It's an indisputable fact that in almost any game, aggressive play usually beats conservative play. My main bone of contention with Mike McCarthy used to be that in critical situations, he seemed to choose the conservative route, which often tended to blow up in his face. There were times he seemed, as Gregg Easterbook likes to put it, to be trying to lose as gracefully as possible -- that is, choosing plays that, if they didn't work out, would be most easily defensible before a hostile press and public. Hence he would punt it away when I thought he should have gone for the first down, or kick a field goal when I thought he could have tried for a touchdown. It's a lot easier to tell the press after a loss, "Well, you have to take the points" than "Well, statistically speaking, the right move there was to go for the touchdown, even though it didn't pan out." Many times, when he would settle for a punt or a field goal, I would "
write the words 'Game over' in my notebook ," and more often than not, the Packers would in fact lose.
Lately, however, he seems to maintain an aggressive posture almost the entire game, and I love it. Last week, I was thrilled to see him go for it on 4th down in the red zone -- statistically, the right move to make. Even though it didn't work out that time, much to the chagrin of some of the guys in the chat room, it sent a message to the Broncos that there would be no surrender, no quarter taken, that if there was a chance for points, the Packers were going to take it. Yes, that decision probably prevented the Packers from having their
first 50-point game in six years , but who cares? I love even more that he reinforced the message with the unusually timed onside kick, which caught everyone off guard. And finally, I love that he left Rodgers in until the last few minutes; in fact, I wouldn't have minded him leaving him in a little longer to get his fifth touchdown pass.
The Packers have a new face, there is a new sheriff in town, and the league has been put on notice that the Packers will show no mercy and take no prisoners. As long as Mike McCarthy maintains this posture, I believe this team will continue to be dominant.
(If anyone has a few more tattered clichés they would like to contribute to this thread, please feel free to do so.)