1. Yes, nice game by Jackson, but Kuhn has now become the go-to guy.

2. Zombo was okay, but I noticed Brad Jones on the field near the end of the game. He must've replaced Zombo. I don't know why.

3. Special teams suck.

4. A decent effort by Cliffy and Tausch against some good pass rushers.

5. Bush played the nickel. I don't think Underwood played much.

6. Clay was good, but not as good as he was in the first three games.

7. Run defense was good, but they gave up a huge QB scramble. Pass defense was awful.

8. I don't think they usually let bad teams hang around too long, but in this game obviously they did.

9. Penalties were not too bad. About average.

10. I don't know why Hawk pissed you off. I thought he was one of our better players out there, which isn't saying much, as the defense was very soft overall.

"nerdmann"I'm concerned about Mike McCarthy as a head coach.

What I'm concerned about is my current lack of will to watch this team this year. Never have I felt this way before. When I came home and saw the score my immediate reaction was exasperation followed by relief in the form of "Thank fuck I missed this one." How do i reconcile the fact that at this point I'd rather not even watch the games out of disgust in how horrible our team is playing?

"Chutzpah515"

"Greg C."This was a very unimpressive win, so this will be mostly negatives:

1. The playcalling on third and short can get awfully weird.

Exhibit A: On third and one, they handed off to John Kuhn running parallel to the line of scrimmage. No gain. Kuhn is a straight ahead runner--a fullback. Why did they call this play for him?

Exhibit B: On third and one or two, Rodgers ran a bootleg and heaved the ball 20 yards downfield to a receiver who wasn't open. Incomplete. This one may be more on Rodgers than McCarthy. If that's a short pass to Finley, I have no problem with it, but if he's not open you don't throw it downfield to a receiver who's not open. Probably you have to try and run for the first down.

Exhibit C: Rodgers threw downfield to Jennings on third and short and the ball was intercepted. Again, the receiver wasn't even open and he just heaved it down there. I don't get it.

Preaching to the Chior!
:thumbleft:

I hardly ever complain about playcalling. Others have complained about these third and short calls earlier this season, but I figure that sometimes maybe the coach or the QB sees something that we haven't seen, so they take a shot on third and short. But to see this happen three times in one game was just too much. I can only go so far giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Agree with you on all counts and this was a very nice and thoughtfully written piece, GregC. Only problem I have is with Exhibit C, if you're talking about the heave in the fourth quarter. I'd have to take another look at the play to be sure, but I'm pretty sure they designed it to be a bomb if there was single coverage on Jennings, which is always a good matchup (or at least once was). If it would have been a completion, people would have been congratulating MM on a gutsy call that swung the momentum back to the packers and saved the game.

Jennings just didn't fight for the ball like he should have. I don't care if you have to tackle the defender and take the OPI, you DON'T give him that good of a shot.

"Greg C."

10. I don't know why Hawk pissed you off. I thought he was one of our better players out there, which isn't saying much, as the defense was very soft overall.

completely agree. however, tramon williams had a decent game, nice back-to-back pass break-ups when the lions took a shot to take the lead.

"Greg C."I hardly ever complain about playcalling. Others have complained about these third and short calls earlier this season, but I figure that sometimes maybe the coach or the QB sees something that we haven't seen, so they take a shot on third and short. But to see this happen three times in one game was just too much. I can only go so far giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Let's just cross our fingers and hope McCarthy didn't use his "A-game" on the Lions.

"Greg C."1. The playcalling on third and short can get awfully weird.

Exhibit A: On third and one, they handed off to John Kuhn running parallel to the line of scrimmage. No gain. Kuhn is a straight ahead runner--a fullback. Why did they call this play for him?

Exhibit B: On third and one or two, Rodgers ran a bootleg and heaved the ball 20 yards downfield to a receiver who wasn't open. Incomplete. This one may be more on Rodgers than McCarthy. If that's a short pass to Finley, I have no problem with it, but if he's not open you don't throw it downfield to a receiver who's not open. Probably you have to try and run for the first down.

Exhibit C: Rodgers threw downfield to Jennings on third and short and the ball was intercepted. Again, the receiver wasn't even open and he just heaved it down there. I don't get it.

Typically why I do not think it is wise to criticize play-calling is because so much depends on execution - which in the game is beyond the Coach's control in games.

Exhibits 2 and 3 are great examples of this. Particularly exhibit 3, McCarthy said that Finley was the underneath route, and based on the coverage (if it was single coverage) the option was there to throw to Jennings. McCarthy would be nuts to not try and exploit a no-name single covering Jennings, but it was Aaron and Jennings that had to execute. Aaron threw a pretty good pass, but Jennings did not execute. Again, difficult to criticize McCarthy for a bad play-call considering the strategy behind this particular play-call (isolate Jennings in single coverage, or take the Finley route underneath).

I think one reason they blitzed less at the end was that the defense was gassed.
They were on the field all F'ing day.
Rodgers was great last week when they ran the WCO and dominated time of possession.
That gets him into a rhythmn.
Today they ran the Rosseley offense.
It was a flashback to the Mike Sherman era, and it was ugly.
We don't have Ahman Green anymore to make it work even as well as it did then, which wasn't all that great anyway.

"Porforis"Agree with you on all counts and this was a very nice and thoughtfully written piece, GregC. Only problem I have is with Exhibit C, if you're talking about the heave in the fourth quarter. I'd have to take another look at the play to be sure, but I'm pretty sure they designed it to be a bomb if there was single coverage on Jennings, which is always a good matchup (or at least once was). If it would have been a completion, people would have been congratulating Mike McCarthy on a gutsy call that swung the momentum back to the packers and saved the game.

Jennings just didn't fight for the ball like he should have. I don't care if you have to tackle the defender and take the OPI, you DON'T give him that good of a shot.

No, I was talking about the first interception, which was also intended for Jennings. That one came on third and short. That bomb to Jennings was on first and ten, and as I mentioned elsewhere, that pick was Jennings' fault. I liked the play call and the throw.

I think Aaron Rodgers may be getting frustrated that he is having to carry the offense so much. Other than Finley, the Packer receivers are not making as many big plays as expected, and with the running game becoming such a minor part of the offense, the receivers need to do more.

"nerdmann"I think one reason they blitzed less at the end was that the defense was gassed.
They were on the field all F'ing day.
Rodgers was great last week when they ran the WCO and dominated time of possession.
That gets him into a rhythmn.
Today they ran the Rosseley offense.
It was a flashback to the Mike Sherman era, and it was ugly.
We don't have Ahman Green anymore to make it work even as well as it did then, which wasn't all that great anyway.

It becomes difficult to run a crisp offense that dominates TOP when your QB throws 2 INTs (particularly first one, where he simply underthrew the ball and didn't give his receiver a shot at it) and your Kick Return unit fumble twice after the Lions put together a scoring drive.

After the second turnover, I saw Woodson break-up a ball intended for Johnson and then go down on one knee and look totally gassed. You do not see that with Woodson, but having the D out there for something like 35 minutes, it's not a totally strange thing to see.