I wish I could have been in the room for McCarthy’s presser today. It sounds as though it was the first bit of candidness he’s shown in quite some time. He second-guessed his second down call on the goal line possession (though not the fullback dive - sigh), he revealed the impending release of punter Derrick Frost and, in what to me is the most telling quote, said the following:

We’ve got to be a little more physical in certain spots of our game.

As far as I know, that’s the first time McCarthy has publicly acknowledged what I and many, many other bloggers and media members have noted over the course of the last three years - that the Packers under McCarthy have become a finesse team, unable to do things like pound the football for a yard when it was necessary. It will be interesting to see if McCarthy and, more importantly, Thompson do anything this offseason to address what is a glaring lack of toughness on their football team.

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• The Fate of the Packers

After the debacle last week in New Orleans, Mike McCarthy was asked about Derrick Frost. One of his responses that I took for a throwaway at the time:

As I’ve been asked before up here, player acquisition and as far as what we do, I don’t discuss that here.

Fair enough. 

Then today, when preseneted with a question about being unable to close so many close games this season:

I thought the biggest negative today was field position. It’s two weeks in a row we’re playing on a football field that’s 200 yards longer than our opponent. It’s tough to overcome that. 

Well, coach, how DO you overcome that? I would think a punter that can tilt field position in your favor would be a great place to start. Of course McCarthy knows this, he’s no idiot. But he can’t say it. He wants Frost gone as much as you and I. But for whatever reason, Thompson refuses to admit his gross error here. I think McCarthy is VERY subtly voicing some displeasure here.

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• Woods Nails It

1. Congrats to Aaron Rodgers. What an unbelievable trip this kid has taken from the nearly three hour wait he had to endure on draft day to this Friday when he signed a contract that will keep him in Green Bay through the 2014 season. The shopworn adage when evaluating quarterbacks is that it takes 10 starts in the NFL to truly evaluate whether a quarterback is going to be any good. Apparently, it only took Ted Thompson 7 starts when it came to Rodgers. The man has been more right than wrong when it comes to personnel matters, so I’m fully on board with what can only be considered the new face of the franchise - the starting quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, Aaron Rodgers.
2. Lots of nice sentiments in the comment sections, both here at Cheesehead TV and elsewhere in the Packer blogosphere in regards to Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila’s tenure with the Green and Gold. I don’t have much to add to what has already been said - the man is a class act and the kind of vocal Christan I wish more “Christians” would try to emulate in our country - a man who truly lived the teachings he espoused publicly. My favorite remembrance of Kabeer will always be the sideline interview during preseason last year when he was asked how he thought the Packers would do during the 2007 season. He stated, without hesitation - “We’re going to the Super Bowl.” And you could tell he really believed it. He took untold amounts of grief for that interview (including shots from yours truly in an early episode of Packer Transplants) but it turned out he knew more than  all the blowhards in the blogosphere and in the media. Sure, the team fell one overtime throw away from reaching the big game - but they were closer to achieving Kabeer’s prediction than the mediocre finish most had predicted.

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• Why Thompson Is GM…and We’re Not

Very interesting feeling looking at the following text on my phone today:

Packers activate DT Harrell, Release DE Gbaja-Biamila.
from Packers.com

And there you have it - a pre-season question answered, after Ted finally saw the writing on the wall with Kabeer’s play over the last 7 games.

The last great game play of Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila was in the NFC Championship game- a game where I must say he and Kampman excelled together. It’s actually sad that his peak seasons, the Packers could never find a true bookend to amplify his pass rushing skill. Unfortunately- that’s all he ever was as a defensive end- an extremely skilled (top 3 NFL for 4-5 years) 1 skill player.

For the record in 2008 - K.G.B. had 9 tackles, half a sack, and a pass defensed (in garbage time of the Colts game). Considering he was the highest paid player on the Packers - his future on the team has been in doubt since training camp.

Onto the other news- Justin Harrell. For the record I have already officially called him a bust. Prematurely I know. I don’t usually do that because everyone gets their three years, but sometimes people just don’t feel like they will grow to be superstars… As I have said in the podcast, Nothing will make me happier than Justin Harrell being the greatest pick the Packers have had since 1957.

So Justin. Can you be a hero?

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• KGB you will be missed

According to Packers.com Aaron Rodgers has signed a new contract extension:

The Green Bay Packers have signed QB Aaron Rodgers to a long-term contract extension through the 2014 season. Ted Thompson, Executive Vice President, General Manager and Director of Football Operations, announced the signing Friday.

“As we talked about in the past, we try to be proactive in our discussions with our current players and we felt like this was an appropriate time to try to come to an agreement with Aaron,” said Thompson. “We feel like this is good for the organization and the players, and we will continue this approach as we move forward.”

Update: Here is Aaron’s interview after announcement.

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• No Veteran QB For the Packers?

Maybe it was the morning commute (which was horrible), or maybe I’m just in a bad mood (which I am.)

The more I think about it, the more I can see why Thompson wouldn’t pull the trigger for Gonzalez. Peterson is a notorious asshole, and it sure seems as though he was only trying to appear to be trading Gonzalez, just so he could say he tried to his player, all while holding out for a draft pick that no GM was ever going to give. Not to mention the list of Thompson’s second rounders at the end of the McGinn article sure does seem to suggest that Thompson usually makes good with second round picks.

So forgive me, dear readers. Even bloggers have bad days.

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• Working Where I Do…

Now, this is Al Davis, who is clearly insane. But it’s an interesting nugget about Randy Moss from a one-on-one conversation he had with Raider beat guy Tim Kawakami after yesterday’s marathon Raider press conference:

…you know how many teams turned him down. That guy in Green Bay thought he couldn’t run any more.

“That guy”, of course, is Ted Thompson.

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• The Distraction Thompson Didn’t Want

I put Head Coach Mike McCarthy in the ‘Ugly’ category for the first time since starting the venerable day-after-the-game “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly” tradition here at Cheesehead TV after watching what can only be described as a pathetic, mistake prone team lose it’s focus and throw away a game it had every business winning. Making matters worse, of course, is the prospect, looming over all of Packer-land, of the Packers losing Aaron Rodgers for an extended period of time. The idea of the Packers rolling out Matt Flynn against Atlanta next week, never mind against Seattle or Indianapolis the following two, gives Packer fans everywhere the opportunity to jump ship on the season, or worse yet, to engage in a game of ‘gotcha’ with Packer management as Brett Favre throws for seemingly a thousand touchdowns out here on the East Coast, each one a tiny dagger thrust into the heart of Packer Fandom.

But let’s get one thing clear here.

Mike McCarthy can win with Matt Flynn at quarterback. He has to.

Flynn beat out a prospect that not two years ago was a consensus first overall pick in Brian Brohm. Flynn has earned his shot. And one need look no further than the Packers next opponent, the Atlanta Falcons, for an example of how to win with a rookie quarterback (a rookie quarterback who was also made to look terrible down in Tampa Bay) Now, does Flynn have the physical tools Matt Ryan has? No. But McCarthy’s job is to tailor his gameplan to what Flynn does have. If teams like the Falcons and the Ravens can win with rookie quarterbacks, there’s no reason the Packers, with infinitely more talent at the offensive skill positions than either of those teams, can’t do the same.

McCarthy and Thompson wanted down this path, eschewing the need for a veteran signal-caller for the prospect of grooming two young quarterbacks in the event of a Rodgers injury. It’s an easy decision to make when you are armed with a newly signed five year contract extension, as Thompson is. Even if this year is a wash (which it by no means should be) the Packers come back next year with a healed Rodgers and a  seasoned Flynn backing him up. It makes sense, long term. But it’s hard for Packer fans to watch a team that was an overtime away from the Super Bowl not eight months ago, suddenly on the brink of a wasted season. It’s McCarthy’s job to make sure Flynn succeeds, which starts by giving him a running game and a gameplan that is not scared to take some chances and a defense that can keep the pressure off the quarterback to score every time his team has the ball.

Whether Rodgers or Flynn is the quarterback next week, McCarthy needs to get his team’s obvious deficiencies cleaned up. There’s way too much talent on this team for the Packers to stop winning.

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• If History Is Any Guide…