The blueprint was not so much them; it was us. We lost two offensive tackles today and one for the rest of the year. How to beat a passing team? Easy: Take away the QB's protection.

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It's not like they were exactly tearing things up before the tackles went down.

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Good point. Frankly, I'm surprised McCarthy went to the no-huddle so sporadically today. It should've become a central component of our offense once it became apparent our rhythm was terribly out of sync.

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Blueprints? Blueprints don't exist.

You want to beat any team in any game? Here's what you do:

1- Keep possession
2- Execute
3- Tackle
4- Don't turnover the ball / creat turnovers

There's nothing more then that.

Chiefs kept the possession, they executed ... tackled and didn't turnover the ball. On the other hand we didn't have possession, we can't tackle, we didn't execute and turned the ball over ... almost INT'ed ... and we lost simple as that. Chiefs played 60 mins, Packers played about 5-10 minutes.

P.S. Finley ... just lost a lot of levarage on his contract.

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This is nothing new. We've consistently seen Rodgers struggle against teams that pressure with their front and drop everybody into coverage. The Jets did it last year. The Bears have done it constantly. This was a humbling experience. They can make a positive out of that or it can destroy their season. It's on the coaches and leaders of this team to steady the ship.

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The question is how do you counter the new emphasis on coverage the Packers are encountering? I have to think a reorientation of scheme to include more of a short and intermediate game needs to be made. If Rodgers keeps looking so far downfield on so many plays, he is going to keep getting hit. This isn't the Patriots' offensive line. The Packers just don't have the kind of personnel capable of giving him that much time. This is starting to remind me of 2008 and early 2009 all over again. It's not that Rodgers is necessarily holding onto the ball too long. It's that he's looking deep downfield even when there are eligible receivers open in the flat. I don't know if that is a result of McCarthy's scheme or if it's a personality/conditioning flaw on Rodgers' part. It was great while it lasted, but teams have adjusted to it, and injuries have made it easier for them to adjust, and now it's time for the Packers themselves to adapt.

That goes for the offense and the defense, by the way. Bend but don't break isn't going to cut it in the playoffs. Other offenses like the Saints have only improved over the course of the season. They haven't regressed as the Packers seemingly have over the past few weeks. Yes, those same teams have fallen flat on their faces against teams like the Rams, but the Packers' can't count on that happening. They need to be aggressive and fundamentally sound. If they can't force the Saints to punt, they will be steamrolled.

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Or just...

1- Score more points than the other team unless you're playing hearts or golf

I don't think it's anything new; man-to-man underneath with cover-2 over top is what we have been seeing the past few weeks (at least going back to the Bucs game. We've still put up decent scores, even after subtracting the TDs scored by the D / ST.

You have Finley being doubled, and usually Jennings drawing double teams. That leaves everyone else 1-on-1. Nelson, Driver, Cobb, and (theoretically) Jones are good enough to exploit it. The just have to win match-ups.

The problem that happened today was Finley seemed like a shell of his elite self. Jordy, when drawing double coverage, was not able to come up with the ball (being brutally honest, a couple of times it was on Jordy, but a couple of times Rodgers was off-target). Then, single coverage match-ups we either could not win or we dropped passes (think Driver dropping one in his lap). To be honest, Finley got open a couple of times against double coverage... he is that damn talented. He made a spectacular play (adjusting his direction and catching over the shoulder) but more often than not he came up short (diving catch that would have been TD, but Finley missed).

As for Aaron looking deep, if I am not mistaken the Chiefs were starting a third-string S today (Berry injured, and then his replacement got injured and could not play this week). I think the times we saw Finley have the chance to make a play (couple he did, most he failed) vindicate Rodgers looking down the field: the DBs were not talented enough to keep up with Finley. I can't fault Aaron for wanting to attack the weak-link. But - and I hate to return to this point - I am left miffed at McCarthy for not realizing his prize player was getting little time. Hell, use Finley to chip before sending him out into his route. DO SOMETHING! Newhouse was getting abused. And once Bulaga / Sherrod went down, we were pretty f'd no matter the scheme.

In short, I think this team still has the talent to excel; they've faced and had success against this scheme. Bu when they fail to execute and it's open season on Rodgers, we're going to struggle bad. Like today. Fix the execution and protection (which may be damn harder with Bulaga, Sherrod, and Clifton out) and things will fall into place again.

* Oh, and we desperately need another RB besides Grant. 2nd half, runs into pile when on his left there was a hole the size of the Pacific ocean. He just did not have the speed to get to it in time, but if either Starks or Saine were in on that play, that is a huge gain. Grant is tough, but an every-down RB he most definitely is not.

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Yeah, my problem with the offense is mainly execution. The receivers need to make those catches and Arodge needs to get the ball out.
As for the defense, they are what they are. Maybe Neal will get into the flow and get some push.

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I don't know if it is MM or Rodgers but wishing for the O-line to give you 5 seconds is not going to make it happen. Although we were able to get matchups down field, we also saw Rodgers get rushed and squashed too many times. Especially after the injuries, adjustments need to be made to get the ball out much faster in the remaining games. Fortunately, we are successful at quick execution when we have used it this season.

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