Thompson Yearly Preseason Q&A with McGinn

[pbmax]

Packer's GM Looks Forward

Highlights, Thompson denies or refuses to comment on most of Bob's talking points this offseason. He didn't ask for a special review of the defense under Bob Sanders, he didn't ask for a special review of the running game or play calling in the Giants game and on Favre he justed punted it back to previous statements.

There is plenty of wiggle room in discussing philosophy on defense, running and play calling. But he seemed to shut the door tightest on speculation that he questioned McCarthy's run tactics (ZBS) and the wisdom of keeping Bob Sanders. Nonthing new on what the Braintrust thought about Favre after their yearly player review.

Most surprising? Thompson seems dismissive of the Ari Fleischer presence and hasn't seen him around. Must be a M3 and MM deal.

[The Leaper]

Bob McGinn must feel like he has several hours he'll never get back. Thompson is one of the worst interviews out there.

[Joemailman]

I thought McGinn took it easy on TT compared to last year's interview. Of course, last year TT was coming off an 8-8 season, not 13-3. I agree that TT revealed nothing.

[sheepshead]

What is it that we really dont know that we have known in previous years?

[mraynrand]

I hope this doesn't violate the copyright infringement deal but here goes:

Bob: If this was a football decision, and you are the leader in that department, put aside the rhetoric for a moment and explain your decision as a GM to make this change at quarterback.

Thompson: We’ve gone through this. We understand the passion of the readers that contact you. This is an unbelievable place. Fans love Brett Favre, as well they should and as we do. This was a complicated thing that we tried to work our way through. We reached the best solution we could possibly get to in our judgment. Other than that, it’s time for us to get ready for the season.
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Thanks for explaining your decision, Ted. Totally annoying. Bob had prefaced it with a bunch of considerations, like age, play in the Giants game, wavering about retirement, etc. Favre is gone. Ted could have been specific about what considerations were uppermost in his mind. Pretty lame.

[Fred's Slacks]

Bob McGinn must feel like he has several hours he'll never get back. Thompson is one of the worst interviews out there.

True, he is a boring interview but that's part of what makes him a good GM. He not going to give anything away, and more importantly he's not going to give the media any fuel to roast his staff and players.

[cheesner]

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Thanks for explaining your decision, Ted. Totally annoying. Bob had prefaced it with a bunch of considerations, like age, play in the Giants game, wavering about retirement, etc. Favre is gone. Ted could have been specific about what considerations were uppermost in his mind. Pretty lame.

Pretty classy if you ask me. Why point out Brett's short comings at this point in the whole mess.

[sheepshead]

Yeah, Ted's got a locker room to protect. A legend he is fond of. It's too soon, he can spill the beans when he retires and writes a book. It's clear (has been for a while) Brett has diminishing skills and ARod is ready.

[Bretsky]

I FIND THESE QUESTIONS INTERESTING AND I CAN SEE MCGINN MAY HAVE THE SAME VIEW ON BOB SANDERS AS I DO

Q.Plaxico Burress ate up Al Harris when Harris basically lined up across from Burress using inside technique and played man-to-man with no help. Shouldn’t adjustments have been made? Did the answers you received from the coaching staff satisfy you?

A. Yeah, I think so. A lot of those plays were real rat-a-tat. They were close. Al was with him most of the time. Plaxico had a remarkable game and Eli (Manning) put the ball exactly where he had to put it several times. That’s the nature of our defense. We like to play that way. On that day they got the better of us, but we don’t think there were any fundamental errors made.

Q.The Giants’ defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo, was able to hold the Patriots to 14 points in the Super Bowl thanks to tremendous play by his defensive line but also by outguessing Tom Brady with a varied blitz package. Does Bob Sanders have the creativity in his scheme plus the nerve that it takes for a team to go all the way?

A. Yeah, we like our coaching staff. To answer our question, yes we do. We’re very comfortable with Bob Sanders and his approach, and our entire defensive staff.

Q.In the days and weeks after that game, did you either ask McCarthy to make a change or consider making a change at defensive coordinator?

A. No.

Q.I keep coming back to Sanders. In practice Friday night the blitz package was sensational. Can you see a scenario in which this defense comes of age and actually starts dominating good opponents?

A. Yes. I think we have a very, very good defense. We have to get all our horses to the starting gate. This team will win because of our defense and other aspects of our team. Just like everybody else, we’re going to do different packages. As we go along in our building process, we’re going to have more and more people do more and more different things. We don’t talk a lot of trash here about dominating, but we have the defense to hold up.

[MJZiggy]

Yes, B, he may have the same view of Sanders as you do, but you're not supposed to know McGinn's views by reading the interview. Did he really think he was going to get Ted Thompson to throw the DC under the bus? Please. Ted Thompson is not going to publicly disparage anyone and McGinn has been around long enough to know that, so in reality asking that type of question is wasting his own time as well at Thompson's and ours. Also, he should know by now not to ask Thompson a 4-part question because he'll only answer one part of it. Thompson may be a boring interview, but in this case, I lay a lot of the responsibility for that on McGinn. He could have done a much better job. (and who wrote up that article that doesn't know the difference between 'there' and 'their?' These people are supposed to be professional writers--that means grammar, usage, and spelling, Bob.)

[bobblehead]

I FIND THESE QUESTIONS INTERESTING AND I CAN SEE MCGINN MAY HAVE THE SAME VIEW ON BOB SANDERS AS I DO

Q.Plaxico Burress ate up Al Harris when Harris basically lined up across from Burress using inside technique and played man-to-man with no help. Shouldn’t adjustments have been made? Did the answers you received from the coaching staff satisfy you?

A. Yeah, I think so. A lot of those plays were real rat-a-tat. They were close. Al was with him most of the time. Plaxico had a remarkable game and Eli (Manning) put the ball exactly where he had to put it several times. That’s the nature of our defense. We like to play that way. On that day they got the better of us, but we don’t think there were any fundamental errors made.

Q.The Giants’ defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo, was able to hold the Patriots to 14 points in the Super Bowl thanks to tremendous play by his defensive line but also by outguessing Tom Brady with a varied blitz package. Does Bob Sanders have the creativity in his scheme plus the nerve that it takes for a team to go all the way?

A. Yeah, we like our coaching staff. To answer our question, yes we do. We’re very comfortable with Bob Sanders and his approach, and our entire defensive staff.

Q.In the days and weeks after that game, did you either ask McCarthy to make a change or consider making a change at defensive coordinator?

A. No.

Q.I keep coming back to Sanders. In practice Friday night the blitz package was sensational. Can you see a scenario in which this defense comes of age and actually starts dominating good opponents?

A. Yes. I think we have a very, very good defense. We have to get all our horses to the starting gate. This team will win because of our defense and other aspects of our team. Just like everybody else, we’re going to do different packages. As we go along in our building process, we’re going to have more and more people do more and more different things. We don’t talk a lot of trash here about dominating, but we have the defense to hold up.

I've been very critical of sanders in the past, but I have watched the NFCC several times now and TT is dead on. Manning and Burress were in a zone that game. Harris was all over him on several plays, just like the vincent jackson TD vs. san diego in week 3, perfect pass and catch, nothing al could do. He also sent Hawk and others blitzing in the second half a lot. That day we did what we do, and the giants were unbelievable. I would play that game 10 times and we would win 7 imo.

[Bretsky]

Yes, B, he may have the same view of Sanders as you do, but you're not supposed to know McGinn's views by reading the interview. Did he really think he was going to get Ted Thompson to throw the DC under the bus? Please. Ted Thompson is not going to publicly disparage anyone and McGinn has been around long enough to know that, so in reality asking that type of question is wasting his own time as well at Thompson's and ours. Also, he should know by now not to ask Thompson a 4-part question because he'll only answer one part of it. Thompson may be a boring interview, but in this case, I lay a lot of the responsibility for that on McGinn. He could have done a much better job. (and who wrote up that article that doesn't know the difference between 'there' and 'their?' These people are supposed to be professional writers--that means grammar, usage, and spelling, Bob.)

McGinn- Is the Wall Tan ?

TT- Well it certainly might be. We like that wall regardless of the exact color. Some might think it's tan and some might call it white. The answer may be somewhere in between.

Either way we're confident in that wall going forward and feel it can be competitive with the rest of the walls in the league

[MJZiggy]

If McGinn had been bright enough to ask that question, he might have gotten an answer.

Step 1. Know who you're interviewing.

[pbmax]

If McCarthy and Thompson refuse to address why this decision happened, then they box themselves into a corner as they cannot stop the speculation that still rages today here and in Bob McGinn's inbox.

It would seem that to spare Packer fans, Favre or to insulate themselves against being judged wrong (maybe Favre can still play effectively), the Packer Organization suffers from a self-inflicted wound.

Or was it none of that, and they simply didn't want another weapon floating around the NFC North? The only reason to ignore Christl's advice to release him would be to stymie the Vikings. Are McCarthy and Thompson that competitive? Usually I would consider that an unreservedly good thing. but while pushing for this advantage, they also shot a hole in their public reputation.

Thanks for explaining your decision, Ted. Totally annoying. Bob had prefaced it with a bunch of considerations, like age, play in the Giants game, wavering about retirement, etc. Favre is gone. Ted could have been specific about what considerations were uppermost in his mind. Pretty lame.

[MJZiggy]

Who gives a shit about the PR hit right now? They got a possible 3rd round pick that Christl would have denied them which is the first thing they wanted. They also got Favre as far away from them as possible which they also accomplished. They turn that pick into something and play well, and they will be fine.