Mike McCarthy Retires His Sharpie: Clements Promoted to Playcaller

[mraynrand]

Of course they communicate all the time.That includes PR moves as well.

TT and MM are tied at the hip and thus you have MM's 9 year tenure as HC of the Green Bay Packers and counting.

Hopefully all the changes lead to a SB win next year. I believe!

[woodbuck27]

Hopefully all the changes lead to a SB win next year. I believe!

I'm feeling more optimistic. It's going to be an interesting watch.

GO PACKERS ! GO PACK GO ! !

[woodbuck27]

We can always debate a difference of opinion, no matter how strong we are in our beliefs.

I think these changes were MM's to decide on and make, and his alone.

I'll give 'YOU' my best here:

maybe? and yet......

I lean towards believing that MM and TT are very close in regards to any significant decision regarding change as that simply makes decent or common sense. Now I do live in a different culture. Maybe that fact reflects some difference in our views?

[pbmax]

The Bills offensive personnel under Mularkey/Clements -

QB - Holcomb/Losman
RB - McGahee
WR - Lee Evans/Eric Moulds/Josh Reed/Roscoe Parrish

C'mon, let me have some fun with Bossman!

[woodbuck27]

I said to Ted.. " Uhhh jhessss....



..... Not even a small sheet !?

What else could I do ! "

[Patler]

I wish I could remember the coaches involved, but I have memories of HCs injecting themselves on the opposite side of the ball from where their expertize was, and mucking it up extensively. MM has said that he has a lot more to give the team, that he intends to divide his time equally among O, D and ST; and that he will be the third ST coach.

Is he overvaluing his expertize?

[Maxie the Taxi]

I wish I could remember the coaches involved, but I have memories of HCs injecting themselves on the opposite side of the ball from where their expertize was, and mucking it up extensively. MM has said that he has a lot more to give the team, that he intends to divide his time equally among O, D and ST; and that he will be the third ST coach.

Is he overvaluing his expertize?

IMO, no. I think the coaching thing is important but itself can be overvalued. As far as the weakest phases of the team go, D and ST, Ted will have more to do with their improvement than coaching. We need better players in those phases.

[mraynrand]

I wish I could remember the coaches involved, but I have memories of HCs injecting themselves on the opposite side of the ball from where their expertize was, and mucking it up extensively. MM has said that he has a lot more to give the team, that he intends to divide his time equally among O, D and ST; and that he will be the third ST coach.

Is he overvaluing his expertize?

1) Would you ask the same Q of Cheat? In other words, are you undervaluing Stubby?

2) Isn't this what the HC (or any leader) is supposed to do? Not try to micromanage each department but oversee things and make sure things are running properly. My guess is that he won't 'inject' himself so much, rather he will offer great nuggets of insight and foster accountability and evaluate success metrics and other corporate jargon.

Stubby will tour the facility, picking up slack, using a machete to cut through red tape. And offer nuggets of insight:

[pbmax]

I wish I could remember the coaches involved, but I have memories of HCs injecting themselves on the opposite side of the ball from where their expertize was, and mucking it up extensively. MM has said that he has a lot more to give the team, that he intends to divide his time equally among O, D and ST; and that he will be the third ST coach.

Is he overvaluing his expertize?

I do worry about two things:

1. Change at 1265 takes forever to take place on Defense and Special Teams. The only positive shock to either unit usually is the arrival of a new player (Dix, Cobb, Hayward, Hyde). The Defense in the last two years have improved on this, and after slow starts the defense has been outperforming the offense. If this isn't a coincidence, its a hugely positive development, on par with anything Hoody does with his units. We have still yet to see ST improve during a season.

So some way, McCarthy and Capers have bucked a trend and engineered two improving defenses in the last two years. One of the adjustments, the 4-3, was a mess, but Capers was able to turn the rest of the straw into spun gold by the end of the year.

If M3 offers his expertise in breaking down opponents film and self study, rather than scheme changes, I think its a huge positive.

Its far less clear what ails ST. There have been suggestions, from Zook and media, that there might have been complacency on the part of some veterans on ST units. McCarthy can solve that by just being a flashlight into a corner of the meeting room where he rarely appeared before. As soon as someone unexpected gets cut from ST, people will pay attention. But I think its easy to overplay this, regardless of whether M3 has a Pete Carroll "Competition Wednesday", plenty of young and UDFA players have excelled on the Packers. I don't think the level of complacency on this team is high.

But M3 also asked Slocum to be aggressive and not to be risk-averse. Outside of surprise onside kicks, that has been a mess. I am not sure M3 has a successful overall view of his ST units.

2. Situational Football. M3 needs to update his approach to this and its one thing that hasn't really been addressed. He did not seem moved by concerns that Matthews status was unknown to him for a time during the Seattle game and I am not sure if he has discussed the Sherman injury. So while not calling plays might make him more aware, this doesn't seem to be his focus.

If it was, it could make a big difference.

On offense, he still needs to figure out why certain Defenses flummox Rodgers and his receivers. And he still needs a 4 minute offense that makes use of his best weapon. If he was using Rex Grossman to hand off with a lead and 5 minutes remaining, I would understand. But its Rodgers, who even injured, doesn't normally toss hump balls.

He is perfectly capable of fixing this. If he looks at it.

[Maxie the Taxi]

Well said, pb. I second your thoughts. On the complacency thing...Complacency doesn't always take the form of laziness or lack of aggressiveness. Sometimes it takes the form of settling into a routine and not seeing the forest for the trees. I always thought the role of the leader was to ask tough questions, i.e., challenge routines and the status quo.

That might be hard for Stubby to do. He's the type of guy who seems to like things planned out.

[red]

someone needs to spend some time trying to figure out a redzone offense that works for us

[woodbuck27]

Well said, pb. I second your thoughts. On the complacency thing...Complacency doesn't always take the form of laziness or lack of aggressiveness. Sometimes it takes the form of settling into a routine and not seeing the forest for the trees. I always thought the role of the leader was to ask tough questions, i.e., challenge routines and the status quo.

That might be hard for Stubby to do. He's the type of guy who seems to like things planned out.

Mike McCarthy has pride. As the Head coach of the esteemed Green Bay Packers he looked flat out beaten by to much in the NFCC game. He had to do some inner speak and conclude that he screwed up on several levels in Seattle.

I'd love to know how he reacted on the trip back to Green Bay? How did he react to any player disappointment (s)? Did any of that fire him into a mode that has led to the multiple changes that most here agree hopefully, will be progressive and get the Packers over the hump? How did his conversations go with his coaches and with Ted Thompson in those hours of that trip back to Green Bay?

What's with the fricken hush-hush act !? Everything seems so secretive. It does get to the unreal and believing a lot of what does come out went down as it's being presented.

I believe that there were lot of pissed off Packer players and personnel. Maybe a proof that is true is the silence we observe in regard to key packer player/leaders. It seemed to me that at the end of last season Mike McCarthy had painted himself into a damage control corner. If I was correct about 2013-14 and add the way 2014-15 ended. Mike McCarthy as Packer Head coach had to make enough changes to help ensure a buoyant start for his rosters return.

Big changes were in my observation and from my checks on Packer Nation....overdue.

One of those changes was to ensure that he does a better job of dealing with his total job description in 2015.

[Pugger]

Hush-hush act? I'm not sure what you're speaking of. Everyone over at 1265 keeps things close to the vest until an announcement is required. What a horrible week that was for McCarthy. On Sunday his team implodes in front of God and everybody and we miss a golden opportunity for a championship and then a couple of days later his younger brother drops dead.

Kudos to him for making these changes. I don't doubt it was hard for him to give up calling plays. He said he really loves doing that but he decided to do what he thinks is for the good of the team. I hope he is right and we are even better this coming season.

[Patler]

1) Would you ask the same Q of Cheat? In other words, are you undervaluing Stubby?

2) Isn't this what the HC (or any leader) is supposed to do? Not try to micromanage each department but oversee things and make sure things are running properly. My guess is that he won't 'inject' himself so much, rather he will offer great nuggets of insight and foster accountability and evaluate success metrics and other corporate jargon.

Stubby will tour the facility, picking up slack, using a machete to cut through red tape. And offer nuggets of insight:

No, I am absolutely not undervaluing MM. Just raising a question for discussion. I don't have a clue what he knows about D, or particularly ST. I can see that there might be carryover between O and D, but not so much for ST, yet that is where he essentially named himself an assistant coach.

I think it is valid to ask the question about any HC who wants to become "involved" in an aspect he has no experience with. Not saying he will fail, but just because he is good with offense doesn't mean he will improve ST by being there. There can be conflict as well over who is in charge in the players' view. There was no question who was in charge of the offense, it was MM. The OCs knew it. The players knew it. If he now intends to spend equal time in all three phases..........?

Truth be told, I like the changes; but I also recognize there is no certainty that he can help the D or ST. If nothing else, maybe it will up the importance factor for D and ST knowing the HC is there. I wouldn't doubt for some there was a feeling of lesser importance because of little to no involvement of the HC, and the fact they all knew as we did that the team goes only as far as the offense carries it.

[Patler]

someone needs to spend some time trying to figure out a redzone offense that works for us

It was just a few years ago they were outstanding in the red zone, wasn't it? Heck, Crosby never seemed to get an attempt under 35 yards. Is it just that the DCs have caught on to what he does?