Got a shitty taste in your mouth today? I sure do. Let’s hope John Fox gets the Chicago Bears to the playoffs again because that’s obviously the only team Mike McCarthy’s Green Bay Packers will ever be able to beat in an NFC Championship game.
Don’t feel too bad though.
My Sunday started with my woman leaving me and then I sat down and watched the Packers bungle their way to another defeat at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks. That was kind of like a kick to the stomach followed by a nice, swift kick to the balls.
So, listen. You could have it worse.
If anybody out there can write music, I’ve got some great lyrics for a country song. We’ll call it, “Fuck You and Fuck the Packers.”
Now, on with this shit show.
No Buffoon
As you know, we are always first in line to criticize McCarthy for his buffoonery. Hence the reason we’ve replaced his given name with Buffoon. After the game, I heard plenty of people bitching about McCarthy and I saw at least one “fire the whole coaching staff” rant.
The two primary points of contention were the decision to play conservative and kick field goals inside the red zone twice, and to play conservative and run the ball late in the game. Well, I’ve got news for you if you fall into that camp. McCarthy is not at fault for this loss and he made the correct decision in all of those instances.
First of all, the field goals. This is the NFC Championship game. You’re playing the best defense in football. Points are going to come at a premium. Plus, the Packers haven’t been able to convert that 4th and short ALL SEASON LONG. You take the points. There’s NO question here at all.
Second, the decision to run late in the game. At the time, both the score and the clock was Seattle’s enemy. With the opponent down two scores, OF COURSE you run the ball and chew up clock. Look at the stats. Even if the Packers were to throw, their chances weren’t good. They didn’t even have 200 passing yards on the day and were an atrocious 3-for-14 on third down. Plus, even if you give the ball back to the opponent and they score, all you have to do is recover an onside kick to seal the win. You take those odds all day. There’s plenty of blame to go around here, but frankly, I think McCarthy and his staff constructed a brilliant game plan. One that, if not for a complete lack of execution on a few key plays, would have won the game.
So, who then?
Well, if not Buffoon himself, who is primarily at fault for this debacle? Someone must be held accountable!
This game could have gone the Packers way if they made one more play. Here are some guys who had a chance to make that play and failed to do so — Brandon Bostick, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Morgan Burnett. I cannot or will not blame the loss on any of those guys, however. The primary reason the Packers didn’t win on Sunday falls at the feet of one Aaron Rodgers.
Here’s Rodgers’ line from the game: 19-of-34, 178 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs.
Before the game, I made a list of things the Packers needed to do to have a shot in this game. Let’s look at that. 1. Run the ball effectively (135 yards rushing, 4.5 yards per carry) — check. 2. Win the turnover battle (plus-3) — check. 3. Keep Rodgers clean (1 sack allowed) — check. 4. Limit Seattle’s rushing attack to somewhere around 100 yards (194 yards allowed) — fail.
So the Packers failed to stop the run. Again. However, I think we would all agree that the defensive effort by Green Bay was better than any of us expected. I think we would take that effort any day.
So what’s the problem here? The problem is, the guy you expect to play well, didn’t. Again, the Packers were 1-for-3 in the red zone and 3-for-14 on third down. That last stat is putrid. That’s on the quarterback.
Big time players come up big in big games, which brings me to…
The Legacy
You know, I’ve heard people talking about Rodgers being one of the greatest ever. I’ve heard someone whose opinion I genuinely respect say Rodgers is the greatest Packers quarterback ever. Well, I’ve got news for you. Not the case in either instance.
Hey, those big yardage totals are nice. All those touchdown passes are great. That gaudy TD-to-intercption ratio is superb. But the last time I checked, this game is about winning. Not winning in the regular season. Winning in the playoffs. Specifically, winning championships.
Rodgers, outside of one magical run, hasn’t demonstrated he can win in the playoffs. It would be one thing if he was going out and having masterful games and the defense was blowing it, but that hasn’t exactly been the case. Look at all of the Packers’ playoff losses since 2011. Rodgers has really only been great in one of them — this year’s divisional win over Dallas. Probably not coincidentally, the Packers only have two playoff wins in that stretch.
Rodgers isn’t even the greatest quarterback in Packers history, so he surely doesn’t belong in the greatest ever conversation. In fact, until he can get the Packers to another Super Bowl, he isn’t even ahead of Brett Favre.
- Bart Starr
- Brett Favre
- Aaron Rodgers
At least Favre as able to GET to the Super Bowl twice.
You can take your stats and your regular season wins and dangle. I’ll take the guy who wins when it counts every time.
Give us this, Mike
I was all ready to say what a swell day the Packers special teams had on Sunday. Of course, this was running through my head as I was preparing my coverage when they had what seemed to be an insurmountable lead.
Mason Crosby was 5-for-5 on field goals and there was the forced fumble on that early Doug Baldwin kickoff return.
The thing that sticks in my craw in hindsight is Seattle’s fake field goal that turned into a touchdown, the Seahawks’ first of the day. The Packers looked totally unprepared for that.
As I was watching the game, I said to myself, “I bet they fake it.” Sure enough, they did. I don’t understand how you cannot be ready for that scenario. That should have been the only scenario the Packers were playing, as a field goal does very little damage at that point.
So, for the 5,836,735th time — Shawn Slocum. A unit is only as prepared and effective as their leader. I’m not calling for wholesale changes, but can this fucktard already and make the fan base happy.
Clay?
I didn’t notice it at the time, but apparently Clay Matthews wasn’t in the game for Seattle’s last couple series of regulation, which raises a lot of questions. After the game, McCarthy said he wasn’t aware of any injury.
So what the hell?
Obviously, I think you want this guy in the game at that time. If the coaching staff held him out, then we should be questioning them. Of course, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
If Matthews pulled himself, for whatever reason, then frankly, I don’t want to see him in a Packers uniform ever again. Dick Sherman was out there playing with one arm. You know who pulls himself in the NFC Championship game?
Jay Fucking Cutler, that’s who.
Slocum and Bostick should both never be heard from again. Slocum for the FG fake and Bostick for not following directions. I agree with the rest as well, second guessing everything after the fact is easy but they played the odds and the only way to blow it at the end was a complete collapse of epic proportions which is exactly what happened.
All in all, this special teams has been shit all season. How Slocum is still special teams coach is beyond me.
It must be nice to have job security because no one is held accountable in Green Bay. Like i’ve stated for 4 years now.
It also appeared to me that Peppers wasn’t in in the final series after overtime…. Looked like they showed him on the sidelines when the last pass was thrown. Sounds like another coaches decision?..
Lol. Bret Favre ? When it counts ?
Not to go bat shit crazy here, but some of these situations stink. I mean, Matthews is not out there in the last few series? Burnett lays down instead of taking off and getting into field goal position at least? A J Hawk not “gluing himself to the eligible receiver, instead going after Jon Ryan? Putting a player that has not had a ball in his hands during a game most of the year on the “hand team”. Finally, rushing 3 (or was it 2?) on third and 19, when ALL DAY LONG we held them! why fucking change then??? Am I witnessing A FIXED ENTERTAINMENT GAME? kind of like the WWE???? I am beginning to wonder.
yeah that 3rd and 19! Rush 3 put 8 in coverage against 2 fuckin recievers and leave the only guy capable of making a play wide open. That was the first time in the game where I spat my drink out and Shouted, “How is that possible!?!?” that then happened alot in the last 5 minutes
Ditto. ^^^
U r rite. The third guy was a spy for a RW run. So the bull was only two LOL. now the Q is, did DC call that or was he overridden by MM a la mike Sherman overriding Ed Donatello on 4th and 26 then getting ed D fired as the scapegoat later?
McCarthy didn’t play to win. He played not to lose and it’s the wrong attitude to have. I’m not gonna sit here and say fire him but we didn’t go for the throat when we should have.
Sure you can say you take the points but you can also say we need more than field goals to win and that was proven. The first fg from the 1 I’m ok with but I think the second time around you have to go for it. Our red zone offense was disgraceful the whole second half of the season and you just knew it would bite us in the ass and it did. Regardless of that I still think you go the second time because of the situation and who we are playing and where. Points were at a premium yes. But ask yourself this, how many more times do you expect to get that close to the end zone vs that defense? The answer is not many so put up 7 when you do.
The whole thing is just disgusting regardless. The last 5 minutes starting with burnett’s inexplicable decision to go down instead of scoring was a complete dumpster fire. 99% of the dbs in the league try to run that back and we are lucky enough to have the one guy who doesn’t. Nothing short of winning a super bowl next year will fix this. Until then we will be haunted by it
Now you fudge-packing buffoons know exactly how you Vikings
fans felt in 2009. Damn it feels good to watch a meltdown that will go in the books as the single greatest EPIC FAIL in the history of the NFL.
This game was never even close, but little mistakes continued to pile one on top of the other, until the final meltdown came and crushed Packer fans the world over.
I want to feel bad for you guys… I really do, because I don’t care much for the Shehawks either, but in the end I know that on SB Sunday, the only difference between my Vikings and the GB Packers is my guys will be pulling better draft picks.
In all seriousness though, I hope the Pack does not have to completely rebuild like my team has done for the past 5 years….awe hell who am I kidding here….WAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
R u an Aussie refugee? Just wondering w that f-p ref.
Recover the onside and the early 4th downs are the correct call. Same for knocking down the 2pt Hail Mary conversion. If the fix was in, then hopefully that bodes well for next season. Hopefully Roger returns the favor
So do u think the fix boded well for the 1919 World Series “losers”? Or I guess u r an immigrant and never heard of MLB baseball?
That comparison only works if they get caught. Goodell likes to burn evidence or just plain ignore it so that’s unlikely. My hope for a ridiculous conspiracy theory is that GB tanked so Brady and Belicheck can defeat the “greatest defense of all time” for the 4th ring and ride off into the sunset, and then Goodell returns the favor and somebody else tanks for GB during the comeback season from the worst playoff choke in history.
This team needs to grow some serious balls if they ever want to win another title. Im sick of this shit of losing in the playoffs. 5 out of 6 years we pussed out now, that’s a big problem for me. McCarthy needs to put a FINISH banner in big fucking red letters right on Lambeau Fields front façade when the team comes back in April.
Good article! I will say lay the blame primarily on Bostick.”Do your job” as Belacheck always says and don’t worry about other people’s job! I remember what Don Shula did after a punt returner was told to field a punt and go down with time remaining in a game. the returner fumbled the ball the other team recovered and scored and won. The punt returner was cut the next day. i also recall a saying by famous German general Paul Von Hindenburg. “You put your stupid and aggressive soldiers on the the front line to be killed. they will lose the war for you.”
Let’s put away A-Rodge and Matthews for now.
1. EVERYONE knew that a fake FG would be called as 3 points is meaningless – unprepared special teams is Slocum – fire him. They should have been in the 3-4 defense for the field goal.
2. The Pack need to focus on getting a d line that can stop the run. Period. Seattle gauged us in the 4th quarter running the ball and we could not stop the run. Imagine if Seattle had the lead and played with the lead – Lynch would have had 300 yards rushing.
When Matthews sacks Wilson, the play is dead.
Then 1 or 2 seconds after the whistle blows the o-lineman drills Mathews. Why was it not 15 yard unsportsmanlike after the play? Should have been 2nd & 46. Even Dumb Capers might not have been able to screw that up. The good news is we will never have to see AJ Hawk play again in GB. Last memories will be of him looking like an ahole not covering a lineman on a pass for fake fg td & completely running out of the play when Lynch goes for the td.
I agree. As is typical in Seattle, the Seahawks ALWAYS get all the breaks.
The Packers had all the breaks for 57 minutes. Fortunately, the game is 60 minutes long and the Pack CHOKED in epic fashion!
WAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!
They were the most penalized team in the league. They get all the breaks? Hardly.
I couldn’t agree more…. Where was Mathews at 3:30 left in the 4th quarter? It’s money time, and this dude makes a lot of money. So, he’s standing on the sideline? Maybe if Clay is in, he doesnt get fucked like Sam Barrington got fucked trying to cover Lynch.
Side note: Did anyone else notice Burnett’s non tackle on Lynch at the 7 yard line? Take a look at it, seriously, it’s that pathetic. He didnt even try, he gave him a pat on his belly.
I’ll also agree with Monty, if Clay elected not to play for the last 3 1/2 minutes of the 4th quarter i have no use seeing him in a Packer uniform, give me a fighter, not a quitter.
If anyone see’s a interview with Clay, and he explains why he wasn’t in the game. Please let us know.
The defense played out of their minds most of the game. Credit when it’s due. But the bottom line is, the defense gave up 21 points in the last 6 minutes of the game. 2 minutes in the 4th, and 4 minutes in OT.
I wonder if Clay was proud of himself standing on the sideline during 14 of those points.
Maybe………………….Clay was tired and he needed a rest?
It’s been awhile since I took statistics, but the odds of:
losing with +3 turnover differential 1/95
have the ball with 12 pt lead and 4 min left 1/99
give up 2 pt conversion 1/2
not recover onside kick 1/6
lose coin toss 1/2
Packers losing 1/225,720
I also think a lead that large has NEVER
been blown in NFC Championship, so multiply above
by NEVER and it is impossible to lose. Never happened.
Just a nightmare, hope I wake up soon.
You’re math isn’t right, but your point is well taken. With 4 minutes left and two scores ahead it was posted that the Packers were 95% likely to win. A whole lot of bad luck had to hit the Packers. As it ALWAYS does in that dome.
Not a dome. but then again, who gives a fuck at this point. Carry on.
How do you not go after Sherman ONCE when you know he is playing injured? All the respect in the world for him, but come on. You know Pete Carroll would have taken advantage of that even if they were winning.
This is my biggest complaint of the game. If you think Sherman is faking, run Lacy right at him, see if he makes the play. If he looks injured then line Jordy on him and throw a couple of comeback hitches to him where Sherman MUST make a tackle. Every other good coach in he league would have immediately taken advantage of that situation.
We bitch and moan about this play and that play, that player did this and this player did that wrong, the coach fucked this up and fucked that up…..
The bottom line is this………..A team needs to fail in every conceivable manner, to fuck this game up in the last 6 minutes of play.
The worst 6 minutes of Green Bay Packer football iv’e witnessed in my life, and iv’e watched a hell of a lot of Packer football.
Prepare yourself for nothing to happen to shake things up in Green Bay over this. That would entail players and/or coaches being held accountable for their job duties. The last person that was held accountable was Mike Sherman.
Maybe McCarthy can tell us how these failures need to be “cleaned up.” And then, before you know it, Rodgers is announcing his retirement in 2019, and then no one, has instant job security anymore because Rodgers is gone.
Pf4l, sadly your prediction about nothing changing will come true. The only guy with the balls to admit their mistake was Bostick. MM will continue to stand by his “protect the lead” game plan that started at the half time kickoff. Capers will not and should not get a new deal and Slocum will get promoted and with our luck he will be the next d. coordinator or equally as bad Moss. Looking forward to re-signing Cobb, Bulaga and the draft.
Actually every reason you listed for blaming the loss on all had to do with fat dumba$$ McCarthy. It was his play calling that blew those drives and forces them to settle for field goals. Should of ran starks more over Lacey, Lacey just didn’t have it. It has been his choice to stick with this stupid 3-4 that for every big play it makes it = gives up and why is Slocum still the special teams coach. Same old same old. Ole Teddy’s fu*k F.A’s and stick with the draft that he’s got about a 50/50 success rate going and sticking with McCarthy who yr in yr out his defense aucks his special teams sucks his game management sucks his play calling sucks and basically has been riding the coat tails of 2 great qbs since he’s been there.
Sorry about the woman man, there are plenty of fish in the sea. If its been a while since you have been single let me just give you this warning: most the single bitches out there are frickin crazy in the head. Keep your chin up, you will be fine.
Thank you for having the guts to call out Arodge. I did it on FB a couple of times this year and both times I was torn to shreds. I even had friends call me names and unfriend me; all because I had the nerve to question everyone’s IDOL.
I love Arodge and I think he is pretty amazing, but look, we have to hold him accountable. He wants to be the best ever (or does he?) he needs to start coming up big in big games.
If Arodge had been under duress all day from a great defensive line I could give him a pass on his stat line, AND blame his injury for his performance. HOWEVER this was not the case. Our oline was amazing and he had a pretty poor game. Even when he did hit open receivers often his balls were so low guys had to go to the ground to get them, robbing them of potential YAC, and often balls were behind guys, again taking away the chance to get a head of steam up field.
I saw a LOT of plays where the Sea Chickens brought up a safety to play the run, and we passed. When that happens and your oline gives you 7 or more seconds to throw, you should be finding at least one guy deep who is 1v1. How many big plays did we have downfield? Almost none.
I watched Tom Brady with all day to throw tear apart Indy. Now I know Indy isnt Seattle, but again, Rodgers had all day to throw.
Im ok with Arodge not winning the MVP next year, or getting any other accolade for that matter if the guy will just get us to the Super Bowl.
I second that totally.
O. and btw if Cutty had made those “throws” we would have said he might have hurt his vigana stet his calf.
Mike McCarthy is the Robert Mcnamara of the NFL. Everything is statistics, situational flow charts, production targets, outcome probabilities, blah, blah blah…. As much as I hate Pete the Cheat, he at least shows he has some balls.
I still think Rodgers is above Favre though. I just hope he doesn’t end up like Favre. A 1 & done Superbowl winner. Looks like that could be a reality soon :-/
This team lost goes on EVERYONE. The TEAM collapsed. SMH
I’m not very much a fan of McCarthy in general, I think he’s simply an average coach with a good quarterback who is absolutely TERRIBLE at in game adjusting. The general game plan for the game was masterfully executed by the defense for 3.5 quarters. It has been the lone strategy for beating Seattle all year, get them in somewhat of a hole and force Wilson to be a pocket passer. That was the perfect position to keep them in, but IN SEATTLE you have to keep them there, don’t let any sense of momentum get moving.
The biggest problems in the game were A. 3 and 19, this play alone let Seattle back in the game and gave them hope. The prevent defense hasn’t done anything for anyone who used it, and it was like SUPER prevent defense because the three rushers didn’t even try to rush. That alone was bad enough. B. Special teams, Yes they had some pluses with Crosby nailing his goals and the one turnover, but those other misses in the fake fieldgoal and muffed onside cost the game the most. Interesting statements today afterwards that Seattle looked for one particular linebacker being on the field in order to execute that play, and it was…..Brad Jones. At first I thought it was Hawk, but Jones was the key that made Seattle go for it. Either way, our two lousiest linebackers were in the game for that play and the Hawks took advantage. On the onside kick…..yeah just plain terrible coaching.
Now, late in the game we all know McCarthy was gonna play it safe, and yeah it made some sense of course, they had managed to do it before so why not do it again? Ok, but adjustments should have been made. First off, the middle of the field was WIDE open for most of the game. Hell, Richard Rodgers should have been used more right in the middle of the field, I don’t remember Seattle stopping one pass in that general direction, but nope, they insisted on targeting other areas. Secondly, I don’t know if Lacy was gassed or injured late in the game, but he shouldn’t have been in. Starks had just ripped off a good run and had FRESH legs. Starks had been in this position before, he was aggressive and wanted yardage and wasn’t tired, that and Seattle was use to seeing Lacy so #44 should have been utilized better, but they have been misusing Starks all year in my opinion.
Quite simply, in game adjustments doom McCarthy, he is stubborn in his approach and doesn’t use all his personal correctly when he needs to, nor does he and his offensive staff seem willing to target areas of weakness against even good defenses or take what is being given to them. In the end, it is truly players that need to get it done, and our guys obviously clocked out with early delusions of grandeur. Oh, and of course Rodgers being banged up didn’t help either I bet.
I happen to be one of those who do not say McCarthy is a terrible coach. With that said all you have to do is look at the coach that McCarthy claims shaped him. Marty Schottenheimer. Marty always played it conservative at games end and in the big games. Marty made the playoffs often with high seeds, however more often than not Marty’s teams never could finish with a win in the big games.
Best post game analysis I have seen from Monty. I have been critical of McCarthy in the past, but his calls to kick field goals early were correct. It was agonizing to see them not score TD’s, but lets say one of those field goals come off the board and they fail on 4th and goal. Well, then that gives Green Bay no chance at the end of the game potentially, because they would have had to score a TD. And the smart way to play is to run the ball at the end of the game up 12 points. Make them burn time outs and take as much time off the clock as possible. Seattle isn’t known to be an explosive offense. The only thing I didn’t like with McCarthy was they didn’t go after Richard Sherman when he was hurt. That is the only thing I question, and Troy Aikman, myself, and probably the entire country were wondering.
The 2 point conversion was possibly the most frustrating play, because they had Russell Wilson dead to rights on that play. No way in 100 years that ball should have been completed. The fake field goal is right behind it, because the PRIORITY on that play when you are up 16-0 is to play defense, not block the kick. Who cares if they get three points? Hell they may have missed the kick on their own. I have always defended Hawk against haters, always thought he was taking more crap than was deserved. But his responsibility on that play should have been to cover the receiver on that play once he recognized it was a fake. If Ryan converts the first down running the ball, so be it. The defense had been shutting them down all day to that point and made big plays.
Rodgers does deserve some blame, but lets face it, the defense/special teams really shit the bed in the final 4 minutes. 19 points against that defense is not a bad total, especially on the road. That 3rd and 19 playcall was pathetic. They had been destroying Wilson all day, and they had no answer for the packers pass rush. Make him make a throw while being pressured.
Here is Texas I am getting real sympathy from Cowboys fans. They feel sorry for me that the Pack laid down in the second half and just flat as died, gave up, and never played to win. They feel sorry since they know it was pathetic. I keep asking myself why? The main overriding theme I have is that from top to bottom they were not prepared to handle the situation they were in and that lead to a multitude of errors that, like a airline crash, destroyed a certain win. Should everything be dissected and analyzed? Yes but in reality the overriding fact that they didn’t attempt to bring the crashing plane back to level is really disturbing to me. I may never understand it or accept it. From what is being said by players and coaches leads me to believe change in not in the works and so my hope for next year is already being dashed.
Gonna be hard to get over it but i have to, don’t want one more night of shitty sleep over this debacle…at least the Pack is famous for something this year, the worst ever playoff melt down….i see some people are quitting watching football, throwing out their Packer stuff…I’m mad but not crazy, i like it too much…screw it, i can’t wait to watch the dumb fucks at a nice sunny training camp practice and go to my one game a year, soak in the Lambeau atmosphere….i can’t read one more article about how shitty they were in the fourth quarter, i know i watched it, it made me physically sick for a day…screw that…i did switch from my Packer hat though, at least for a few weeks..i don’t want to answer any stupid questions….
I am sorry to have to interject logic and reason into this threat but here we go…
I understand blame has to be allocated because the fact the better team won can’t be assimulated.
Aaron Rodgers, injured or not, has never won an overtime game, and outside of 2010 he has been a failure in post season play. But to blame him for the loss ignores the truth that he, like every other top QB, can’t handle the Seahawks defense. Every Superbowl winning QB has lost against the Seahawks since 2012. Not a single win.
Sure players made mistakes, that happens every game to every team but the Packers shouldn’t have been in this game. The Seahawks killed themselves with mistakes in the first half or they would have won going away. If you watched this Seahawks team over the past few years it causes every team to walk away questioning themselves. Their defense suffered a lot of early season injuries, but when they got their key players back they gave up 3 points, 3 points, 14 points (1 TD off a special teams turnover), 7 points, 6 points, 6 points, and 17 points (Including a garbage time TD) to the Panthers in the playoffs. Take out the points off turnovers and where would the Pack be? Right where everyone else was.
It is a heartbreaking loss because they took so long to get their act together that it let the win look possible, but when they did they moved the ball at will on offense and shut down the Packers on defense just like they did to everyone.
Going into this game if you saw the stat line without the Seahawks turnovers listed you would have known there was no way the Packers would have won so saying they were the better team just defies logic.
It was a solid season but it wasn’t Superbowl cailber.
Sorry your woman left, Monty, but that’s no reason to turn into a Colin Cowherd clone Aaron Rodgers hater. He wasn’t 100%. Would you rather have had Flynn or Tolzein in the game? Yes, he threw 2 INT, but I don’t think either of them ended up in points (could be wrong, mercifully, the game is fading in my memory). He couldn’t scramble much, but he was still our best bet. If you keep the interceptions but get rid of any one of the following & we win:
-Daniels stupid ass 15 yard penalty that moved us back from right around the 2–might have been a TD
-at least 2 field goals that should have been easy short yardage TD’s
-MB’s interception gets run back maybe not for 6, but at least for freaking awesome field position.
-Onside kick recovery vs. onside kick fuck-up
There are more, but I have to stop. Starting to get pissed off again….