OFFICIAL GREEN BAY PACKERS vs. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES GAME DAY THREAD

[Scott Campbell]

Things get a little heated in the game thread. I get a kick out of the people declaring "game over" at the first sign of trouble for the Packers.

But you have to admire their powers of selective amnesia.

[TravisWilliams23]

The Pack had 6 losses this year by a total of 20 points.

Jones fumble against the Bears set up Chicago's winning field goal. Not on coach.

Crosby hits the upright on a game winning field goal at the end of regulation. Not on coach.

Miami's kicker hits a career long 53 yard field goal just before half in the 3rd loss. Opposing player makes a play. Not on coach.

Against Atlanta, Rodgers fumbles into the end zone in taking at least 3 points off the scoreboard. Plus, special teams suck on kick off coverage to put the Falcons in great scoring position at the end of the game. Fumble not on coach but special teams play is.

Detroit, Jennings drops sure TD pass and Rodgers gets injured. Driver had his man beat on 4th down play that Flynn overthrew. Not on coach.

New England. No Rodgers but Pack has Pats on ropes most of the game. Flynn throws pick 6 and special teams allow a LINEMAN to run a kickoff back 70-some yards to keep Pats in the game. Special teams play on coach, interception on players.

Green Bay could have won every one of those games if the players had executed better. Just a 2 game swing puts the Pack at home with a bye. Our top running back goes down in week 1 and the TE weapon goes down in week 5. The defense loses 11 players during the season. I'd say the coaches got the most they could given the adverse circumstances that happened this year. I find it difficult to put the blame on MM for not having a bye week off. Shit happens and we fans get to bitch and piss and moan all day long but at the end of the day the Packers are STILL in the hunt for the Super Bowl and I''ll take that result every year, thank you!

[Pugger]

just so vanilla on the last 3 downs, its classic mccarthy playing not to lose. did u see the sanchez throw yesterday? that is playing to win

You guys make me laugh. If you go back a page or two in this thread you are telling MM to give it to Starks. He does but it doesn't work so you blast MM! Geez guys!

[Pugger]

Vick is a weapon & Rodgers is a weapon but ass hat McCarthy doesn't want to use his best weapon. Stubby, you do not deserve this win.

Good grief! I know you hate MM but get real. Our D is a weapon too. We were running great all game long but Philly's D made a play - imagin that! the other team makes plays too. We win a playoff game on the road in a place we've had scant success and you are bitching. You do realize this is the first ROAD playoff game the Packers have won since 1997?

[Pugger]

Still no close win for McCarthy. this was another 5 point blowout!

[Joemailman]

The only play where I question MM's playcalling was running on 2nd and 9. Yet a couple of plays earlier on 2nd and 7, Starks had ripped off a 12 yard run. He may have thought he could get that again. In addition, an incomplete pass there would have stopped the clock and the Falcons probably would have gotten the ball back with 2:30 instead of 1:45. 45 more seconds plus a timeout. That's a huge difference. I suspect that was in the back of MM's mind.

Funny thing about all the criticism of MM being too conservative is that Holmgren used to do the same thing. Once he had a good defense, he would get conservative if he had more than a 3 point lead in the 4th quarter. It drove me nuts, but he won with it. I think MM had a lot of confidence that his defense could keep the Eagles out of the end zone. They did.

[Pugger]

yeah, there's right times and wrong times to run those plays

MM seems to call the wrong damn thing at the wrong time waaaaayy to often

Of course the play called sucks when it doesn't work but is genius when it does.

[sheepshead]

Driver with no limp after the game and only a mild knee bruise sustained. If I jinx us with this next statement I'm sorry, but how many injuries have we sustained since Rodgers went out against the Lions? Maybe we finally are getting a stretch of luck this season. McCarthy sure seems dumbfounded during his weekly presser, because he doesn't have any injuries to report on. Jenkins tightened up on that last drive, but wasn't much of a threat the entire game. I preferred having him in there tonight over Big Howard Green, and just think about how the week of rest is gonna help fatten Howie up for stuffing Turner.

I heard Donald was limping badly.

[mraynrand]

Good grief! I know you hate MM but get real. Our D is a weapon too. We were running great all game long but Philly's D made a play - imagin that! the other team makes plays too. We win a playoff game on the road in a place we've had scant success and you are bitching. You do realize this is the first ROAD playoff game the Packers have won since 1997?

Woo Hoo! Packers win a playoff game in Philly! Somewhere, someone is sitting on Chuck Bednarik and not letting him get up! 9..8...7..6..5...4...3..2...1... Packers WIN!

[OS PA]

Driver with no limp after the game and only a mild knee bruise sustained. If I jinx us with this next statement I'm sorry, but how many injuries have we sustained since Rodgers went out against the Lions? Maybe we finally are getting a stretch of luck this season. McCarthy sure seems dumbfounded during his weekly presser, because he doesn't have any injuries to report on. Jenkins tightened up on that last drive, but wasn't much of a threat the entire game. I preferred having him in there tonight over Big Howard Green, and just think about how the week of rest is gonna help fatten Howie up for stuffing Turner.

I heard Donald was limping badly.

"Injury report

Driver was the only player who was listed on the post-game injury report.

He said he suffered a bruised knee. He was able to return to the game. After the game he didn’t appear to be limping."

No knowing whether Silverstein actually knows what a limp looks like or not, but I have to go by the only information available to me.

[denverYooper]

The only play where I question MM's playcalling was running on 2nd and 9. Yet a couple of plays earlier on 2nd and 7, Starks had ripped off a 12 yard run. He may have thought he could get that again. In addition, an incomplete pass there would have stopped the clock and the Falcons probably would have gotten the ball back with 2:30 instead of 1:45. 45 more seconds plus a timeout. That's a huge difference. I suspect that was in the back of MM's mind.

Funny thing about all the criticism of MM being too conservative is that Holmgren used to do the same thing. Once he had a good defense, he would get conservative if he had more than a 3 point lead in the 4th quarter. It drove me nuts, but he won with it. I think MM had a lot of confidence that his defense could keep the Eagles out of the end zone. They did.

That right there.

[denverYooper]

Whine, whine, bitch, whine, bitch, whine, celebrate but don't admit you're wrong, whine, bitch

That pretty much sums up the game day threads.

Ok. I'll admit I was wrong about Bush's Talking Heads collection. I don't think he was really that big a fan of 80's avant-garde pop. After some reflection on it, I believe he's probably more of an Elvis man.

[Guiness]

The Pack had 6 losses this year by a total of 20 points.

Jones fumble against the Bears set up Chicago's winning field goal. Not on coach.

Crosby hits the upright on a game winning field goal at the end of regulation. Not on coach.

Miami's kicker hits a career long 53 yard field goal just before half in the 3rd loss. Opposing player makes a play. Not on coach.

Against Atlanta, Rodgers fumbles into the end zone in taking at least 3 points off the scoreboard. Plus, special teams suck on kick off coverage to put the Falcons in great scoring position at the end of the game. Fumble not on coach but special teams play is.

Detroit, Jennings drops sure TD pass and Rodgers gets injured. Driver had his man beat on 4th down play that Flynn overthrew. Not on coach.

New England. No Rodgers but Pack has Pats on ropes most of the game. Flynn throws pick 6 and special teams allow a LINEMAN to run a kickoff back 70-some yards to keep Pats in the game. Special teams play on coach, interception on players.

Green Bay could have won every one of those games if the players had executed better. Just a 2 game swing puts the Pack at home with a bye. Our top running back goes down in week 1 and the TE weapon goes down in week 5. The defense loses 11 players during the season. I'd say the coaches got the most they could given the adverse circumstances that happened this year. I find it difficult to put the blame on MM for not having a bye week off. Shit happens and we fans get to bitch and piss and moan all day long but at the end of the day the Packers are STILL in the hunt for the Super Bowl and I''ll take that result every year, thank you!

That's a pretty selective analysis of the losses. Of course you can pick a play in each game, call it the game-breaker, and say it wasn't the coaches fault. Big picture is where the coach matters, and in most (all?) of those, there was big picture issues.

To pick a couple of them...against Chicago, sure Jone's fumble was a back breaker. Team doesn't get called for an insane number of penalties though (which is on coach) I bet that play is a non-issue. McCarthy, however, did get that fixed

Late in the 4th Q against NE, we had the ball, plenty of time on the clock and a chance to win. We squandered about 5 minutes, and ran out of time at the end. Bad clock management, that's on coach.

I'm not bitching about coach here, he's done a great job these past few weeks! But to absolve him of all fault...well, that guy who's birthday we just celebrated is the only one without sin!

[HarveyWallbangers]

We are now 11-6. We have won in 5 blowouts. We are 6-6 in our close games.

[TravisWilliams23]

That's a pretty selective analysis of the losses. Of course you can pick a play in each game, call it the game-breaker, and say it wasn't the coaches fault. Big picture is where the coach matters, and in most (all?) of those, there was big picture issues.

To pick a couple of them...against Chicago, sure Jone's fumble was a back breaker. Team doesn't get called for an insane number of penalties though (which is on coach) I bet that play is a non-issue. McCarthy, however, did get that fixed

Late in the 4th Q against NE, we had the ball, plenty of time on the clock and a chance to win. We squandered about 5 minutes, and ran out of time at the end. Bad clock management, that's on coach.

I'm not bitching about coach here, he's done a great job these past few weeks! But to absolve him of all fault...well, that guy who's birthday we just celebrated is the only one without sin!

Wasn't absolving MM of all guilt. In 2 of my example games I specifically blamed the special teams play on coach. My point was that in all 6 loses the players were directly responsible for not getting the job done. Just 2 wins out of those 6 loses gives GB a bye and home field for at least 1 more game. Example from Eagles playoff game is Jones dropped TD pass before half. Change the entire complex of game. If we're up 21-3 at half, it's turn out the lights, the party's over. Didn't result in a loss but made the game a lot more interesting. MM has been challenge challenged his whole career. He refuses to let assistants go who need to be let go. He's definitely not without fault but at some point you have to hold the players to the fire for screwing up what might have been the proper play call.