Z,
Thanks for the post, since the beginning of the regular season I thought I was in a very small minority thinking Mike McCarthy was playing it pretty safe.
Both Minny and Det made comebacks, thankfully by the end of each of those games those two teams eventually showed their true colors and faded.
After watching last night again earlier today, I am convinced that Mike McCarthy was not going to let the offense go down the field, as soon as Dallas scored on the first long run and made it 10-6 Mike McCarthy went into his shell.

2 runs and an incomplete pass, 3 and out we punted and Dallas came right back down the field.

Those of you who have been on the defense realy should take another look, without the D making a lot of big plays in the first half this game would have been out of control a lot earlier.

Greg Jennings had 80 yards receiving in the first quarter and a half, then never got another touch until the garbage drive at the end.

I really think Mike McCarthy is trying way to hard to protect Aaron Rodgers from anything bad happening, I also think IMHO Aaron Rodgers has the talent and the toughness to overcome a mistake or two if he makes them.

STRETCH THE DAMN FIELD EVERY ONCE IN AWHILE GIVE Aaron Rodgers HIS WINGS AND LET HIM FLY!!!!!

You will be amazed how a few long passes complete or not will loosen up a defense and improve the running game!!!!!

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I agree with a lot of things aid in this thread, but I agree with this post the most. What is Mike McCarthy trying to protect Aaron Rodgers from? It's ridiculous. Let the kid make some throws. It's obvious our running game stinks right now, so why when we're down by two scores in the second half do we try to get back to it when the only thing that's been working is our passing game? Let's get the ball into our receivers hands and let them make big plays.

Also, I heard somewhere that Jones got hurt for the first play and they only had 3 receivers to work with. That's kind of bogus for our spread offense, especially when our WR depth is great and our TE depth is kind pretty low.

ONE HUGE difference, which you yourself pointed out Zombie.
The Cowboys ALREADY HAD THE GAME WON.
In the Minny game, a fumble by Bigby could have cost us the game.

In yesterday's game, the Cows are on our end of the field, the game sewn up.......so what if they get an incomplete or even an INT. It wouldn't affect the outcome of the game one bit.
Thats a HUGE difference.

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That's a lot of head.


I agree, we seem to play soft at times especially for a team that has players who feel NO ONE CAN STOP US. Wait, except for us.

Good job!

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Romo threw that pass because it was low-risk and the clock was going to stop for the two-minute warning anyway, plus his buddy Terrell Owens was feeling left out on all the fun.

Overall, though, I agree that the Cowboys did a good job closing out the game.

Closing teams out has been a bit of a problem for the Packers at times because they don't have a consistent running game. It's hard to argue with the results, though. They are 20-5 in their last 25 games, which suggests to me that maybe Mike McCarthy knows a thing or two about how to win football games.

The Cowboys won not because they were more aggressive, but because they outplayed the Packers, plain and simple. They won most of their matchups, particularly at the line of scrimmage, and Marion Barber, Tony Romo, and Jason Witten all played great.

By the way, part of the Cowboys' close-out strategy was a perfectly executed prevent defense that forced the Packers to burn up most of the remaining time before scoring their final TD. There was nothing aggressive about that at all. It was just smart football.

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over reaction alert


just in case anyone thought this... i will go ahead and correct you.

we were never gonna go undefeated. The cowboys right now look like the clear best team in football. shit happens and we lost.

I completely agree that McCarthy is soft handing Aaron. But i don't disagree with him doing it as much as you guys do. I would much rather bring Aaron along in the regular season and keep putting more and more on him as it goes than to break him mentally in the 3rd game of the season.

i think we are forgetting that this is Aaron Rodgers and not Brett Favre. this is his 3rd freaking start. Lets see how this team responds to a loss and injuries before we go calling them outright pussies.

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I think Mike McCarthy is playing it a little too safe as well, but there's a lot of football to play and I think it will open up a bit in the next few weeks. Mike McCarthy might be a bit gun shy after all that's gone on this year.

That being said, not much to add other than it's great to see a well thought out, non reactionary, non finger pointing thread!

They are few and far between as of late.

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