The Packer Pundit

Saints Must Beat Giants On Sunday
By Mike Spofford / Packers.com
Posted 12/22/2006

Of all the possible playoff scenarios floating around out there, the most important thing this weekend for the Green Bay Packers is this: They need the New Orleans Saints to defeat the New York Giants at the Meadowlands on Sunday. If that happens, the Packers will still have hope for the NFC's final Wild Card playoff spot heading into the regular-season finale on Dec. 31 in Chicago. But if the Giants defeat the Saints, the Packers are officially eliminated from playoff contention.

The reason the Saints-Giants game on Sunday is so important is this: Should the Giants (currently 7-7) beat New Orleans, the best the Packers could do is tie them at 8-8 at season's end, and if that happens, Green Bay loses a somewhat complicated tiebreaker. Under this scenario - which has the Giants beating the Saints but losing on Dec. 30 to the Redskins, while the Packers beat the Bears - and following the tiebreaker procedure, both teams would have identical 7-5 conference records, and both teams would end up with identical 1-4 records against common opponents (Philadelphia, Seattle, Chicago and New Orleans). That would force the use of a "strength of victory" tiebreaker, which calculates the overall winning percentage of the teams that each team has beaten. The Packers currently trail the Giants by a significant margin here, mostly because of New York's victories against Philadelphia (8-6) and Dallas (9-5) this season.

Other Scenarioes --

How can the Packers get into the playoffs? There are various ways, but the most likely scenario is for all of the following to happen between now and Dec. 31:

--The Packers beat the Bears to finish 8-8;
--The Giants lose twice, to the Saints and Redskins, to finish 7-9;
--The Falcons (7-7) lose once, either to the Panthers or Eagles, to finish 8-8, but behind Green Bay in conference record (7-5 to 6-6);
--The Rams (6-8) lose once, either to the Redskins or Vikings, to finish 7-9; and
--The Seahawks (8-6) either win once OR the 49ers (6-8) lose once, so that Seattle wins the NFC West and is not in the Wild Card picture.

So this weekend, Packers fans should also cheer for the Panthers to beat the Falcons, for the Redskins to beat the Rams, for the Seahawks to beat the Chargers, and for the 49ers to lose to the Cardinals. Any or all of those would also help Green Bay's chances. But if any of those results goes the other way, the Packers wouldn't be eliminated this weekend. It would just mean more would have to happen in Green Bay's favor in Week 17 in order to make the playoffs. -- More






Rest period
McCarthy gave the players off until Tuesday and many of them were on flights after the game. The players are required to perform 20 to 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise over the four-day vacation, but they can do it at home if they choose. There will be no way to check up on the players, so McCarthy will use the extra day of practice next week to get the players' bodies ready for the week. "It'll be a 'shells' workout," McCarthy said of Tuesday's non-pads practice. "We'll have an extended jog-through period just for the installation part of it and the team periods will be cut down." The coaches stayed around until this morning to finish game-planning for the Bears. Then they will have off through Monday to be with their families. McCarthy will visit his daughter in Texas and said he won't be watching any football. "I have a 15-year-old daughter, I don't think I will," he joked.

Night job
Offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski has been using spare time to get his assistant coaching staff together at Boston College, but he said he plans on taking the weekend off and visiting his family in Atlanta if the weather permits.Jagodzinski will be heading to Boston as soon as the Packers' season is over. He said his first priority is to put a staff together, but he is taking his time to do so. Asked if he would consider offering anyone on McCarthy's staff an opportunity to go with him, he said, "You don't mess with another guy's staff. I wouldn't do that." As for how the rest of the staff will carry on the zone-blocking system after he's gone, Jagodzinski said he had no doubts they would not skip a beat. Though he was personally tutored in the system by Alex Gibbs, the guru of zone blocking, he said he made sure the other assistants knew everything he did. "I shared everything with them," he said. "We've done everything together for 10 months. I have no doubt."

Satisfying return
Both McCarthy and Jagodzinski said that right tackle Mark Tauscher's return to the lineup was seamless. Tauscher missed five games with a groin injury, but stepped back in his starting position and played solidly. "Everything is positive about Mark," McCarthy said. "I thought he played well." Overall, pass protection was very good, McCarthy said, and that probably had some to do with Tauscher. During his absence, rookie Tony Moll had been manning the right tackle position and had a lot of ups and downs.

All hands on deck
McCarthy said he has noticed a change in the way his receivers are catching the ball, which might account for the team leading the league in drops. "We don't have a lot of body-catchers on this football team," he said. "Our guys do a good job catching it with their hands. But when you see a guy who has good hands start catching it with his body, that's an illustration of a lack of confidence, and we have some of that going on right now."






Offense fires blanks inside the red zone
A lack of weapons means field goals,
or worse, instead of touchdowns
By Pete Dougherty
greenbaypressgazette.com
When talk in the NFL turns to offensive playmakers, it usually refers to big-play players, guys who can strike from anywhere on the field for long touchdowns or plays that gain huge chunks of yardage. But as the Green Bay Packers' scoring struggles this season suggest, playmakers are crucial for red-zone performance, as well. The Packers went into Thursday night's game against Minnesota ranked 31st — second-to-last — in red-zone touchdown percentage (35.7 percent), and that figure went down against the Vikings. The Packers had four red-zone opportunities against Minnesota and scored only one field goal. So, while the Packers were happy to come away with a 9-7 win, their season-long problems inside the opponent's 20-yard line continued. McCarthy didn't dismiss the role game planning plays in red-zone scoring, but when asked for the common denominator for teams that execute well in the red zone, he quickly answered: "The biggest I've seen over the years is playmakers. That's really what it comes down to. Making the tough catch, making the tight throw, breaking that tackle." The red-zone failures on Thursday almost cost the Packers the game — they needed a 44-yard field goal by Dave Rayner in the final 2 minutes to win, even though Minnesota's offense failed to score and gained only 104 yards. Through 15 games, the Packers have put up these bleak numbers in the red zone: 46 opportunities, 15 touchdowns (32.6 percent), 17 field goals, seven turnovers, three missed field goals, twice stopped on downs and twice they didn't try to score at the end of a game. -- More



Code red zone
Packers sputter inside the 20
By TOM SILVERSTEIN / journalsentinel.com
Posted: Dec. 22, 2006
Mike McCarthy was referring to what the Green Bay Packers need right now to increase the potency of their offense before facing the Chicago Bears on Dec. 31, but he just as easily could have been talking about next year. "Playmaking ability," McCarthy said Friday, a day after his offense turned four opportunities at the 20-yard line into just three points in a 9-7 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. After stocking the defense with a combination of draft choices and free agents, general manager Ted Thompson will soon need to turn his attention to the offense and find McCarthy someone other than Donald Driver who can score touchdowns. The Packers have done fine moving the ball between the 20-yard lines, but every time they knock on the end-zone door they're treated like traveling salesmen and get it slammed in their face. Only the Oakland Raiders rank worse than the Packers at scoring touchdowns when they're inside the opponent's 20-yard line. The Packers have scored 15 in 45 chances for a 33.3% success rate while the Raiders have converted 31.3% of their opportunities. Only three teams in the entire league are under the 40% mark. "The biggest thing you're seeing is the turnovers," McCarthy said. "I don't think I've ever been around an offense that's turned the ball over that much in the red zone (seven times), and that's really our Achilles' heel on offense. That's really the first thing we need to get fixed. And the other one is clearly the playmaking ability, the production." -- More



Favre, Jennings aren't clicking
Coaches aren't sure why that happened against Vikings
By Rob Demovsky
greenbaypressgazette.com
Neither Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy nor offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski could say for sure what the reason was, but both acknowledged something was off between quarterback Brett Favre and rookie receiver Greg Jennings during Thursday night's 9-7 win over the Minnesota Vikings. Jennings was at least partially to blame for both of Favre's interceptions, although his second intercepton was a poor decision by Favre. The problems weren't limited to only Favre's interceptions. "I agree there's probably three or four times, or two or three times, where it's not in sync," McCarthy said Friday. "Once again, it's fundamentals, route running, rhythm, timing. All those things are very important." Jennings had only one catch for 2 yards. It's the second straight game in which he had only one reception. It's possible he still is hampered by an early-season ankle injury, but he wasn't listed on the Packers' official injury report last week. "You know, I don't know why," Jagodzinski said when asked why Jennings and Favre were off. "I know on that one route, they weren't on the same page, and it turned out to be a disaster." On that one route, Vikings cornerback Fred Smoot intercepted and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter. Jennings was supposed to run a 7-yard hitch route, but instead ran a sideline go. Favre threw the hitch, and Smoot was there waiting for it. "It was a coverage that Greg did not identify," McCarthy said. On Favre's next throw, which was intercepted by Vikings safety Darren Sharper, Jennings was the back-side receiver. Favre thought Jennings was running a go route, but Jennings read the play to pull up in the hole. "It's a scramble drill, something you spend a lot of time with," McCarthy said. "Those are relationships that take reps. It's guys being on the same page. That's not a designed play. On the backside of the scramble drill, you look for the home run, and then you pull up on the (sideline) if you're outside the numbers. So, obviously, the quarterback and the receiver weren't on the same page." -- Story






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