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Mike McCarthy Admits Mistakes

As I sat in MetLife Stadium and watched the NY Giants dismantle the Packers before my eyes, my neck started to hurt from shaking my head so much. Beyond the disappointing play and the result, I was especially not pleased by what I saw of the Packers game plan, play calling and decision-making.

Coach McCarthy went away from the running game after the Packers were down 17-7, opting to go to more of a spread offense. What this did, of course, was let the Giants DL know they could just single-mindedly go after Aaron Rodgers.  Add to that the shaky revamped offensive line, and McCarthy almost got his quarterback killed.

Having let the Giants’ pass rush get their mojo back, one might expect that McCarthy would have tried something to slow it down. Perhaps a screen pass or two. Perhaps a draw or two. But those adjustments were just not forthcoming.

As he ignored Alex Green in the Lions game, McCarthy pretty much forgot about James Starks until the end of this game, when it didn’t matter. Starks was fairly effective against the Lions, a team playing a very similar defensive scheme to the Giants. One might have expected to see Starks as the main ball carrier Sunday night, but instead, he mostly sat and watched.

And how about that handoff to Alex Green on 2nd and 20 with seven minutes still left in the third quarter down by 21 points? White flag anyone?  Read more... (1036 words + 3 images, estimated 4:09 mins reading time)

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Green Bay Packers vs. New York Giants:

My unfiltered game day running blog post of comments, observations and first impressions.

Inactive for Packers today: WR Ramses Barden, RB Da’Rel Scott, LB Mark Herzlich, OL Jim Cordle, DE Justin Trattou, DT Jimmy Kennedy, OL James Brewer

Inactive for Giants today: QB Graham Harrell, CB Davon House, LB Rob Francois, OL Herb Taylor, TE D.J. Williams, DE Howard Green, LB Vic So’oto

Game Notes:

The two most recent Super Bowl Champions meet this evening in a highly-anticipated showdown. Many people thought this would be the 2012 season opener, but the Giants ended up hosting the Dallas Cowboys.

While the Packers edged out a victory against the Giants during last season’s Week 13 game, they lost in an embarrassing fashion during the Divisonal Round playoff game. Aaron Rodgers said on his weekly show that he’s not playing for revenge, but some players might be, and most fans are relishing the idea.

The Giants are coming off of their bye week, and a fresh defensive line could be a problem for a recently reshuffled Packers offensive line. This will be the marquee match-up of the night.

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Mike McCarthy Pregame Show on 620 WTMJ:

Giants as Common Opponent: It’s definitely usually a big game when we get together. It’s an important game. I like the way our team has been playing and growing.  Read more... (1184 words + 1 image, estimated 4:44 mins reading time)

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Packers TE Jermichael Finley led his position in drops with 14.

It might be difficult to say that a team that won 15 regular season games went through many “struggles,” but the truth is that the 2011-12 Green Bay Packers had their fair share of significant flaws that were successfully covered up for most of the season. In the end, all four of them came back to bite the Packers in their 37-20 loss to the New York Giants in the NFC Divisional Round.

The weaknesses I speak of could be summarized by a high percentage of Packers fans. But while those defects pass the eye test, they also pass the stat test. Using numbers from Pro Football Focus, we can take a closer look at just how poorly the Packers played in certain areas of the game this season.

Missed tackles: 109

Packers coach Mike McCarthy was very adamant during his final press conference about how the lacking fundamentals in his team’s tackling was a major disappointment for the Packers’ 2011 season. This stat re-enforces McCarthy’s worries. The Packers missed 109 tackles this season, which amounts to almost 6.5 a game over the 17. In comparison, the San Francisco 49ers missed just 65 over that same amount of games. Charles Woodson led the way with 18, but he had plenty of company. Tramon Williams had 16, Charlie Peprah 11, Sam Shields 10, Morgan Burnett nine and both A.J. Hawk and Desmond Bishop eight. That’s simply too many missed plays from too many players for a defense to be as consistently good as you’re looking for in the NFL. Also, PFF had the Packers down for eight missed tackles last Sunday against the Giants.  Read more... (983 words + 1 image, estimated 3:56 mins reading time)

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If you trust what you were hearing from Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy during his final press conference of the 2011-12 season Wednesday, then you also should have no worries about where tight end Jermichael Finley will playing next season.

He’s not going anywhere.

McCarthy praised Finley on several different occasions, calling him a “talented young man” who has a “great work ethic” and wants to be “a great player.” McCarthy also said that the Packers “need him out there” and that Finley has a lot of room for improvement.

If the Packers head coach had even entertained the thought of letting a 25-year-old tight end walk in free agency, this amount of praise would seem unlikely. McCarthy obviously wants and plans on Finley being a part of the Packers’ roster next season, and I’d say there is a very small chance of the opposite becoming reality.

Finley, who is scheduled to become a free agent this offseason, caught 55 passes for 767 yards and eight touchdowns in 2011. Most had expectations that far exceeded that output this season, but drops and inconsistency plagued him at times. In the Packers’ 37-20 loss to the Giants in the NFC Divisional Round, for example, Finley dropped two passes and had what some have called a miscommunication with quarterback Aaron Rodgers on an important third down play in the second half.  But nonetheless, fans throughout the 2011 season have been hard on the enigmatic tight end.  Read more... (406 words + 1 image, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

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OK, I’m having a little problem here. Admittedly, I’m still pretty shocked about the Packers loss to the Giants. I sat down to write a post-mortem, but I’m just staring at this blank computer screen and pondering where to begin. So, I think I’m going to need some audio and video aids to help me express my feelings…

Mike McTrautman: It’s over Johnny. It’s over.

John “Rambo” Rodgers: Nothing is over! Nothing! You just don’t turn it off! It wasn’t my war! You asked me, I didn’t ask you! And I did what I had to do to win! But somebody wouldn’t let us win!

Um, yeah, the Giants… Again.

As much as we all rejected the comparisons to 2007, the rosy-cheek Coughlin, Manning-face Eli and this band of underdog Giants marched onto Lambeau Field and once again took away what rightfully belonged to the Packers – another win on the way to the Super Bowl.

Both times, it was more than a loss, it was an embarrassment. In the 2007 playoffs, the Giants came into the frozen Green Bay tundra and won a game in elements only the cold-hardened Packers could supposedly withstand. The image of a thoroughly frozen and not wanting to be there Brett Favre (on the sideline just before he would go in and throw his final pass as a Packer) still haunts me.  Read more... (656 words + 2 images, estimated 2:37 mins reading time)

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The Giants pointed their ship to the NFC Championship Game with a 37-20 win over the Packers. (Photo: Darron Cummings, GBPG)

The Green Bay Packers (15-2) picked an awful time to play their worst game of the 2011 season, and the New York Giants more than capitalized on it Sunday in knocking the defending champions out of the playoffs with a 37-20 win at Lambeau Field in the NFC Divisional Round.

Here are five observations from the game:

1. Capping a tough week

There was some this week, including Packers coach Mike McCarthy, who opined that the Packers could be more focused on Sunday in light of the terrible tragedy that struck that the Packers family early this week. But maybe those people underestimated how difficult the transition could be from a Friday funeral to a Sunday football game.

The Packers made their fair share of mental mistakes on the offensive side of the football—dropped passes, missed throws, back-breaking fumbles—that were very uncharacteristic of the Packers in 2011. Could that have partly been due to a week of grieving for the Philbin family and missing their offensive coordinator? Professional football players get paid a lot of money to separate the two, but these guys are human beings, not football robots.

2. Rusting the machine  Read more... (1074 words + 1 image, estimated 4:18 mins reading time)

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Peprah was burned for a TD on the Giants' first offensive series.

The Green Bay Packers (15-1, NFC No. 1) host the New York Giants (10-7, NFC No. 4) Sunday in the NFC’s Divisional Round of the 2012 playoffs.

The basics 

When: 3:30 CST, Sunday, January 15, 2012.

Where: Lambeau Field, Green Bay, WI.

TV: FOX; Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on the call, Pam Oliver on the sidelines.

Radio: 620 AM WTMJ (Milwaukee); Packers Radio Network; NFL Sunday Drive; Westwood One.

Series: Packers lead, 31-23-2 (Giants won last playoff meeting, 23-20 (OT) on Jan. 20, 2008 in NFC Championship Game).

Five things to watch

1. Rookie factor

Not since Desmond Howard have the Packers had a special teams weapon that could routinely flip field position. They have one now in rookie Randall Cobb, and you better believe that teams are treating him as such. As the season wore on, more and more teams hedged their bets and kicked away from Cobb.

At the very least, Cobb can ensure the Packers aren’t playing offense from the shadow of their own goal posts Sunday. And if the Giants give him enough chances, Cobb can break that one big play that can turn the game.

2. Opposite rush

Expecting a breakout performance from the Packers’ outside linebacker position after 16 games of mediocrity (that’s putting it nicely) is overly optimistic. But there is some hope that the Packers can get something from a player opposite Clay Matthews Sunday.  Read more... (949 words + 1 image, estimated 3:48 mins reading time)

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