Reports are that the wind will be gusting between 20-30 miles an hour with a high temperature expected to be nine degrees, with the wind chill making it feel, well, much, much colder.

I just wanted to point this out due to the fact that, as is his practice, McCarthy had his team indoors all week. Lovie Smith went outside at least once. Just more fun on the Mike “Quality-Of-Practice” McCarthy Express. Should be interesting to see which team looks more comfortable in the elements.

(And to save all the usual arguments from taking place in the comments - yes, I know Holmgren never practiced outside. Yes, I know McCarthy has said he would LIKE to go outside but he ‘has been told’ the practice field isn’t safe. No, none of that means anything to me. Get the damn team outside at LEAST once a week in the winter for goodness sake. By not doing so, McCarthy is only adding to the critical chours of those that contend he is presiding over a ‘finesse’ team.)

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• McCarthy Finally Admits the Obvious

So today McCarthy let it be known that Aaron Rouse will be the starting strong safety for Monday’s game, presumably ending the dreadful “Charles Woodson At Safety” experiment.

McCarthy speaking about the move:

This is a great opportunity for him to step up…We look for him to be impactful, which he has been in spots, but it’s the consistency of playing four quarters. That’s going to be his challenge Monday night.

Oh really? You look for him to be impactful? Like taking a Peyton Manning pass back 99 yards for a touchdown? What’s that? Oh, that’s right - you’re looking for ‘consistency’ for four quarters. You mean like when your Pro Bowl free safety got juked out of his shoe for a touchdown in New Orleans? Or when he bit hard on a pump fake EVEN THOUGH HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PLAYING OVER THE TOP last week on the Jaguars’ first touchdown? Rouse was demoted for his inconsistent play. Collins was…rewarded?

Look, has Rouse been a world beater? Hardly. Has he had some truly awful plays? Yes. But YOU LET HIM PLAY THROUGH IT. He’ll either improve or prove he can’t get the job done. You don’t sit him down  and put your best defensive player in for him out of position. And they wonder why the defense is having communication problems…

I didn’t like the move when they made it and I hate it now. It smacks of the desperation that Sanders and McCarthy must have been feeling when they made it.

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• Woodson To Stay At Safety

Braun’s question to McCarthy at yesterday’s press conference:

Are you glad at this stage you’re not worried about whether your starting quarterback is coming back next year?

It’s the last question. Go watch it. McCarthy’s reaction is priceless. You can see him think of two or three different things to say before he settles on a response. I think it’s safe to say, McCarthy is glad that Favre is someone else’s headache.

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• Therapy Indeed

Some have noted McCarthy’s name in the ‘Ugly’ category yesterday. That is not a mistake. He presided over this mess and he needs to own it. Of course, I was not shocked to read this from his press conference yesterday:

I’m always trying to push the right buttons, and we’re 5-9 and my name is at the top of that. I take full responsibility for that. That’s the challenge… But I believe in our structure. I believe in the environment that has been created here.

McCarthy is right to take ownership of this disappointing season. There’s no way you can look at a team that has lost as many close games as the Packers have and say that coaching has nothing to do with it. In fact, just the opposite. In the NFL today, the difference in close games is almost always coaching. That’s the league that Pete Rozelle gave us when the league went down the road to parity.

Lots has been made, rightfully so, of Aaron Rodgers inability to lead his team to a game winning drive - but McCarthy is as culpable. Sunday’s game was a perfect example - Rodgers’ first decision and throw on the final drive is terrible. He has James Jones trailing underneath for at least a first down, if not more. But it’s as if Rodgers has watched the highlights from last year one too many times, of Favre and Jennings hooking up for big dramatic game-winning plays, both against the Chargers and the Broncos. Rodgers needs to understand - he is not that quarterback, at least not yet.

After picking up a few first downs (and not taking a time out at the 1:05 mark was a killer) McCarthy calls four verticals with no trailer underneath and no checkdown. So now Rodgers, with the game and season on the line, has been asked to throw a deep, laser-like throw no matter what. McCarthy indicated he liked the playcall against what Jacksonville was giving them defensively. It’s hard to believe that, as the middle backer, as he would in most Cover 2 schemes, runs with Donald Lee the entire time because there is absolutely no one underneath to draw him back towards the line of scrimmage. It would take an absolute perfect throw even if Lee had a step, which he clearly doesn’t. Rodgers just throws it because he knows that’s where the play should go. And McCarthy needs to remember who he has playing quarterback. It’s one thing to call deep aggressive routes when Favre is back there. It’s a whole different game with a first year starter pulling the trigger.

These are, of course, two calls in a vast body of work that McCarthy will no doubt spend countless hours pouring over during the offseason. The guess here is that he will find a few things at the root of the 2 minuite drill problems - one being Rodgers’ pressing and the other his putting undue pressure on his young quarterback.

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• What I Don’t Get…

I’ve received quite a few “Is this what it was like in the ’80s?” queries over the course of the last few weeks. Let me put this to bed right now - this isn’t even close.

Of course, this does nothing to ease the sting of what has become a nightmare season, one which began with realistic thoughts of the Packers repeating as Division Champs. And it’s been awhile since we had to watch meaningless Packer games in December. And yes, this Packer defense is historically terrible.

But I truly believe Mike McCarthy is the right coach for this team.

And although he has been hamstrung this season by his General Manager in more ways than one, the most important decision for this team going forward will be his and it will be looming over these final three games: Will McCarthy fire Bob Sanders? Nothing that happens this offseason, not the draft, not a return to health, not any free agent acquisition, will alter the Packers fortunes more than this decision. There has been a ton of speculation as to whom McCarthy might bring in should he choose to let Sanders go, from Mike Nolan to Romeo Crennel. This is fine and expected. But lets not forget that Bob Sanders is still the Defensive Coordinator - and McCarthy has proven to be one stubborn son of a gun. And we’ve seen many a head coach stick with coordinators that every sane observer could see were not getting the job done. It’s called a “Shoop Phase” (dubbed by yours truly) and McCarthy is in the thrall of one right now and no other single aspect of the offseason matters much if McCarthy doesn’t do what needs to be done and fire Sanders.

Now, will this solve all the Packers problems? Hardly. They need help everywhere, most notably on the defensive line, and every positional starter outside of Aaron Rodgers, Greg Jennings, Aaron Kampman and Charles Woodson should be put on notice that they are now officially auditioning for their jobs. There is some talent on this team, but a lot of it, especially on the defensive side of the ball, has been left untapped, undisciplined and underdeveloped. That’s coaching, or lack thereof, and it’s time for McCarthy to correct it.

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• The Longer It Takes…

From Mike McCarthy, on what he expects from the teams new punter:

He’s expected to punt the ball in the right direction.

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• Now It Begins…

Straight from McCarthy today, via his press conference, Charles Woodson will start at strong safety for the second straight week.

I have to be honest, I’m not a huge fan of this move, especially as Rouse is reported to be back to full health. (Or as near to ‘full’ as any NFL player can be this time of year). Is Rouse a great, or even good, safety? No, but he is serviceable. And Woodson was less than stellar in run support on Sunday, taking many a horrible angle in the run game. (There’s a reason he had to catch the ball carrier from behind to make that great strip play…)

Not only that, but you have now taken your best defensive player and put him in an unfamiliar position. Yes, he played safety for the Raiders (not well, I’ll remind you) but he was playing at a Pro Bowl level at the cornerback position - and you want to take that away from a defense that isn’t doing anything right? Add to all this the fact that his replacement, Tramon Williams, who all CHTV readers know I am a huge fan of, looked terrible this past Sunday, and none of it adds up for me. (I mean, Williams played scared! Not once did he bump Smith on the line - not once! That’s the whole technique of the defense: bump and run coverage. By allowing Smith a free release, Williams took away the one advantage he would have had - you’ll notice Smith did nothing against Al Harris, because Harris pounded him into submission at the line of scrimmage.)

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• Understatement Of the Year

Everywhere you turn in the Packer Blogosphere and even in the accredited media you find pieces about the Packers playoff chances, complete with examinations of the Packers schedule and how it compares with the Vikings and Bears, who they all play when, what might happen to the Williams brothers, etc, etc.

Sorry, but I just don’t see it.

I understand newspapers have a vested interest in keeping hope alive, but my fellow bloggers really need to take off the Green and Gold glasses. This team is not going to the playoffs, and if, by some miracle, it happened to find it’s way in, it would be embarrassed on a national stage once again. They have simply run out of competent players on the defensive line to mask Bob Sanders gross incompetence. It’s that simple, really. Last year, the defensive line was stacked with quality players and hid the fact that Sanders had zero imagination or ability to adjust his scheme, at least not until the end of the season when injuries had taken their toll and you saw the cracks start to show.

continue reading "I Don’t See It"

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• The Fate of the Packers