20081110

Offensive strangulation

I’m not one to gripe about Coach McCarthy. I think that he’s done a very fine job during his first few seasons here, and I think he gives us as good a shot at winning it all as most of the doofuses in this league. But after watching the Packers give away that Titanics game and then lose a close one in Minnesota, I do have a few issues to raise.
I watch a lot of football and this often angers my lovely wife, but I can’t help myself. I was watching the Giants – Eagles game last night and you know what? Those are some pretty damned good teams. One thing that stands out in particular is the scant number of penalties they draw. Watching the Packers this year has been a lot like watching a monsoon of yellow flags with a little football in between. We are the most penalized team in the league, say the league statisticians, and I am sorry, but to me something like that goes on the coaching staff. Going into the back-end of the season there is just no excuse to have so many bone-headed mistakes. Little bit here and a little bit there and it really adds up. I’m sick of it.
Secondly, the offense has basically stalled and gone into a nose-dive. There isn’t one thing that you can point at and say, that’s the problem, but you sure can look at the coach and ask “What the heck is going on out there, sir?”
Here’s a few problems I have noticed:
While the offensive line has been doing a better job of run blocking, we have not been running it enough. I’ve been hearing a lot about the failure of the zone blocking scheme, but I’m not sure that’s the issue. Seems like it is inconsistent, though, especially at the beginning of the year. I like what I’m seeing out of Grant the last few weeks, and I think we need to rely more on him and less on Ronnie Rodgers.
Now Rodgers sure hasn’t been perfect this season. I’ll bet he’s playing better than a lot of you would have predicted in week one, but the real issue is that Rodgers is getting decked and beaten like punching bag in a damp base-ment. I am looking at you, offensive line. The pass blocking has been down-right shame-ful this season, and utterly terrible the last two weeks. Rodgers numbers have suffered as he has spent more and more time getting chased out of the pocket. Considering he has a bum shoulder, this is a real problem, dear readers.
Rodgers still needs to do a better job of getting rid of the damned ball when he’s under pressure, but you can’t really get on a guy for trying to hang in there and make a big play.
While the offensive line continues to crap the tub on pass blocking duty, the defensive line has been just as rotten since Cullen Jenkins went down. We can’t even pressure Gus Ferrotte, nor can we stop the run, and it seems like we can’t stop anything when it really counts. I was just sick watching that Vikings offense march the field after we had nearly pulled a miracle win from the secondary and special teams…
One more problem I need to grumble about: Someone cut Frosty the Punter already. Geeesh. Field position is a huge factor in close games and that shank-footed punk has cost us dearly in that department. There has got to be some leggy rascal out there some-place who can do better. Find him, and fix it!
Speaking of close games, I thought this was an interesting stat: In the last 14 Packers-Vikings games the win-margin has been a scant 4, 5, 3, 3, 3, 14, 3, 3, 6, 2, 7, 34, 5 and 1 points. Didn’t help that the Vikings got a free BS safety call, Sunday. Alberto Riveron messed that one up royally.
Anyways, McCarthy better figure this thing out and improve the play on both lines. If not, we’ll be talking a lot more about ice fishing that football in the coming months.
Check back later in the week for the ultra-important Bears I preview. Until then.