The Packer Pundit

McCarthy Is An Idiot!
And Favre should know better
By Packer Pundit / Patrick Stuckey
How much does an NFL coach make? I'm guessing a rookie coach with McCarthy's limited resume' is in the low triple figures. Suffice it to say he makes a nice living at what he does... easily 10 times the amount I make for what I do. Well... after yesterday's piss poor coaching and stupid... idiotic play calling... McCarthy needs to return the money he got paid for yesterday's disaster.

His first and goal from the one yard line call of a pass to Driver was... shall we say... Shermanesque at best... and just plain effin' criminal at the worst. When you are pushing a team up and down the field like the Packers were doing (on THAT drive) why in God's Heaven wouldn't you just smash the effin' ball down their effin' throats!?!

I've held my fire on M&M most of this season... actually kinda liked a lot of what he's been doing... and I certainly don't blame him for Favre going all 'Retro Brett' in the 1st half... tossing an interception to the other team for a score... and it certainly wasn't McCarthy's fault Wells hiked the ball when Brett wasn't ready... nor was it his fault Brett lost the handle on a hike earlier at mid-field... nope... can't fault him for that... Favre and Wells are supposed to be professionals getting paid BIG BUCKS to make those simplest of exchanges. I'll tell you one thing... I'd hate to be the guy sitting between Scott and Brett on Thanksgiving when they pass the gravy bowl to each other! No... I don't blame Mikey for those F*k'ups.

But paint me green and call me astro turf... there is NO excuse for throwing the ball on first and goal at the one! Vince Lombardi would be rolling in his grave! Now before I have a coronary (I came real close... let me tell you) I just have to say... I don't take losses like yesterday... very easily. The Packers and McCarthy had a chance to make themselves look respectable and climb back to .500. The Packers did their part (just look at the stats and how we dominated the Bills the whole game)... but McCarthy failed miserably! He has no excuse for such a stupid call. As for Brett... you know better Brett... why would you try to stick that in there at that time? I'm very dissappointed in you because you still think your arm is just that good... well I'm here to tell you... it's Not! Get over it... we Packer fans have had to.

This is two games now we simply pissed away with late Red Zone turnovers. I hope Thompson drops the hammer and calls McCarthy in for a 'meeting'... if you know what I mean? It's a shame to see some guys (mostly the entire defense... Ahman Green... Donald Driver... the O-Line minus Wells... Greg Jennings and David Martin) put out a Great effort to win only to be let down by their veteran quarterback and a coach that calls a pass play on first and goal at the one.

Well enough of this... let's get to the Post Mortem --






Pass play surprises
By Jason Wilde / madison.com
Ahman Green was expecting the ball. And why shouldn't he have been? After some halftime adjustments, the Green Bay Packers' run game was rolling. He'd just ripped off 9- and 16-yard runs, and his backup, Noah Herron, had just gotten loose for a 10-yard gain. It was first-and-goal from the 1-yard line, a tie game almost a foregone conclusion. So, of course, the guy with 51 rushing touchdowns in his Packers career thought coach Mike McCarthy would give him the rock. "In that situation? Yeah," Green said following the Packers' 24-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills Sunday afternoon at Ralph Wilson Stadium. "But coach McCarthy made the decision to pass the ball. That was the play that was called, and you go in there and execute the play that was called." The only problem with that was the way the Packers executed the play, which called for quarterback Brett Favre to pick a side and quickly go to either Ruvell Martin or David Martin to the left or Donald Driver to the right. Favre chose Driver, his favorite receiver. But rather than a tying TD pass, Favre's throw was deflected by Bills cornerback Nate Clements and intercepted in the end zone by safety Ko Simpson, who returned it 76 yards. Three plays later, the Bills pushed the lead to 24-10. "By coverage, really I should have gone left, but there are a lot of times I've had success by going the opposite way," Favre said. "There were three other options that were better than that one." McCarthy said the idea was to "catch (Buffalo's) defense in transition - hurry to the line, snap it quickly and hit the one-step slant. That did not occur." Instead, he said, the Packers didn't break the huddle quickly enough, and disaster ensued. -- More



Bills Defeat Packers 24-10
Associated Press
Linebacker London Fletcher and Buffalo Bills' turnover-happy defense made up for a sputtering offense hampered by Willis McGahee's rib injury. Fletcher scored on a 17-yard interception return of Brett Favre's pass, keying a four-takeaway performance in Buffalo's 24-10 win over the Green Bay Packers. Rookie safety Ko Simpson sealed the win when he intercepted Favre's pass on first down from the 1 with the Packers down 17-10. Simpson returned it 76 yards to set up Anthony Thomas' 14-yard touchdown run. J.P. Losman hit Lee Evans for a 43-yard TD pass, breaking a 10-10 tie, and the quarterback finished 8-of-15 for 102 yards. More important, Losman did not commit a turnover after producing eight, including five interceptions, in his past three games. The win, which ended Buffalo's three-game losing streak, did come at a price. McGahee did not return after he was hurt four minutes in. Thomas filled in and finished with 95 yards rushing, helping Buffalo improve to 3-5. Favre and the offense's sloppiness spoiled what was otherwise a stingy defensive effort for a Green Bay team (3-5) attempting to win three straight for the first time in two years. Defensive tackle Corey Williams had a career-high three sacks, keying a five-sack Packers effort. Green Bay's defense limited the Bills to 90 yards and four first downs in the first three quarters. Buffalo finished with 184 yards on offense, the fewest allowed by the Packers since a 10-0 win over the Bills at Green Bay on Dec. 22, 2002. It wasn't enough, even for a Green Bay offense that generated 427 yards and 26 first downs. -- More



No passing zone
By Jason Wilde / madison.com
Inside the cramped visitors locker room of Ralph Wilson Stadium, the Green Bay Packers knew the numbers. They knew all the astonishingly one-sided statistics. They knew they had dominated the Buffalo Bills on their home FieldTurf, outgaining them, outplaying them. But they also knew exactly why none of those numbers mattered. In short, they knew the reality: That while the stat sheet couldn't sufficiently explain why they'd lost 24-10, a game they had so decidedly controlled, all it takes in the NFL is a few mistakes, a few timely plays, to make those numbers make no sense. "We killed ourselves today. For me, that was a pretty embarrassing loss, because they shouldn't have beaten us. That's the bottom line," veteran cornerback Charles Woodson said. "We played a pretty good game for the most part, but it only takes a few plays here and there to put you in a hole. That's what happened to us." Those few plays here and there were four Green Bay turnovers and one blown defensive assignment. The bottom line? They prevented the Packers (3-5) from moving to the .500 mark after a 1-4 start, from extending their modest two-game winning streak to three and from winning in Buffalo for the first time. -- More



Turnovers Turn Dominant Stats Into Defeat
By Mike Spofford / Packers.com
Posted 11/05/2006
There may be nothing more frustrating in football than to dominate an opponent in so many statistical categories yet come up short on the scoreboard. But that's the ultimate in frustration the Green Bay Packers were feeling Sunday after dropping a 24-10 decision to the Buffalo Bills in front of 72,205 at Ralph Wilson Stadium, leaving the Packers at 3-5 at the season's midway point. The Packers outgained the Bills 427 yards to 184, converted more than three times as many third downs (7 of 16 compared to 2 of 11), recorded more than twice as many sacks (5 to 2) and possessed the ball almost nine minutes longer (34:21 to 25:39). But in the end it was Green Bay's four turnovers to Buffalo's zero that doomed the Packers, as their miscues either took potential points off the board for themselves, gave the Bills easy scores, or in some cases both. "It hurts," center Scott Wells said. "That one hurts bad. "To only get 10 points out of the amount of offense we produced is definitely disappointing. It came down to mental errors and turnovers, and we turned it over too many times." -- More













Additional Game Stats -- Link







Favre blames himself
By Tom Silverstein / journalsentinel.com
Posted: Nov. 5, 2006

"I was telling Ingle (third-string quarterback Ingle Martin) before I came out here that it never gets easier," Favre said, taking the podium after a 24-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills that shouldn't have happened. "I expect so much out of myself and, of course, the team but we had our chances. It goes without saying: It's just disappointing, disappointing to me."

It's getting too late in quarterback Brett Favre's career and the Green Bay Packers' season to lose games like the one Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Blame Favre for throwing an interception that was returned for a touchdown and for failing to secure two snaps from center, or blame coach Mike McCarthy for calling a passing play on first and goal at the 1 that resulted in another interception. It doesn't matter because at 3-5, the Packers' season is heading where everyone thought it would before they won consecutive games against Miami and Arizona. And for Favre that means more desperation and more frustration in this, his 15th season in Green Bay. -- More




Encouraging effort, deflating result
Defensive line creates plenty of pressure
By MICHAEL HUNT / journalsentinel.com
Posted: Nov. 5, 2006
Corey Williams had the game of his professional life. Cullen Jenkins came back from an ankle injury to contribute in a meaningful way. And Aaron Kampman was Aaron Kampman. Together, they combined for a season-high five sacks Sunday for the Green Bay Packers and generally made life miserable for Buffalo quarterback J.P. Losman for most of the afternoon. Except, of course, for one big play. "And even then we hit him pretty good," Kampman said. Losman's 43-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open former Wisconsin Badger, Lee Evans, with 8 minutes left was pretty much all the Packers' relentless pass rush allowed. But it was enough in the Bills' 24-10 victory at Ralph Wilson Stadium. "We got a lot of pressure, but we weren't able to capitalize on the pressure we made," said Williams, the third-year defensive tackle who had his first three-sack game. "You can't make mistakes in this league. They'll cost you. "It's tough to know you played your hearts out (and lost). That was their only big play. But they will get you every time." -- More

Breakdown of Losman to Evans pass (click on picture to enlarge)




Williams Leads Defense With Three-Sack Day
By Mike Spofford / Packers.com
Posted 11/05/2006
A solid defensive effort Sunday in Buffalo was highlighted by defensive tackle Corey Williams' three sacks, the first three-sack game of the third-year pro's career. Williams' first two sacks both came on third down, as he took down Buffalo quarterback J.P. Losman to force a punt. The second of those came in the third quarter with the Bills on their own 5-yard line. Williams just missed getting Losman in the end zone and took him down at the 3. His final sack came in the fourth quarter with the score tied at 10. Williams took Losman down for a 7-yard loss on second-and-5, setting up a long third down the Bills didn't convert. In all, Williams' three sacks accounted for 17 lost yards, and he now has five sacks on the season, a new career high. "I just took them as they came," said Williams, who had his other two sacks this season at Detroit. "Coach kept staying on us about second effort. If you make one move and they stop it, you have to continue to go, and that's what I focused on mainly was second effort." The Packers defense had five sacks total and increased its sack ratio, which ranks near the top of the league, to plus-16. For the season, the defense now has 27 sacks while the offense has allowed just 11 after the Bills recorded two on Sunday. "I feel like we were physical up front and we got a lot of push on the quarterback," Williams said. "But we had too many errors and gave up some big plays." -- More







Wrong call
The Packers lost 13 yards of field position in the second quarter after challenging Bills punter Brian Moorman. Moorman got off a 55-yard punt that Shaun Bodiford returned to the 33. On the play, the Bills were penalized for having running back Shaud Williams illegally downfield. The Packers took the penalty, then watched Moorman hit a 65-yarder that was returned by Bodiford for minus-3 yards to the 20. "(McCarthy) asked me and I said, 'Make them re-kick,' " special teams coach Mike Stock said. "I figure he wasn't going to hit two bombs in a row, right? Well, he did. You just never know."

Running away
The Bills directed almost their entire ground game to their left, where Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila played most of the game. However, offensive line coach Jim McNally said they weren't necessarily attacking "KGB" as much as avoiding Aaron Kampman. "You had Kampman over there and a rookie," McNally said, referring to Bills right tackle Terrance Pennington. "It wasn't so much Kabeer but utilizing our personnel." Gbaja-Biamila came away impressed with Jason Peters, who debuted at left tackle after seven starts on the right side. "I thought he did good for the first time," Gbaja-Biamila said. "He was getting a lot of help from the guard (Mike Gandy). He was getting help and asking for help."

Slow start
At times the Packers ran the ball adequately in the first half, but for the most part they appeared stuck in mud. They ran 16 times for 55 yards as Buffalo clogged up their zone blocking scheme with aggressive, up-the-field attacks from their defensive ends. The Packers weren't able to get players down on the ground as they normally do and the middle of the field was clogged. At halftime, offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski made alterations to the running attack and started to counter the Bills' attack. "They were really playing for another scheme and we ended up changing our scheme, tweaking it a little bit," Jagodzinski said. "Sometimes it takes a little longer to make changes and we made it. It became positive for us in the second half." The Packers opened the third quarter with a 20-yard run by Ahman Green. By the time the game was over, they had rushed for 92 yards in 14 carries in the second half, allowing them to finish with 147 yards and a 4.9-yard rushing average. Green led the way with his third-straight 100-yard rushing day, gaining 122 yards in 23 carries. "We saw what they were doing," Green said of the first half. "We're pros and able to get push and run different plays and take advantage of that end running up the field."

Surprise, surprise
Despite the fact Green was making hay on the ground, McCarthy decided to pass on first and goal at the 1-yard line late in the game. The pass was intercepted and the Packers' hopes for a comeback victory were shattered. Green had to think he was going to get the ball, didn't he? "I was, like, 'Hey, I know it works,' " Green said when asked his reaction to the play call when he heard it. "I believe in the scheme. That's what Coach called. I've seen it run and worked in practice. It was a heck of play by the DB."