Kirkwood wrote:
Look, FF, I get it. Instead of looking big picture at how McCarthy takes Thompson shit ass roster and competes with the Cardinals/Seahawks/Vikings it's easier to jerk it with Barnwell at how he punts on 4th down or doesn't go for 2.
When the GM's pissy refusal to roster credible ILBs in a 3-4 forces you to use your best pass-rusher inside then I'm going to cut you a break.
He's not the best but he deals with a lot of shit having to gameplan with the rotten garbage Thompson forces upon him every year.
I know I too am classified as a hater but I would never deny that coaches can have value outside of in-game decisionmaking and I doubt FF would either. Lovie was pretty bad when it came to those things too but during his heyday he'd have his players ready to run through brick walls for him. McCarthy's track record before he went to Green Bay demonstrates he's one of the very best at getting max potential out of quarterbacks and he obviously deserves lots of credit for Rodgers' development as well.
And I'd go further and add that I agree that general in-game decisionmaking does get overblown often by internet fans, as it's one of the few areas where people can feel superior to the coaches actually on the field. A lot of the nuts and bolts of coaching remains alien, but hey, I can call this coach a dumbass because he didn't do what the Fourth Down Bot advised! I don't even like Barnwell that much and think that much of the time he writes with an unwarranted smugness about things football and non-football related, even if I do agree with him about McCarthy.
That being said, I don't understand why you're so defensive of what you admit are his in-game flaws. Yes, the vast majority of NFL coaches are extremely risk averse, but that doesn't just mean McCarthy's just one of many in the pack outside of Belichick and Arians (and I'd say a few others belong in that class as well). For one thing, his basic explanations to try to justify his poor decisions always show an astounding lack of logic, such as trying to hit particular rushing attempt numbers regardless of success just because winning teams often hit those numbers. This is seriously the equivalent of saying "I don't want to go to the hospital to treat my condition because there's a high correlation between being in the hospital and dying."
Beyond this though, I think the credit you're attributing to McCarthy in spite of Thompson is more accurately given to Rodgers in spite of both of them. He's been the best quarterback if not the best player in the league for the last 5 years. Yet time and time again McCarthy takes the ball out of his hands on the offensive end in key situations. This amplifies the effects of his in-game decisionmaking and makes the harms from it far worse than some coach of a team going nowhere anyway blowing a timeout or a challenge.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
