McCarthy's Packers Now
By John Czarnecki / Foxsports.com
All the reports said that Packers coach Mike McCarthy was surprised and taken aback when Brett Favre said he was retiring. They should have added that McCarthy probably was also relieved. The Packers are now McCarthy's team; he no longer has to share it with Favre. You may interpret this is as a knock on McCarthy, but, honestly, Favre was bigger than the youthful head coach, who received a lot of credit for last season's 13-3 record.
Favre was an institution in Wisconsin. He was the only player with a parking spot inside Lambeau Field and you rarely saw him dressing in the locker room. Favre, 38, wasn't one of the guys. He was above the fray and ever since Mike Holmgren moved west to Seattle he was the Packers. And the fans apparently loved every minute of it; every one of them living vicariously through him on game days. Mike Sherman had an offensive coordinator, Tom Rossley, who tried to rein Favre in and that coach never got another NFL job. Do you really think there was a receiver in Green Bay who thought McCarthy knew more about how to beat the Bears than Favre did? When the Packers were in a huddle and Brett changed a play, do you believe any player got in his face?
All head coaches love to be in control; it's a huge part of their personality and job description. There is no question there were times when Favre thought he knew best. And with his approach to a two-minute drive or his opinion on how to manage timeouts, there was a certain challenge to McCarthy's role as the ultimate authority. This isn't meant to blame anyone. It was simply that way. I mean, when Favre was winning a Super Bowl for the Packers, McCarthy was Steve Bono's quarterback coach in Kansas City. None of these little things were ever an issue because he was Brett Favre. He was on a level equal with the game. He was a folk hero; he was a legend who was still playing on Sundays. It's why Terry Bradshaw told me again on Tuesday that Brett was the greatest quarterback he's ever watched. [More]
All the reports said that Packers coach Mike McCarthy was surprised and taken aback when Brett Favre said he was retiring. They should have added that McCarthy probably was also relieved. The Packers are now McCarthy's team; he no longer has to share it with Favre. You may interpret this is as a knock on McCarthy, but, honestly, Favre was bigger than the youthful head coach, who received a lot of credit for last season's 13-3 record.
Favre was an institution in Wisconsin. He was the only player with a parking spot inside Lambeau Field and you rarely saw him dressing in the locker room. Favre, 38, wasn't one of the guys. He was above the fray and ever since Mike Holmgren moved west to Seattle he was the Packers. And the fans apparently loved every minute of it; every one of them living vicariously through him on game days. Mike Sherman had an offensive coordinator, Tom Rossley, who tried to rein Favre in and that coach never got another NFL job. Do you really think there was a receiver in Green Bay who thought McCarthy knew more about how to beat the Bears than Favre did? When the Packers were in a huddle and Brett changed a play, do you believe any player got in his face?
All head coaches love to be in control; it's a huge part of their personality and job description. There is no question there were times when Favre thought he knew best. And with his approach to a two-minute drive or his opinion on how to manage timeouts, there was a certain challenge to McCarthy's role as the ultimate authority. This isn't meant to blame anyone. It was simply that way. I mean, when Favre was winning a Super Bowl for the Packers, McCarthy was Steve Bono's quarterback coach in Kansas City. None of these little things were ever an issue because he was Brett Favre. He was on a level equal with the game. He was a folk hero; he was a legend who was still playing on Sundays. It's why Terry Bradshaw told me again on Tuesday that Brett was the greatest quarterback he's ever watched. [More]
Published by PackerPundit On Wednesday, March 05, 2008 at 5:48 PM.
0 Responses to “McCarthy's Packers Now”
Post a Comment