Mike McCarthy has talked a lot about ‘availability and accountability’ and the need for his players to be those very things - available (ie not hurt all the time) and accountable (ie if you screw up you will not play/be part of the team)

So it is more than a little surprising that Jarrett Bush, a man who the entire world of football fandom would tell you gave the Packers just about the worst performance in a defensive backfield since the glory days of Ahmad Carroll this past Saturday, was not only still in the dime package in practice this week, but was the nickel back when Al Harris sat out to rest his ailing back.

So what McCarthy is telling us is that if you get burned repeatedly by second and third string wide receivers, and not just in one preseason game, but repeatedly over the course of your two years in the NFL, you will still keep your job from scrimmage because of your value on special teams? I mean, that’s it. That’s the only way that makes sense. And even that doesn’t really make sense. Not unless you’re a crazy person. And let’s face it - McCarthy was party to getting rid of a legendary quarterback - so perhaps that is the case…

Because Jarrett Bush is awful. Just plain awful. Corey tried to back up McCarthy last year when McCarthy explained that every NFL team goes after the third corner, and that went doubly so for the Packers because of the strength of their starters. And to some extent, that’s true. But teams are specifically finding Bush, not a position. Sanders moves Woodson inside to the slot on third down, leaving Bush on the outside, exposed to the onslaught that is sure to come once the quarterback finds the welcoming numbers 2 and 4 on his jersey.

It took Carroll one truly horrible game for Thompson to cut him, a game the Packers were still in at half-time and that was blown open in the second half by the Eagles when Carroll couldn’t cover any receiver to save his life. A good part of that loss was directly attributed to Carroll. The Packers can not afford a repeat with Bush this year in a season where wins will be much harder to come by than a year ago.

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• Two Weak-Spots Stand Out On Defense

Philadelphia Eagles wide out Kevin Curtis will miss up to eight weeks after undergoing surgery for a sports hernia he suffered during the Eagles preseason game against the Panthers. The Eagles have a very deep defensive line. The Packers have a very deep wide receiving corps.

I’m just saying…

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• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

And it isn’t even close.

Last night I went back and re-watched every snap that Brohm and Flynn have taken from Family Night through the 49ers game. (Mrs. PackerAaron was thrilled) It’s so blindingly obvious that Matt Flynn is, at this moment, the better quarterback in McCarthy’s system. Brian Brohm may overtake him down the road, but as of yet, his game is not translating well to the pros at all. He is telegraphing his throws, he is tight in his release and his footwork comes undone at the slightest sign of pressure. Flynn, meanwhile, is cool in the pocket, is actually attempting to look off safeties (his deep throw to Taj Smith on the last drive against the 49ers is a thing of beauty where he holds the safety in the middle of the field with his eyes and then throws a perfect pass to Smith who just blows the catch)

If McCarthy and Thompson are dead set against bringing in a veteran quarterback (which they seem to be, and which seems like the quickest way possible to commit professional suicide, but what do I know…) and are adamant about using a rookie as the back up, Flynn is the rookie that gives them the best chance to…well…maybe not win, but at least not embarrass themselves so much.

I understand that relegating Brohm would be difficult in light of what draft status prejudices may exist, but this can’t be about being precious and it can’t be about protecting egos. If McCarthy is true to his word about competition producing the best players, so far, it’s not even close.

UPDATE:  Andy over at Packergeeks has noticed some of the same things I have.

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• No Veteran QB For the Packers?

Pete Dougherty has a piece in today’s Press Gazette entitled “It’s Time To Find Identity For Offense” where he lays out the case for the Packers forging their offensive approach over the course of the next two preseason games. It’s a lengthy, well written piece.

And a complete waste of time.

Mike McCarthy is never, and I mean EVER, going to morph into a run-first playcaller. He just isn’t. No matter how much he talks about the running game and its importance, no matter how many ‘Falcon’ or ‘Rhino’ formations he comes up with, no matter if the Packers somehow, by the grace of God, found Ladanian Tomlinson in their backfield - the man will always default to throwing the football.

McCarthy is like one of those Madden players that runs the ball once or twice at the beginning of the game and when it doesn’t work, finds himself in the ‘Gun- Empty Quad’ section of the playbook again and again. (And yes, one of those types of play-callers may happen to reside in my house) It doesn’t hurt that McCarthy’s drug of choice, the tall, muscular receiver that is great after the catch, keeps getting supplied to him by his own personal dealer (Thompson has furnished fresh smack for McCarthy in the persons of Greg Jennings, Terrence Murphy, James Jones, and Jordy Nelson - or did you think it was a coincidence that Thompson keeps drafting receivers?)

Just look at McCarthy’s time as offensive coordinator with the Saints. The guy had Deuce McAllister at running back and Aaron Brooks at quarterback. You would think he would lean heavily on McAllister, and yet there was McCarthy, chucking it around the dome. (People tend to forget, the year the Saints won a playoff game, McCarthy was being talked about as head coaching material. His season in San Francisco tends to wipe that from the memory banks.)

No, dear readers, all the puff pieces about ‘offensive identity’ and ‘establishing a running game’ can be dismissed from now until McCarthy retires/is fired as Head Coach of the Green Bay Packers. The man loves to throw the football. Period.

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• Why Can’t Packer Fans Enjoy This?

That’s how many real games it will take to evaluate Rodgers, according to Mike Lombardi over at the National Football Post. Lombardi makes a great observation in response to a quote in the Journal Sentinel from Reggie McKenzie regarding Rodgers’ mechanics in the pocket:

All this talk about feet, backpedal, and arm, are meaningless if the mind does not make quick decisions.  I’d rather have a quick mind over quick backpedal any day.  What Rodgers is going through right now is the learning curve. More importantly, what the Packer coaches are going through is learning what Rodgers can do now to help them win and what can be put off for awhile.  It’s only going to get worse as the pressure and the new blitzes start on opening day.  Right now the whole Packer playbook is not at the disposal of the Packer coaches.  They have to go slow and bring Rodgers along.  This is a new era for everyone.  Rodgers needs to improve his ability to make quick decisions.  And don’t forget the ten-game rule for evaluating quarterbacks.  It will take us ten REAL games to really know what Rodgers can and cannot do.

Does this mean that we’ll know if Thompson and McCarthy made a mistake in entrusting the team to Rodgers by November? No. It means McCarthy will have a pretty clear idea of where Rodgers’ strengths and weaknesses lie when it comes to the pro game.

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• Work To Do

Andrew Brandt, ex-Packer capologist extraordinaire, has teamed up with Mike Lombardi, the odd man out in the Al Davis ‘Can We Get the First Overall Pick Every Year?’ shuffle, and created the National Football Post, a new football site/blog with lots of good insight and analysis. (Lombardi’s Diner Report and Tavern Talk columns are worth your time on their own…)

Brandt has a blog as well, and today he writes about the Favre situation, having lunch with Aaron Rodgers in California, and speaking with “a good friend of my (Brandt’s) nine years with the Packers front office”. Definitely worth the read, though Brandt shares little actual inside information, for obvious reasons.

The lunch with Rodgers is especially interesting in light of the news that Rodgers has fired his agent. Remember, Brandt was once an agent before switching sides. Is he perhaps in line to represent the Packers’ starting QB? And how uncomfortable would that be for the Packers when it’s time to negotiate Rodgers’ next contract, with Brandt possibly playing hardball with the man who forced him out in Ted Thompson?

Stay tuned…

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• Packers Shopping Rodgers?

… to all those Packer fans who got so upset when Ted Thompson didn’t engage in a bidding war with the Houston Texans for Ahman Green. As most of you probably know, Green missed most of last year for the Texans. Fine. It happens. Doesn’t prove a thing, you say. 2008, new year, etc.

Green was hurt on the first play of the Texans’ first pre-season game.

Good call Ted.

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• The Fate of the Packers

Shocking, I know.

Jeffri Chadiha has a surprising column up today over at ESPN.com. (It’s surprising only in that it is on ESPN’s site but complimentary of Thompson and the Packers, a rarity these days.) I’d like to highlight something that has been bugging me the last few weeks, ever since Favre gave his interview on FOX. Chadiha, who gets most of his facts straight, makes the same blunder almost every other journalist has made in covering this story. He writes:

If this past month should’ve told us anything about Favre, it’s that we now understand why Thompson and McCarthy got fed up with the guy in the first place. Favre simply couldn’t commit to their plan, either because he didn’t feel loved enough or because Thompson wasn’t willing to sign Randy Moss, hire Steve Mariucci and kiss Favre’s ring all in the same motion.

The problem with the bolded part is that it is 100 percent incorrect. Favre never demanded Thompson hire Mooch. He simply asked Thompson to interview him. It wouldn’t be so egregious, if, two paragraphs later, Chadiha didn’t write:

I’m not making this stuff up, folks. These are actual facts that can be checked simply by clicking on Google.

Maybe Chadiha trusts Google TOO much, because he’s obviously parroting everyone else’s mistake. Time and again I have seen it written, on both sports news sites and fan blogs, that Favre demanded Thompson hire Mariucci. But the fact is, Favre asked Thompson to interview an old friend, and Thompson indicated he would. To then read shortly afterwords that McCarthy had been hired and to learn from that old friend that no interview had taken place, after being told it would, well, I can understand Favre’s frustration. And it speaks to a patter between Thompson and Favre. I can understand Thompson not wanting Favre to run  the team. But then SAY SO to Favre’s face. Even now, after all the drama, after weeks of being told that miscommunication was at the heart of this whole fiasco, Thompson admitted in his press conference yesterday that he still hadn’t cleared the air with Favre in a face to face meeting. After all this? Really? That is absurd. The least the two should have done at some point is sit down, one on one, away from Favre’s camp and away from the Packers organization, and had at it, much like McCarthy and Favre did earlier this week.

Would Favre still be a Packer? Of course not, but both sides owed at least that much to each other. Not to mention it would have been the grown up thing to do. Unfortunately, Thompson seemed incapable, for whatever reason, of opening up and telling Favre exactly what he felt. And if I were Favre, a man who lays his feelings out for all to see, I would have been beyond exasperated, to say the least.

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