1 post tagged “football”
I had the unfortunate experience to witness an absolute debacle this weekend. I hear this great 'choking' sound coming from somewhere near Green Bay. I'm referring, of course, to the recent NFL playoff game in which the Green Bay Packers lost to the New York Giants. I blame the play caller.
Don't get me wrong: there's plenty to criticize here. The defense didn't play the well. Kickoff coverage wasn't as dominant as it has been. The referees where all over: missing easy calls while making tough ones. The offensive line played poorly, resulting in a week run game and hurried throws. The cold was obviously impacting Favre's play. But when it comes down to it, I think coaching was the biggest gap in this game.
Let's review. The defense played poorly, but it still held the Giants to 20 points in regulation. That should have been good enough to win. With the exception of a very ugly Bears game the Packers hadn't scored less than 20 since October, and that includes a couple other cold weather games (including the playoff game vs the Seahawks) as well as the Cowboys game. The officiating was frustrating at times, but it seemed to be at least balanced. You can't blame the loss on them. The offense has a number of problems, but we went in to half time with the lead and scored 10 points in the third quarter.
This leaves coaching. Look at what the Packers have done well this year. We have a 5-receiver package that no one has handled well, even when they know it's coming. The Giants had two injured corners, so it could have worked very well here. I never saw it- not once. There's a crossing route Driver runs that no one has been able to defend well. Last night it was used only rarely. And the running game was never given a real chance, even though we knew passing would be tough. We have a defense that is known for adjusting and getting stronger as the game progresses, but in this game no adjustment was made.
What did we do instead? We saw way too many 2nd and 10 or 3rd and longs in that game because of a bad 1st down screen pass. A screen pass? That hasn't worked for us all year. Why should we expect it to work against a very impressive Giants front seven? I understand the cold weather made a lot of things more difficult. But it made things more difficult for the Giants, too. A lot of our passing plays are specifically designed to be short yardage plays that can be successful even in bad weather. We did do a little of that, unfortunately with some poor execution. That's just another reason to run the ball more. But not screens.
Not that I think we need to replace Mike McCarthy. He's done great things this year. He took that Packers farther than anybody expected, and for that he should be congratulated. But we had a hard time in all of the big games this season. Both Bears games. The Cowboys game. And now the NFC Championship. There were a couple times this season he left points on the board after failed fourth down attempts. I hope he takes a long look at this game (and a few others) in the off-season, and learns a few things about how to call plays in big games.
