Grades – Coaches
By Dale Z on Jan 17, 2009 with 8 Comments
It’s finally time to grade the guys who got us here, the architects of the 6-10 season. Let’s grade us some coaches!
In retrospect I probably should have done the coaches first, considering two of the four men about to get their grades are fired. Oops?
Before I get to the coaches I want to hand out the grade for Rock Gullickson, the former Packers trainer. Since Rock showed up in Green Bay, I haven’t noticed a huge rise in power or speed from our players. I did notice a rise in INJURIES though. Our “strength and CONDITIONING” coach failed there. I hereby judge him with a grade of F.
I’m only doing the big names here because nobody cares or can properly judge an assistant linebacker coach. Okay, let’s do this thing.
- Joe Philbin
*Second year as Offensive Coordinator
Joe’s offense was top 10 in passing yards and top 5 in points. Those are just great numbers to have and Joe should be proud of that. Our rushing attack was 17th in the NFL and he should get some of the blame for Grant’s lack of production.
Out of all the problems in 2008, the Packers offense wasn’t one of them. Was it perfect? No. Could it get better? Of course it can. Will healthy players and some more talent make this great offense even better? You bet your sweet ass it will. 2009, Philbin could show he’s a major player in the NFL.
Fun Facts
- Philbin’s offense was 8th in yards per game!
GRADE: B+
- Bob Sanders
*Fired
Poor Bob Sanders. Even with the injuries suffered in 2008, Sanders had some very talented players on defense. Yeah, the defensive line took a huge hit and losing Barnett was bad, but going from one of the best defenses to the worst is unacceptable.
Teams averaged 23.8 points against us while averaging 131.6 on the ground. That’s just how you lose games. Giving up points and letting people run on you is chapter 1 in the book “How to lose football games on defense” written by Bob Sanders.
I look forward to Sanders’ next book, “No pressure and no adjustments make Bob a fired boy.” That should be out in 2010 and this guy knows what he’s talking about. I’ve never seen such a talented defense not get pressure on the quarterback. I’ve never seen such a talented unit not even SENT for the quarterback. I like Kampman, Jolly, and the boys on the defensive line as much as anyone, but if they aren’t getting it done, you need to send more. You have Al Harris and Charles Woodson, I think they can handle some one-on-ones on defense. Send some LB’s and safeties! At least he has time to think about his mistakes.
Fun Facts
- 25th in sacks
GRADE: F (ired)
- Mike Stock
*69 years old
When you’re a special teams coach, you work with backups. That’s who makes up the majority of your units, and when you complain about not having certain players on your squad, you fail at your job. Stock, as well as Green Bay journalists, like to point out we didn’t have Tracy White this year.
His Tracy White-free coverage unit didn’t force ONE fumble. Come on! Jarrett Bush gave up huge plays on returns and when he wasn’t doing that, he was being penalized. Did Stock replace him with…anyone? Nah. It’s not like we got a Tracy White just sitting on the bench!
Stock also had a thing against punter Jon Ryan and the form in which the guy punted the ball. He didn’t like his release time and if you think those issues weren’t a key reason we got rid of Ryan, you’re fooling yourself. We got a guy with a quicker release, but he couldn’t punt it very far. That whole mess falls mostly on Mike Stock’s stupidity.
Fun Facts
- Mike Stock went to high school with Curly Lambeau….’s father.
- Mike is auditioning for the role of The Penguin in the Dark Knight sequel.
- We would be superbowl bound if we kept Tracy White.
GRADE: F (ired)
- Mike McCarthy
*Record: 27-21-0
Here we go. Most of you reading this know by listening to our podcasts that I like Mike McCarthy. I think he’s a good coach and I’m glad he’s going to be around for a while.
You can blame McCarthy for Sanders and Stock. That makes sense and a lot of myself blames him for it. The trick is to not pass the buck too much. We can blame Mike for Sanders and Stock, but we can blame Ted Thompson for hiring McCarthy. Or we can blame Harlan for bringing in Ted Thompson. See how that works? He made a mistake with those guys.
Now on the field and during the season, McCarthy didn’t exactly match his savvy from 2007. A coach’s job is to put his players in a position to succeed. Mike didn’t necessarily do that this year. He stuck with Ryan Grant all year even though Grant would get outplayed any time he stepped on the sidelines.
Mike stepped away from the Fab 5 when he seen the offensive line couldn’t handle the pressure so he should get credit for this.
Mike came under fire by fans for not publicly berating players and coaches. Instead he focused on working in house as he did during the 13-3 season.
Nobody liked being 6-10 this year.
McCarthy doesn’t live in denial and when the season was over, Sanders and Stock were fired. Don’t give me that “Stock retired” crap. That old bastard was fired. McCarthy realized he made a mistake and is doing everything he can to remedy it. This is a great sign. Not every coaching move will be great. Not every play will result in a touchdown. The only thing you can ask is you improve, notice the weaknesses and turn them into strengths.
Fun Facts
- His wife gave birth to a baby girl on October 22nd.
GRADE: C
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It’s hard to grade coaches. I agree that a C is about right for McCarthy. That’s about as good a grade as I’m going to give to the coach of a team that went from 13-3 to 6-10. McCarthy seemed a little tentaive with his playcalling at times this season. He was undermanned due to all the injuries, but he let it get into his head a little, I think.
I have no idea what Joe Philbin even does, let alone how well he’s doing it. He’s like Sherm Lewis, back in the Holmgren days. An OC who doesn’t call plays.
I was not happy with Sanders as DC, so I was relieved to hear that he was fired.
Stock I’m less sure of. Coaching special teams is not brain surgery, and I’m afraid that the decline in the special teams was mostly due to inferior personnel. Stock does lose points for being a buddy of Derrick Frost, however–whether or not he actually had anything to do with bringing Frost in here. He probably did. Stock was always bitching about Jon Ryan’s get-off time, even though the only punts Ryan ever had blocked were in that ridiculously windy game at Soldier Field in December ’07, when the snaps blew so far off to the side that they exposed him to the rush.
I think all the coaches probably had a difficult time with all the transitions.
I just think Stock was past his prime and abilities in being able to deal with a younger generation. Lansanah for White didn’t help.
another fine read
glad you didnt forget Mike like you forgot Tauch
Great stuff, I especially liked the line “Don’t give me that “Stock retired” crap. That old bastard was fired.” That’s telling it like it is. I agree with McCarthy’s grade. I think the recent firings were a sign that he recognizes a bad hire, unfortunately it cost the team another season’s worth of growth to figure it out. Let’s hope the replacement coaches can do a better job because at this point we can’t afford another bad choice.
Agreed, Az. McCarthy gets one do-over at the DC spot, and this is it. Sanders seemed like a reasonable choice in 2006, because with Bates leaving, the Packers had to hire their fourth DC in four years, and it made sense to hire a guy who could at least continue the Bates scheme. The problem was that Sanders did not seem to grow in the job. He was no better in year three than he was in year one, and his scheme was looking more and more archaic with each passing year.
McCarthy has now used his Get Out of Jail Free card. The new DC had better be good. If 2009 is anything like 2008, McCarthy could be gone.
“McCarthy has now used his Get Out of Jail Free card. The new DC had better be good. If 2009 is anything like 2008, McCarthy could be gone.”
I have said as much in the past. I will be curious to hear Dale’s response, again.
I’m not so sure McCarthy will get fired after another bad season. After 2009, he will have 3 years left on his contract, at $4 million a year. Thats a lot of money to eat if they decide to let him go.
Teams eat that kind of money all the time. I know they ate quite a bit when Sherman got fired. They had just renewed his contract the year before. I don’t think McCarthy would get fired after next season unless things went really bad, though. Another season like this one (6-10) would probably qualify as really bad, although it depends on the circumstances and the chemistry among the coaching staff and front office. I think Thompson and McCarthy’s fates are probably tied together, and they seem to get along very well with Mark Murphy, so they probably have at least two more years.