Bretsky
10-09-2007, 09:22 PM
Walled off
After big first half, ground game stuffed
By TOM SILVERSTEIN
tsilverstein@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Oct. 8, 2007
Green Bay - If you consider the way the Chicago Bears lined up on defense in the second half Sunday night, there was nothing flawed about the way Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy called plays against them.
The Bears kept both safeties back on virtually every play and dared the Packers to run the ball against their seven-man front.
If McCarthy made a mistake, it was thinking that his inexperienced and unproven running game could bear the load of responsibility for the entire offense. It was one thing to catch the Bears off guard in the first half with 13 rushes for 102 yards and a touchdown, but it was something else to protect a lead in a classic NFC North rivalry game.
It appeared the Packers had ample opportunity to make much more out of the nine runs McCarthy called in the second half - for a total of 19 yards - but a series of missed blocks, poor execution and one fatal mental error set them back almost to the spot they were coming into the game: devoid of a running game.
"The job of the play-caller is to put players in position to be successful," McCarthy said Monday, a day after his team suffered a 27-20 loss. "I think we did that. Watching the film this morning, we had a lot of opportunities to run the football, and I don't regret that. I'm not interested in (being) a no-back guy or a passing guy. That's not in the best interests of our football team."
Perhaps not, but it's clear the running game is not capable of handling the responsibility it took on against the Bears. And that's something McCarthy and his offensive staff will have to weigh coming off their first loss of the season with another tough NFC game looming Sunday against Washington.
They can stick with the run and hope their first-half performance was a sign things are getting better or they can abandon thoughts of handing responsibility over to the running game in the name of avoiding a two-game losing streak.
"As a coach, you have to put your faith in the guys we put on the field," offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said. "We have confidence in our guys. At some point in time, that's a question that needs to be answered. It needs to be answered on the field."
The lesson Sunday was learned the hard way, and there were signs that the success running the ball early was too good to be true.
Despite rushing four times for 59 yards on the first series, rookie DeShawn Wynn suffered cramps and missed most of the first half, leaving veteran Vernand Morency to pick up the slack. Working his way back from knee tendinitis that sidelined him all of training camp, Morency chipped in 79 first-half yards of total offense, but was not much of a factor after that.
Thus, going into the Washington game, there's little certainty about the backfield. Morency was very sore Monday and might miss practice time, rookie Brandon Jackson (shin) still hasn't been cleared to play, Ryan Grant still is regaining trust in the coaches after fumbling late in the Minnesota game and Wynn now has a dehydration issue.
Perhaps most disappointing for McCarthy and his offensive staff was the collapse of the offensive line in the second half. After opening holes to the tune of 7.8 yards per carry and allowing quarterback Brett Favre to complete 19 of 22 passes for 243 yards and a touchdown in the first half, the line caved in against the Bears' defense.
McCarthy wasn't too far off in declaring that there were yards to be made on the ground, but thanks mostly to the inability of the line - mostly the guards - to block linebacker Lance Briggs (16 tackles), the running game went nowhere.
The worst breakdown was on third and 1 at the Chicago 11 early in the third quarter. The Packers lined up with two tight ends and two fullbacks and gave the ball to Wynn off right tackle. Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris crashed into lead blocker John Kuhn, disrupting the entire play and allowing Briggs to drop Wynn for a 3-yard loss.
"We had one mental error as an offensive line and that was it," offensive line coach James Campen said.
Though Campen wouldn't say who was at fault, it was clear right guard Junius Coston should have helped center Scott Wells with Harris instead of going to block a linebacker. It appeared Wynn would have had a good shot at the first down if Harris had been blocked, and the Packers might have responded to Chicago's opening-drive field goal with a touchdown instead of a field goal..
Even the play before that, the Packers could have had a first down inside the 10 if guard Daryn Colledge had completed a back-side block on defensive tackle Anthony Adams, who caught Wynn from behind at the 11.
On the series after Chicago closed to within 20-17, the Packers had three straight runs in which they failed to block Briggs, two because Coston was late on a back-side block and one because Colledge was late.
"I think if you see it work and see it executed, you should be consistent," Campen said. "You can say we're young and this and that, but if you see it work and then the consistency falls off, that's an excuse."
After big first half, ground game stuffed
By TOM SILVERSTEIN
tsilverstein@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Oct. 8, 2007
Green Bay - If you consider the way the Chicago Bears lined up on defense in the second half Sunday night, there was nothing flawed about the way Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy called plays against them.
The Bears kept both safeties back on virtually every play and dared the Packers to run the ball against their seven-man front.
If McCarthy made a mistake, it was thinking that his inexperienced and unproven running game could bear the load of responsibility for the entire offense. It was one thing to catch the Bears off guard in the first half with 13 rushes for 102 yards and a touchdown, but it was something else to protect a lead in a classic NFC North rivalry game.
It appeared the Packers had ample opportunity to make much more out of the nine runs McCarthy called in the second half - for a total of 19 yards - but a series of missed blocks, poor execution and one fatal mental error set them back almost to the spot they were coming into the game: devoid of a running game.
"The job of the play-caller is to put players in position to be successful," McCarthy said Monday, a day after his team suffered a 27-20 loss. "I think we did that. Watching the film this morning, we had a lot of opportunities to run the football, and I don't regret that. I'm not interested in (being) a no-back guy or a passing guy. That's not in the best interests of our football team."
Perhaps not, but it's clear the running game is not capable of handling the responsibility it took on against the Bears. And that's something McCarthy and his offensive staff will have to weigh coming off their first loss of the season with another tough NFC game looming Sunday against Washington.
They can stick with the run and hope their first-half performance was a sign things are getting better or they can abandon thoughts of handing responsibility over to the running game in the name of avoiding a two-game losing streak.
"As a coach, you have to put your faith in the guys we put on the field," offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said. "We have confidence in our guys. At some point in time, that's a question that needs to be answered. It needs to be answered on the field."
The lesson Sunday was learned the hard way, and there were signs that the success running the ball early was too good to be true.
Despite rushing four times for 59 yards on the first series, rookie DeShawn Wynn suffered cramps and missed most of the first half, leaving veteran Vernand Morency to pick up the slack. Working his way back from knee tendinitis that sidelined him all of training camp, Morency chipped in 79 first-half yards of total offense, but was not much of a factor after that.
Thus, going into the Washington game, there's little certainty about the backfield. Morency was very sore Monday and might miss practice time, rookie Brandon Jackson (shin) still hasn't been cleared to play, Ryan Grant still is regaining trust in the coaches after fumbling late in the Minnesota game and Wynn now has a dehydration issue.
Perhaps most disappointing for McCarthy and his offensive staff was the collapse of the offensive line in the second half. After opening holes to the tune of 7.8 yards per carry and allowing quarterback Brett Favre to complete 19 of 22 passes for 243 yards and a touchdown in the first half, the line caved in against the Bears' defense.
McCarthy wasn't too far off in declaring that there were yards to be made on the ground, but thanks mostly to the inability of the line - mostly the guards - to block linebacker Lance Briggs (16 tackles), the running game went nowhere.
The worst breakdown was on third and 1 at the Chicago 11 early in the third quarter. The Packers lined up with two tight ends and two fullbacks and gave the ball to Wynn off right tackle. Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris crashed into lead blocker John Kuhn, disrupting the entire play and allowing Briggs to drop Wynn for a 3-yard loss.
"We had one mental error as an offensive line and that was it," offensive line coach James Campen said.
Though Campen wouldn't say who was at fault, it was clear right guard Junius Coston should have helped center Scott Wells with Harris instead of going to block a linebacker. It appeared Wynn would have had a good shot at the first down if Harris had been blocked, and the Packers might have responded to Chicago's opening-drive field goal with a touchdown instead of a field goal..
Even the play before that, the Packers could have had a first down inside the 10 if guard Daryn Colledge had completed a back-side block on defensive tackle Anthony Adams, who caught Wynn from behind at the 11.
On the series after Chicago closed to within 20-17, the Packers had three straight runs in which they failed to block Briggs, two because Coston was late on a back-side block and one because Colledge was late.
"I think if you see it work and see it executed, you should be consistent," Campen said. "You can say we're young and this and that, but if you see it work and then the consistency falls off, that's an excuse."