Play calling

[Freak Out]

I'm guessing they didn't want to give the ball back to Brady had they scored with any time left and I don't blame them.

BS....it's not like the GB offense was scoring at will and they had to slow it down.....job one was to score a TD.

[Freak Out]

2) Not letting flynn call his own plays in the final drive. While flynn waited for the 4th and 1 play, the clock ran off 17 seconds and ended our game. MM had his nose in the book looking confused and unaware that the game was running out on him.

I'm still pissed of what happened there on that final drive. It's inexcusable.

[Scott Campbell]

Time and time again, MM has shown he is willing to play the end of games for long shot opportunities. More often than not he seems to fail.

I keep waiting for him to pick up on this. It has to show up during the autopsy. Clock management issues seem to me like they should be very easy to fix.

[Patler]

Silverstein was not impressed with the plays called early in the 4th quarter after the Packers failed to get the TD on first and goal from the 2 and the Patriots came back for a matching FG to make it 27-24. He felt they should have stuck with the running game, because it had been working. Instead on 1st down from their own 21, Silverstein writes:

"... McCarthy called for Flynn to throw a fade route down the field. Flynn got sacked for minus-4 and the Packers never ran a called running play on the series. It was a point in the game where they had a chance to force their will on the Patriots, but McCarthy went for it all on first down.
'That was a play based on how we were running the ball earlier,' McCarthy said."

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/112170864.html

[denverYooper]

I won't complain about what was called, my complaint is about HOW the plays were called.

Other than the one long pass to Jones, the Packers success was really in taking shorter gains, even running the ball, and moving the chains. Their scoring drives were:

11 plays - 6:15 - 40 yards for a field goal
3 plays - 1:01 - 69 yards for a TD
13 plays - 6:26 - 82 yards (22 by penalty) for a TD
13 plays - 6:56 - 69 yards for a TD
11 plays - 5:05 - 53 yards for a field goal

Their final possession starter at 4:22 and they needed 57 yards. I saw little urgency in their play before the two minute warning, as they ran just 5 plays, getting two first downs and 22 of the yards they needed. After the two minute warning, with two timeouts at their disposal, they ran 6 plays getting one first down and 20 yards. They ran out of time trying to get their 7th play off at the 15 yard line. Ya, they got the ball snapped, but they had no clue what they were doing because they did not have time to get a play in.

I think running out of time is ridiculous. They had success moving in small increments against NE. A little more urgency and a few more plays early in that drive might have gained a few more yards and put them in position for shots into the endzone.

They milked the clock early in the drive, then ran out of time. It would have been better to use the clock more efficiently early, still taking the yards that were given in small increments, then milk the clock late if given the opportunity. They ran most of that drive as if time was no issue, but then ran out of time at the end of the drive.

Time and time again, MM has shown he is willing to play the end of games for long shot opportunities. More often than not he seems to fail.

Very solid assessment Patler.

[mission]

Very solid assessment Patler.

Hmm, so because Patler says it it's a very solid assessment, but last night we had to "have our heads checked" ?

[denverYooper]

Hmm, so because Patler says it it's a very solid assessment, but last night we had to "have our heads checked" ?

I never said anyone had to have their head checked.

[HarveyWallbangers]

I think people complain too much about playcalling.

[mission]

I never said anyone had to have their head checked.

Oh, maybe that was Bossman. Sorry.

[pbmax]

I won't complain about what was called, my complaint is about HOW the plays were called.

Other than the one long pass to Jones, the Packers success was really in taking shorter gains, even running the ball, and moving the chains. Their scoring drives were:

11 plays - 6:15 - 40 yards for a field goal
3 plays - 1:01 - 69 yards for a TD
13 plays - 6:26 - 82 yards (22 by penalty) for a TD
13 plays - 6:56 - 69 yards for a TD
11 plays - 5:05 - 53 yards for a field goal

Their final possession starter at 4:22 and they needed 57 yards. I saw little urgency in their play before the two minute warning, as they ran just 5 plays, getting two first downs and 22 of the yards they needed. After the two minute warning, with two timeouts at their disposal, they ran 6 plays getting one first down and 20 yards. They ran out of time trying to get their 7th play off at the 15 yard line. Ya, they got the ball snapped, but they had no clue what they were doing because they did not have time to get a play in.

I think running out of time is ridiculous. They had success moving in small increments against NE. A little more urgency and a few more plays early in that drive might have gained a few more yards and put them in position for shots into the endzone.

They milked the clock early in the drive, then ran out of time. It would have been better to use the clock more efficiently early, still taking the yards that were given in small increments, then milk the clock late if given the opportunity. They ran most of that drive as if time was no issue, but then ran out of time at the end of the drive.

Their tempo or play rate did decrease in that last drive. 37.4 seconds per play in the last drive. For the other 2 long TD drives, it was 27 and 32 seconds.

McCarthy did say they got the play in and it was the play designed for 4th down in the red zone. But once Flynn drifted forward to his right, he took Bulaga out of the picture and allowed the DE/OLB a clean shot.

[Patler]

McCarthy did say they got the play in and it was the play designed for 4th down in the red zone. But once Flynn drifted forward to his right, he took Bulaga out of the picture and allowed the DE/OLB a clean shot.

Ya, but they could have done better than that with a bit more time. It would have been nice to be able to run a play trying to get the first down, then clock the ball, and be able to throw a couple into the end zone. They never gave themselves much of a chance because they didn't have enough time. They wasted so much time that they had no cushion. Everything had to go as planned, and it didn't with the early sack and then Driver coming up short of the first down.

4:22 can be a long time, more than enough even for drives a lot longer than the Packers needed. To run out of time like they did was a huge waste, in my opinion.

[pbmax]

2) Not letting flynn call his own plays in the final drive. While flynn waited for the 4th and 1 play, the clock ran off 17 seconds and ended our game. MM had his nose in the book looking confused and unaware that the game was running out on him.

There are no other first time starters in the NFL calling their own plays. Rodgers just this year was given the reins of the no huddle.

[pbmax]

Silverstein was not impressed with the plays called early in the 4th quarter after the Packers failed to get the TD on first and goal from the 2 and the Patriots came back for a matching FG to make it 27-24. He felt they should have stuck with the running game, because it had been working. Instead on 1st down from their own 21, Silverstein writes:



http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/112170864.html

Force their will on another team is just sportswriter babble for complaining about something that didn't work. It was early in the fourth and the Patriots were going to get the ball for two more possessions in any normal scenario. You cannot shorten the playbook with that much time.

[denverYooper]

Oh, maybe that was Bossman. Sorry.

No problem.

[pbmax]

Ya, but they could have done better than that with a bit more time. It would have been nice to be able to run a play trying to get the first down, then clock the ball, and be able to throw a couple into the end zone. They never gave themselves much of a chance because they didn't have enough time. They wasted so much time that they had no cushion. Everything had to go as planned, and it didn't with the early sack and then Driver coming up short of the first down.

4:22 can be a long time, more than enough even for drives a lot longer than the Packers needed. To run out of time like they did was a huge waste, in my opinion.

If you read McCarthy's transcript from today, I think he might give a clue to his thinking in situations like this. There is an obvious caveat that he may simply not be telling the press everything he is thinking. But if it reflects his actual thinking:

He seems to have no issue with the tempo or strategy. And he refuses to get drawn into a debate about whether Rodgers could have done differently, whether to call for a measurement on 4th and 1 and he won't claim that Flynn did not have enough work in the 2 minute and red zone to be familiar with what needed to be done.

That drive might be executed the way he wanted it done. He may simply have a plan for a four minute drive while behind needing a TD, which might include taking time off the clock, and he wasn't going to deviate from it due to circumstances last night. This would be of a kind with the 4 minute offense to drive and then seem to settle for a long FG. He has a plan and is not going to deviate from it under specific game conditions.

Either that or he will not get into what he wants to change or alter. It may be that he won't make changes like that until the offseason.