Response to a friend:
You think the Packers were smart to turn down the Moss trade? I said all summer that the Packers would be the favorites with Moss, and Favre would have 50-60 TD passes. I think everyone would now agree that the Packers would be the undefeated team, and Favre would be the QB with the 60, not 50, TD passes. As I told you, Brady’s previous high was 28, and Favre has 8 seasons of 30 or more. Moss wanted to come to Green Bay, and he would have been great. Don’t forget the Packers lost Ahman Green, so it appeared they would have no running game, making Moss even more important. The way to keep Moss and T.O. happy is to throw to them a lot. They become selfish when they aren’t thrown to, because they know what they can do and the frustration gets to them. Favre would have kept him happy.
My comments on the ’06 Packer-bear opener are not relevant only in hindsight. This was foresight. You say McCarthy had no reason to center a gameplan around Favre passing after his bad 2005 season. I knew all along that he was still great, and there’s a difference between losing it and playing poorly. It was very obvious to me, and I said it constantly over the last 4 years, that Favre was still great and would be great with a smart gameplan. You also said McCarthy had no reason to punt differently to a rookie Hester making his NFL debut. This again goes back to things that are obvious to me. Hester looked great during the preseason, and it was obvious the bear offense wasn’t that good. Why would you let a return beat you? You said if McCarthy had done these things and they had lost, he’d have been in trouble. The way I look at it is that all NFL coaches would have done what you said, which is why the Packers lost. A smart coach would have known what I knew, and would have had a chance to win. McCarthy lost something like 26-0, and it’s great that he could say he was running the ball and kicking to a rookie. This is my frustration with coaching strategy. You couldn’t run against that bear defense, but that was McCarthy’s plan (to run). Even when EVERY pass was working and every run was failing, he kept running.