Wolf Says Holmgren Lost The Super Bowl

[HarveyWallbangers]

Some interesting stuff about the West Coast offense not having seen the weak-side blitz much before that Super Bowl in the article. Wolf was told by two coaches on the staff that Holmgren refused to adjust to it.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=713518

[FritzDontBlitz]

Kinda sorry to see the way Holmgren blamed it all on Favre, while everyone else points to Holmgren's inept strategery.

[the_idle_threat]

Shitty thing to read all the way around. Everyone pointing fingers at someone else, sniping. I'd rather they didn't even bother. It's over. Move on.

[Iron Mike]

Let's not forget that with all of the derision aimed at the Patriots for Spygate, the Broncos were cheating on the salary cap the years they won the Super Bowl.

[b bulldog]

Interesting read but Wolf is really excusing the Defense in that game. Our Dline was manhandled from the beginning and the Broncos set the tone from the start.

[lcbj68c]

Shitty thing to read all the way around. Everyone pointing fingers at someone else, sniping. I'd rather they didn't even bother. It's over. Move on.

I couldn't agree more. A bunch of crybabies playing pass the buck. If you want to blame any coach, I would have put the blame on Fritz Shumur. How you can't scheme to stop a 40-yr old John Elway from running the football all over Qualcomm was beyond me. Gilbert Brown, Reggie White, Leroy Butler, all standing there with hands on hips. No fresh bodies, no scheme change, nothing. Just a bunch of standing around watching Terrell Davis slam it down their throats and John Elway frolicking like a deer in the open meadow. To have to audacity to blame losing the whole game on Holmgren's one play?...a 4th and 6 when the defense had already let them put 30+ on the board is beyond me.

Now that said, I never like Holmgren's demeanor and the way he carried himself. He was a good coach, I'm thankful for the things he did when he was here and even more thankful he ran when he did. He's not the kind of guy I'd seek a personal friendship with. Maybe that's why it's easy for players to place blame 10 years later as he never seemed to be a "players coach". However, I've seen worse coaching decisions (@Philadelphia, not going for it on 4th and 1 and netting a punt of 8 yards and then 4th and 26...comes to mind) than Holmgren's play calling in the final drive of Super Bowl XXXII.

[RashanGary]

Wolf's big mouth is getting old. He sits around and tosses mud from his Florida home. Maybe it's his fault for letting Desmond Howard go, greatly weakening our ST's.

[KYPack]

Good comments all.

Sour Grapes is always low class.

Yeah the D had a tough nite. That was the virtual unveiling of the Gibbs ZBS and Fritz was unsure how stop it. Gary Zimmmermann spanked the pathetic Darius Holland play after play. The loss of Gabe Wilkins was huge and never was compensated for.

I've always thought that this game left bad blood BTW Wolf and MH. The move a few years later to make Shermie HC & GM was to slap Holmey. It was like, "we couldn't do that for you, but this guy is a team guy and we'll give it to him".

I think Harlan and Wolf wanted to rub MH's nose in it a little.

[Scott Campbell]

I think Harlan and Wolf wanted to rub MH's nose in it a little.

After BJ Sander, Ahmad Carrol, etc. etc. etc., all I can say is - they sure showed him by rubbing his nose in it.

[RashanGary]

I always had a feeling that Wolf knew Sherman would go for broke. I think Wolf influenced Sherman to act the way he did by telling him it's in the teams best interest to worry only about making your team better right now, rather than wanting to make it better as a whole. Sherman obviously didn't have experience of seeing the pitfalls of short sighted decision making.


Wolfs goal was to leave the team in the hands of someone he could trust to secure his legacy, not make his own. By being short sighted, Wolfs goal was to win during Favres last years and then fall apart. Wolf didn't realize how quickly it would fall apart, ultimately hurting his own legacy. NOw TT gets the credit and Wolf can do nothing more than sit itn Florida and toss mud. Screw him. I wouldn't doubt if big parts of the Packers core were dug up by Thompson and the scouts and Wolf took all of the credit.

[Carolina_Packer]

The NFC Championship game this year had some similarities to that Super Bowl. The defense was on the field too long, the offense seemed out of sync a lot and unable to use Levens effectively and they were unable to make adjustments when needed. Hopefully M3 will learn from his mistakes in that game when he gets his next chance.

[HarveyWallbangers]

The NFC Championship game this year had some similarities to that Super Bowl. The defense was on the field too long, the offense seemed out of sync a lot and unable to use Levens effectively and they were unable to make adjustments when needed. Hopefully M3 will learn from his mistakes in that game when he gets his next chance.

The Packers offense was mostly fine in that Super Bowl--except for the blitzes that Wolf was talking about. Favre threw the ball well when he had time, and Levens ran at will. He should have ran more. We couldn't run the ball at all against the Giants, and then when we had our two best runs, we went away from it. I don't necessarily agree with Wolf. That Super Bowl came down to the Packers inability to stop the run. If they slow Davis down just a bit, they win. The turnovers didn't help, but they should have been overcome. We only had two turnovers. Let's not forget that Elway gift-wrapped an interception that kept us in the game at one point. Frustrating to think that some coaches think they could have dealt with the Broncos new blitz packages though. Maybe that's just sour grapes by those coaches and Wolf though.

[retailguy]

I always had a feeling that Wolf knew Sherman would go for broke. I think Wolf influenced Sherman to act the way he did by telling him it's in the teams best interest to worry only about making your team better right now, rather than wanting to make it better as a whole. Sherman obviously didn't have experience of seeing the pitfalls of short sighted decision making.


Wolfs goal was to leave the team in the hands of someone he could trust to secure his legacy, not make his own. By being short sighted, Wolfs goal was to win during Favres last years and then fall apart. Wolf didn't realize how quickly it would fall apart, ultimately hurting his own legacy. NOw TT gets the credit and Wolf can do nothing more than sit itn Florida and toss mud. Screw him. I wouldn't doubt if big parts of the Packers core were dug up by Thompson and the scouts and Wolf took all of the credit.

I find myself mostly agreeing with this. That's twice in a week. i should buy a lotto ticket.

I remember reading something recently where Ted said if he had been here during the Sherman years that he might have decided to "go for broke" too. He might have just been being polite, but he might have been serious too. With Ted, you just never know.

What Wolf has shown in the past 5 years is how big his ego is. I know you have to have a big ego to do these jobs, and then the media gives you an even bigger ego by following you around like a puppy dog, but jeez. In 2008, who really cares who lost the 1997 Super Bowl?

Denver, cheated, and won. Let's just hate them and leave Holmgren alone.... OK? I think being shipped to Seattle is punishment enough. Let's just let it go...

[SkinBasket]

This article's like hosing down your grandma in the backyard.

At first it's kind of fun because the water's real cold and you feel like you're getting her back for all the bad things she's done to you.

Then after a while you realize you're hosing down your naked grandmother and she's sobbing about how cold it is and then you just feel a little gross.

[Deputy Nutz]

What the Packer lost?