sometimes injuries, experience and/or ability means the other guy wins. Notwithstanding the possibility of an elusive solution to injury trends that have impacted them in specific areas (as it relates to the scope of this thread), I think McCarthy is among the elites at getting his guys ready and putting them in the best position possible to succeed throughout the game.