Are we cut blocking or what???

[Guiness]

I re-watched the Vikings game last night, specifically looking for cut blocks on the few running plays we did run. I think I saw one thrown by Colledge, but it was a miss. Although someone else did trip over him. I watched the other games, and paid passing attention, and may have seen a half dozen or so cut blocks. I haven't watched the Washington game, so I can't comment on that.

I'm not being sarcastic here!!! I really expected to see more cut blocks, or at least attempted cut blocks, but they just don't seem to be throwing them.

[MJZiggy]

Notebook: Run Game Under Microscope


by Mike Spofford, Packers.com
posted 10/15/2007

It's becoming a familiar refrain, but Head Coach Mike McCarthy once again reiterated what the Packers' stagnant running game needs to get going, and it's not just one thing.

It's better fundamentals by the blockers, consistency in who the feature back is, and a commitment to the run game by the play-caller himself, McCarthy.

"When you don't run the football, it compounds itself and your problems are ahead," McCarthy said on Monday. "That's what we're focused on, because you want to have all your horses."

The ground game produced just 56 yards on 20 carries in Sunday's win over the Redskins. That marked the fourth time in six games the Packers rushed for fewer than 60 yards.

McCarthy said the running game will get its due evaluation during the bye week. From a schematic standpoint, the most frustrating thing for McCarthy has been seeing the same blocking mistakes made over and over. Whether it's properly cutting off the backside pursuit or effectively handling combination blocks up front, the run-blocking unit hasn't improved as the season has gone along, and that's bothersome.

"I wouldn't say we've regressed, but we have not improved in my opinion," McCarthy said. "The things that bother you more are the common mistakes.

"There are some guys who are doing things really good in certain areas, but the common mistakes we're making, that's what we need to improve on, and frankly that's coaching. And I think every football team in America goes through that during the course of the year."

McCarthy said he would look into whether featuring one runner might help develop some rhythm and consistency within that part of the offense as well. Rookies Brandon Jackson and DeShawn Wynn have gone back and forth as far as who's received the larger workload, depending on the health and productivity of each.

McCarthy also realizes the number of rushing attempts is way down, and that hasn't helped the team build a ground game. The Packers had just six rushing attempts in the first half against Washington, and even with a larger commitment to run against Chicago's cover-2 defense the week before, the offense still had just 22 runs compared to 40 pass attempts by Brett Favre.

"We need to do a better job of taking advantage of the seven-man box," McCarthy said, referring to the number of defenders near the line of scrimmage when teams play two deep safeties. "If you've got two backs in the backfield, and you cannot run the ball well against a seven-man box, you're playing uphill. And we have done that the last two weeks, really I'd say the last five quarters."

There have been a number of running plays called that have been changed to quick passes at the line of scrimmage by Favre because of the defensive alignment, but the commitment to run still needs to be there over the long haul.

"You want to be able to get in and out of the number of concepts you have in your offense so you don't become one-dimensional," McCarthy said.

Sticking with it
When asked what aspect of his team he's most pleased with, McCarthy pointed to the team's maturity and ability to overcome adversity.

That was missing during the early stages of last season, when close games at home against New Orleans and St. Louis were lost at the wire, and a bad third quarter snowballed into a blowout loss at Philadelphia, leaving the team 1-4 at the bye week.

This season a poor offensive showing against the Eagles, a failed goal-to-go from the 1-yard line against the Chargers, a late fumble at Minnesota, and a handful of missed scoring chances at the Redskins all have been overcome to register victories.

The Packers couldn't overcome their minus-4 turnover ratio against Chicago the previous week, but simply finding a way to win more often than not when everything doesn't necessarily go smoothly is a sign of growth for the NFL's youngest roster.

"That's good team football, and that's the way you have to win," McCarthy said. "It's not always going to be pretty."

That said, the message also is clear the Packers haven't played their best football yet, and that's a stride they'd like to hit as the season progresses.

"I think we're in that routine that I felt we finally hit down the stretch last year, and I actually talked about in our team meeting Saturday night," McCarthy said. "Just using the prior week's positives and negatives from the game to keep reinforcing how we need to continue to improve. Hey, we're a good football team. We're 5-1. And they don't hand out victories in this league. So we're proud of the fact of where we are."

Down to one tight end?
McCarthy said the knee injury to Bubba Franks is a sprain and it may keep the veteran tight end out for a couple of weeks.

If Franks is unable to return for the Oct. 29 game at Denver following the bye, McCarthy said the team might look to sign Ryan Krause from the practice squad. The only other tight end on the active roster is Donald Lee.

"I'm very, very pleased with the way the tight end position has performed," McCarthy said. "Now Krause has to step in if it's his opportunity, and we'll just make sure we put him in positions to be successful."

Quarterback Brett Favre had his ankle rolled up on during the game, but McCarthy said he talked to Favre Monday and he'll be fine. Defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins has a leg injury from Sunday's game, and cornerback Frank Walker has a knee injury. Both players will be tested further, but McCarthy didn't indicate that either injury was serious.

See it again
Sunday's Packers-Redskins game will be re-broadcast on NFL Network's NFL Replay feature at 9:30 p.m. (CT) Tuesday.

NFL Replay condenses the game to a 90-minute format with exclusive NFL Films material and post-game press conference sound bites.

Those interested in the Packers' NFC North rivals can see a re-broadcast of Sunday's Bears-Vikings game at 7 p.m. (CT) Tuesday.

[RashanGary]

Re: Are we cut blocking or what???

I re-watched the Vikings game last night, specifically looking for cut blocks on the few running plays we did run. I think I saw one thrown by Colledge, but it was a miss. Although someone else did trip over him. I watched the other games, and paid passing attention, and may have seen a half dozen or so cut blocks. I haven't watched the Washington game, so I can't comment on that.

I'm not being sarcastic here!!! I really expected to see more cut blocks, or at least attempted cut blocks, but they just don't seem to be throwing them.

McCarthy thinks he's a genius. Apparently the zone scheme that has been successfull in the NFL isnt' good enough for Mike. From what I understand, McCarthy thinks cut blocks leave piles of people and get in the way. He doesn't believe in that sort of thing. Funny how it's the backside (where the cuts are supposed to be taking place) that is constantly killing our running attack. Well, it's not so funny if your a Packer fan.

[gbpackfan]

Justin,

Where the hell did you come up with that? MM is aware that the back side blocks are not working. He is doing everything possible to fix it. I think you are way off.

[MJZiggy]

Re: Are we cut blocking or what???

McCarthy thinks he's a genius. Apparently the zone scheme that has been successfull in the NFL isnt' good enough for Mike. From what I understand, McCarthy thinks cut blocks leave piles of people and get in the way. He doesn't believe in that sort of thing. Funny how it's the backside (where the cuts are supposed to be taking place) that is constantly killing our running attack. Well, it's not so funny if your a Packer fan.

Did you not READ the article I just posted?

McCarthy said the running game will get its due evaluation during the bye week. From a schematic standpoint, the most frustrating thing for McCarthy has been seeing the same blocking mistakes made over and over. Whether it's properly cutting off the backside pursuit or effectively handling combination blocks up front, the run-blocking unit hasn't improved as the season has gone along, and that's bothersome.

[Partial]

Scott Wells said on Gary and Cliff that they are phasing it out and by the end of this season it should be gone. He said that McCarthy has never liked it, but really liked the knowledge that Jags brought to the table.

A stip Jags had to be coordinator was to run the ZBS. Mac is in the process of switching to a traditional power gap scheme.

[Joemailman]

Partial, if that's true, it's a combination of good news and bad news, in my opinion. The good news is I prefer the power gap. Never thought zone blocking was a good fit for the type of coach McCarthy is, and I always wondered why he decided to go with it. The bad news is I wonder if we have the right type of players for power gap. I realize that Flanagan and Wahle were guys whose greatest asset was their mobility, not necessarily brute strength. However, we don't seem to have anyone who is a road grader like Rivera.

This would explain at least in part why we haven't seen the kind of progress on the OL many of us expected to see this season.

[Partial]

I think the OL is struggling because we have a lot of excellent pass blockers and not enough good run blockers. Colledge certainly wasn't known for his run blocking coming out, and Clifton never was either. Wells is kind of small to hold the point, and the right guard has been a revolving door. Tauscher is solid at everything.

I suspect they'll improve. I also suspect they fatten the boys up this off-season.

[Guiness]

Agreed Partial - the personel we have may not be suited, and I don't know if they can adapt. One of the benefits of this system was supposed to be that you can use smaller, more athletic linemen. Less competition for them, and one would think it's easier to recognize athleticism then to try and guage if the fat boy in college can put on another 20lbs and make it in the NFL.

I hope all the draft picks we've spent on the OL these past 2 yrs aren't wasted because we were drafting for a different type of system.

[woodbuck27]

Scott Wells said on Gary and Cliff that they are phasing it out and by the end of this season it should be gone. He said that McCarthy has never liked it, but really liked the knowledge that Jags brought to the table.

A stip Jags had to be coordinator was to run the ZBS. Mac is in the process of switching to a traditional power gap scheme.

YES! YES!! YES!!!

[KYPack]

I've been wondering about this all year. I wonder why we even bother to "commit" to the ZBS, 'cause we aren't really running it. What we are running is some kind of hybred the coaches have cooked up. It's easier for the guys to run, but isn't the full blown Alex Gibbs style ZBS.

In order to run the ZBS, you need a zealot to be the guiding light of the whole deal. Our zealot, Jags, has moved on. We need to decide if we wanna run the power gap and this hybred or just run the power gap. The WCO is a power gap system.

I think Mac thought that the ZBS would equal instant running game and wanted both that and Jags to jump-start his offense. Now he's lost Jags. He's modified his running attack to the hybred. The problem is that we drafted all these ZBS guys that are working out about half-ass. Moll is probably a career back-up, ditto Spitz. Colledge may develop into a LG or and LT replacement for Cliffy. I think Wellsey is OK and Coston will eventually be our RG. We need one more lineman that can actually shove guys around to ever have a running game.

With Moll, Spitz, AND Colledge in there, we don't have much of a shot at running the ball. Getting one effective guy wouldn't be much of a problem.

I think the bigger problem is making the move on scrapping the ZBS and making personnel moves to have a good ground game.

[MJZiggy]

Can you scrap your system in the middle of a season? Seems to me we're stuck with it at least in part until they have the opportunity in the offseason to teach the kind of run blocking they want out of the guys...

[Partial]

I think you'll see Juice (10), Darren (10), Scott (5), Jason (10) and Tony (10) significantly heftier next year. Ideally, they will gain some strength and still be able to keep their mobility and quickness at this size.

[Carolina_Packer]

What a predicament. I never thought about what would happen if the scheme didn't take, but now that they've committed to it and are hinting at going back to a traditional scheme, do you think we will need to make personnel changes or do you think it's as "easy" as having the guards and center condition themselves to put some pounds on?

Also, if we were successfully executing the power-gap system, which if any of our current RB's would be good for that system?

I think they are definitely at the fish or cut bait stage on this scheme; not meaning scrap it in the middle of the season, which I don't see, but after the season making the decision. I say, do whatever you have to do to get the running game productive.

[Brohm]

I think our lineman will adapt fine, once they get the system sorted. They are not that much lighter than other teams or even Rivera and Wahle. Wells was drafted by Sherman so I would assume he saw something in him for his version of the power run game. Also, they all have ben reported to have a bit of a mean streak which I should translate well in a power scheme as opposed to a finesse zone scheme. Can't be mean when you're face down on the ground