1: Mike McCarthy was the one requesting "smaller, quicker" offensive linemen. Like Darryn Colledge. Tony Moll. Alan Barbre. Not sure you're aware, but Mike McCarthy has been enamored with the "Zone Blocking" scheme, although in recent years he's gotten more away from it.
Ever since he's been asking for the "bigger, stronger" guys, Ted Thompson's been hitting on a better percentage. Like Sitton. Lang. Bulaga. Newhouse.
"all_about_da_packers" wrote:
So, McCarthy's emphasis away from the ZBS meant us getting better linemen? You realize Bulaga played in a ZBS under Kirk Ferentz, right? If McCarthy wanted to move away from the ZBS, then why on earth would he / Ted draft Bulaga, whose success had been entirely in a ZBS scheme?
You realize Sitton has the attributes for an O-linemen that you want in the ZBS, right? He can get to the second level, has quick feet, knows how to use his hands. He was drafted to play in the ZBS, and he has done so contrary to your belief that we have moved away from it more and more.
Lang, outside of showing some potential at Tackle, has done nothing. Thompson hit on Lang? Tough to call that a "hit" since Lang has been inactive for half the games this year and has actually seen more snaps a D-linemen than O-linemen, which he was drafted to be. And it is too early to claim Newhouse a "hit" because he has done absolutely nothing in his NFL career.
3: The showdown was not Capers v Favre. It was Mike McCarthy v Favre. Capers wasn't even here when the fiasco ensued. How many sacks did Jared Allen have again?
4: Earlier you said you were criticizing the "execution." Nice to see you coming around. Are you also willing to admit that high percentage plays are more likely to be successful than low percentage plays, or are you going to continue claiming my logic and reasoning skills are flawed
"nerdmann" wrote:
3: You realize McCarthy was forced to use Lang at LT the 2nd game because he basically had no other option, right? Lang gave up 3 sacks to Allen. Same game, Tausher gave up 2 sacks to Ray Edward - was that McCarthy's fault too? McCarthy has been short changed with the personnel he has gotten in his time here; not all the shortcomings are entirely his fault.
4: I have criticized the execution of passing plays that have not worked out; I realize that before the ball is snapped Aaron has to make adjustments at the line and then actually throw the ball. The WR can run a wrong route, Aaron can threw a bad ball, Aaron can make a bad read (throwing deep instead of underneath), etc. and these things are the players failing to execute. McCarthy cannot control how far Aaron goes through his progressions, what adjustments he calls, etc.
I've been pretty clear that McCarthy is foolish to call so many pass plays when defenses are inviting him to run the football. This, IMO, has contributed to our bad offense. However, so has the fact that Aaron has thrown to double covered players on occasion (Vikings INT in the endzone), and that our players have failed to make catches (Jones after he beat Cromartie) - it's hard to fault McCarthy when players fail to execute; the blame is not solely on McCarthy's shoulders.
It'd be stupid for me to argue we should run plays with lower success rates than plays with higher ones; I have never argued such a thing. I have argued, however, that if Aaron throws deep then that does not automatically mean McCarthy wanted the ball thrown deep. On a 4th down play against the Vikings in the fourth Q, Aaron decided to try a long pass to James Jones.
During his post-game conference, McCarthy called Aaron out on that and said he has to focus on taking the higher percentage completions underneath; does that sound like a man who wanted Aaron to throw deep? Hardly. That failure to get a new set of first downs has to also be on Rodgers.
I've never said McCarthy is free of blame, but I have also never resorted to laying all the blame at McCarthy's feet. So much can happen from the moment the QB receives the play from the sidelines to the moment the play is over that it is stupid to prejudge that a failure could have only been because of the Coach.
Which is what you did in your first post, implying that only McCarthy should be blamed and held accountable if our offense falters. Um, no, because clearly there is more to the offense playing out than Mike McCarthy.
"nerdmann" wrote: