After watching the Lions game on tape, I'd like to follow up on my complaints about the playcalling in three third and short situations. My postgame thread was merged into the official game thread, which I don't think is available anymore, so I'll just start a new one.
For starters, I'll say that I rarely complain about play calling, so this is not something I take lightly. My concern in this game was that I thought the Packers ran unnecessarily difficult plays in three third and short situations, all of which were unsuccessful. I got into a debate with Evad04 about this. He argued that the playcalling was okay, and that the problem was execution.
Here's another look at the plays and what I think of them after watching the game on tape.
1. The handoff to Kuhn who was running nearly parallel to the line of scrimmage. I still think this was a crap play. Rodgers was in the shotgun and handed the ball off in front of his body. This might be a good play for a scatback or a Marshall Faulk type, but not John Kuhn. He can make a slight cut without losing his momentum, but expecting him to make nearly a 90 degree cut and pick up a first down is a bit much.
2. Rodgers rolling out to his right in the first half and throwing incomplete to Jennings about 15 yards downfield. Finley was the primary receiver here, and he was covered, and the Lions had defenders in place to prevent Rodgers from scrambling. So I have to give the Lions credit here for defending a play that has worked well for the Packers this season.
3. Rodgers rolling to his right in the third quarter and throwing an interception on a pass intended for Jennings about 15 yards downfield. Evad was correct in pointing out that Donald Driver was open underneath, and that's where Rodgers should've thrown the ball.
So to sum up, I would say that two out of the three calls were not necessarily bad calls, and I give evad credit for pointing this out.
My larger concern, now that I think about it, is that possibly McCarthy does not have confidence in the O-line to hold their blocks long enough for Rodgers to drop back and go through his reads on third and short, so instead he is having Rodgers roll out, which limits his options. So maybe this is not so much a play calling problem as an offensive line problem. We'll see how it pans out as the season progresses.