My first impression of the Packers-Patriots pre-season game was same old, same old. A big deal was made of Coach Mike McCarthy not calling the offensive plays and it was evident because for the first time since he became head coach we got to see his face during a game instead of just his eyes and the hat as he hid behind the play sheet to make sure no one could read his lips as he called the plays.
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Mike McCarthy and his Beard |
I never understood why he was so worried about it because without reading his lips I predicted almost every play he called in the second halves of game for the past five or six years, at least. It was no mystery to anyone with half a brain (Rush Limbaugh) that the Packer offense would go into slumber mode and would be punting more often than make first downs and adding to their advantage.
It seems McCarthy got used to having his lower face covered and decided to grow a beard to obscure his mouth. Maybe the refs won't notice and ignore him when he calls for a replay. Oops, I forgot. He asked for a replay and won on a first-down or fourth-down issue. Let's hope that doesn't fall back to the same old, some old, and he wins more than he loses or throws the red flag on the strangest of calls.
However, I regress on an old, but satisfying rant, so let's get back to Tom Clements and his inaugural play calling duties. The first drive was a great example of the acorn not falling far from the tree. Like has been the situation over the past two seasons the Packer offense bogs down in the red zone. My thoughts on the problem has been the lack of a play-making tight end is, at least, part of the problem, but the major problem being uninspired play calling.
Brett Favre had Mark Chmura and Bubba Franks as prime end zone targets and Aaron Rodgers had the much maligned Jermichael Finley, but Andrew Quarless and Richard Rodgers are no Chmura, Franks and Finley (to steal a phrase from former Vice Presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen). Quarless and Rodgers haven't progressed as much as I would like him to.