The Mental Toughness Roundtable

chonestown · Post #1 » by **chonestown** » Mon Aug 3, 2015 6:14 pm

All the pieces are in place for a championship year, but is there the requisite grit to bring back the Lombardi?
Do the Packers want it enough to actually make the Owl reality?
Mental toughness: do we have it, can we get more of it, is it something that can be cultivated organically?
Can scrappiness be homegrown?
Despite the whole "Pittsburgh Tough" image, is Mike McCarthy less the Yuengling-swilling Yinzer and more the pinky-extended caramel macchiato sipper?
Facial hair: obnoxious hipster appropriation or signifier of Someone Who's Just a Football Player, You Know What I'm Sayin?
Can a man named HaHa actually be serious about his film study?
Frank Winters: now that was one tough hombre, amirite?
If John Kuhn was a sandpaper, what number grit would he be?
Abby: Plagued by mental trauma or plagued by mental toughness, i.e. Jared Abberdaris not mentally tough?

Discuss.
Failing that, feel free to post Jeff Janis fan-fic.

emunney · Post #2 » by **emunney** » Mon Aug 3, 2015 10:00 pm

I was scheduled to meet Jeff for lunch. He was a friend of a friend...

WiscoKing13 · Post #3 » by **WiscoKing13** » Mon Aug 3, 2015 10:07 pm

not sure if serious

Badgerlander · Post #4 » by **Badgerlander** » Mon Aug 3, 2015 10:38 pm

HKPackFan · Post #5 » by **HKPackFan** » Tue Aug 4, 2015 2:17 am

My only MM critique is on first and goal inside the 5 you only have 3 shots at the end zone and the kuhn dive play for 1 yard or no gain just wasted a down. Now only 2 shots at the end zone.

I'd rather have 3 quality plays inside the 5 instead of wasting one. No kuhn please.

th87 · Post #6 » by **th87** » Thu Aug 6, 2015 4:20 am

HKPackFan wrote:My only MM critique is on first and goal inside the 5 you only have 3 shots at the end zone and the kuhn dive play for 1 yard or no gain just wasted a down. Now only 2 shots at the end zone.

I'd rather have 3 quality plays inside the 5 instead of wasting one. No kuhn please.

Yes. I hate the Kuhn play even when it works. Like anything else would be better.

Kerb Hohl · Post #7 » by **Kerb Hohl** » Thu Aug 6, 2015 3:44 pm

I've always wanted them to spread it out at the goal line with Lacy in the backfield. As El Dude sometimes says...why not hand it to Lacy out of the gun and let him run into a 5 on 6 box instead of 9 on 10 mayhem? If they pack the middle, fake it to Lacy and let Rodgers dissect a team that is willing to go 3 vs. 4 on the outside.

chuckleslove · Post #8 » by **chuckleslove** » Thu Aug 6, 2015 3:52 pm

It will be interesting to see if any of that changes this year with a new playcaller, Ultimately Rodgers still has the control but I'm very curious to see how much change there is in some of the philosophy of the offense, if any.

El Duderino · Post #9 » by **El Duderino** » Fri Aug 7, 2015 4:46 am

Kerb Hohl wrote:I've always wanted them to spread it out at the goal line with Lacy in the backfield. As El Dude sometimes says...why not hand it to Lacy out of the gun and let him run into a 5 on 6 box instead of 9 on 10 mayhem? If they pack the middle, fake it to Lacy and let Rodgers dissect a team that is willing to go 3 vs. 4 on the outside.

This has been a peeve of mine in football for a long time. Teams get at say the 1 or 2 yard line and they bring in their socalled jumbo set with 2-3 tight ends, maybe a fullback, and no receivers. The defense responds with nearly every big body they have.

You end up with about 20 big bodies in this very confined area and thus even when some lineman/tight end get a good block, there tends to be such a big pile of bodies either on the ground or in a stalemate that the back often struggles to find a clear hole to run through given it's usually more of a quick hitter type of handoff.

Leave a few receivers in the game with at least one in the slot. This not only makes the defense have to worry about the pass more, it removes multiple big bodies from the defense and spreads them out more.

I'd much rather see Rodgers under center at the 1-2 yard line with 3-4 receivers in the game and the defense more spread out so that if the ball is handed to Lacey, there aren't 20 big bodies piled up at the goal line.

Granted, that power/jumbo formation does work sometimes in the NFL, but it amazes me how often a team will get stuffed on multiple early downs using that same power formation, yet stubbornly stick to it on 4th down also. Drives me crazy.

Kerb Hohl · Post #10 » by **Kerb Hohl** » Fri Aug 7, 2015 1:54 pm

The one note of support that I will give the jumbo set is that it leaves a lot of horizontal space for the play action. We've seen the spread fail plenty because there just isn't enough room vertically, but if you use it primarily as a running set, I think you'll win.

HKPackFan · Post #11 » by **HKPackFan** » Fri Aug 7, 2015 2:19 pm

Agreed. Can't go all spread or all jumbo every down but El dude says being stubborn about it is pretty annoying. Especially our TEs are not great blockers and kuhn doesn't have the same push he used to as a Fb. It is a crowded area of fatties.

It's like...kuhn dive play wasted play. Then jumbo run play stopped short. Then third down we are desperate and miss when we go 4 wide on an obvious passing down.

Would love to see it mixed up with lacy or wrs still being a threat on the same play. Our lineups are obvious passing or running downs. No one is surprised.