I have to say, I’m pleased to see McCarthy acknowledge what I and several other bloggers noted would be an issue way back in training camp, chiefly that the musical chairs on the offensive line would rob it of the cohesion that the elite units in the NFL all seem to share.

From McCarthy’s presser on Wednesday:

If you watch the way we rep those guys, we have probably too many revolving chairs in the offensive line and that is something we can talk about it in the offseason.

I guess it’s hard to hear this from the head coach heading into Week 17 of a lost season where the offensive line, along with its defensive counterpart, was largely responsible for the teams failures. I am heartened to hear him recognize it as a potential problem.

And there’s one other thing: I think McCarthy feels, for whatever their individual weaknesses, hidden somewhere among the guys he has on his 53 man roster is a very good five man group that’s waiting to become a quality offensive line. And unlike many of my fellow bloggers, I tend to agree with him. I think there is young talent that has gone untapped along the o-line. The question is ‘why’? From the start of training camp, Allen Barbre was splitting time with Daryn Colledge at left guard. Barbre got in with the first unit against the Bengals and, to my eye, played quite well. But then, and with no explanation whatsoever, Barbre never got another opportunity. And even with this latest shuffling, he still can’t get on the field, even with Jason Spitz looking dreadful over the past month.

I realize the coaches are privy to a LOT more information than you or I, but something doesn’t pass the smell test here. It’s the same thing with Aaron Rouse and the strong safety position. Once they soured on him, the coaches didn’t let him see the field again until the season was over, even though their Woodson experiment was obviously not working. Coupled with the Barbre mystery it forms a disturbing pattern, one that smacks of blind Mike Sherman-esque player loyalty to a fault. There’s no earthly reason not to give Barbre a chance at left guard this Sunday, but the coaches, despite a months worth of pretty sub-standard play from Spitz, have plugged him in at left guard ahead of Barbre. It just makes no sense and it’s a big red-flag for me when it comes to McCarthy and his judgement.

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• Hey, Whatever Happened To…

Great post from Andy over at PackerGeeks. Andy highlights a quote that caught my eye as well from General Manager Ted Thompson:

“I feel bad for these guys because they play hard and I think they deserve better…I’m responsible for that, ultimately. It’s been a hard year.”

I am in complete agreement with Andy in that I find strange comfort in this quote, if for no other reason than that the response from Thompson during the year is so muted it’s hard to get a read on how he feels about the nightmare that’s unfolded throughout 2008. And the few times we see him during the season, alone and emotionless in a press box, hardly gets us closer to his feelings on the events transpiring below him.

Now, it’s one thing to say you feel bad for the team you’ve put together. It’s quite another to change what seems to be your Modus-Operandi, which seems to be what’s needed if Thompson is to fix the myriad things that went wrong this season. No more trading back (unless of course someone offers you a silly deal) Time to be a bit more aggressive in free agency. Above all - it’s time to get some MEN on the lines. Outside of Aaron Kampman and Ryan Pickett, the defensive and offensive lines are made up of boys. Strong, growing and able boys, but boys none the less. It seems that Thompson’s and McCarthy’s plan was to rip up the lines, draft some prospects and let them grow. This worked when they had a 16 year veteran to bail the offensive line out and it worked when the defensive line went 11 guys deep. But now both lines are in need of major help. Pickett, asked to play way too many snaps, is simply getting pushed around and Jolly is playing much more like the 6th round pick we thought he was before he started flashing early last year. The killer this year, of course, was losing Jenkins, which just destroyed the line’s rotation. Jenkins was in line for a monster year, both from his end position and inside on passing downs. Once he went down, the Packers had no answer, and that is on Thompson. On the offensive side, things aren’t much better. Scott Wells has been disappointing, while Spitz seems to be playing out of position. (He looked better at center than Wells has) Moll is clearly not the answer at right tackle and who knows what will happen to Tauscher. (Here’s hoping he re-signs with the Pack) And some people (most notably my co-host) like to berate me when I say Daryn Colledge is having a very good year. But it’s true. The biggest problem, as it has always been with Colledge, is his mental breakdowns at the worst possible times. You can set your watch by it.

Thompson has many areas  of concern (linebacker, strong safety, cornerback, tight end, running back) but nothing is as important as fixing the lines. And he will need to go outside his comfort zone to do it, or at least to do it well. Will he be able to? We’re about to find out…

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• Despite Emotion, Culpepper Makes Sense

Rereading my posts from this morning, I think I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how awful Scott Wells was yesterday. He missed assignments left and right, never seemed to adjust to what the Vikings were doing with their front seven and was obviously at fault when he failed to pick up the delayed blitz that leveled Rodgers. And it follows a game where Wells’ lack of physicality was exposed by a much tougher Titan interior defensive line.

Overall, it will be interesting to see who lines up with the first unit offensive line at practice on Wednesday…

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• Not Soon Enough

Encouraging to hear that McCarthy has the team in pads and concentrating on fundamentals this week. (Makes you wonder if he started Wednesday’s practice with the Lombardi classic: Gentlemen, this (holding it up) is a football…to which Max McGee responds “You’re going too fast for us”) The work is sorely needed, especially for the offensive line. Now the next step is to see some tackling drills…

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• Rodgers Needs To Practice

The return of Scott Wells is welcome news.

The Packers biggest problem over the course of the last three weeks (and there have been plenty) is the lack of a consistent running game. With Wells back and Spitz over at right guard for Tony Moll (who simply has no business playing guard) I fully expect McCarthy to start feeding Grant the way he did down the stretch last year. He simply has to take pressure off Rodgers, who was asked to do way too much against Dallas. Not that I think he can’t handle it. He can. But there’s zero reason, on a team this talented, that Rodgers should be asked to win games. Even a halfway decent running game will help tremendously.

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• Scott Wells Had A Terrible Game

Corey and I both have, at times, disparaged the interior of the Packers’ offensive line. I have to say, after some early sloppiness, which is to be expected, the trio of Daryn Colledge, Jason Spitz and Tony Moll just did a fantastic job handling Pat and Kevin Williams. Colledge in particular was just astounding in the way he negated Pat Williams on Ryan Grant’s big run and again when he absolutely clobbered Williams on Rodgers’ touchdown run.

The old axiom that games are not won between March and July is partially true. You can’t buy a champion in free agency. But guys like Colledge, Spitz and Moll spent the entire offseason in Green Bay, working out and getting stronger, while studying the offense and attending OTAs and mini-camps. Where did Jared Allen spend his offseason? It wasn’t entirely spent in Minneapolis, I can assure you.

The best thing about the offensive line in general? It’s only going to get better. The Packers will get Wells back and Sitton eventually. Who knows how it will shake out, but you’ve got to think Colledge made a real push for playing time last night. And remember how the line gelled as the season wore on last year? You’ll see more of that this season as well.

I think Jason Spitz summed it up perfectly:

Not many of you guys gave us much of a chance.

You can’t disagree with that. Kudos to Spitz and his O-line brethren. Let’s hope we see improvement from week to week from here on out.

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• Wells Back, Coston Still Out

Not that it’s breaking news, but the fact that Wells can’t make it through back-to-back practices tells you all you need to know. They need to sit him a few weeks and let Spitz play center. The Packers are planning to start Colledge at left guard and Moll at right. And again I ask - what in the world happened to Alan Barbre?

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• Wells Back, Coston Still Out

Even with Wells out again with a ‘trunk’ injury (what the hell does that even mean?) Allen Barbre can’t lock down a guard spot, having once again split time with Daryn “Alphonso Boone Is My Daddy” Colledge at this mornings practice.

This is getting ridiculous. Barbre was touted by McCarthy all offseason as someone who the organization thought was going to make a big jump this year, someone they thought so highly of there was no need to navigate ‘the dangerous waters’ of free agency, even armed with a stupid amount of cap room and the mother of all catches available for the landing in Alan Faneca.

But instead of naming Barbre the starter, they have fooled around with his splitting time with Colledge, who has pretty much proven that he will be adequate right up until he gets his quarterback killed on one of his horrible, once-per-game lapses in pass protection. Now, they have become overly enamored with a rookie on the right side, but have declared that former right side starter Spitz is too good to be on the bench. So Barbre, even though he has played well throughout camp, and absolutely pummeled people during the Bengals game, sits on the bench while Spitz is doing his best Daryn Colledge impression.

Start Barbre. Let Spitz and Sitton battle it out when Wells comes back. Enough of this.

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