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The media seems to be patting the Packers on the back for the way they handled the Devon Hester threat by pooch kickoffs. In an article titled “Pooch kicks dog Bears” on JS Online, Lori Nickel gushes: “Boy, did it work.”
“In answer to a fan’s question, Tom Pelissero of Packersnews.com writes:
“Crosby absolutely can kick into the end zone, but unless he kicks it through the end zone, Hester could bring it out. Considering how the Bears offense had struggled, the Packers weren't willing to let Hester make a game-breaking play on a kickoff, and in that regard, they succeeded. Also, there certainly was a concession of field position on kickoffs, but look at how those drives ended: punt, punt, end of half, field goal, punt. If they kick it to him five times, there's a decent chance Hester could produce more than three points on his own.”
I’m here to say, Boy did it NOT work. Sure, Hester didn’t return any kicks for TD’s and Bear’s drives after kickoffs did end mostly in punts. But look at the Packers’ field position AFTER those punts: Green Bay on their own 22 (1st quarter); Green Bay on their own 15 (2nd quarter); and Green Bay at their own 10 (3rd quarter) .
Following the 1st quarter Chicago punt, Green Bay racked up mucho yardage basically to score one TD. Following the 2nd quarter Chicago punt, Green Bay put together a 10 play, 66 yard drive but scored only a field goal. And what happened after the 3rd quarter punt to the GB 10 yard line? Favre panics and tosses a “gift” interception to Urlacher. The play that most agree was the turning point of the game.
So in trying to contain Hester, the Packers actually pooched themselves in the foot. Anyone who follows football knows that if you get the ball on your own 35 or 40 yard line you have shortened the field and have got basically the entire playbook at your command. When you have good field position you can select pass and run plays you wouldn’t dare try if you were backed up on your own 10. Anyone who has followed the Packers’ offense over the years knows that you learn to expect bad things from Favre and company when his back is against his own goal line.
Despite what the media says, I don’t think McCarthy is going to pooch kick when they face Hester again in Chicago in December. The comment below is from McCarthy’s press conference of today:
(After your kickoffs they were starting near the 40. Are you OK with how you handled those kickoffs?)
The goal was to not let Hester factor in the football game, so we accomplished that. We felt we would be able to move the football in this game. We accomplished that in the first half. And we felt good about our matchup of our defense versus their offense. So that was really the overall plan. You never want to give up that type of field position. That's something we'll re-visit when we play them again in December, because they had almost 200 yards of field position in that game. Our first four weeks of the season we had been averaging plus-130 a game, and that's obviously a factor. But too many explosive gains, their offense versus our defense, and the field position, it did factor. Especially when we started getting the penalties on offense, and we had six penalties on special teams too. You play in those long down-and-distances, that's not a fun game to call.
As someone on this board remarked, Hester is as much or more of a threat to fumble as he is to return one all the way. Come December, I say let Crosby kick it off as far as he can and then let Hester take his chances colliding in the cold with the likes of Bigby, Rouse and Tracey White.
“In answer to a fan’s question, Tom Pelissero of Packersnews.com writes:
“Crosby absolutely can kick into the end zone, but unless he kicks it through the end zone, Hester could bring it out. Considering how the Bears offense had struggled, the Packers weren't willing to let Hester make a game-breaking play on a kickoff, and in that regard, they succeeded. Also, there certainly was a concession of field position on kickoffs, but look at how those drives ended: punt, punt, end of half, field goal, punt. If they kick it to him five times, there's a decent chance Hester could produce more than three points on his own.”
I’m here to say, Boy did it NOT work. Sure, Hester didn’t return any kicks for TD’s and Bear’s drives after kickoffs did end mostly in punts. But look at the Packers’ field position AFTER those punts: Green Bay on their own 22 (1st quarter); Green Bay on their own 15 (2nd quarter); and Green Bay at their own 10 (3rd quarter) .
Following the 1st quarter Chicago punt, Green Bay racked up mucho yardage basically to score one TD. Following the 2nd quarter Chicago punt, Green Bay put together a 10 play, 66 yard drive but scored only a field goal. And what happened after the 3rd quarter punt to the GB 10 yard line? Favre panics and tosses a “gift” interception to Urlacher. The play that most agree was the turning point of the game.
So in trying to contain Hester, the Packers actually pooched themselves in the foot. Anyone who follows football knows that if you get the ball on your own 35 or 40 yard line you have shortened the field and have got basically the entire playbook at your command. When you have good field position you can select pass and run plays you wouldn’t dare try if you were backed up on your own 10. Anyone who has followed the Packers’ offense over the years knows that you learn to expect bad things from Favre and company when his back is against his own goal line.
Despite what the media says, I don’t think McCarthy is going to pooch kick when they face Hester again in Chicago in December. The comment below is from McCarthy’s press conference of today:
(After your kickoffs they were starting near the 40. Are you OK with how you handled those kickoffs?)
The goal was to not let Hester factor in the football game, so we accomplished that. We felt we would be able to move the football in this game. We accomplished that in the first half. And we felt good about our matchup of our defense versus their offense. So that was really the overall plan. You never want to give up that type of field position. That's something we'll re-visit when we play them again in December, because they had almost 200 yards of field position in that game. Our first four weeks of the season we had been averaging plus-130 a game, and that's obviously a factor. But too many explosive gains, their offense versus our defense, and the field position, it did factor. Especially when we started getting the penalties on offense, and we had six penalties on special teams too. You play in those long down-and-distances, that's not a fun game to call.
As someone on this board remarked, Hester is as much or more of a threat to fumble as he is to return one all the way. Come December, I say let Crosby kick it off as far as he can and then let Hester take his chances colliding in the cold with the likes of Bigby, Rouse and Tracey White.
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