MintBaconDrivel
11 years ago

GREEN BAY — Why didn't Mike McCarthy accept the 10-yard holding penalty that would have pushed the Baltimore Ravens back into a third-and-goal from the 11-yard line instead of declining it and giving them a fourth-down chance from less than a yard out during Sunday's 19-17 victory?

Simple: The Green Bay Packers coach was convinced his guys were going to get a stop.

Which, of course, is exactly what happened. The defense, after stopping running back Ray Rice on the first three plays, stuffed Bernard Pierce for no gain on fourth down, completing a goal-line stand that was a major momentum-shifter in the Packers' win.

It was also a different tack than McCarthy had taken in the Sept. 8 season opener at San Francisco , when the 49ers committed a 5-yard illegal formation penalty on a third-down play and McCarthy accepted the penalty — even though the 49ers had come up short and it was fourth down and inches — to give the 49ers an extra play.

That decision led to quarterback Colin Kaepernick scrambling and drawing a personal foul penalty on Clay Matthews for a late hit out of bounds, leading to a touchdown.

In fairness to McCarthy, Kaepernick was 2 yards short of the first down when Matthews hit him in that game, meaning the strategy essentially worked.

On Sunday, McCarthy didn't flinch even though by declining the penalty he set up a fourth-and-inches, just as he would have faced if he'd have declined the penalty in San Francisco. When the defense stopped Pierce, it preserved the Packers' 3-0 lead.

"The thinking was simple and it's exactly what I said on the headsets (to the others coaches): "We're playing great defense. I'm declining the penalty,'" McCarthy explained Monday. "So it wasn't really a conversation. I just felt strongly, just knowing the personality of their football team, they were going to try to run it again, (and) I was just confident that we'd be able to stop it.

"Our defensive line did a great job. The penetration on that goal-line stand was outstanding, particularly on the road. That's a moment as a defense that you can really build off of and I thought it was definitely one of the big, big plays, big segment of plays in the game."

Jason Wilde  wrote:


wpr
  • wpr
  • Preferred Member
11 years ago
I was surprised by the call. If GB took the penalty and held them out of the endzone Baltimore kicks the FG instead.
UserPostedImage
hardrocker950
11 years ago
I liked the call - very gutsy. The D stood them up when we were having problems moving the ball. Even without Clay, they still stood strong. Consider last season - this defense couldn't stop the run to save their own lives, but this year it has been quite the opposite. Hawk had the best game I can recall in recent memory - please tell me there is more where that came from!👍

Way to grow a pair D!
PackFanWithTwins
11 years ago
I thought it was a no brainer. Wilde is a little off on his description. It didn't set up 4th and inches. It was 4th and a complete yard unless you call that 4th and 36. In that position, the playbook becomes very small. If you push them back, you give them much more choices in play possibilities to defend against. 3rd and 11 you more than likely will face a pass which opens up the risk for a PI possibly giving them 4 more downs from the 1.

Taking the penalty in SF was the call of the two I would question.
The world needs ditch diggers too Danny!!!
beast
11 years ago

It seems like the Packers have struggled or made mistakes on stopping 3rd and long a lot more often than struggling / making mistakes on 4th and short for what ever reason.

I would think the norm would be struggling to stop the short yardage ones than the long yardage ones, but doesn't seem like the case for the Packers.
UserPostedImage
sschind
11 years ago

It seems like the Packers have struggled or made mistakes on stopping 3rd and long a lot more often than struggling / making mistakes on 4th and short for what ever reason.

I would think the norm would be struggling to stop the short yardage ones than the long yardage ones, but doesn't seem like the case for the Packers.

Originally Posted by: beast 



You may be right. They do seem to be giving up a lot of 3rd and longs. The difference IMO is that we have a stout run defense and most teams are going to run between the tackles on 3rd and 1. We don't seem to be as good defending the pass so 3rd and long so we give up more of those.

I've often thought that against defenses like ours a play action would be a good call on third and 1. The Packers used to like to go for it all on third and 1 but they never used the play action (never had the running game to sell it) so it was not as successful. Now with a running game maybe a play action bomb would work better. As soon as I saw the PA to Lacy and saw Rodgers set up all by himself I knew that was going to be a TD to Nelson. It just looked so pretty and he had all the time in the world. That's just one way a decent running game can help out your passing game.

I think the benefit of 4 weeks of seeing what our run defense can do helped make his decision a little easier as well.
Fan Shout
dfosterf (14-Jun) : TWO magnificent strikes for touchdowns. Lose the pennstate semigeezer non nfl backup
dfosterf (14-Jun) : There was minicamp Thursday. My man Taylor Engersma threw
dfosterf (11-Jun) : There will be a mini camp practice Thursday.
Zero2Cool (11-Jun) : He's been sporting a ring for a while now. It's probably Madonna.
Martha Careful (10-Jun) : We only do the tea before whoopee, it relaxes me.
wpr (10-Jun) : That's awesome Martha.
Mucky Tundra (10-Jun) : How's the ayahuasca tea he makes, Martha?
Martha Careful (10-Jun) : Turns out he like older women
Martha Careful (10-Jun) : I wasn't supposed to say anything, but yes the word is out and we are happy 😂😂😂
Mucky Tundra (10-Jun) : I might be late on this but Aaron Rodgers is now married
Mucky Tundra (10-Jun) : Well he can always ask his brother for pointers
Zero2Cool (10-Jun) : Bo Melton taking some reps at CB as well as WR
Zero2Cool (10-Jun) : key transactions coming today at 3pm that will consume more cap in 2025
Zero2Cool (9-Jun) : Jaire played in just 34 of a possible 68 games since the start of the 2021 season
Zero2Cool (9-Jun) : reported, but not expected to practice
Zero2Cool (9-Jun) : Jenkins has REPORTED for mandatory camp
Zero2Cool (9-Jun) : I really thought he'd play for Packers.
buckeyepackfan (9-Jun) : Packers releasing Jaire Alexander.
Mucky Tundra (8-Jun) : (Context: he wants his defense to create turnovers)
Mucky Tundra (8-Jun) : Giants DC Shane Bowen tells players to “be a damn pirate."
dfosterf (6-Jun) : Semper fi !
Cheesey (6-Jun) : This is why I have so much respect for those that have gone through battles
Cheesey (6-Jun) : I can't even imagine what that would have been like
wpr (6-Jun) : "Come on, you sons of bitches. Do you want to live forever?"
wpr (6-Jun) : Facing a line of machine guns 2 time medal of Honor recipient, First Sergeant Dan Daly told his men,
wpr (6-Jun) : Another detachment went into the Belleau Wood.
wpr (6-Jun) : On the 6th the Marines took Hill 142 but suffered terrible losses.
wpr (6-Jun) : It’s time to remember dfoster’s Marine brothers in Belleau Wood. The battle went on from June 1-26. Nearly 10,000 casualties.
packerfanoutwest (6-Jun) : Nick Collins and Morgan Burnett have signed with the PACK
packerfanoutwest (6-Jun) : he won't be wearing #12, maybe he will wear number two
packerfanoutwest (6-Jun) : He will fail this season, should have retired
Mucky Tundra (5-Jun) : Thus the cycle of Hall of Fame Packer QBs going to the Jets and then the Vikings is broken
bboystyle (5-Jun) : Rodgers to steelers on 1 year contract
Zero2Cool (5-Jun) : It's the cycle of civilizations. Get lazier, lazier, softer, softer and vanish.
Martha Careful (5-Jun) : great point. every aspect of society, including art, culture and sports has degraded.
dfosterf (4-Jun) : Green Bay sweep meant something to society about stopping pure excellence. We have the tush push now
dfosterf (4-Jun) : We old Martha.
Martha Careful (4-Jun) : *front four
Martha Careful (4-Jun) : Re frout four, I wish we had some Green "People Eaters" or a fearsome foursome
dfosterf (4-Jun) : *directions*
dfosterf (4-Jun) : Just don't ask him for driving direct
dfosterf (4-Jun) : Jim Marshall was an all-time great DE for the Purple People Eaters. Didn't like him. That's a compliment. RIP
Zero2Cool (3-Jun) : ooppppss
Zero2Cool (3-Jun) : “Kenny Clark played all of last season hurt by the way and got surgery to fix it in January”
Mucky Tundra (3-Jun) : @ByRyanWood How much did the injury affect him last fall? “A lot.”
Mucky Tundra (3-Jun) : @ByRyanWood Kenny Clark said he had foot surgery in January. Injured his foot in opener against Eagles and played through it all year.
Zero2Cool (3-Jun) : Golden is wearing guardian cap again. I bet he plays with it on too.
Mucky Tundra (3-Jun) : All the stuff I'm reading from Lions fans are pointing at his toe; he more or less has permanent turf toe in one of his big toes
dfosterf (3-Jun) : Kenny played through it, and a shame he gets little credit for that, imo
dfosterf (3-Jun) : Big men. I hope it's not the undoing of Kenny Clark
Please sign in to use Fan Shout
2025 Packers Schedule
Sunday, Sep 7 @ 3:25 PM
LIONS
Thursday, Sep 11 @ 7:15 PM
COMMANDERS
Sunday, Sep 21 @ 12:00 PM
Browns
Sunday, Sep 28 @ 7:20 PM
Cowboys
Sunday, Oct 12 @ 3:25 PM
BENGALS
Sunday, Oct 19 @ 3:25 PM
Cardinals
Sunday, Oct 26 @ 7:20 PM
Steelers
Sunday, Nov 2 @ 12:00 PM
PANTHERS
Monday, Nov 10 @ 7:15 PM
EAGLES
Sunday, Nov 16 @ 12:00 PM
Giants
Sunday, Nov 23 @ 12:00 PM
VIKINGS
Thursday, Nov 27 @ 12:00 PM
Lions
Sunday, Dec 7 @ 12:00 PM
BEARS
Sunday, Dec 14 @ 3:25 PM
Broncos
Friday, Dec 19 @ 11:00 PM
Bears
Friday, Dec 26 @ 11:00 PM
RAVENS
Saturday, Jan 3 @ 11:00 PM
Vikings
Recent Topics
1h / Random Babble / Martha Careful

14-Jun / Around The NFL / beast

14-Jun / Community Welcome! / dfosterf

13-Jun / Green Bay Packers Talk / dfosterf

13-Jun / Green Bay Packers Talk / Adam

12-Jun / Random Babble / Martha Careful

12-Jun / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

12-Jun / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

12-Jun / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

11-Jun / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

10-Jun / Green Bay Packers Talk / Martha Careful

10-Jun / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

7-Jun / Green Bay Packers Talk / Mucky Tundra

6-Jun / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

5-Jun / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

Headlines
Copyright © 2006 - 2025 PackersHome.com™. All Rights Reserved.