As a guide/outfitter, I can kind of break my year up into sections where I'm either so immersed in the moment with guiding every day or I'm looking forward to the various hunting seasons and all the other things that fall brings, to winter where there is skiing and the Super Bowl and then back to anticipating the guide season and getting geared up and revved up to do it all over again. Fall is my favorite time of the year because the fishing usually gets better as the weather cools down. There's bow hunting, then upland birds, rifle hunting for big game and then ducks and geese. As for sports; the World Series and FOOTBALL! The problem with football is there is almost always a letdown.
I don't tend to write too much on the blog about sports but it is something that get's talked about a lot either traveling to the river or during down times while fishing. A lot of people who fish also watch sports so it's something we can have some commonality with to break up the day. It can't just be about fishing or hunting. Having said that and given what happened yesterday, I'm going to write about sports today.
I was talking to a fellow outfitter before the football season even began back in August. He asked what I thought about my Packers for this season and without taking a second to think about it I responded with, "They'll go 12 and 4 and then lose in the NFC Championship game to Seattle because McCarthy will lose it for them." When prompted further I said, "It's McCarthy's MO to go conservative in big games and they play to not lose instead of playing to win and that doesn't win championships..."
Now, I'm no psychic and I wouldn't say I'm all that knowledgeable about football when compared to those who do it for a living but I have been watching the Packers for a long time and I know McCarthy and in the end, the Packers had a chance to win and although you could look at the fake field goal, the onside kick, or the missed play by Clinton-Dix, the reality is; is that it was the conservative play-calling in the second half and when they got into the red zone by McCarthy that lost this game.
I know, I know; you can look at the 2010 season and point out what a great job McCarthy did in taking them to the Super Bowl and winning as a 6th seed and I agree but where has that coaching philosophy gone? What has changed and why has McCarthy blown it over and over since with better teams and honestly, why was he consistently blowing it before that 2010 season? In my opinion, McCarthy does better with low expectations because he's kind of playing with house money so-to-speak and he's not afraid to lose. The bottom line is that McCarthy coaches scared and with a 16 point lead in the NFC Championship, he decided to coach his players to minimize mistakes and in the end, they didn't score enough points to win. You have the best quarterback in the league playing a pretty decent game and you decide to dial it back to preserve a lead and you lost.
I was watching the game yesterday at Jill's dad's house with her brother and her brother's wife who are Packer fans. When the Packers didn't score the first two possessions in the red zone, Jill's sister-in-law and I looked at each other and said that's not good. Jill's brother defended the Packers by pointing out they were still in the lead...
It was the first series the Packers had the ball in the 3rd quarter yesterday when I looked at the SIL and we both knew it. They got conservative and they were going to lose the game. Again, Jill's brother defended them and again he pointed out that they were still in the lead.
"Not for long," I said.
It was even before that I knew the Pack were in trouble. I think it was Erin Andrews, who had the halftime interview with McCarthy, reported that he was pleased with the way his team was playing and I think she even said he had a smile on his face. I knew right then that we were screwed. Then they came out and pretty much laid and egg on offense for 6 possessions and because the defense was on the field most of the second half, they started getting gashed. You have the best quarterback in the league and you go 3 to 1 run plays versus pass plays? Watching the game you could tell they were just sitting on that lead and from the way they came out the second half you could just tell they were looking at the clock hoping it would somehow miraculously start ticking down faster--but it didn't.
The definitive play for me was when the Seahawks were down 16-0 with a third an like, 17? They had just sacked Wilson and I thought, "Maybe they won't play conservative..." On third down, the Packers "rushed" 2 and left a spy to watch Wilson. They gave him somewhere around 13 seconds to find his receiver and they picked up the first down. I knew they were going down because they stopped being aggressive and it denoted a philosophical shift to what they were doing on both sides of the ball. The fake field goal just put an explanation to that point.
The Packers kept running the ball and kept "playing it safe," punting over and over again in the second half. They only had one punt in the first half but couldn't move the ball in the second half until the last drive where they marched downfield at will with only about 90 seconds left because they had to. And the interception by Burnett in the third quarter when he just laid down with it? That was just another example of how that entire team's philosophy had shifted to not press and only do what you have to, to "preserve" the win. Play safe. Don't run the ball back because you might fumble...That message had to have been sent in McCarthy's halftime speech to his team and it showed on the field.
By the time the onside kick was completely f'd up by Bostick not blocking his assignment and letting Nelson recover the ball the Packers were already poised to lose. That one play didn't lose it for them. Neither did the missed play on the 2 point conversion or even the last two passes from Wilson in overtime. (They were great plays and you have to give Seattle and especially Wilson credit but the game was already decided at that point.) The Packers allowed momentum to shift early in the second half by the play calling and there was no way they could bring it back against that team and in that environment and that comes down to the coaching. Plain and simple.
Ok, it's Monday and in the grand scheme of things, this is not going to change my life so this is the last thing I'll say about it. I enjoy watching football. I love routing on my team because I am hopeful that they will get to the top again. I also like being able to dish a little back to my buddy, John Chase (huge Hawks fan), who I now have to take out on a freebe on the Mo and mention him on this blog because that was the bet. The Packers have been so close for a few years now and I know injuries didn't help last year and you can always point to something, (the failed Marry that kept the Packers from getting home field a few years ago?) but the reality is, is that McCarthy isn't that great of a coach. He's ok. He's better than a lot but he's not at the top of the coaching pyramid and I say the Packers should go after someone who will finally show some balls and play to win so that I can start giving a little back to Mr. Chase. The problem is, who would be better?
I don't know. I'm going to move from the "end of hunting season" mode and on to having little interest in the Super Bowl again and focus my efforts of getting things ready for the 2015 season.
Keep 'em where they live...
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