Correctible. Fixable. We'll get it done.

You may have come across these expressions in Mike McCarthy's recent media appearances. You may have stopped paying attention, or given up attributing any value to what he says.

But what if he's right?

Mike Tanier's consistently insightful Walkthrough feature identifies three areas that need urgent fixing: penalties, sacks, returns. He says:



These problems are, he opines, "easy to correct": by throwing dumpoffs and by playing more starters on special teams. "Easy to correct" sounds a bit like "a half-decent coach would already have corrected it" — a veiled criticism of Big Mac.

I don't believe this season is lost yet — I was thinking 9-7 during the preseason and that's still feasible. Rather than give up on the team and demean its coach and GM, I wanted to talk about what can still be done to improve the record. Here are some ideas:

— Be less conservative on defense. Half a season into the 3-4, the players are beginning to get comfortable. In terms of talent (and health) D is the strength of the team. The front seven is playing largely within the system. Gradually Dom Capers needs to set them loose. He has to find a way to get Kampman into the backfield, and maybe resurrect some of the corner blitzes we saw against Chicago and St Louis.

— Be more conservative on offense. McCarthy seems to call every game like it's going to be a shootout: pass deep and early and on 1st down. This was sensible last year, with the defense being so unreliable. Now, not so much. This team could learn from an ugly low-scoring victory. (I nominate the Niners game.)

— Try a surprise onside kick, or a fake punt. Show your players you can be bold without throwing a bomb on every series.

— Don't be afraid to bench players for a series. Jolly headbutts an opponent? Sit him. Jennings drops a pass in the end zone? Take him out. Rodgers holds the ball too long, Barbre gets beat, Bush overruns a returner? To the bench. Few of the starters have been challenged for their spot over the last season-and-a-half; that leads to complacency and the attitude that star-player-knows-best. They need to be shown that no-one is bigger than the team.

I agree that much of the problem should be fixable. Just today I read that opponents are camping on short routes and taking away the quick rhythm passing game, hence the deeper routes being called. If you've got 9 or 10 defenders playing within 10-15 yards of scrimmage, it makes the short passing game tough. I agree playing more vets and starters on ST might help, but when you get an injury that way, it's tough to swallow (remember Woodson's toe injury on a punt return that really hurt us when he couldn't go against Dallas and T.O. ate up Harris while Sanders called zone defenses all game?). Bottom line: of course it's all fixable, but is it too late??

Time to bring back the shotgun spread? Does Rodgers have enough time to run it?

I wonder if Ahman Green can help resuscitate the screen pass. Again the line hasn't played it effectively, but Grant and Jackson have been a dead loss at getting YAC.

Get yourself healthy, Jermichael, you're needed!

Excellent post, Ammek. Sure, all is fixable; I just no longer believe anything is gonna be fixed by the current regime. I'm also noticing a lot of posts on various threads alluding to Capers being a sort of stumblebum. So one of the most respected defensive minds of the last 20 years, the coinventor of the "Blitzburgh" 3-4, is suddenly the problem ? Injuries are the problem? Funny, the Steeler's D keeps rolling even with guys like Polumalu and Smith out for extended periods of time. Could the problem be maybe the players aren't good enough, or that not enough are a good fit for this D?
As to the offence, besides the obvious problems with the line, a serious recieving threat out of the backfield and at TE would go a long way towards making this offence downright scary. Finley may very well be the answer at TE, but there are no such possibilties with the current crop at RB.

Good topic. I agree on Defense. Not all out, but blitz and press. Kampman should be rushing the QB on 85 to 90% of the passing plays. Zone blitz, stuff the holes and bring them.

On Offense, use screen passes and shuttle passes; they have not been used in some time. Power running, simplify the OL scheme. Maulers on the OL. Punt out of bounds if you cannot defend the return. Near zero tolerance for stupid penalites.

I don't think they've been as conservative as many think. They have the same problem now that they had when they were a 4-3 team. Which is they can't get to the QB when they blitz. We saw this several times vs Tampa. Most memorable being Barnett coming in untocuhed and running right past the QB.

Next, I will try not sound like a jerk...but the idea of benching guys after a bad play is ridiculous. It's High School stuff. First of all, there are so many mistakes in some of these games you wouldn't have any players left. They would be shuttling in and out constantly. Nobody else does that, and it would destroy whatever unity and confidence this team has.

How in the world do you have any flow when guys are constantly being pulled for mistakes? That's not the way you handle it. Or at least not the way to handle it if you don't want to completely lose all respect from the players (and the game in the process.)

This is an important point. I mean, first of all, the really good QBs in the league WANT you to blitz. People talking about how they should have blitzed Favre more to get more pressure - bullsh! That's just making his life easier. You need to be able to get pressure with your base package rushing four to have any chance. If you give the OL problems rushing four, then you pick your spots to send in a 5th or 6th guy, THAT'S when people start getting home. We have precious little pressure coming from those guys up front. The DL has been doing a great job against the run, but they're not getting anywhere near the QB when they need to.

As VoR said, different year, different system, same personnel, same problem.

Right, the only difference is that in theory you don't know which 4 are rushing. But that's in theory. With the Packers, you pretty much know 99% of the time if they rush 4, it will be the 3 down linemen and then either Kampman or Matthews. And they will always come from the same spot. Real tough for offenses to figure out...

If you rush 6 or 7 you better get home, and get there quickly. It's more obvious every week that the Packers just don't have guys capable of doing it. Maybe McCarthy should pull them all out of the game??? I guess Kapinos could play a little DE.

I'm only suggesting (from my comfortable armchair) pulling players for multiple repeat offenses, or for unusually dumb and unnecessary penalties. You're right that it doesn't always work; occasionally, it does (see Vernon Davis).

It's hard to tell (from my comfortable armchair) but there appear to be plays where some of our guys are doing what they have decided they ought to be doing, rather than what they've been told to do. McCarthy has to get tough with that.

I agree about the blitz. I guess Capers has (more or less) abandoned the corner blitz for that reason. At 4-4 the Packers don't have much to lose, though; I wouldn't necessarily blitz more often, but I might be tempted to blitz differently, and pray that the coverage holds up. LOLB is such a key to the scheme — he must be able to rush the passer, cover slot receivers and tight ends, and manage every off-tackle run, often one-on-one against a tight end or fullback. Kampman is too slow and doesn't have the instincts. I'd be tempted to play Matthews on the left this week if Kampman hasn't recovered, just to see what he can do.

Looks like Brad Jones is getting the start at LOLB this week.

Matthews certainly has the speed and instincts to be moved around and is better served in coverage than Kampy. I was thinking of Whitten and Vernon Davis coming up in future weeks. Thats going to be a big test for our OLB's.