In the wake of the blast that broke Aaron Rodgers' collarbone, it's the once-golden reputations of Mike McCarthy and Ted Thompson that are now taking the hit.
Losing a former Super Bowl MVP and one of the best quarterbacks in the game never is easy, but the Packers' entire season has been spiraling away since Rodgers went down early in an eventual 44-31 win over the Vikings in late October.
Green Bay was 5-2 at that point but is a dreadful 1-4-1 since, and will try to overcome Rodgers' absence once again Sunday at Dallas. Another loss would be devastating to the Packers' slim playoff hopes.
How did it get to this point? That's a question McCarthy, the Packers' Super Bowl-winning coach, and Thompson, their respected veteran GM, will have to answer after letting over-confidence and — dare we say it? — Stranieri arrogance get the best of them at quarterback.
Admittedly, it's no surprise the Packers' braintrust would get careless when it came to stocking that position. Rodgers had been one of the league's most durable passers the previous five seasons, missing just one start due to injury in that span.
But that's no excuse to enter a season with Seneca Wallace as your only backup on the active roster (after cutting Graham Harrell and Vince Young), with 49ers castoff Scott Tolzien on the practice squad.
It's a violent sport, and Rodgers — one of the best running quarterbacks in the game — scrambles often enough that McCarthy and Thompson had to know he was defying the odds with his ironman streak the previous five seasons.
But McCarthy and Thompson apparently thought they knew better — or would magically have the answers if Rodgers went down. That attitude was reflected in the local media. Respected Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel NFL writer Bob McGinn wrote (coincidentally just days before the game in which Rodgers was injured) the Packers would be just fine with a fill-in quarterback and even predicted a 5-2 record without their star from that point.
Not so much.
To be fair, Rodgers' injury is just one of many that have plagued the Packers this season. They have a whopping 14 players on injured reserved, including key pieces Jermichael Finley, Bryan Bulaga and Randall Cobb.
Even so, Green Bay still has enough healthy talent on offense (rookie running back Eddie Lacy is a budding star) to expect much better than four losses in the first six games after Rodgers' injury.
The NFC North is so weak that merely competent play at quarterback would have left the Packers in much better position than they find themselves today. Instead, Tolzien and Matt Flynn have been woeful despite McCarthy's misguided confidence that his coaching and his version of the West Coast offense would make up for their shortcomings.
McCarthy is even being shown up by a new coach in his own division. The Bears are 3-3 (and tied with the Lions for the North lead at 7-6) since losing Jay Cutler, thanks to Marc Trestman's adept coaching of journeyman backup replacement Josh McCown.
The Cowboys have one of the worst defenses in NFL history — as they showed against McCown on Monday night by not forcing a single Chicago punt — so Flynn has a chance to redeem his coach and GM this week. Don't count on it, though.
Look for Dallas instead to deliver another painful reminder to the Green Bay decision-makers: Operate in the NFL without a decent backup quarterback at your own risk.
PICK: Cowboys, 20-14.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
That hurts! Packers paying for lack of back-up plan
Dengan url
http://bahayaprostat.blogspot.com/2013/12/that-hurts-packers-paying-for-lack-of.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
That hurts! Packers paying for lack of back-up plan
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
That hurts! Packers paying for lack of back-up plan
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar