MCGINN---NEW JSO ARTICLES..........THE BLAME FALLS ON

[mraynrand]

^^^ I'm Ok being compared to the best there is, which is NE. Better than being on the other end of the spectrum, watching the revolving door of GMs and coaches screw up the number 1,2 or 3 pick in the draft and in each subsequent round, sign some older washed up FAs just making bank and then win 3-4 games at best every year.

[call_me_ishmael]

We just had 7 straight seasons making the playoffs. Not many teams can say that. Often a team will lose in the playoffs because a couple of plays. Not often does a team in the playoffs get blown out like AZ did against Carolina last Sunday. Jad their kicker made that extra point would Denver be in SB 50 instead of NE? Had we won the toss in AZ and won that game we would have been to 2 consecutive conference championship games. Winning it all is hard. Only one team ends the season happy.

No doubt we've been very good - but as McGinn points out we should be very good every year at a minimum because we have a premier player at a premier position. There is a reason it's always a Roethlisberger, a Brady or a Manning in the SB for the AFC. Because that one player at that position can make that big of a difference.

Let's say we get a B for getting to the playoffs every year. In my opinion, a B is very good, but we should be trying to improve and figure out how to get an A. The Patriots and there 5 straight AFC championship games and 2/3 AFC championship appearances in the past 15 years are a good model to follow.

I am not advocating for radically changing the approach, firing anyone, etc. I am content with how well we've done - but I think we can do more with a few tweaks to approach. I think McGinn feels the same way. He isn't calling for anyones head, etc. For example, He mentions bringing in players for try-outs consistently to increase competition. Lower level players have to bring it or be cut, so they try harder, which forces the mid-tier to try harder, which forces the top tier to try harder. I think this is a simple improvement that pays big time dividends.

[Bossman641]

Effective Drafting PLUS Annual Utliization of Free Agency to help fill holes is > than TT's draft only. Wist gets ripped, often unnecessary in here, for pointing out TT is constantly churning over the bottoms ten or so on the roster in hopes of finding a gem at the sacrifice of plugging in a hole or two. YES.....once in a blue moon we'll find a Sam Shields, but with his speed he wasn't exactly a complete secret. I'd just like to be like other teams and occasionally fill some holes. When TT has went out and found players....Woodson....Peppers...etc....he's did ok. I'd just like to see him do it a bit more.

I'm not following this comment. One of McGinn's complaints about TT has been that he does not churn over the bottom quarter or so of the roster as other teams do. I believe McGinn wrote a column back around week 6-7 comparing the number of transactions the Packers had made vs other teams over the past few years. Other teams were constantly signing new players to the practice squad or changing out the bottom few parts of the roster. The Packers basically kept the same team throughout the year as the team they finished training camp with.

[3irty1]

Because I criticize Ted Thompson for Hibernating during most free agent periods I know I'm labled as a FA wins Super Bowls guy. I would not put myself there. I would say this

Effective Drafting PLUS Annual Utliization of Free Agency to help fill holes is > than TT's draft only. Wist gets ripped, often unnecessary in here, for pointing out TT is constantly churning over the bottoms ten or so on the roster in hopes of finding a gem at the sacrifice of plugging in a hole or two. YES.....once in a blue moon we'll find a Sam Shields, but with his speed he wasn't exactly a complete secret. I'd just like to be like other teams and occasionally fill some holes. When TT has went out and found players....Woodson....Peppers...etc....he's did ok. I'd just like to see him do it a bit more.

At minimum I'd rather see one or two crafty Veteran signings (see Hoody's record for plenty of examples) as opposed to keeping a lug like Frank Zombo around for two years and then cast him away when he clearly is never going to help us.

Completely agree on Hoody Genius as a coach and Hoody Idiot as a GM. Had Scott Piolo stayed as the GM the reast of the NFL might have never had a chance. I've read and watched specials on this. Piolo brought a lot of sense to that duo and often protected Hoody from himself. TG he left.

Occasionally like when we need emergency WR help and Ted swiftly signs the perfect vet who starts the whole year for us?

Since Ted doesn't "draft only" and in fact has a sterling record with the FA's he's brought in. Either you think his success in free agency is scaleable rather than opportunistic which is just wrong or you want more JAG free agents which amounts to turning over the middle of our roster instead of the bottom and spending a ton of cap to do so. Frank Zombo is a success story, not a cautionary tale. The man's still in the league so we're not talking about a pizza guy here playing linebacker. For the NFL's minimum wage we had a guy who played on all 4 special teams and could get us out of a game starting for what was ultimately a championship defense. He doesn't have to be Sam Shields to be a great value, he can play out his whole contract and be on his way. If fans ran the team, we'd probably have signed Shawne Merriman or Jason Taylor that year.

For this season I think any fanblame on TT is fanblame that ought to go to McCarthy. The past few drafts have been excellent. The types of drafts that ought to precede a superbowl run. The new contributors from FA have surpassed all expectations. The guys who let us down this season are our established studs. Of course not all of that is McCarthy's fault but I think the Occam's razor conclusion for us arm-chair GMs who want to blame just one guy, McCarthy is that guy. This team played so much worse than the sum of its parts.

Strangely though, I also have a bit of FOMO now that we can expect McCarthy to abort his coaching shakeup experiment. What if it was a good idea but fell victim to a single snake-bitten season in the impatient atmosphere of pro sports? I remember being excited about it last season. I still see the merit.

[mraynrand]

This team played so much worse than the sum of its parts.

I disagree with this part. At the end, the parts were Jones, Abby, Janis. Jones was nursing a hammy or some other injury and Abby didn't return from injury until the Viking game #1 and was immediately injured again. Nelson was gone from the start, Cobb had his shoulder which probably bothered him longer than any of us knew, Monty was lost in game 6, Q was out, and Adams has the ankle then knee. I mean, that leaves virtually nothing. Those are some pretty shitty parts. Then, all the linemen were injured. some worse than others, and then out of position. Lacy was fat. So I disagree about the quality of the parts on offense. The defense and STs were fine, except maybe ILB and punter. Every team has some holes though.

I don't know where to place blame for the injuries. I can blame Stubby for Lacy, but only up to a point. I think with a guy like that, he gets one year to cock it up. If he isn't in physical stud shape by draft day, the Packers have to do something. If they don't, then I'll blame them if the run game is a disaster next fall.

The expectations here are very high, because the history of achievement is in the top 3 in the league under TT/Stubby. The NFL is designed to even out teams, so staying on top is pretty damn tough and there is at least a considerable amount of luck making that championship run.

There are problems that need addressing, but I'm not at all dissatisfied with the Packer's performance this year, taking everything into account.

[Patler]

No doubt we've been very good - but as McGinn points out we should be very good every year at a minimum because we have a premier player at a premier position. There is a reason it's always a Roethlisberger, a Brady or a Manning in the SB for the AFC. Because that one player at that position can make that big of a difference.

I would argue that they did not have a premier player at a premier position this year. Rodgers was nowhere near the player this year that he has been in recent years, and warning signs were out already in training camp concerning his play. This was before Nelson was lost and before injuries hit the offensive line. Again, if this team is very good because of Rodgers, when Rodgers doesn't hit his standard the team is not at the same level.

Let's say we get a B for getting to the playoffs every year. In my opinion, a B is very good, but we should be trying to improve and figure out how to get an A. The Patriots and there 5 straight AFC championship games and 2/3 AFC championship appearances in the past 15 years are a good model to follow.

Do you really think Thompson and McCarthy are not trying to make that next step? Do you really think they are satisfied just to be in the playoffs?

[Smidgeon]

McGinn's year end grades also gave McCarthy a D- for coaching this year, despite the record and dealing with a high number of injuries in two concentrated areas, and making the divisional round of the playoffs, none of which are easy to do.

So I'm personally not very inclined to give McClickbait the benefit of the doubt in what he intended to write.

[Maxie the Taxi]

[Cheesehead Craig]

How many FA did Vince sign again?

[mraynrand]

Ya know, Vince regretted saying "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing"

[mraynrand]

McGinn's year end grades also gave McCarthy a D- for coaching this year, despite the record and dealing with a high number of injuries in two concentrated areas, and making the divisional round of the playoffs, none of which are easy to do.

So I'm personally not very inclined to give McClickbait the benefit of the doubt in what he intended to write.

Really? D- If that's true, he's achieved Troll Status. You may as well give his job to Runtnstrut.

[Patler]

Ya know, Vince regretted saying "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing"

Per Wikipedia (if it is on the internet, it has to be true, right?):

According to the late James Michener's Sports in America, Lombardi claimed to have been misquoted. What he intended to say was "Winning isn't everything. The will to win is the only thing."

[3irty1]

I disagree with this part. At the end, the parts were Jones, Abby, Janis. Jones was nursing a hammy or some other injury and Abby didn't return from injury until the Viking game #1 and was immediately injured again. Nelson was gone from the start, Cobb had his shoulder which probably bothered him longer than any of us knew, Monty was lost in game 6, Q was out, and Adams has the ankle then knee. I mean, that leaves virtually nothing. Those are some pretty shitty parts. Then, all the linemen were injured. some worse than others, and then out of position. Lacy was fat. So I disagree about the quality of the parts on offense. The defense and STs were fine, except maybe ILB and punter. Every team has some holes though.

I don't know where to place blame for the injuries. I can blame Stubby for Lacy, but only up to a point. I think with a guy like that, he gets one year to cock it up. If he isn't in physical stud shape by draft day, the Packers have to do something. If they don't, then I'll blame them if the run game is a disaster next fall.

The expectations here are very high, because the history of achievement is in the top 3 in the league under TT/Stubby. The NFL is designed to even out teams, so staying on top is pretty damn tough and there is at least a considerable amount of luck making that championship run.

There are problems that need addressing, but I'm not at all dissatisfied with the Packer's performance this year, taking everything into account.

The shitblizzard was real but since we know for a fact that God is a packers fan only human freewill prevents us from getting a superbowl every year. Its important to remember this and differentiate between the verbs blame and fanblame. The shitblizzard is someone's fault, probably McCarthy but McCarthy for sure didn't make lemonade out of the shit as the proverb goes.

For real though I look at last year to see whats up. Despite being the top scoring team or whatever our offense had some trouble in paradise last season. The first three games were awful. Especially against the Lions where the defense was awesome but the offense scored more points for the Lions than they did for us. Then there was Buffalo. All those games even with MVP-Rodgers, Jordy, and a less rotund Lacy, it smelled like the warm, moist, low-pressure conditions of the 2015 shitblizzard.

[mraynrand]

Per Wikipedia (if it is on the internet, it has to be true, right?):

It's also in David Maraniss' book and on the NFL network "An Football life" coming from Vince's mouth, directly, on videotape. Wist might say it was a staged false flag operation by the CIA, but I believe it. Vince didn't say he was misquoted (Wiki got that wrong) but that he should have said something else. I'll get the exact quote for you later...

[ThunderDan]

If McCarthy gets a D- for coaching does that mean the other 27 coaches that didn't make it to the conference championship games all got D- or F?