Kind of how the bye-week made such a difference the year before against the Giants? I don't see any way in which the Packers would have beaten the 49'ers last year. They were simply the better team, whether the Packers had another week of rest or not.

Regardless, I, and most others, would love to see more production out of the run game. Mike McCarthy gets away from it during critical moments at times, but I can sort of understand given the talent the the position he has been working with and Aaron Rodgers as QB. Now that he will hopefully have a decent backfield, I look forward to and expect him to be a more discipline play-caller.

Originally Posted by: doddpower 

The assertion that they don't like to run the ball is a myth.

The only thing they needed to have a better running game was any healthy backs. Which they didn't really have.

Originally Posted by: Dexter_Sinister 

Seattle is also a fairly accomplished running D.

Originally Posted by: Dexter_Sinister 

Oh, please. 1st half of the Seattle game we ran 30 offensive plays, 27 of them were passes. 1 running play in the first quarter (no gain), 2 running plays in the 2nd quarter (24 yds).

Our explosive, quick strike offense was shut out in the first half as we were losing 7-0 at half time.

McCarthy abandoned the run going into that game, not because we weren't having success running the ball but because it was his game plan. Fortunately, he adjusted at half time and in the second half, we ran the ball 18 times and outscored Seattle 12-0 (I refuse to count that last score). Not that we won because of the running per se, but because running the ball kept the Seattle DL from being able to pin their ears back and just go after AR, which made our passing game more effective.

He did the same thing in the second half of the SF playoff game last year. We ran 4 times in the second half (on the first two series), never ran it again the entire rest of the game. And it's not like we were well down and needed to just pass-pass-pass to catch up--SF had just scored to take the lead when we abandoned the run. What made it more frustrating was we had run the ball effectively in the first & second half, including DuJuan Harris' 18 yard TD run in the first half.

We could run the ball, we just decided to abandon the run. That's not a myth.

Originally Posted by: macbob 

Oh, please. 1st half of the Seattle game we ran 30 offensive plays, 27 of them were passes. 1 running play in the first quarter (no gain), 2 running plays in the 2nd quarter (24 yds).

Our explosive, quick strike offense was shut out in the first half as we were losing 7-0 at half time.

McCarthy abandoned the run going into that game, not because we weren't having success running the ball but because it was his game plan. Fortunately, he adjusted at half time and in the second half, we ran the ball 18 times and outscored Seattle 12-0 (I refuse to count that last score). Not that we won because of the running per se, but because running the ball kept the Seattle DL from being able to pin their ears back and just go after AR, which made our passing game more effective.

He did the same thing in the second half of the SF playoff game last year. We ran 4 times in the second half (on the first two series), never ran it again the entire rest of the game. And it's not like we were well down and needed to just pass-pass-pass to catch up--SF had just scored to take the lead when we abandoned the run. What made it more frustrating was we had run the ball effectively in the first & second half, including DuJuan Harris' 18 yard TD run in the first half.

We could run the ball, we just decided to abandon the run. That's not a myth.

Originally Posted by: macbob 

Who abandoned the run? Who decided to not run the ball?

Originally Posted by: Dexter_Sinister 

We lost to them in Week 1, because we started Jarrett Bush at CB.

Plus we abandoned the run. Late in the year DuJuan was on a roll too.

I do not fear the Niners. I do believe they are for real. But so are we, at least talent level wise.

Originally Posted by: nerdmann 

Who abandoned the run? Who decided to not run the ball?

Originally Posted by: Dexter_Sinister 

McCarthy in the first half of the Seattle game. He scripts the first 15 or so plays. That's 100% on him.

And my bet is primarily McCarthy in the SF game, too, though Aaron Rodgers undoubtedly audibled out of some runs, too. The formations we came out in were almost exclusively shotgun (both 1st half of Seattle game and 2nd half of SF game). The 4 runs in the second half of the SF game were all draws out of the shotgun.

Originally Posted by: macbob 

Ultimately, I would say that is on McCarthy. He runs everything on that O. It all goes through him. And if it is not what he wants, it is his charge to change it.

I know you are asking if it might be Rodgers checking to pass in run/pass option plays. McCarthy must have a handle on that stuff.

Originally Posted by: play2win