Before I get to Mike McCarthy’s ridiculous strategy, let’s talk about the officiating in this game:
1. Up 21-17 at the end of the half, the Packers attempted a FG on the last play, which they missed. There was an obvious penalty that should have been called on the Giants, which the TV commentators clearly showed, meaning the Packers should have been able to attempt it again from an even shorter distance, which would be almost automatic. Losing those 3 points was critical.
2. The Packers had to punt with 8:21 to go on a critical drive after blatant pass interference against Jermichael Finley wasn’t called on third down. Had the penalty been called, the Packers would have had a first down around the Giant 35. The announcers pointed this out.
3. With 3:29 to go, the Giants, down 8, returned a punt 16 yards to the Giant 31. As was clearly pointed out by the announcers (the Packers were pointing this out to the referees), the returner made the fair catch signal, meaning the ball should have been at the Giant 15. This additional 16 yards allowed the Giants to score the tying (after the 2-point conversion) touchdown with under a minute to play.
4. The Giants tied the game with 0:58 left on a two-point conversion by running up the middle. B.J. Raji is the defensive lineman responsible for the middle, and replays clearly showed that the offensive lineman blatantly held him for a long period of time by grabbing him around the neck as Raji went by him and sustaining the hold until the runner went past. It was obvious, in the open field, and sustained.
Now, let’s get to McCarthy. I predicted before the game that McCarthy would run a conservative offense, which could cost the Packers. When he thinks a team has a good defense, like the Giants or bears, instead of passing aggressively and putting the game away early, he gets very conservative every time, which allows those teams to gain confidence and hang around. McCarthy ran on first down often, and on first and second down often, which stalled drives and put them in third-and-longs. Passes were working, but he stayed conservative for the most part. The Giants, meanwhile, were hurting the Packers with long passes on first down. Even after the Giants scored to make it 28-24 and with the Packers needing to regain momentum, the Packers ran on first and second down (Rodgers scrambled for a first down), then ran on first and second down again and punted. The Giants came down and kicked a field goal to pull within 1. Since McCarthy was conservative, the passing offense was out of synch when they did pass. With 6:00-6:30 left, the Packers finally started passing, and of course scored a touchdown. The Giants then came down and scored the tying touchdown, and the Packers got the ball back at their 20 with 0:58 left. The Giants knew they had to throw, but since they did throw on every play, they easily moved downfield to the Giant 14 and kicked the winning field goal. So, the 2 last possessions when they had to pass and with the Giants knowing they would pass, they did pass and scored. They could obviously have done this all game, but McCarthy doesn’t get this.