So now the mantra of the Thompson defenders is that he is merely "stubborn" rather than an overall bad GM.
I will give Thompson credit in his early years for fixing the bad salary cap situation (which, bad as it was, was nothing near as bad as San Francisco or Dallas got themselves into a decade or so ago). I will not condemn Thompson too much for the QB situation - Tolzien and Flynn (although he did give us the Seneca Wallace debacle, and despite the all out irrational HATE some display for Vince Young, I STILL say he could have gotten the Packers through the Rodgers injury better than any of the others).
What I blame Thompson for is: 1. the O Line and first and foremost - how can anybody be happy with the idea of next season having no more change than getting Bulaga back? And if Newhouse is as bad as he seems - and I believe he is, and Lane Taylor no better, as somebody said, WHY was there no upgrade? Yet no condemnation in the forum of Thompson for that hahahaha? Other teams simply don't get themselves into such fucked up situations, and MANY have found significant help on the scrap heap - not us. 2. the D-Line - people just now with the Rodgers injury are realizing that Raji and Pickett are nothing but fat lumps who need to GO? The fact that Johnny Jolly can come back from 3 years in the slammer and the streets of Houston, and outshine everybody there ought to tell us something. Daniels seems good, and the jury is still out on Datone, but all that does is make the D-Line slightly less bad than the O-Line. A LOT of teams around the league have picked up quality D-Linemen even since the season started - not us. 3. LB other than Matthews: Nick Perry has been OK, but it really seems we could have gotten somebody better in the first round. Why take a college DE and try to convert him instead of a slightly smaller more athletic guy? And ILB? All these years, we seemingly could have gotten somebody better maybe a couple of 2nd - 4th rounders than what we have - a LOT of teams have a LOT better personnel with no easier situation than what we have. 4. Safety: I guess I've been stubborn there. I thought McMillian would be the answer; I always kinda liked Jennings; And I still think Burnett will heal completely and snap back to form. Richardson looked like crap - the little I saw of him. The point is, if what we have is so bad - and I'm coming around to the view that it is, Ted Thompson should have pulled the plug on McMillian, Richardson, or whoever, and picked up somebody of quality - again, as other teams have certainly done.
Maybe coaching enters into it, but I would blame the position coaches MUCH more than the coordinator. Where have the Packers been screwing up (where have they not hahahaha)? I would say fundamentals - O-Line blocking, pass in particular, tackling all over the D, etc. Posters are having orgasms over Greene, well, I have to ask, are his LBs doing all that great? I don't see it. Ditto that for the DBs - coverage has been marginal but tackling has been downright bad. I blame personnel - the players just aren't up to standard in a lot of cases, but I will allow for the possibility that some of the problem could be coaching too.
As for Capers, I have yet to see any of his many detractors address this idea: this team is so weak personnel-wise that we NEED scheming/blitz packages/customized defenses/outguessing the other teams to survive. THAT is Capers' thing. Sure, tricks and schemes and well thought out plans don't always work - stopping Kaepernick for example, but playing straight up with substandard personnel wouldn't work either. And given the fact that we NEED that FINESSE kind of defense, who better to design it than Capers? Certainly not some rah rah WWE loud mouth with no experience like Greene.
I'm less pleased with McCarthy now too - to some extent, he has been exposed also by the Rodgers injury. He has input, I'm sure, in the bad personnel crap that I blame Thompson for, but mainly I blame him for playcalling. There too, with Rodgers, you could get away with just about anything. The thing I blame McCarthy for the most is what probably many in here praise him for - listening to critics - NOT being stubborn enough IMO, and going to a run-first offense. As the saying goes, "dance with who brung ya", well, the Packers were GREAT on offense with a pass first attack. Using that, even with Lacy, would be best - pass to set up the run. That is especially true with our pathetic O-Line. When Seneca Wallace was the QB, yeah, we had no choice but to run most of the time, but anybody else, Tolzien, Flynn, etc., we could still have run most of the Aaron Rodgers gameplan and had at least limited success. And to just give up on the no huddle/hurry up, rather than train Tolzien/Flynn to use it? That's bad coaching. After all, they have radios in the helmets and practically a whole playbook on their sleeve.
I still think we win out and take the division with 9-6-1, and hopefully advance in the playoffs. If so - or if not, that really presents the question of what to change next off-season and camp. My guess is very little - unfortunately.
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