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McCarthy Costs Packers Big Carolina Game

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Mike McCarthy showed once again that he doesn’t understand basic things about his team or strategy, and made the same mistakes he makes game after game, year after year, which these posts have illustrated in detail.  Today’s game was huge for the Packers.  Win, and they are tied with Carolina for the best record in the conference at 7-1, have no losses in the conference to Carolina’s one, have the tiebreaker with Carolina regarding head-to-head play, and lead the division by a game as opposed to being tied for the lead.  Lose, and they are two games plus the tiebreaker behind Carolina for homefield advantage, and are tied for the division lead.
Let’s list McCarthy’s continued mistakes that occurred today, with details provided below:

  1. Rushing three men on third-and-long.  This continues to burn them, and cost them the Giant playoff game after the 15-1 season.  If you’re going to rush 3 men, why not rush 1 or 0, since you’re not going to get to the QB anyway and the QB will have all day.  Even poor QBs look great with a lot of time.
  2. Running on first down, which has stalled drives since the beginning of the Favre years.  First-down runs stalled drives in the Denver game the previous week.
  3. After the other team scores a TD, the Packers need to be aggressive and score to get the momentum back.  McCarthy runs on first downs after opponent TDs, and the Packers punt.
  4. Playing press coverage with no safety help, which continues to burn them along with every team in the league.  The last two plays of the Packer-Seahawk NFC Championship Game last year were press coverage-no safety help plays, both went for 35 yards, and the second one was the winning TD.
  5. Calling timeouts because the offense can’t get the play off in time, which can hurt teams late in games.  This happens too often with the Packers.

Now, for the details:

  1. The Packers were up 7-3 in the second quarter after having just scored a TD, and Carolina had a 3rd-and-16 from their 26.  The Packers rushed 3, Newton had all day, and he completed a 59-yard pass to the Packer 15, and they scored a TD to go up 10-7.
  2. The Packers needed to be aggressive and score a TD to get the lead and momentum back, but McCarthy runs on first down and they punt.
  3. Since Carolina kept the momentum, they scored another TD to go up 17-7.  The Packers needed to be aggressive to regain the momentum, but ran on first down for a loss of 1 and punted.  McCarthy let Carolina take control of the game instead of having the Packers take control.
  4. The Packers played press coverage with no safety help, resulting in a Carolina 39-yard TD to go up 27-7.
  5. The Packers, down 27-7, got the ball to start the 3rd quarter.  They passed on every play and scored a TD to make the score 27-14.
  6. The Packers, having momentum from their TD, held Carolina and got the ball back.  They threw on first down for 21 yards and a first down.  They had a chance to take control of the game, but then ran on first down and punted.  Carolina, having held the Packers, got a FG to go up 30-14.
  7. With 13:43 left, starting from their 40 and with a chance to get back in the game, the Packers ran on first and second down and punted.
  8. Carolina passed on their next drive to score a TD to go up 37-14, and the announcers said “Carolina keeps pressing the gas pedal.”  This is something the Packers don’t do early in games, when they can build big leads.
  9. The Packers get the ball back with 9:17 left.  The Panthers know the Packers have to pass on every play.  The Packers pass on every play and get a TD, to make the score 37-22.
  10. The Packers get the ball back with 6:21 left.  The Panthers know the Packers have to pass on every play.  The Packers pass on every play and get at TD, to make the score 37-29.
  11. The Packers intercept and get the ball at the Carolina 22.  After a Carolina penalty, the Packers have 1st-and-5 at the 17, with a chance to tie the game at the end.  They just marched down the field for 2 consecutive TDs by throwing on every play (first-down runs stalled previous drives) and the game depended on this drive, so they run on first down for no gain and thus have to complete an 8-yard pass on 4th-and-5 to keep the drive alive.
  12. The Packers didn’t score a TD on the drive, and turned the ball over on downs.  Since they wasted 2 timeouts earlier in the half, they only had one left and thus did not have time to try to score again after holding Carolina.

These are the same mistakes McCarthy makes each week, and I have no idea how this isn’t obvious not only during the games, but when they watch film.  Not being aggressive early with passing has a negative impact regarding the offense being in sync.  It was stated that during the 15-1 season, Rodgers had to tell McCarthy to “stop taking their foot off the gas.”  The announcer said early in the game that “Rodgers said they need to form an identity, and decide if they will they become a ball-control team.  He votes for being aggressive.”  The Packers have wasted many of the Favre and Rodgers years by not understanding, as Trent Dilfer said about Favre, “anyone who has watched Favre knows he thrives in a pass-first offense and struggles in a run-first offense,” and by not understanding how dominating Rodgers can be when they are pass-first.  A review of the posts on this site back through the Rodgers and Favre years provides significant detail to back this up.