Uhh, Coach?

[sheepshead]

I wish this was from our coach rather than former Packer Jim Zorn:

“It hurts. I feel like the worst coach in America. [The players] risk a lot. They put out tremendous effort, tremendous emotion to go out and play. We can win some of these games. I have a hard time looking at the talent and just saying that’s [the problem] and moving on … I have to look at myself. It’s all about me. I need to check my plan of attack and my staff, we need to reevaluate. ”

[hoosier]

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 get it now. Thought you were saying something different. Absolutely agree that the ones who should be getting scrutiny now are McCarthy and his staff. TT seems to have done an adequate job, if not better than adequate, in assembling a team of talented and high-character players. The true sign of a well coached team, IMO, is one that comes together and plays even better when a star player goes down. We saw that last two years with the Giants and to a certain degree with New England post-Brady.

[Brohm]

"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."

As much as Al is a competitor, Popps on a WR screams WTF all over the place. He has enough trouble with TE's and FB's out of the backfield

Hello DC, come in DC....

[Gunakor]

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."

Looks like someone doesn't want to stay employed anymore. Just when you thought this guy could act like a bigger idiot.

I was going to ask, is Finley the guy that was having the problems earlier too? Like he thought he was entitled to get the ball thrown to him. He really sounds like a jackass and I don't get how if he lined up wrong it is not his fault.

"I don't do back shoulder"

Yep, same guy.

If I'm going to blast TT for any of his draft picks, it's this one. I don't think he'll be around a whole lot longer unless he really has a change of attitude before minicamp next year.

[Gunakor]

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?

Woodson was worth it, was he not? Why does FA only count when there is a bidding war? Why do you have to spend more money than another team offers in order to justify a good FA selection?

If anything TT is a good accountant, which may come in handy when there is no salary cap or revenue sharing...

[PackerBlues]

If being the highest bidder on a FA is not the problem, then what is? Does Thompson just not have the ability to convince FA's that GB is the place to play?

Does anyone believe that it will be any easier for him to convince FA's to come to GB after this season?

[Bossman641]

If being the highest bidder on a FA is not the problem, then what is? Does Thompson just not have the ability to convince FA's that GB is the place to play?

Does anyone believe that it will be any easier for him to convince FA's to come to GB after this season?

GB isn't flashy, it isn't warm, and there's not much to do. It is a good place for older guys with veterans or younger guys who aren't into all the glam or spotlight.

I see you are changing your argument now though. First you said TT would never make the high offer to a FA. You got called out on that. Now you say it is TT's fault for not making GB an appealing enough place to play.

Not much TT can do about guys who would rather play in a dome (Adam V.), against their former team (Arrington), or in a warm climate (Justin Griffith)

[Patler]

If being the highest bidder on a FA is not the problem, then what is? Does Thompson just not have the ability to convince FA's that GB is the place to play?

Does anyone believe that it will be any easier for him to convince FA's to come to GB after this season?

In some ways, yes maybe it will be easier.

For many years Favre was a draw for free agents. But, as he got older and made it very clear that he had no idea if he would return or not in the next season, let alone several in the future, he may actually have become a negative factor. With Rodgers an uncertainty, FAs may not have known what they would be getting into. At least now the team has a core of young players with some potential at many key positions, including QB. The team may have had a down year, but it seems to have some substance to it.

[Pugger]

[quote="PackerBlues"]

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.

Wasn't the FA signing time over after BF left? But before we run TT out of town let's see what he does this coming offseason.

TT did mess up with some of his moves - in particular the D line - but I would put the blame for a lot of our problems on coaching. It is unconscionable to be making the mistakes these guys are STILL making at this point in the season! Is it MM or his assistants - O line, ST and DC in particular - the problem? Do these gentlemen have difficulty getting thru to their charges and have them ready to perform at a high level on Sundays?

[PackerBlues]

If being the highest bidder on a FA is not the problem, then what is? Does Thompson just not have the ability to convince FA's that GB is the place to play?

Does anyone believe that it will be any easier for him to convince FA's to come to GB after this season?

GB isn't flashy, it isn't warm, and there's not much to do. It is a good place for older guys with veterans or younger guys who aren't into all the glam or spotlight.

I see you are changing your argument now though. First you said TT would never make the high offer to a FA. You got called out on that. Now you say it is TT's fault for not making GB an appealing enough place to play.

Not much TT can do about guys who would rather play in a dome (Adam V.), against their former team (Arrington), or in a warm climate (Justin Griffith)

Not really changing my argument, just not beating a dead horse.

(besides, if Patler says Thompson made the highest offer, I'm not going to argue. Simply put, Patler has earned my respect many times over, most others here have not. )

[sharpe1027]

Not really changing my argument, just not beating a dead horse.

(besides, if Patler says Thompson made the highest offer, I'm not going to argue. Simply put, Patler has earned my respect many times over, most others here have not. )

How many FAs do you expect a GM to sign a year? Is there a quota? How many do most GMs sign per year? I've never seen any hard numbers showing that TT is even less than average in his use of free agency?

Either way, you can't argue with the results. Our best DT and a candidate for defensive MVP are both TT free agents. Not to mention our best coverage LB. I'm guessing that ranks pretty well against other GMs.

[Spaulding]

Fritz, good call on this thread. It's something that's been crossing my mind during this entire penalty driven, poor execution excuse of a season.

TT is definitely accountable to some level given he hired McCarthy but I strongly believe his drafts have put enough talent in the cupboard to field a pretty good team.

McCarthy's performance this season has been up and down but it seems that this team continues to lack fundamentals and focus.

Agree with the statements the team overachieved last year. Just as Brett stated in multiple post game interviews, the team was very talented but did he ever expect they'd be that successful - no.

Chips fell our way in close games, this year not quite. Injuries obviously play a part but coaches overcome that. If you use the Patriots, Colts or the Giants for example. good coaching overcomes that.

All of this reminds me of how badly he got out coached against the Jets and Patriots two years ago.

[Gunakor]

TT is definitely accountable to some level given he hired McCarthy...

McCarthy has had one season well above .500, one season right at .500, and one slightly below .500. If TT is accountable for MM's failures this season, then he should be held accountable for MM's successes last season as well.

I guess the question here is this - Who Is Mike McCarthy? The guy is all over the board, both in terms of success and consistency. He might be a very good coach who is having a down year, or he might be a very bad coach that got extremely lucky last year. I don't know the answer to that one, and I doubt anyone else including TT does for certain either. But I can't fault a guy for taking a chance on a rookie HC who in his second season took his team to the NFC Championship Game, even if his 3rd season is laced with failure.

[Bossman641]

TT is definitely accountable to some level given he hired McCarthy...

McCarthy has had one season well above .500, one season right at .500, and one slightly below .500. If TT is accountable for MM's failures this season, then he should be held accountable for MM's successes last season as well.

I guess the question here is this - Who Is Mike McCarthy? The guy is all over the board, both in terms of success and consistency. He might be a very good coach who is having a down year, or he might be a very bad coach that got extremely lucky last year. I don't know the answer to that one, and I doubt anyone else including TT does for certain either. But I can't fault a guy for taking a chance on a rookie HC who in his second season took his team to the NFC Championship Game, even if his 3rd season is laced with failure.

This is my main question too. The team doesn't really have anything they can hang their hat on offensively. MM talks about wanting to be a power team with the emphasis on the run and grinding out yards in cold-weather and then he abandons the run way too easily IMO.

Wanted to run the zone, and then has moved to a hybrid zone-power scheme.

I really don't know anymore. I feel like the offense has lost its identity. I'm not even sure what I would consider the base set anymore, as we must use more formations then anybody in the league.

I'd like to see a few trick plays added to the playbook. With Sherman we'd get WR reverses, Green passing the ball on tosses. I think MM needs to add a little bit of that to the playbook. Have we ran one trick play this year? Somebody please remind me. I'd also like to see more quick tosses to the WR's. Jennings and Driver should be able to get 5+ yards everytime that way.

[cheesner]

MM I believe is a good coach. He has, though, inferior defensive assistants. MM has made some good calls at times and he has made some bad decisions. I see general improvement and think that he can still suceed as the coach. On defense, I see a lot of talent and very little success. They play some games very well (at least most of the game) but a couple of breakdowns and the game is lost. They play inconsistent, without confidence and make mistakes. These are all coaching issues - and hopefully, the entire defense can be improved with a change of the defensive coordinator.