More Banjo: Week 3 vs Lions

[red]

This is just wrong.

Detroit was eating up possession in the second half with long sustained drives (due to Packers thin D).

We had one drive stall for a FG due to a holding penalty.

One drive end due to a drop by Cobb

Another drive basically end due to a Trevor Davis drop

In the above drives McCarthy called excellent plays, I believe. You want to run the clock out and put the team in manageable 3rd down distances. That was achieved but the players did not execute as well as they should have.

On the final drive Lacy made some great runs to end the game.

Now please explain to us how the foot was taken off the gas? Should we throw every single play and eat up only 20 seconds off the clock on a drive? Then we will be reading posts from you about how the play calling sucks and McCarthy didn't feed Lacy who had a great day?

but we didn't eat time off the clock, and they destroyed us in the TOP battle

not to mention we saw a-rod going back to looking for the deep balls too many times

sure you could sit there and blame the lack of offense in the second half on 3 plays. but the fact is, we came out with a different game plan both on offense and defense in the second half.

why stop what was working so well in the first half?

[red]

a rod was 3-6 for 31 yards in the second half.

does that look anywhere close to the same type of output we had in the first half?

you have to have balance on offense. i think we called 9 pass plays the whole half

and we called somewhere around 12 or 13 runs (not counting kneel downs and qb scrambles or sacks)

so we did go run heavy in the second

[Fritz]

Sorry.

Would hate to get in the way of a good 'Fire McCarthy' narrative

I don't want to see McCarthy fired. If he got fired, he'd have a new job in about two minutes.

I just want to bitch.

Though I am happy they won, and in the big picture, honestly, it's a win without a bunch of starters, and you could say the team just let down.

But that baseless bitching sure was fun.

[Fritz]

Okay, double post, but I don't care. Here's what Jeff Seidel of the Detroit Free Press wrote after the game:


"The Packers were tougher. They were smarter. And they were better coached, jumping out to a 31-3 lead."

Wow. Tough? Smart? Well-coached?

Maybe we're all too inside our heads. Or maybe the Lions just suck really bad. I don't know.

[red]

I don't want to see McCarthy fired. If he got fired, he'd have a new job in about two minutes.

and i call that mike sherman syndrome

both of the last 2 mikes are very similar IMO, both did next to nothing as far as coaching was concerned, both just rode HOF QB's to success

many packer fans couldn't believe we could get rid of such a winning coach as sherman. he did jack squat after leaving green bay BTW

hell, if a lot of packer fans had their way, sherman would probably still be the head coach. and the sad thing is, we probably would have won just as many super bowls in that timeframe

[pbmax]

This is just wrong.

Detroit was eating up possession in the second half with long sustained drives (due to Packers thin D).

We had one drive stall for a FG due to a holding penalty.

One drive end due to a drop by Cobb

Another drive basically end due to a Trevor Davis drop

In the above drives McCarthy called excellent plays, I believe. You want to run the clock out and put the team in manageable 3rd down distances. That was achieved but the players did not execute as well as they should have.

On the final drive Lacy made some great runs to end the game.

Now please explain to us how the foot was taken off the gas? Should we throw every single play and eat up only 20 seconds off the clock on a drive? Then we will be reading posts from you about how the play calling sucks and McCarthy didn't feed Lacy who had a great day?

Lacy had 17 carries. 6 in the first half when they forgot about the running the football more and had four straight scoring drives. In the second half, they gave him 11 carries and had one scoring drive. On their sole scoring drive, they gave him the ball 5 times, threw twice and had Rodgers scramble twice.

EDIT: Most likely, that's four called pass plays.

It was a good drive killed by a penalty. But that happens more often when you run.

My evidence of foot off the gas is first downs by half: 1-8-2 (run-pass-penalty) for a total of 11 in the first half. Second half? 1-5-0 for six total.

The offense disappeared on the scoreboard, field position and first downs when they ran more. The defense needed more help than just bleeding time.

[red]

Lacy had 17 carries. 6 in the first half when they forgot about the running the football more and had four straight scoring drives. In the second half, they gave him 11 carries and had one scoring drive. On their sole scoring drive, they gave him the ball 5 times, threw twice and had Rodgers scramble twice.

It was a good drive killed by a penalty. But that happens more often when you run.

My evidence of foot off the gas is first downs by half: 1-8-2 (run-pass-penalty) for a total of 11 in the first half. Second half? 1-5-0 for six total.

The offense disappeared on the scoreboard, field position and first downs when they ran more. The defense needed more help than just bleeding time.

haven't we seen the defense come out decent at the start of seasons before, only to be run down by the time the playoffs get him. losing the TOP battle by as much as we did today will to that to a defense over the course of the season, and games

[pbmax]

haven't we seen the defense come out decent at the start of seasons before, only to be run down by the time the playoffs get him. losing the TOP battle by as much as we did today will to that to a defense over the course of the season, and games

I am not a huge believer in TOP over the season causing an issue.

In a game, if its hugely one-sided? Yes.

But its more comfort and the ability to call ALL your offense and ALL your defense. If you are playing a style to bleed slowly, it becomes easier to take advantage of the defense. Same with the O. Nothing easier to defend or substitute for than run-run-pass.

[pbmax]

Ripkowski also did not return. That might explain some of the weirdness in the second half and the reappearance of that toss play.

M3 did not have more details.

Randall was ill before and during the game.

[TravisWilliams23]

Ripkowski also did not return. That might explain some of the weirdness in the second half and the reappearance of that toss play.

M3 did not have more details.

Randall was ill before and during the game.

Kinda made me a little sick watching him.

[King Friday]

The offense disappeared on the scoreboard, field position and first downs when they ran more. The defense needed more help than just bleeding time.

I think I agree more with max and red that the offense became too conservative in the second half, which is certainly a trait of McCarthy when he gets a big lead. That isn't necessarily a trait that will doom your team, but it isn't one that is going to help your team either. With the Packer defense today basically trying to hold itself together with duct tape and band-aids, the offense needed to be more aggressive and score as many points as possible.

While the Lions certainly played better in the 2nd half and made sure we weren't going to score 31 additional, the fact that we only got a field goal in the second half and couldn't really put the dagger into a very hapless Lions team is concerning. I'm not lighting a pitchfork on fire and storming the Packer front offices on Monday, but there is a certain level of accountability that needs to happen...McCarthy should stand up and admit that he and the team need to work on this issue.

[Joemailman]

Jared Cook had his foot in a walking boot and exited the locker room on crutches. Ripkowski has a back.

[red]

I think I agree more with max and red that the offense became too conservative in the second half, which is certainly a trait of McCarthy when he gets a big lead. That isn't necessarily a trait that will doom your team, but it isn't one that is going to help your team either. With the Packer defense today basically trying to hold itself together with duct tape and band-aids, the offense needed to be more aggressive and score as many points as possible.

While the Lions certainly played better in the 2nd half and made sure we weren't going to score 31 additional, the fact that we only got a field goal in the second half and couldn't really put the dagger into a very hapless Lions team is concerning. I'm not lighting a pitchfork on fire and storming the Packer front offices on Monday, but there is a certain level of accountability that needs to happen...McCarthy should stand up and admit that he and the team need to work on this issue.

except in nfc championship games of course

[ThunderDan]

Not sure what to think after the game. I just finished watching it on tape after having to miss the game live.

I am not sure how you can complain about the O in the 2nd half. I think we only had 4 possessions in the 2nd half. We scored on 1, punted twice and run out the last 4 minutes of the game without giving Det a chance to tie the game.

If I remember correctly we had 10 total possessions. We scored on 6, punted 2, run 2 plays to finish the 1st half, and ran out the last 4 minutes of the 2nd half sealing the game making sure DET never had the ball when they were only behind by 1 score or less.

The 2nd half "struggles" occurred because DET had some sustained long scoring drives.

[ThunderDan]

Just was looking at the box score on NFL.com. Two other notes, Packer offense had 1 three and out the whole game. ARod had 205 yards passing.