McCarthy's Fate

[The Shadow]

I think the Detroit & San Francisco games have sealed McCarthy's fate - unless the team miraculously reaches at least the NFC championship game. These 2 games have succinctly epitomized the staleness of Stubby's approach.
With the success of innovative young coaches across the NFL, Murphy & Gute will finally pull the plug. Rodgers can't keep saving McCarthy's bacon week after week.
Change is nigh.

[mraynrand]

"Not only did Rodgers become the first quarterback in team history to throw for 400 yards in back-to-back games, but he also established a new NFL record for consecutive 400-yard passing games without an interception:"

https://packerswire.usatoday.com/201...against-49ers/

[mraynrand]

Valdes-Scantling needed only three catches to produce 103 yards, a career high. He became only the sixth receiver in franchise history to go over 100 yards receiving on three or fewer catches. The rookie started the contest with a 60-yard catch on the Packers’ first play from scrimmage.

Adams continued his torrid pace to start the 2018 season. He has touchdown catches in five of six games and is currently on pace to catch 125 passes, which would set a new Packers record. Over the last two weeks, he’s hauled in 19 passes for 272 yards and three touchdowns.

Graham’s 54-yard catch was his longest since 2013. He’s also starting to come on, with 11 catches for 180 yards over the last two games.

Valdes-Scantling has operated like a starting receiver the last two games thanks to injuries to Randall Cobb and Geronimo Allison. He’s responded in a big way, catching 10 passes for 171 yards and a touchdown.

Rodgers, meanwhile, became the first quarterback in team history with back-to-back 400-yard games as a passer.

I dunno, maybe this is all luck, Rodgers, etc. but it might involve some coaching too.

[mraynrand]

157

[gbgary]

"Not only did Rodgers become the first quarterback in team history to throw for 400 yards in back-to-back games, but he also established a new NFL record for consecutive 400-yard passing games without an interception:"

https://packerswire.usatoday.com/201...against-49ers/

speaking of int's i heard an interesting stat on the dan patrick show this morning. at the current rate that Rodgers throws interceptions, it would take him to age 65 to eclipse Favre's INT record.

[texaspackerbacker]

McCarthy's fate huh?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the fault - to the extent that there even is a fault - lies with the previous GM and the delinquent job he has done procuring quality personnel to go along with Aaron Rodgers. McCarthy may not be flashy, but he is doing reasonably well with the personnel he has.

As for whether or not there is a "problem", fans of about 28-30 of the 32 NFL teams would trade the record and situation of their preferred teams for that of the Packers. Sure, things could have been, probably should have been maximized, but face it, we've gotten spoiled.

McCarthy ain't going anyplace until he gets ready to go. The leadership of the team doesn't want him to go, and the large sensible portion of fans don't want him to go either.

[call_me_ishmael]

I like MM but I agree he's not going to be retained unless they catch fire. It's just time for a change, similar to Andy Reid. How great would one of the hard ass Harbaugh's be here? I'd take either one in an instant.

[Rutnstrut]

McCarthy's fate huh?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the fault - to the extent that there even is a fault - lies with the previous GM and the delinquent job he has done procuring quality personnel to go along with Aaron Rodgers. McCarthy may not be flashy, but he is doing reasonably well with the personnel he has.

As for whether or not there is a "problem", fans of about 28-30 of the 32 NFL teams would trade the record and situation of their preferred teams for that of the Packers. Sure, things could have been, probably should have been maximized, but face it, we've gotten spoiled.

McCarthy ain't going anyplace until he gets ready to go. The leadership of the team doesn't want him to go, and the large sensible portion of fans don't want him to go either.

I'm no fan of TT and agree with you on his worthlessness. However if stubby was the coach you think he is, he would make do with the talent he has. How you can call what he does doing reasonably well is beyond me. Without AR bailing his ass out, he would be nothing.

[Rutnstrut]

speaking of int's i heard an interesting stat on the dan patrick show this morning. at the current rate that Rodgers throws interceptions, it would take him to age 65 to eclipse Favre's INT record.

That's how old he will be when GB makes another superb owl appearance if they keep the status quo mindset.

[texaspackerbacker]

I'm no fan of TT and agree with you on his worthlessness. However if stubby was the coach you think he is, he would make do with the talent he has. How you can call what he does doing reasonably well is beyond me. Without AR bailing his ass out, he would be nothing.

The reason I consider it making do reasonably well is because the Packers have won consistently over the years - it's as simple as that. And they have done so with very limited talent other than the world's greatest QB. Yeah, "without AR bailing his ass out, he would be nothing" - nothing more than now anyway. But I ask you, what coach would? There's a lot of idiotic suggestions in this forum - run more, rein in Rodgers/make him scramble less, get rid of the ball quicker, etc. Would you rather have a coach who thought like that? I guarantee, the Packers would have been worse over the Rodgers years with a coach who subscribed to that crap - given the shitty O Line and mostly mediocre D.

[texaspackerbacker]

That's how old he will be when GB makes another superb owl appearance if they keep the status quo mindset.

Tell me you're not saying you'd rather Rodgers threw MORE interceptions/took a lot of chances like a lot of other QBs. The scrambling and holding on to the ball is the carefulness that leads to his fantastic record of lack of interceptions. I, for one, want that to continue.

[Carolina_Packer]

Somewhat useless to argue fault. Better to argue responsibility, as in who is ultimately responsible for the performance of the team? Where does the buck stop?

I suspect every reasonable person on this forum will agree there is enough blame to go around for the regressions we've seen, when some were hopeful, possibly expecting more out of this team, given all the changes.

With so much change from last off-season, it may not be as quick of a fix as hoped. You can't quickly re-tool the defense that basically added Wilkerson and some rooks to the mix, with basically the same cast of defensive characters, especially if you are working to take care of your franchise QB. They could have gone all in with Mack, but at a substantial cap cost.

We knew the approach was going to change, but limited players in Capers scheme can just as easily be limited players in Pettine's scheme. Talent always supersedes scheme. Who can win their one on one battles?

MM is ultimately responsible for the way this team goes. Just because the team might make a change doesn't mean it's all his fault. He has been a successful coach in his time, but it is time for a different approach. They've changed everything else. If he falls short of a playoff run, I think he's out.

[mraynrand]

There's a lot of idiotic suggestions in this forum - run more, rein in Rodgers/make him scramble less, get rid of the ball quicker, etc. Would you rather have a coach who thought like that? I guarantee, the Packers would have been worse over the Rodgers years with a coach who subscribed to that crap .

This is a great post, except for the fact that it totally flies in the face of facts. The last best year of the Packer O was 2014, when they were #1 overall; 8th in passing and 11th in rushing. The run balance not only protected Rodgers, but opened up the passing game. Also, they had one of the top rated O-lines that year. Notably, their TD-checkdown passing offense was the culprit the following year, dropping to #25th ranked while their defense and running game stayed about the same (defense was #13 in 2014, #12 in 2015; rushing game was ranked #12 in 2015).

[pbmax]

We have a lot of evidence now that touchdown to check down worked very well with certain receivers and not really that well since they started to disappear.

Its not the one factor, tex is right that the O line is not what it formerly was, especially on the right side. And defenses have adjusted. But the current targets make this a hit or miss approach.

[mraynrand]

We have a lot of evidence now that touchdown to check down worked very well with certain receivers and not really that well since they started to disappear.

It was really having the collection of trusted receivers so that defenses couldn't afford to take one guy away, and Packers could run multiple verticals, with Rodgers picking his favorite/most open and let it fly. Jennings and Jordy at their peak with Jones Driver and Finley all as legit targets. But Jennings as top wideout in that group made it all go - when he got hurt in 2011, it screwed it all up.