McCarthy's Year End Presser

[rilamann]

I'm thinking MM saw something in the film that indicated this play call would work. They had been susceptible to Cobb in the backfield in the past. Turns out they blew the blocking assignments, and the play failed. It happens.

I'm sure MM knew as well as you did that Lacy had been doing work up to that point. Therefore, there had to have been some tactical advantage to using this play over Lacy/Starks in the backfield *at the time of the play call*. Otherwise, we're supposed to believe that MM just simply wanted to be cute for the sake of being cute, which is something I have trouble buying.

I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I know more than Mike McCarthy obviously but to me that's exactly what I mean about trying to out-think yourself.At least in that situation and at that point of the game with the game and season on the line.

Why try something that might work when you can just do what you already know has been working.If you want to try and get cute with Cobb in the backfield or go empty backfield in scoring position over your bread and butter of Eddie Lacy,try it in the regular season or earlier in the game,but you don't try to get cute in such a critical situation.


I don't know more than Mike McCarthy but I know you should have your second best offensive player on the field in that situation.

[Ron Swanson]

People questioning McCarthy over the empty backfield play need to watch the Carolina game from yesterday.

San Fran has the best short distance defense in the league. Panthers tried to power it in with Cam (twice), Tolbert (once) and DeAngelo Williams (once) in two series at the 1-2 yard line and didn't convert any of them. You have to get creative in trying to score on that defense in goal to go situations, they're that good.

[Kerb Hohl]

Why try something that might work when you can just do what you already know has been working.If you want to try and get cute with Cobb in the backfield or go empty backfield in scoring position over your bread and butter of Eddie Lacy,try it in the regular season or earlier in the game,but you don't try to get cute in such a critical situation.

By "working" you mean 3.5 yards per carry when the safeties were sometimes 20 yards deep all game? You're running into a confined box down there. Like I said, I'd have totally been fine with running the ball there but there is a VERY good chance you're looking at 3rd and goal from the 5 or further.

[El Duderino]

I hear you Dude and we are all guilty of that at times,especially when the game is live and you get caught up in it.

If the coach is putting players in the best position to have success but the players aren't making the plays I don't blame or get on the coach for that.

I don't feel McCarthy always plays to our strengths and I do think that he tries to get cute and out-think himself and it costs the team.

Well, people are free to post as they please in game threads and since i rarely bother posting in them anywhere, i don't care if anyone gets irrational or whatever. I used to post in them a lot and for me at least, it was eyes bleeding bad to often so i stopped doing so and i'm glad i did because in retrospect, it was distracting from my simple enjoyment of just watching the game.

As for McCarthy, we'll probably never agree, but that's fine. You say though he doesn't play to our strengths as a play caller, yet even with Tolzien and Flynn who had been waived three times quarterbacking nearly half of the games, Cobb/Finley missing most of the season, and a rookie 4th round LT, the offense run by McCarthy finished 5th in total offense. Think about that. Pretty impressive to me for a guy so say doesn't know how to play to our strengths.

FWIW, i certainly won't claim that McCarthy never pisses me off. With the better running game this year and a big back in Lacy, there were to many times where an incomplete pass was thrown on 3rd and 1 for my tastes. That said, i've heard Rodgers say he checked out of short yardage runs this year when asked about plays, so on all of those 3rd and one incomplete throws, i never know who to be mad at. For the most part, those are mainly the times i yell at the TV about a play call. Here there i get mad over other random play calls, but in watching football for over 30 years, i just think it mostly comes down to execution. There are 11 guys on the other side of the field also getting paid. All it takes is just 1-2 guys on your team to lose an individual battle or brainfart and what likely would have been a successful play, it instead gets blown up.

Just look at the blitz call by Capers on 3rd and 8. If Bush keeps containment, Kaepernick likely doesn't scramble for a back breaking first down. James Jones fails to catch two long passes. Bakhtiari gets a killer hands to the face penalty in the 4th quarter on a play Jordy caught a first down at the 5 yard line. Had to kick a FG then. Burnett should have picked off the Davis TD. There were multiple other key key plays which things happen where a coach has zero control. Those things decide games far more than a random shaky play call or two.

[El Duderino]

Why try something that might work when you can just do what you already know has been working.If you want to try and get cute with Cobb in the backfield or go empty backfield in scoring position over your bread and butter of Eddie Lacy,try it in the regular season or earlier in the game,but you don't try to get cute in such a critical situation.

By "working" you mean 3.5 yards per carry when the safeties were sometimes 20 yards deep all game? You're running into a confined box down there. Like I said, I'd have totally been fine with running the ball there but there is a VERY good chance you're looking at 3rd and goal from the 5 or further.

I wish McCarthy would have just passed on that run call to Cobb and thrown instead. It was first and goal around the 9 yard line. The odds of running the ball in for a TD by any back against that great 49ers front seven and secondary so close to the line of scrimmage are really slim. More likely it's pretty much wasting a down compared to the odds of Rodgers throwing for a TD. Now if it was 1st and goal inside the 5, then i'd have been more understanding of a run.

That's why i think at times the better running game hurt the red zone efficiency. It made McCarthy call to many runs in that 5-10 yard line area which in the past he mainly just had Rodgers throw, and the TD percentages were better than this year.

[El Duderino]

People questioning McCarthy over the empty backfield play need to watch the Carolina game from yesterday.

San Fran has the best short distance defense in the league. Panthers tried to power it in with Cam (twice), Tolbert (once) and DeAngelo Williams (once) in two series at the 1-2 yard line and didn't convert any of them. You have to get creative in trying to score on that defense in goal to go situations, they're that good.

That was amazing to watch. It made me so jealous of the 49ers defense.

It's fun and all having a great offense lead by a yearly MVP caliber QB in Rodgers, but for me at least, there is something about watching an upper tier defense do their thing that i find extra enjoyable to watch. If i was a San Fran fan, i know that i'd have been so incredibly fired up watching those two goal line stands, on a level few to no things an offense can do besides a game winning drive.

On the flip side, it's so demoralizing and scary having a bad defense like the Packers have had the last few years. That terrible feeling of dread of when you know the Packers defense needs to either get a stop to preserve a win or to get the ball back to Aaron, but having so little confidence they'll get that stop. Hell, it's gotten to the point the last few years that late in close games, i often just hope the defense let's the other team score quick so that Rodgers will still have some time left.