One of the least-promising developments in the Green Bay Packers’ win over the Minnesota Vikings was the lack of a running game.
Not only were the Packers ineffective — 15 carries for 40 yards, a 2.7 average — but as you can see, they didn’t really even try to run the football. Two of those carries were Aaron Rodgers’ scrambles, so the Packers actually only called 13 running plays.
A number of those came late, when the Packers had a substantial lead and were trying to run the clock. The Vikings expected run and were easily able to shut down the Packers’ feeble efforts.
Obviously, part of our issue is that you need to run the ball more than 13 times. Another part of being successful at running the ball is situational.
The Packers didn’t do a good job at either and that’s on the coaching staff. Of course, Mike McCarthy doesn’t see it that way.
“I spent a lot of time on self-scout the last couple of days, and that’s really what this comes down to,” McCarthy said. “You play all this football and you spend so much time talking about the other guy, you really have to focus on what you’re doing and that’s really what today is for our team.
“We didn’t run the ball very well against the Vikings and that’s something we’ll correct because you have to run the ball this time of year regardless of who you’re playing and where you’re playing them.
“We’re going to spend this little extra time making sure we’re doing things right, like the discipline of it because obviously, it’s a one-game season.”
Sometimes, it seems like McCarthy doesn’t watch his own games.
Yes, the Packers could have run the ball better. They most certainly could also have run it more. If you give a guy like Ty Montgomery opportunities, he’s going to break big runs.
He proved that the week before in Chicago. When you give him just nine carries, as the Packers did on Saturday, you’re asking for a lot from a little.
Surely, the offensive line wasn’t great for the Packers against Minnesota. It may have been their worst game of the year all-around.
It’s still tiring to listen to McCarthy talk about establishing a running game when it isn’t actually part of his game plan. It’s a refrain we’ve been hearing all season.
Actually, it’s more tiring to hear McCarthy constantly say “…that’s something we’ll correct…” for whatever the issue at hand happens to be. We all know by now it never seems to quite work out that way.
Yep. Just like they’ll correct the defense.
It’s as bad as Mike Sherman always spouting off about the integrity of those guys in that locker room as they routinely were humiliated out of the playoffs
I give up on this fat bag of shit ever running the ball. I hope they don’t draft Cook or Fournette and end up wasting their talent on his lousy offenses.
Watching Detroit at Dallas. The Lions are looking pretty good and just took the lead. Packers will have their hands full on Sunday.
Not liking what I’m seeing – Zenner giving them rushing strength – looks like Dallas was not counting on this in their game plan and they are unable to adjust…
Could be looking a shootout on Sunday…
The Rodgers boys better start practicing hail mary options…
The Lions are starting to fade, but they are still playing hard. It will take a full 60 minutes of work to beat them. These are not the old Lions, but they do have some residual tendencies.
For McCarthy, the running game is just a number. He creates a passing scheme based on the opponent and long term strategy (don’t show your cards against easy opponents), then he comes up with a number of times he will need to run it to make the passing game work. There is no running game strategy.
This is the way it’s always appeared to me anyway.