Uhh, Coach?

[cpk1994]

This crap is a good example:


Packers: Frustrations boil over into conflicts
By JASON WILDE
608-252-6176
jwilde@madison.com
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As disappointing as the Green Bay Packers have been this season, they generally kept their composure and didn't let the strain of failing to live up to expectations show on the field.

Until Sunday's 20-16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, that is.

It began with quarterback Aaron Rodgers voicing his displeasure with rookie tight end Jermichael Finley after a botched third-and-goal play shortly before halftime forced the Packers to settle for a field goal.


• Same-old, same-old for Packers


That was only a preview, though, of the heated on-field exchange between cornerback Al Harris and linebacker Brady Poppinga early in the second half.

Packers coach Mike McCarthy blamed the infighting on "communication" breakdowns, but he wouldn't go into specifics of what caused the problems despite being asked repeatedly about the incidents.

"The communication wasn't as clean as it needed to be and it affected some of our performance," McCarthy said.

The Poppinga-Harris confrontation was the worst. With 11:15 left in the third quarter, Jaguars wide receiver Reggie Williams was left uncovered in the left slot. Harris angrily motioned at Poppinga to cover Williams, and after David Garrard's 36-yard completion to Dennis Northcutt went to the opposite side of the field, Harris ran up to Poppinga and got in his face.

After the game, Harris would only say it was an "animated discussion," while Poppinga tried to downplay the incident.

"The bottom line is we're both competitors. Stuff like that is going to happen on a team, especially two guys who want to win," said Poppinga, refusing to say who was supposed to cover Williams. "Sometimes you have a little conflict. To say that conflict is a bad thing is not true.

"I don't have hard feelings against him and he doesn't have hard feelings against me. ... How it looked is how it looked. But how it really went down is how it really went down. You can make it out as big as you want it to be, but it's not as bad as it looks."

It was bad enough that defensive coordinator Bob Sanders brought the entire defense together on the sideline after the Jaguars punted — "Just basically the same speech they give us, 'Stay together, stay focused, we're going to come out of this,'" Poppinga said — to restore order.

"We just sat 'em down, tried to make sure everybody's on the same page," Sanders said. "In the heat of the moment, everybody's working hard to do the right thing. It's a lot of competitive guys."

The Rodgers-Finley disagreement came when Finley looked confused on a third-and-goal play from the 5-yard line following a Jacksonville timeout. He lined up first on one side of the formation, then scurried to the other before the snap, and Rodgers was clearly displeased with him after a shovel pass to Donald Lee gained nothing.

Rodgers said it was "just miscommunication with the formation" on a play that resulted in a touchdown earlier this season against Atlanta.

Like Rodgers, Finley called it "just miscommunication with the play-call," then intimated it was Rodgers' fault.

"It wasn't on me at all," Finley said. "But I went with it."

McCarthy said such a mistake was inexcusable because of the Jaguars' timeout that preceded it, but wouldn't say who was in the wrong.

"We should be set and ready to go there," said McCarthy, who went onto the field after Mason Crosby's field goal to talk to Finley before assistant special teams coach Shawn Slocum yanked Finley from the kickoff coverage unit. "I don't want to get into (whose fault it was). It's all of our faults. We should not have problems lining up after a timeout. That's what happened."

That statement eerily reminds of Mike Charmin. This year can't get over with fast enough. And with each passing loss this season, we're finding out more and more things are flawed with the GB Packers....I'll fall on to my bean-bag comfiness of pointing the finger at TT, just as much as I'll point the finger at Mike McCarthy, the offensive line, defensive line, Mike Stock, and Bob Sanders.

30-32 under GM Ted Thompson. I guess we can wish that he looks more at Free Agency this offseason, but 4 years of treating FA like it's the ugliest stripper at the club is a good sign TT will continue to ignore it. Next season is a make or break year for Ol' Teddy and the coaching staff. I'm anxious to see how they're going to adjust from THE TOP--------DOWN..because that's where it starts...It doesn't start on the field.

Yeah, becuase signing Charles Woodson and Ryan Pickett while making big plays for Lavar Arrington and Adam Vinieri is ignoring FA. The argument that TT ignores FA has always and will always be bullshit.

[PackerBlues]

Yeah, becuase signing Charles Woodson and Ryan Pickett while making big plays for Lavar Arrington and Adam Vinieri is ignoring FA. The argument that TT ignores FA has always and will always be bullshit.

Nobody else wanted Woodson because of his injury history, so there was no bidding war there.

Ryan Pickett was not a big name free agent, how many other teams even looked at him?

As far as Arrington and "Adam Vinieri", they are not on the Packers roster, are they?

[cpk1994]

Yeah, becuase signing Charles Woodson and Ryan Pickett while making big plays for Lavar Arrington and Adam Vinieri is ignoring FA. The argument that TT ignores FA has always and will always be bullshit.

Nobody else wanted Woodson because of his injury history, so there was no bidding war there.

Ryan Pickett was not a big name free agent, how many other teams even looked at him?

As far as Arrington and "Adam Vinieri", they are not on the Packers roster, are they?

But TT made offers for both and had the largest offer on the table for Viniteri, didn't he?

[HarveyWallbangers]

Nobody else wanted Woodson because of his injury history, so there was no bidding war there.

There were a couple of teams that wanted him (Tampa Bay was one, for sure), but they wanted to move him to safety. The Packers paid good money for Woodson, so it wasn't like they picked him up off the scrap heap.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Ryan Pickett was not a big name free agent, how many other teams even looked at him?

Wrong on this one also. He signed for good money, was a well-known name (former 1st round pick), and had other offers. Green Bay outbid Buffalo and St. Louis for Pickett.

[bobblehead]

As far as Arrington and "Adam Vinieri", they are not on the Packers roster, are they?

That has to be a top ten dumbest post ever. What did you want TT to do, force them to sign the highest offer at gunpoint. Moron.

[Fritz]

The direction this thread has taken confirms my point - TT always seems to end up being the lightning rod for this organization. My point is that as a result of this, there has been less discussion of MM's culpability than I think is called for.

I think the guy seems to have at least - at least - 8-8 talent. At least. And he's not going to get the team to perform to its talent level. This, to me, is a coaching problem, and I wonder what went wrong from the standpoint of looking at coaching. Where did MM go wrong? Last year was a wonder year, and the Pack was 2 - 0 at the start of the season. Sure, there were injuries, but this team has not played up to its potential, even counting for the injuries.

[hoosier]

The direction this thread has taken confirms my point - TT always seems to end up being the lightning rod for this organization. My point is that as a result of this, there has been less discussion of MM's culpability than I think is called for.

I think the guy seems to have at least - at least - 8-8 talent. At least. And he's not going to get the team to perform to its talent level. This, to me, is a coaching problem, and I wonder what went wrong from the standpoint of looking at coaching. Where did MM go wrong? Last year was a wonder year, and the Pack was 2 - 0 at the start of the season. Sure, there were injuries, but this team has not played up to its potential, even counting for the injuries.

You seem to be assuming that this year is the yardstick and last year was a fluke. What if this year and last year are both aberrations and the truth is somewhere in between the two? In that case I think there are still troubling signs about MM and his staff, most of which come down to failure of fundamentals: the defense regularly collapsing at the end of games, the recent inability to convert short yardage situations. But if the Packers are really something like 8-8 on the talent spectrum (which I tend to agree with), then shouldn't MM also get credit for last year's overperforming team?

[Fritz]

No, hoosier, I don't mean to imply that. What I mean is that it's possible both were aberrations, in a sense, but that when you have 8 - 8 talent and you don't win 8, the coaching ought to be questioned. Instead, TT seems to attract the vast majority of attention, particularly the negative. I know, too, the guy hired MM, but I do think MM has really not done a good job this year. Last year, he did a fine job - the team seemed to be on its toes. This year, the continual dumb mistakes are just piling up.

[cpk1994]

No, hoosier, I don't mean to imply that. What I mean is that it's possible both were aberrations, in a sense, but that when you have 8 - 8 talent and you don't win 8, the coaching ought to be questioned. Instead, TT seems to attract the vast majority of attention, particularly the negative. I know, too, the guy hired MM, but I do think MM has really not done a good job this year. Last year, he did a fine job - the team seemed to be on its toes. This year, the continual dumb mistakes are just piling up.

I agree it should be questioned. But the only reason TT is getting the attention is becuase of Favre. It's sad that some just can't let the fact that Favre is gone go. The focus should be on McCarthy and the coaching staff now, not TT yet.

[PackerBlues]

That has to be a top ten dumbest post ever. What did you want TT to do, force them to sign the highest offer at gunpoint. Moron.

First off, as far as stupidity goes.....you are one to talk. Moron.

Secondly, for you to even suggest that Thompson would ever be the GM to make the highest offer to any free agent, just goes to prove who is being stupid here.

With approx. 25 million in cap room before Favre left, and approx. 35 million in cap room after Favre left, Thompson could have easily have made the high offer to any FA available. Fact is, he didn't.(probably never will.)

Were any of the available FA's worth it? Whole different argument.

[Bossman641]

That has to be a top ten dumbest post ever. What did you want TT to do, force them to sign the highest offer at gunpoint. Moron.

First off, as far as stupidity goes.....you are one to talk. Moron.

Secondly, for you to even suggest that Thompson would ever be the GM to make the highest offer to any free agent, just goes to prove who is being stupid here.

With approx. 25 million in cap room before Favre left, and approx. 35 million in cap room after Favre left, Thompson could have easily have made the high offer to any FA available. Fact is, he didn't.(probably never will.)

Were any of the available FA's worth it? Whole different argument.

This is all based on memory, so I could be wrong.

Didn't TT have the highest offer for Pickett? Didn't he have the highest offer for Arrington but he wanted the chance to play against the Redskins? Didn't he have the highest offer for Vinaetierri? I believe he also had the highest offer for Justin Griffith but he wanted to play in warm Oakland instead.

The point remains. Even if TT didn't have the highest offer for all of them he had at least had respectable offers on the table.

[Patler]

That has to be a top ten dumbest post ever. What did you want TT to do, force them to sign the highest offer at gunpoint. Moron.

First off, as far as stupidity goes.....you are one to talk. Moron.

Secondly, for you to even suggest that Thompson would ever be the GM to make the highest offer to any free agent, just goes to prove who is being stupid here.

With approx. 25 million in cap room before Favre left, and approx. 35 million in cap room after Favre left, Thompson could have easily have made the high offer to any FA available. Fact is, he didn't.(probably never will.)

Were any of the available FA's worth it? Whole different argument.

It has been reported by numerous sources that GB had made the highest offer to Arrington, but he decided he wanted to stay in the division to play his former team twice each year. It was also reported from several sources that Vinieteri signed with Indy in spite of a higher offer from GB.

It would be foolish for a GM to get the reputation with agents of being willing to bid against himself. If you have the highest offer on the table, and the player choses to go somewhere else, so be it.

[Freak Out]

Vinieteri wanted to kick indoors if I remember correctly that's why he went with the Indy offer.

[sharpe1027]

This is all based on memory, so I could be wrong.

Didn't TT have the highest offer for Pickett? Didn't he have the highest offer for Arrington but he wanted the chance to play against the Redskins? Didn't he have the highest offer for Vinaetierri? I believe he also had the highest offer for Justin Griffith but he wanted to play in warm Oakland instead.

The point remains. Even if TT didn't have the highest offer for all of them he had at least had respectable offers on the table.

Woodson and Chillar...not to mention all the players he resigned so that they never hit free agency. He is not adverse to free agency, end of story. Have there been more active GMs in free agency? Yes. I bet TT is still above average in his use of free agency. I would also bet that many GMs aren't so happy with their free agency pickups.

I can understand people not being happy with TT. However, it seems far too many of people are basing their displeasure on emotions and personal dislike of the man and not on a rationale analysis of what he has done.