2014-15 NFC North/NFL Thread

[GGGG]

Bellicheck is 11-5 in games without Brady...McCarthy is something like 3-5-1 in games without Rodgers.

OK, so McCarthy isn't as good as probably the best NFL coach of the last 15 years.  No kidding.

But McCarthy is a very good coach. With all the coaching dysfunction in the NFL, Green Bay keeps plugging along just fine.  And he deserves a great deal of credit for what Rodgers has become as well.

[jesmu84]

I don't understand your surprise on Kubiak. Kubiak and Elway have been friends for over 30 years, going back when they were both rookies on the Broncos. A ton of history there.

I agree with avoiding college coaches. College coaches with limited to no NFL experience have tended to struggle in making the transition.

I'm ok with Fox. After Trestman, the Bears needed a pro back in that locker room. Going young with a young coach sounds exciting, but the NFL is a win now league.

Mostly because Kubiak said he wanted to stay in Baltimore and would be turning down all interviews. Now, he's changing his stance. That's all. I'm not thinking any conspiracy theories or anything. Guess I shouldn't buy-in to what people say publicly.

Agree on the "pro in the locker room." I think/hope that the Bears are taking a Cubs stance right now. Build young, stock talent, take your time and do it well so that we can have long-term success even if we're hovering around .500 for 1-3 years. Improvement and acquiring young talent should be the priorities.

[DegenerateDish]

I like Green Bay and New England this weekend.

Packers getting +8.5 seems crazy to me. I like them straight up. Having played the Hawks in Seattle this season already makes a big difference in my eyes. Packers are better now than in week one, I don't think Seattle is better than they were that week.

[wadesworld]

I just can't see the Packers winning it this weekend.  Just not a good matchup for the Packers.  I can already see Russell Wilson burning us with both the play action fake and the zone read.  Lynch will also put up solid if not spectacular numbers.  And that defense is playing so well right now.  With a healthy Rodgers I think the Packers lose by 6-10.  With Rodgers as is I think it's a 10-14 point Seahawks win.  I hope I'm wrong.  The Packers are certainly better when fully healthy than they were in week 1 (and 2-4), but the Seahawks are back to playing like they were in week 1.

I'll take the Patriots in the AFC, but I think that will be a really good game.  If the Colts weren't so one dimensional I'd take them.  Patriots are good but, in my opinion, not as good as their Super Bowl teams were.

That's why I'd take the Seahawks by a touchdown in the Super Bowl.

[Benny B]

For anyone in Indy, please go down to the canal on Monday, and when they dump the blue dye in, throw a bucket of yellow dye in, too.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I like Green Bay and New England this weekend.

Packers getting +8.5 seems crazy to me. I like them straight up. Having played the Hawks in Seattle this season already makes a big difference in my eyes. Packers are better now than in week one, I don't think Seattle is better than they were that week.

I think Seattle is rolling.  Green Bay was very beatable last week, Cowboys made some really dumb mistakes.  Green Bay has not been a good road team all year.  Seattle to win.

[ChicosBailBonds]

When Rodgers went down, the backups were Seneca freaking Wallace and matt tolzein before they finally picked up an injured Flynn. Vince Lombardi couldn't win with that. It's not as simple as just looking at record. McCarthey kept that team together last year. He is easily a top 3 to 5 coach in the league. Any packer fan that says otherwise is either spoiled or not paying attention.

I guess I'm missing something in your analysis.

Rodgers went down, and when he went down here is what the Packers did

Lost to Chicago
Lost to Philadelphia
Lost to NY Giants
Tied Minnesota
Lost to Detroit
Beat Atlanta 22-21 (edit:  score fixed)
Beat Dallas 37-36 in arguably one of the worst choke jobs in NFL history by Dallas
Lost to Pittsburgh

2-5-1 is holding it together?

[MU B2002]

I guess I'm missing something in your analysis.

Rodgers went down, and when he went down here is what the Packers did

Lost to Chicago
Lost to Philadelphia
Lost to NY Giants
Tied Minnesota
Lost to Detroit
Beat Atlanta 22-1

Beat Dallas 37-36 in arguably one of the worst choke jobs in NFL history by Dallas
Lost to Pittsburgh

2-5-1 is holding it together?

Well they held Atlanta to 1, which is very impressive.

[Spotcheck Billy]

I think McCarthy's staff is damn good with player development

the JS has an article on the rookie contributions this year

the Packers' fourth-place finish in regular-season snaps from scrimmage played by 2014 draft choices.

One 3-13 team, Jacksonville, led with nine selections playing a total of 4,864 snaps. Another 3-13 team, Oakland, was next with 4,121 by eight picks.

Buffalo (9-7) was next with 3,429 snaps from five picks, followed by Green Bay with 3,225 by five choices. Last season, when the Packers dealt with extensive injuries, their draft choices played 3,252.

The 11 other playoff teams averaged 1,747 snaps by draft picks.

Seattle, the Packers' opponent Sunday in the NFC Championship Game, ranked 18th in draft choice snaps (1,877) and tied for 13th in starts (28).

Green Bay had at least one player selected to the all-rookie team for the sixth straight year. In 19 years before that, the Packers were shut out 11 times.

Linsley played all 1,050 snaps, the only Green Bay player on offense or defense to play every down.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Well they held Atlanta to 1, which is very impressive.

 . Well done

[hairy worthen]

I guess I'm missing something in your analysis.

Rodgers went down, and when he went down here is what the Packers did

Lost to Chicago
Lost to Philadelphia
Lost to NY Giants
Tied Minnesota
Lost to Detroit
Beat Atlanta 22-1
Beat Dallas 37-36 in arguably one of the worst choke jobs in NFL history by Dallas
Lost to Pittsburgh

2-5-1 is holding it together?

Anyone can go back and quote numbers. I follow the team very closely. They could have packed it in after losing their qb and losing 4 out of 5. The team kept competeing, had focus and were not down on each other. Every year under McCarthey they have had some adversity. They had over 10 starters on injured reserve the year they won the super bowl. Thats on the coaches for keeping it together and developing players.

As far as last year. Their backup qb's sucked and their defense was horrible, yet they kept competing. Thats holding it together under adversity.

[hairy worthen]

I think Seattle is rolling.  Green Bay was very beatable last week, Cowboys made some really dumb mistakes.  Green Bay has not been a good road team all year.  Seattle to win.

Dallas was on a roll coming into Green Bay. Both teams made mistakes, going back and saying we should have won by 20 if we would have done this or that is losers mentality.

The media is buying into the Seattle hype. They are a confident bunch (overconfident) as are their fans. The fact of the matter is they went on a roll against crap quarterbacks and declining teams.

This is a different packer team than the last 2 times they played seattle. The first game of the season they had a rookie center playing in his first pro game against the super bowl champs and lost bulaga, (the right tackle) in the 3rd quater. Bulagas replacement gave up 2 devestating sacks, that killed a potential scoring drive and one that caused a safety and subsequent seattle touchdown. That game was a lot closer than the score may indicate. I am not sure who wins sunday, but I am predicting a clsoe game.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Anyone can go back and quote numbers. I follow the team very closely. They could have packed it in after losing their qb and losing 4 out of 5. The team kept competeing, had focus and were not down on each other. Every year under McCarthey they have had some adversity. They had over 10 starters on injured reserve the year they won the super bowl. Thats on the coaches for keeping it together and developing players.

As far as last year. Their backup qb's sucked and their defense was horrible, yet they kept competing. Thats holding it together under adversity.

Ok....sure looked to me that they got manhandled in most of those games and Dallas gifted them one. If that is holdin it together, to each their own.

Every year every team has adversity, that is life.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Dallas was on a roll coming into Green Bay. Both teams made mistakes, going back and saying we should have won by 20 if we would have done this or that is losers mentality.

The media is buying into the Seattle hype. They are a confident bunch (overconfident) as are their fans. The fact of the matter is they went on a roll against crap quarterbacks and declining teams.

This is a different packer team than the last 2 times they played seattle. The first game of the season they had a rookie center playing in his first pro game against the super bowl champs and lost bulaga, (the right tackle) in the 3rd quater. Bulagas replacement gave up 2 devestating sacks, that killed a potential scoring drive and one that caused a safety and subsequent seattle touchdown. That game was a lot closer than the score may indicate. I am not sure who wins sunday, but I am predicting a clsoe game.

Interesting, I keep looking for where I said Dallas would have won by 20.  Can't seem to find it.

Dallas blew it in two areas...the end of the first half clock management was a disgrace.  40 seconds left, Dallas has ball and it is 3rd and 1.....they go empty set.  You run that ball every time.  If you don't make it, you force GZb to use a TO.  If you do make it, which is likely, new set of downs and you have multiple chances at TD and Closer FG.  Instead they throw incompletion, clock stops, no timeout burned, penalty pushes FG back further, misses, gives GB ball with 34 seconds left.  Instead of being up 17-7 or 21-7, you go in at half 14-10.  Very poor mistake.

Of course the fumble in the second half was a huge mistake. 

No one said win by 20, the comment was Dallas had the chance to win multiple times but made key mistakes, which they did.  Winning on the road in the playoffs is tough, against a team with a bye even tougher, you can't make mistakes.  Yes, GB made mistakes, too.  All teams do.  That's sports.

I still like Seattle tomorrow, for the reasons I explained.

[hairy worthen]

Every year every team has adversity, that is life.

True

Some handle it better than others

[brandx]

And that defense is playing so well right now.  

Just wondering how you can tell. In the last 14 games, Alex Smith is the 2nd highest ranked QB they have faced (and yes, I looked it up because even I didn't believe it):
Kirk Cousins
Tony Romo
Austin Davis
Cam Newton
Derek carr
Eli Manning
Alex Smith
Drew stanton
Colin Kaepernick
Mark Sanchez
Colin Kaepernick
Ryan Lindley
Shaun Hill
Cam Newton


There are quite a few teams in the league that can go 12-4 facing the names on that magical list.

[jesmu84]

Other than the FGs, I'm not sure the 1st Q half could have gone better for GB

[DegenerateDish]

I loved the Pack all week heading into this game. Seattle wasn't challenged by a good team since Week 6, Packers have been battle tested. Seattle can't overcome double digit deficits against a team like the Pack, not enough weapons on offense.

Meant to write earlier this week that I thought GB's secondary would make/break this game. They were fantastic today.

[jesmu84]

Wow

[DegenerateDish]

I think I jinxed this.

[DegenerateDish]

The second half was not McCarthy's finest of halves.

[LAZER]

LOL that was classic

[GooooMarquette]

The second half was not McCarthy's finest of halves.

Worst coached half I've seen in years.

*went into prevent offense way too early
*didn't throw at Sherman even once after he injured his arm
*stayed in prevent offense way too long
*went for the tie instead of taking even one shot at end zone
*called TO way too early before FG attempt

[nyg]

Not a Packs fan, but that last three minutes was just unreal and one of best comebacks in NFL history.

Hope that Boswitch doesn't death threats, the coverage is making it like he lost the game for them, but Pack couldn't stop them on three straight possessions and a two point conversion.  

[wadesworld]

Makes this year's Brewers look like the most clutch group of players ever to walk the earth.

McCarthy. So frustrating.