Football (US) - NFL

[britbox]

Yeah, though loss for Oaktown, but not too despondent as we've come a long way in a short time and are competitive against everybody.. no longer than crackpot laughing stock of the AFC.  I'm hoping we can sneak a wildcard when all is said and done.

 

[DarthFed]

The Packers look to be in total disarray.  There is no leadership on either side of the ball and this is what the team looks like when their QB plays like a mere mortal.  Rodgers isn't getting much help in terms of protection or his receivers getting open but he is missing a ton of throws he normally hits in his sleep.

All in all, this year is looking more and more like the last 4, chronic underachieving capped by a ridiculous loss in the playoffs to a team with a 3rd tier QB.  And the 11-5 or 12-4 mark will buy this awful coaching staff yet another season.  I'd have been in favor of McCarthy being fired after they won the Super Bowl (yes I know how crazy that sounds) because I knew they won it in spite of him.  Certainly the whole staff should've been gone after 2012 or after last year at the latest.  It is getting disgraceful to watch.

 

[Billie]

@twisted I thought they started the season really well, but the last 2 games were really sloppy.  We'll see what happens.  I always feel that when it comes to team sports one of the most important things is the team spirit/camaraderie if you will.  It seems that Packers are missing it at the moment.  But they can turn it around, I believe AR said in his presser after the Sunday's game that they will discuss it.

 

[DarthFed]

They haven't looked good since the 1st half of the Kansas City game (the third game).  They won a few after that in ugly fashion against St. Louis and San Diego at home and at San Fran.  Rodgers can only cover up so much and if he's not playing great this team is bad at best.  I think he will get his crap together and soon, he is not someone who likes to be embarrassed.

 

[Billie]

Since you follow Packs closely, twisted, is there something wrong between the management and the players, and the players themselves?  Yesterday's game wasn't shown on any of the channels I have where I watch NFL, so I couldn't tell, but they did show at halftime of tonight's game between HOU and CIN that there was a field goal missed at the end of the game for GB that could have won them the game?  It seemed a pretty makeable one to me.

I also noticed (as a casual observer) that some of these teams sometimes it seems out of blue play a great match and then suck for the next few ones.  Like Detroit and Bears yesterday, Broncos won 7 straight over KC previously and they were terrible yesterday (KC's defence was outstanding and intercepted the ball 4 or 5 times last night).  It's like you really never know who will win (except maybe for the Patriots, who should have lost yesterday, and Panthers it seems) on any given day.

 

[Billie]

First time watching both Houston and Cincinnati tonight.  What a catch by #10 Texan, Hopkins, they take the lead at the beginning of 4th quarter 10:6.   Pretty athletic play from him.

 

[DarthFed]

Since you follow Packs closely, twisted, is there something wrong between the management and the players, and the players themselves? Yesterday’s game wasn’t shown on any of the channels I have where I watch NFL, so I couldn’t tell, but they did show at halftime of tonight’s game between HOU and CIN that there was a field goal missed at the end of the game for GB that could have won them the game? It seemed a pretty makeable one to me. I also noticed (as a casual observer) that some of these teams sometimes it seems out of blue play a great match and then suck for the next few ones. Like Detroit and Bears yesterday, Broncos won 7 straight over KC previously and they were terrible yesterday (KC’s defence was outstanding and intercepted the ball 4 or 5 times last night). It’s like you really never know who will win (except maybe for the Patriots, who should have lost yesterday, and Panthers it seems) on any given day.

I think the coaches have lost the team and the coaches have long been a problem even before this mess.  The playcalling is completely predicatable and they have not adjusted to anything as has been the norm with McCarthy and his staff from the get-go.

At the end of the day any Packer fan in the know would tell you that this team as a whole is awful outside of Rodgers and it has been that way since 2011, the year after they won the Super Bowl.  If he gets hurt or plays bad the team loses, period.  Rodgers is having his worst season since 2008 (his first year as a starter) and seems to be getting worse each week.  It's not all about the other guys not performing well (they're not) as Rodgers is missing tons of throws he never would've missed.  His completion % and Yards per attempt are career lows.  Basically he is looking like a top 5-top 10 QB instead of the best in the league and we see what the team does when Rodgers doesn't play great.  If he returns to being "Rodgers" it will hide a lot of the deficiencies and it will save more jobs.

McCarthy and Capers (head coach and defensive coordinator) should have been LOOONNGG Gone by now.  Part of the problem is people see an 11-5 or 12-4 season with a #2 or #3 seed and a playoff loss to a team with a 3rd tier QB as a "successful" season.  When you factor in having Aaron frickin Rodgers the 2012-2015 seasons in particular have been awful.

 

[Billie]

Thank you for your reply.  So in your opinion are both offensive and defensive coaches unable to come up with new plays to give them the spark?  The opposing teams are not scoring a lot on them (if I remember correctly), so it might be just offense that is lacking at the moment?

 

 

[DarthFed]

The offense has been bad for a long time now.  The past 6 games in particular the offense has struggled even though they won 3 of them.  They only won 3 of them because the defense played well and picked them up.  Overall the defense has only played 3 bad games this year.  For their standards that's not bad but the problem is when they've been bad, they've been REALLY bad and it's come against the only good quarterbacks they've faced.  I have no doubts they'd get blown up in the playoffs at some point if they even make it.  On offense the playcalling is definitely a big part of the problem.  They are too obvious, no deception (which is a big part of what football is about), no big plays being made and Rodgers is flat out playing the worst football he ever has.

 

[Billie]

Flacco is done for the year with torn ACL.

 

[Billie]

TD Packers, that was a big play, at the end of the half.

 

[Billie]

That was a terrible pass from Rivers, but good for Houston to hold on to it and run for a TD!!!  Chiefs are starting to look like a decent team.

 

[Billie]

Nice win for Packers, I am not sorry I missed in picking that one

 

[britbox]

Raiders and Federer lost 

 

[Billie]

Raiders and Federer lost

Sorry BB, not your day today.

 

You can always switch sides ;-)

 

[Billie]

GB should win tonight's game vs Chicago easily, @twisted !  Are you watching?  I can't figure out if it is snowing or raining.

 

[DarthFed]

I watched that debacle. If heads don't roll after this season it will be ridiculous. Everyone with a brain knew McCarthy should've been shitcanned at the end of last year and now we have another lost season.  This is a classic case where the coaches have lost the team and it will all go downhill from here. They may not even make the playoffs.

Rodgers looks like ass and he doesn't seem to care and the rest of the team is also playing without energy. There is no accountability as coaches and players are pointing fingers at everyone else. McCarthy wouldn't know what an adjustment is even if it hit him in one of his 3 chins.  Given they were retiring Favre's number and had Bart Starr in the house against the hated and lowly Bears, this is one of the most humiliating losses in franchise history.

 

[Billie]

^^ It might have been all that fuss about Favre that night.

The Packers looked terrible in the first half in Detroit, now they are in the game, and as soon as I said that AR got sacked.  I really feel for you twisted.

 

[britbox]

Get out of Jail Green Bay.  Packers scraped home with the hail mary!

 

[DarthFed]

That was incredible.  Needless to say I was going nuts, felt so wired that I could barely sleep after that.  A hail mary is usually a hail mary but that may be an exception.  Rodgers knew right away he would have to escape the pocket despite the 3 man rush because the O-line is a bunch of backups. The Lions screwed up and let him escape to his right which naturally made it easier to throw it than going to his left.  But that throw was ridiculous, to get it 70 yards in the air with that much hangtime is nuts and it's not surprising that everyone misplayed it.  The slow tight end hadn't reached the end zone by the time Rodgers released it so he was in the right place at the right time and came down with the nice grab.

Positives:

All but guarantees GB a playoff spot and they are alive in the division.

Hopefully a game like that helps them get their mojo back, especially Rodgers.

They avoid getting swept by the lowly Lions which hasn't happened in 24 years now

 

Negatives:

That offensive line is banged up beyond belief and Rodgers is running for his life out there

The team still comes out with zero energy and is not quick to make adjustments.  Rodgers especially is coming out slow and yesterday they were down 17-0 before you could blink.  The difference between this game and 3 of their 4 losses is that they got lucky and came up with a huge play in the end.

Making the playoffs, especially if they win the division, is probably going to save some jobs that I prefer wouldn't be saved.

Looking ahead I think Seattle is going to get the 6 seed and will play the 3 seed (which figures to be the NFC North winner) while the 5 seed (Packers or Vikings) gets to play the winner of the NFC East.  So it might be a good thing to be the 5 seed instead of the 3 seed.  If GB wins out they have a good chance at the 2 seed but I highly doubt that happens.