Why they lost

[RashanGary]

1. The Dline did not get any pass rush. The Packers relied on 4 like they usually and the front four just did not do their job. Romo sat back, waiting for is WR's to break into the 2nd and 3rd windows in the zone and he just picked us apart. The secondary got beat, but the blame has to go to the front four, first and foremost for not getting any pressure on Romo. With that kind of pass rush, the Cowoboys would pick any secondary apart. It was just way too easy for the Cowboys to do whatever they watnted.

2. The kick coverage was abysmal. Every time they kicked, Dallas was starting at the 35-40 yard line. You just can't give Dallas that kind of edge in the field position game and expect to get out unscathed.

3. Favre and McCarthy seemed to have it in their heads to go deep. It didn't work from the onset, but the Packers kept at it, ruining drives, tossing picks and deflating the whole team. Rodgers came in, calmed the team and did what GB does best but it was too litte, to late to overcome the mistakes that had already happened and the poor defense that continued through the whole game.



The bright side is that much of this can be fixed. MM and Favre can go back to taking what is given and only taking shots only when the defense gives it. I think it's a different defense with Jolly, KGB and Woodson, so that can be fixed with a little health. The ST's has been really good all year. Hopefully they get that cleaned up. They are the biggest concern, because there is no real reason for it. They just got beat, badly.

[Ballboy]

The special teams just kills me.

I'm sure I just don't get it, but answer me why a team wouldn't kick the ball in the endzone everytime? This kid can kick a 56 yard FG but can't kick the ball 70+ yards with a running start?

You kick it into the endzone, they other team gets it at the 20. You have less chance of getting a big return, less chance of any of your players getting injured, and finally your players remain fresh from not having to run up and down the field after guys.


What do I konw anyway?

[LL2]

The special teams sucked and so did Harris. The others in the secondary were not any better, but TO really to it to Harris. We need Woodson back and he makes Harris better. These two are getting older so I hope the younger guys can develop into good corners.

I also think Harris had full posession of that ball in bounds when he stripped it from TO. It might have been to close for the refs to overturn.

[Deputy Nutz]

Special teams was terrible other than the kickers. The Packers coverage on kickoffs was poor, and their return game was poor as well. If the guys on special teams are putting forth that kind of effort I really have to question how fired up the team was to play this game.

Another reason the Packers lost was the fact that this secondary can't operate effectively without Woodson. Bush is an ok nickel back but he is not a starter, this team has two good corners and then a bunch of nonstarters at this point. The Packers front office is goigng to have to do a better job finding depth in the secondary in 2008. Bigby is a young player, but his mental mistakes and then his knack for committing game changing penalties is a killer. No need for either one of those personal fouls on face masks.

Favre seemed to blow his wad again in the first quarter during a big game on the road, he seemed to get too hyped up and forget things like reading the defense,finding the open route, finding the receiver that had single coverage, finding the blitz before the snap of the ball. Favre has issues when pressure is coming up the middle on him before he has time to set his feet, common for most QBs, but Favre feels he has to force the ball and get it out quick.

[Carolina_Packer]

Favre seemed to blow his wad again in the first quarter during a big game on the road, he seemed to get too hyped up and forget things like reading the defense,finding the open route, finding the receiver that had single coverage, finding the blitz before the snap of the ball. Favre has issues when pressure is coming up the middle on him before he has time to set his feet, common for most QBs, but Favre feels he has to force the ball and get it out quick.

Good job on Dallas' part to get pressure consistently. I think both interceptions were ill-advised throws. Just because you can start your throwing motion and get most of the way through it, doesn't mean you will end up getting much on your throw if a defender is bearing down. The downside to his ultra-competetive, I can make any throw nature is that sometimes he takes risks that end up with costly mistakes. But, if he didn't have those big stones, he wouldn't be as great as he is. You have to take the good/great, which there is much more of, with the occasional bad. I was also surprised by their caution to the wind attitude about hitting a big one last night. What is it that got you to this point? Carving up defenses, not a vertical passing game. I think the precision, short passing game and enough of a running game sets up the vertical shots, depending on whether the DB's are playing inside or outside leverage. I'm not sure what that strategy was all about in the biggest game of the year, but that easily was the margin of victory for Dallas because we did score enough to beat most teams. Our best defense last night was to be a ball control (running or passing) offense and eat up the clock, and keep our defense off the field. That did happen a couple of times when Rodgers led them on drives, but then you kind of thought, "Oh crap, here comes the defense back on the field" We could have won the shootout if we had just played ball control from the outset, treating each possession as if it were our last.

[HarveyWallbangers]

I'd agree with JH.

1) Favre (and possibly McCarthy with game-planning) had a bad start to the game.
2) No pass rush.
3) Special teams were horrible.
4) Injuries.

We can beat them if we get a chance to play them, but we'll have to play very well. Favre has to stay controlled. McCarthy has to stick with what got them here. Pass rush has to be better. Hopefully, KGB will help. Chuck has to be healthy. Special teams (which went into last week's game in the top 3 in kickoff and punt coverage) has to play better.

[RashanGary]

Nuts,

The Packers have counted on their deep, talented Dline to get pressure all year and for the most part, they have stepped up. Down to only 4 good lineman and missing some of their biggest punch in the run game and pass game, it was just a whole different animal.

I blame the secondary (on a lesser level like the refs), but more than that I think it was the Dlines poor play that trickled through the whole defense.

[RIPackerFan]

I think this was the case where our D-Coordinators played conservatively and got burnt.

Knowing that KGB, Jolly and some of our DT depth was out, they probably realized that they could not get pressure with the front four.

They had a choice to either blitz or play more zone coverage. Probably due to the injury to Woodson and the fear of the big play, they decided to play zone, hoping that our D-line would eventually get to Romo.

This played into Dallas' playbook. Romo wasn't pressured at all and had all day to pick apart the zone.

As an option, the D-Coordinators could have blitzed as much as the Cowboys did and took a chance playing man with our backups - but they decided not to.

Hindsight is 50/50, but I don't see how they expected to cover the Dallas threats in a zone, when they knew full well they weren't going to get pressure on Romo.

It was disappointing to see Kampman applying pressure and Romo just moving to the side where KGB usually is caving in the pocket.

[Fosco33]

I can't believe we blame Favre as much as we are.... there were a number of drops and fluke plays that turned the wrong way.

The play calling should be to blame - when ARod played in the system that got them 10 wins - we were successful. When the receivers caught the ball and got extra yards - we were successful. When the Oline began to give the QB some protection - we were successful.

Without Woodson - the Pack didn't play a lot of man-man which allowed Romo to pick apart the zones and find the mismatches (Hawk/Bigby on TO.... come on). Injuries are part of the game - losing one guy shouldn't force you to change your entire D plan (especially as it was a game time decision).

Kickoff coverage was terrible - and the momentum swing plays were the real killer (onside kick, non-fumble, PI calls, 3rd&19 plus a PF, etc, etc...).

Simple fact - the team (coaches/players) didn't do enough to beat a very good team at home. Time to put this one to bed and focus on the next game.

[HarveyWallbangers]

I'm glad we got to play them. Maybe we'll learn what schemes don't work. Basically, they kind of went away from what they do best on offense early and on defense much of the game. On offense, go with what got you here. On defense, stay with man-to-man. I'd put Woodson on Owens. He seems to do better when he doesn't get a bump at the line. Harris is nowhere near as affective when he can't press a guy at the line. Also, they have to blitz a little bit early to make a QB feel like he has to get the ball out quick.

[RashanGary]

Bedard said it pretty well in his chat. Favre has multiple options on every play and the ability to chance plays at the line. Favre decided to take the shots and they were poor ones.

Rodgers came in and MM said he did not change his game plan at all. The decisions might have been different, but the plays were the same. If you noticed, Rodgers did take one deep shot, but his wasn't into triple coverage, he threw it to Jennings and Jennings had half a step and the safety was out of position to help. It was a good decision, just a little over thrown.

Favre on the other hadn threw into triple coverage over and over. I was partly blaming MM, but listening to Bedard, I agree with him. Favre just made really bad decisions. On the flea flicker, he had Jennings wide open. Favre just decided to let it rip into triple coverage. That's all Favre's fault.

[Maxie the Taxi]

Justin,

I pretty much agree. A couple of questions to consider:

1) When the d-line is healthy (assuming it will be), can the Packers beat the Cowgirls next time relying only on their front four for pressure? I think not. They need to blitz even when healthy against the Cowgirls.

2) What happened to Crosby's vaunted leg strength? If you can't kick it 7 yards deep in the end zone at Dallas stadium, you can't do it anywhere. On one kickoff they directionally kicked to the right sideline and Austin still ran it back to the 40. Why not just kick it as deep as Crosby supposedly can?

3) Listen to Greg Jennings' post game interview on Packers.com. A reporter asked him directly if the game plan was to get away from the dink and dunk and go deep, especially in the 1st quarter. Jennings said "no, it was Favre seeing guys downfield that he decided he could hit." In McCarthy's post game press conference he was kind of vague in his response to the same question but he implied (I think) that the downfield tosses were Favre's decisions and it sort of sounded like he thought a few of them were ill-advised throws. I'm just wondering if this is the same ole story of Favre in Dallas trying to make too much happen too quickly. If not, then McCarthy should take the blame. This needs to be sorted out before any rematch in the playoffs.

4) The flea flicker and the trick on-side kick were cute ideas, but I don't believe the Packers needed "cute" to win. They just needed to play the offense that got them here: the west coast dink and dunk. They got greedy and they got burned.

[RashanGary]

Maxie, I think with KGB and Jolly that the Packers will be better equipped to handle the Cowboys with just the front 4. The Cowboys are good though, they might need to mix it up and be a little less predictable.


I agree with your view on Crosby. His leg strength is overrated. I always thought Rayner did a better job on kickoffs.


As far as your quote of Jennings, I just listened to Bedard and changed my opinion. That was all Favre. He just did what he does in big games; choked.

[packers11]

yea some of the blame goes to Favre BUTTTTTT the o-line did no favors... He had no time, it was the worse i've seen it all year...

I know the packers have struggled against the 3-4 in the past couple of years, but once they held SD Defensive blitzes in check, I thought they turned a corner... Guess not, the packers need to practice more against the 3-4...

[Fosco33]

Bedard said it pretty well in his chat. Favre has multiple options on every play and the ability to chance plays at the line. Favre decided to take the shots and they were poor ones.

Rodgers came in and MM said he did not change his game plan at all. The decisions might have been different, but the plays were the same. If you noticed, Rodgers did take one deep shot, but his wasn't into triple coverage, he threw it to Jennings and Jennings had half a step and the safety was out of position to help. It was a good decision, just a little over thrown.

Favre on the other hadn threw into triple coverage over and over. I was partly blaming MM, but listening to Bedard, I agree with him. Favre just made really bad decisions. On the flea flicker, he had Jennings wide open. Favre just decided to let it rip into triple coverage. That's all Favre's fault.

True - Favre made some bad decisions. No doubt.

But 3rd and 1 driving.... you take the bomb when Grant has been running well. Had to settle for 3 instead of a possible 1st down.... 47 yd attempt

A few plays were designed outside pitches - where the DEs were killing us.

We certainly took our shots - and if Favre would've connected, we'd all be singing his praise (again).