Mike Holmgren Sums Up Why We Love Mike Holmgren
The Walrus! Former Green Bay Packers coach Mike Holmgren appeared on Seattle’s KJR 950 AM yesterday with current Packers coach Mike McCarthy.
As you might expect, the conversation eventually turned to the infamous Fail Mary. That prompted this exchange between the coaches.
Said Holmgren: “There’s not a question in my mind that was as an interception … The thing is, when I watched your press conference the next day, and Mike you’re a real gentleman, I would have been fined. There’s no question in my mind, I would have been fined. And you handled that about as well as I’ve seen a coach handle that. Was that difficult?”
Said McCarthy: “Thanks. No question that was difficult, but it was the best thing for our football team, and I never lost sight of that. That was my vision of what I needed to do when I walked into the post-game press conference, and I think it was very apparent what happened. There’s good calls in our league and not-so-good calls, and not-so-good calls sometimes go the other way. … You knew there was going to be a storm that was going to follow that situation, and I was just trying to get our football team to move on as quickly as possible.”
This also kind of sums up why we are indifferent about McCarthy.
We were, of course, livid after that highway robbery. Had The Walrus been the coach of the Packers and that happened, well, like he said. We can just see him visibly fuming at the podium.
Instead, we got nothing from the organization. McCarthy is probably right that the team needed to move on quickly, but it was disappointing to see zero sense of outrage from anyone in the organization.
Nothing from McCarthy. Nothing from Ted Thompson. Nothing from Mark Murphy.
The Packers handled it with class. The Packers way and all that. We get it.
After the incident, I asked Ron Wolf why he thought these guys hadn’t said anything and how he would have handled it. He told me he preferred not to say, which tells me that he probably would have been as publicly outraged as everyone outside of the organization was. As outraged as Holmgren would have been.
Obviously, and unfortunately in our eyes, some of the edge the Packers had disappeared with those two guys.
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It’s a good thing something like Fail Mary never happened when MH was coach – he would have turned the brightest shade of scarlet, eyes bugged out, neck straining, spittle flying as he went into something akin to a Favre-induced tirade, then he would have popped something. We’d be writing about what a great coach and man he WAS.
MM was the right guy for the moment.
Lol, indeed; his fury would have made Zeus blush, which would literally pale in comparison to Holmgren’s beatified face which would probably be so inundated with the blood from his entire body that it would have exploded right in the middle of the press conference.
To McCarthy’s credit, a lot of teams would have imploded after a fiasco like this, as many teams have after far less (think of the Jets imploding after Marion feigned the spike ball only to throw a touchdown). Even so, I am still pissed off about this, as you all know, mostly because of the way Seahawks players, staff, and their fans, and most notably that piece of shit scumbag Lance Easley have acted.
Part of me wishes Mac were emotional. Remember how pissed he was after that narrow loss in New England. “I don’t care what you people think. We are nobody’s underdog.” We need more of that please, on the other hand, I appreciate his even keeled manner when I think of Denny Green or that clown here in the City, Rex Ryan.
Good points.
The truth is, though, that at that time the whole of NFL fandom and officialdom was already going nuts about it, doing the outrage job for us (and for Mike and Ted). For them to merely add on to that pile then would have looked awfully lame. The Lingerie League umps were already on their way out.
Disagree on Holmgren over MM. Holmgren had one foot out the door it seemed after the Packers won the Super Bowl. MM seems to love the Packers Holmgren was/is a west coast softie at heart.
Holmgren congratulated McCarthy on his reaction. He was right to do so. MM handled it the right way, as did TT.
They should spend their time bitching about what they can control and do something about.
Watch or listen to the presser after Wednesday’s practice and tell me there is no edge to MM.
Where to start?…….Love Ron Wolf….Here’s a GM that brought the Packers from the depths of a failing franchise caused by Judge Robert Parins. Wolf wasn’t afraid to talk to the media and the fans of the Packers, and do so in a honest, forthcoming manner. If a player, or a segment of the team wasn’t producing, he didn’t act like everything was good……….As far as Holmgren goes, he put the pieces of the puzzle together. I think Brett Favre really owes Mike Holmgren. If it wasn’t for Holmgrens patience and tutelage, nobody would even know who Brett Favre was. Unfortunetly Mike and Ron had a power struggle, ending that era.
Wolf and The Polar Bear certainly are 2 entirely different people; Wolf is very much responsible for Favre’s (and pursuantly, the Packers’) success as well, if he hadn’t traded a 1st round pick for him, who knows how long Favre remains a back up for the Dirty Birds or where he ends up if they trades him.
Big test tonight for the run game and the O line against the Seahawks front 7. Lets do this, and see what we have!!
Monty, you are high! What could possibly change by venting to the media. McCarthy did what I want the coach of my team to do. Suck it up and move on. Challenges define greatness.
Couldn’t agree more
I don’t get what is so classy about being passive and not sticking up for yourself when you’ve been totally fucked over. Goodell is damn lucky this happened to the Packers.
Do you want to be a victim? Or do you want to focus on the other things that were entirely within your control that you didn’t get done well enough to win the game in a convincing fashion so that bullshit call didn’t matter?
Life’s not fair and it shouldn’t be your expectation that it is.
There’s difference between being a victim and sticking up for yourself. I’m not saying sit around and mope about it forever. I agree with what you’re saying, but this is a multi billion dollar corporation that claims to pride itself in putting the best product on the field. When something like the failmary call happens and they treat everyone like idiots by copping out and saying it was a catch, followed by having some “expert” analysis pretend to explain why it was a catch is complete slap in the face to anyone who watches football. There’s no accountability. The NFL doesn’t give a shit about anything but their image and money. I guess I just wished the Packers would have held a flame under Goodells ass long enough to embarrass him or at least get an apology. Instead the pompous pricks just swept it under the rug like nothing ever happened, like they always do. I don’t respect the NFL and their two faced politics. Whatever, it’s done with. It’s hard to forget when people just keep bringing it back up.