McCarthy deserves a little praise

[The Leaper]

The guy put together a good gameplan today and called a good game. The only mistake I was upset with was his decision to not take knees at the end. After Detroit used their last time out, there were 110 seconds left. With 2 full rundowns of the clock, we are punting to them with no more than 30 seconds left on the clock, and Detroit gets the ball back with at least 80 yards to go with 24-25 seconds left (after the time expired on the punt play itself).

With Ahman's history of fumbling, it was inexcusable to hand the ball off to him. He had already come close to fumbling several other times today. The OL was not getting any real push during the game, and defenders were getting lots of big hits on the RBs. There was NO REASON to risk a handoff or fumble in that situation. Detroit has no real chance to go the length of the field in 25 seconds with no timeouts.

McCarthy is showing that he learns lessons from previous failures. He tried to run against Chicago. He learned...and has let Favre open it up more, within reason, the last two weeks. The results have been positive. He shows good ideas with the occasional hurry up offenses to catch the defense off guard. He still has plenty to learn, and will still be outcoached several times this year...but there at least is hope IMO.

[billy_oliver880]

Now if we can get some decent play calling on the defensive side of the ball we might just have something here.

[MJZiggy]

I thought he called a good game today. I think with Green they might have been just trying to put the thing away, keep it out of reach. Either way...I thought they were in field goal range. Didn't Ahman funble at the Lions 30? Rayner could have made that.

[billy_oliver880]

I thought he called a good game today. I think with Green they might have been just trying to put the thing away, keep it out of reach. Either way...I thought they were in field goal range. Didn't Ahman funble at the Lions 30? Rayner could have made that.

Pretty close to there....How has Rayner looked? I can't get the games out here in Arizona.

[Lurker64]

I really don't fault McCarthy for running at the end of the game. If he had taken a knee three times and punted, people would be screaming at him for not trying to put the game away by getting a first down so he could kneel and win. That combined with the fact that they were almost in field goal range to start with, and a field goal would have salted away the game there, so anticipating that you might kick on fourth down, you wouldn't want to be losing yardage on first through third downs. People used to scream at Sherman for not going for it on fourth and short towards the end of games in order to put the game away. Can we honestly fault McCarthy for not trying to put the game away on First and Ten?

You can't refuse to run plays that can win you the game because a bad thing might happen.

[MJZiggy]

Rayner missed his first of the season and has done well ever since.

[Iron Mike]

Am I the only one who's thinking that had Green NOT fumbled on that last run, there was no way Detroit was gonna keep him out of the endzone??

[billy_oliver880]

Rayner missed his first of the season and has done well ever since.

Knock on wood...our kicking hasn't been a problem then.

[FritzDontBlitz]

they need to stop playing zone defense. PERIOD. i'd rather see them get burned in man coverage than have receivers running scot free while the secondary bickers about who's man it is.....

[chewy-bacca]

I would like to see Green lose the start next week for that fumble. Not bench him, just sit him for a little bit. Someone needs to prove a point with a vet. Fumbles, drops and missed assignments are not gonna cut it.

[Scott Campbell]

I think they should have been taking the knee in the end instead of giving it to butterfingers. We were just asking to lose this game tempting fate like that.

[HarveyWallbangers]

I've had no problems with McCarthy's playcalling on the offensive side. I do have a problem with the defensive coaching staff. Why is that we have Poppinga lined up against Joe Horn and Nick Collins lined up against Roy Williams?

[Iron Mike]

I would like to see Green lose the start next week for that fumble. Not bench him, just sit him for a little bit. Someone needs to prove a point with a vet. Fumbles, drops and missed assignments are not gonna cut it.

If we sit Green and Franks, we're back at the same point as last year with Driver and a bunch of NFL-E players.....

[hawaii50]

I think the call to run was fine. You should not EXPECT your RB to fumble in situations like those...that was purely on ahman's shoulders. When you are running out the clock you need to have two hands on the ball at all times, it's high school fundamentals. To kneel and give them the ball back with 30 seconds and 80 yards is still no given with our pass rush and secondary play. If they scored in that situation what would we all be saying...."MM should have ran the ball and went for the first down at least". Double edged sword i guess. Bottom line is in the nfl you can't play not to lose (i.e. the eagles last week), and if there is one thing that i actually do like about MM is that he's aggressive and goes for the win.

[VegasPackFan]

I agree that M3 seems to be able to learn and adjust his calling from game to game. A great coach learns how to do this within the game. That will be his next step.

Bubba did good today, but Green, ugh.