Spooky Special Teams

Time To Replace Tim Masthay

For the first time during the Ted Thompson/Mike McCarthy Era special teams wasn't the weak link on a team that had many weak links. However, punter Tim Masthay's year and a half odyssey of going from the best punter the Packers have had since Craig Hentrich to so Jekyll and Hyde it might be a good idea to find a replacement.

After Hentrich was allowed to leave in free agency in 1997, something former Packer General Manager Ron Wolf said was his biggest mistake, the Packers went through Sean Landeta (1 year-he left in free agency too). Louie Aguiar (2 years), Josh Bidwell (4 years- he left in free agency), Bryan Barker (1 year), B.J. Sander and Ryan Flinn (1 season), Jon Ryan (he was cut by Thompson before his third season), Derrick Frost and Jeremy Kapinos (1 season), Jeremy Kapinos (1 more year) and then Masthay took the job in 2010.

Masthay was fabulous for four and a half seasons until the second half of 2014. He still was having issues last year finishing as the 13th ranked punter. It's time to look for a new punter.

Final Thoughts on Sherman and Crosby

I'm still loving it (sorry McDonald's) - the win over the Packers new BEF (Best Enemy Forever) - and before I move on the Monday Night Football against the Kansas City Chiefs a couple of observations.

It pays to target "The Mouth That Roars". The unwanted one - old man James Jones - beat Richard Sherman for the first touchdown of the game. Later on the disputed offside-flinch play Sherman was called for a 52-yard interference play setting up a Mason Crosby field goal.

Richard Sherman doing what he does so well

The previous two games against the Seahawks were highlighted by stroking Sherman's immense ego by totally ignoring him in the season opener last season and, for some odd reason, never throwing at him after he injured his arm in the playoff collapse.

Post-Game Analysis: Special Report

Mason Crosby watches his successful field goal attempt

Special teams weren't so special against the Patriots although place kicker Mason Crosby did well. He made his only field goal attempt and his only 33-yard extra point. All of his kickoffs were short and returnable and I was worried. However, in the post-game interview Coach Mike McCarthy said he told Crosby to kick them short so they could work on kickoff coverage. So I give Crosby an A+.

 

I was going to talk about punter Tim Masthay next, but let's jump on the kickoff coverage. All five were returned for an average of 24.6 average with a long return of 35. His first one was returned 31 yards to the 26 and his next two were stopped at the 17 and the 13. The second half kickoff was returned 35 yards to the 37. His fifth on was returned 24 yards to the 27 and his last I give the kickoff coverage team a C+.

 

Now I'll get to Masthay. He punted three times for an average of 34.0 with two inside the 20. Throw the average out since he was punting near the 50. His first was from the Green Bay 47 and was downed at the 18. His next was from the Patriot 47 and was downed at the 15. His last was from the Green Bay 13 and it was downed at the Patriot 37. There were two fair catches and one went out of bonds. I give Masthay a A-. As far as punt return coverage I give an incomplete for no action.

NFC Championship Post Mortem

I fully agree with the sentiments of Aaron Rodgers. The Packers should be celebrating today after dismantling the Seahawks, but instead coached and stupided their way out of the game. This should hurt for a long, long time.

 



Otto Greule Jr./Getty Images

First, Coach Mike McCarthy should fire the man who calls the plays for the Packer offense. I have said this for years and will continue to stress this point until someone else, anyone else, takes over the offense. I also blame Rodgers for not changing the plays when they were obviously the wrong call for the wrong time in the game.
 

I have two problems (actually I have more, but two big ones and I've had it for a long time) with McCarthy's play calling. First, in the fourth quarter when a first down would have sealed the win when the Packers were leading 19-7 after the strange sit down by Morgan Burnett I said and I quote, "They will run the ball three times and punt." And run and punt they did. I hated to be right, but if I could have gotten someone to bet with me I could have set up my retirement account. No one, but a Packerbacker who has watched his strange play calling over the years, would have said he would take the ball out of the best quarterback in the game and give up. But he does this every time.