Time to get serious
Coaches push accountability
By Greg A. Bedard of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Sept. 23, 2009
Green Bay On Monday, one day after the Green Bay Packers put on an embarrassing performance in a 31-24 home loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, offensive coordinator Joe Philbin went to the podium in the team meeting room and delivered a stern message.
"My message was that there needs to be a higher level of accountability - all of us - it's got to be higher," Philbin said. "There has to be more responsibility for performance on the field. Accountability definitely has to increase now."
Somewhere in the room, quarterback Aaron Rodgers was agreeing wholeheartedly. The lingering thoughts of the Packers' subpar effort were just about eating away at him.
"One hundred percent I agreed with him," Rodgers said Wednesday. "I feel like some portion of the team felt that we could just show up on Sunday against a Bengals team that we felt like we were better than, and they were going to fold. Well, they didn't. They played with more effort and more intensity.
"You've got a guy in (Bengals end) Antwan Odom who's not a huge name guy, but he out-efforted us on sacks. And his motor was running higher than ours was. I think as a professional you need to hold yourself to a high standard, and when you make mistakes two weeks in a row, that should be unacceptable to you as a man and as a Packer and as a member of this offense."
There certainly are things about this Packers team that should be intolerable to the players and coaches:
The Packers have been called for 17 penalties in two games. Over 16 games, that would average out to 136, which would break the non-strike season team record of 128 in 1986.
They have given up 10 sacks, which puts the Packers on pace for 80, which would obliterate the team record of 62 ('90).
The Packers lead the National Football League with eight dropped passes.
Some would say those numbers are sure to drop as the season progresses, that two games are too small a sample. Both things likely are true.
But that the Packers compiled those awful statistics in two games in the comfort of Lambeau Field - including Sunday with Super Bowl-winning legends from glory years past watching steps away on the sidelines - only underscores the sloppiness in which the Packers have started a season that began with Super Bowl aspirations.
And the fact they are 5-11 over the past 16 games does as well.
And that they returned 21 of 22 starters, with an average age of 27.5 and 5.9 years of NFL experience, put an exclamation point on it.
At some point, doesn't somebody stand up and scream, "This is just not good enough!"
According to some players, coach Mike McCarthy did just that Monday.
But others, like linebacker Aaron Kampman, said the riot act wasn't read.
The message McCarthy delivered Wednesday, to the media at least, was that steady is the course being set by the Packers.
"They're going to rise to the challenge. And they need to. And we all do, starting with me," McCarthy said.
"We're going to line up and play just the way we did every day, nothing's going to change, we're not changing any plays, any practice schedules, OK?
So we're going down to St. Louis to win a game . . . any linemen and we're going to play our type of football. That's our approach."
So McCarthy prefers to stay balanced - to not get too high or too low during the season.
Not every coach has done things that way.
Vince Lombardi, of course, demanded perfection in everything his Packers did.
But that was a different time with different players.
Well, after his team posted an 0.8 average rushing the ball in the opening week of the season, San Francisco 49ers coach Mike Singletary bashed his offensive line in the media and barged into the offensive meeting room to tell them "we got our tails kicked up front, it's as simple as that."
On Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, 49ers running back Frank Gore had 207 yards on 16 carries.
Obviously it's not that simple, but a good tail-kicking can be useful once in awhile.
"That has a place, it really does," Rodgers said when told of Singletary's actions.
"But I wouldn't directly tie that to the play on the field. The rah-rah speech gets your attention, but it comes down to man to man doing your responsibility."
And it appears the Packers have failed at that. It could be because the organization doesn't have the best track record of holding players accountable.
Last year, punter Derrick Frost obviously was not performing to an acceptable level, but it took the team 12 games to release him.
Not only did the team bring back Jarrett Bush after he committed six of the Packers' 24 special-teams penalties (25%) in 2007 - in addition to several poor plays and not developing at defensive back - but the Packers matched the offer sheet he received from the Tennessee Titans. Bush was offside twice on punts against the Bengals.
And safety Aaron Rouse finally was released by the team Wednesday. But several of his teammates had long ago figured out Rouse hadn't proved himself capable of a roster spot.
As a third-round pick, however, it seemed that he was given extra time to develop.
There also are players still on the team that some players believe have not earned their spots.
Rodgers disagreed with the notion that the Packers have not held a hard line on accountability. Nonetheless, he did hope a message was delivered with Rouse's release.
"I do think, at times, some of the young guys, it takes them a little bit longer to realize they're not on scholarships anymore," Rodgers said.
"And we talked about that this week. Comfort vs. confidence. Confidence in your abilities, not wanting to be comfortable because you're just on the team.
"You shouldn't be comfortable here.
You should be confident in your abilities, but you shouldn't be comfortable because they cut Aaron Rouse.
That could happen at any time. Maybe that will be a wakeup call for some of these young guys."
If things don't improve against the Rams on Sunday, players could become more vocal with each other.
In fact, Rodgers and veteran cornerback Charles Woodson talked about that subject this week.
But linebacker Nick Barnett said the Packers aren't there yet.
"We're 1-1, the ship hasn't sank," Barnett said. "I don't think it's gotten to that point, where we need to be yelling and screaming on the sidelines. But everyone has to be more accountable. What has gone on can't be allowed any longer. We're a better team than this.
"It's time to do it."