Good thoughts , we all know the Packers are capable of more so maybe it's a combination of issues that can be isolated and ironed out , drops , limited practices etc .. let's watch and see .

I agree Rodgers was playing against the Bills according to the game plan by MM. If Rodgers had free reign to change the plays at the line of scrimmage at any given time, then why didn't he? If he changed plays in past games and the Packers lost Rodgers would have taken blame for the loss. Thus the frustration, because he was playing according to a game plan and could not audible to a play that would take advantage of a particular defense. Playing the next 2 games against 1-3 teams does not constitute a win by any means. Just as playing against the better teams after the bye does not constitute losses either. If the Packers play error free, penalty free, smash mouth football they can win against any team in the NFL. But you can't sit your best players on the bench until late in the game and expect the team to be competitive. The Packers have talented players and they need to get them involved early, play them often, and stay focused throughout the 60 minutes, not just for 30 minutes. Go! Pack! Go!

Its just frustration.

The worry is this just isn't going to be a elite offense any more. The draft strategy means we have very little in the way of top end young talent on that side of the ball unless we hit the jackpot with some of the late receivers.

Its encouraging to see the defence take responsibility against the bills. If we see this through and sort out the pass rush and safety in next draft then the defence needs to justify it and start carrying the team a lot more.

Al - like you many of us have heard and/or read numerous times that Rodgers has complete control of the offense. We have all seen him check out of plays at the LOS and run RPOs.

Is it possible that MM is limiting Rodgers control due to his injury to prevent him from moving around too much and/or limit his exposure to additional hits?

Among Rodgers comments was "there wasn't any flow". Rodgers has some control over that. He has even with his injury checked out of plays.

The Packers had about a 55/45% run pass ratio. specifically they threw 40 passes. That is a pretty high number of passes for a game the Packers won 22-0. plus a 58% 3rd down conversion rate. Again pretty good for a game to complain about the offense.

I'm thinking Rodger's presser was just his gut reaction to a game where he is not as efficient as he usually is with his throws. He missed some throws and his receivers dropped passes. Get 4-5 more completions and the offense looks a whole lot better.

As I posted in another thread, Rodgers should use his frustration to get ready for the Lions game. It wouldn't hurt if we had better receivers as well. Give Monty and A. Jones more snaps and get the ball to them in space. Get some quick throws to the TEs including Mercedes Lewis.

Your remaining points on the defense, Bak, the schedule, the officials and Ha-Ha are spot on as usual. We should be 3-1, I hate that the officials cost us a win. There is no excuse for it. Someone from NY should have contacted that crew and told them to pick up the flag. I still have a bad taste from that game. On to Detroit.
Thanks, Since '61

I saw a guy frustrated by a poor performance who handled the situation poorly in his presser.

They'll get it straightened out between them because they have no other choice. They're so connected in every aspect of the offense, there's no alternative short of a power play or a brat attack on the part of either party, and neither of them have shown to be that far off the rails in the past to think it would happen now.

I'm sticking with my bet these guys come up with something for the Lions that proves that idea.

Seems to me Rodgers was also a bit frustrated not having Cobb and then Geronimo late and having to rely on MVS who almost cost a pick 6. Dropped passes were a factor and yes I believe McCarthy's play calling was somewhat saving Rodgers from himself until after the bye. Also did Mercedes Lewis even play in this game? It is strange that he isn't being used more as a safety valve? I think much of this is Rodgers and the whole Offense not playing in the pre-season, but they should have it figured out by now. Im sure behind closed doors Rodgers & McCarthy have talked some of these things out.
I do agree with Rodgers in one respect, with the NFL rules as they are, the Packers should be putting up huge passing yards every game with one of the top QB's in the NFL at the controls. Time to turn it loose!
Go Pack!

My theory is that MM will be as vanilla as possible in play calls to keep his cards hidden for wrinkles later in the season. Is this the right move, I don't know? As long as we win it technically is a good thing.

Also so what if Rodgers was pissed about the performance. He wants to be the best he can be. Brady is much the same in his demeanor and that's a huge reason why the Patriots win so much. Yes their division sucks, but you want to dominate all the time. Full consistency as Vic bloggers might say.

I personally thought the overall game plan was fine for the Bills game. I thought the execution was lacking again. They had 5? dropped passes. Rodgers had a few off target throws. But overall I thought the game plan was good.

There were play calls that I simply didn't like. That happens all the time though. But as a whole I thought they had good enough calls for the game.

I really have no idea how much control Rodgers has in changing plays. We hear him yelling Kill a lot which typically means (to my knowledge) that they had 2 plays called in the huddle and based on the defense he goes from one play to the other.
As far as changing the plays on the field I don't know how much control he has. I have asked in the past about this.
When plays don't work, everyone blames McCarthy. Its the easy place to point the blame. So I have suggested that maybe its not all on McCarthy maybe some of it is Rodgers changing the plays at the LOS. I simply have no clue how much is changed though. Do we truly know how many plays that are called are ran? How many of those plays that are called in get changed?

The "Adams should have been targeted 20 times" comment does bother me some though. More of the fact that they seem to be slow to react on what is happening in game. This goes back to the NFC Championship game against the Seahawks when Sherman was playing with 1 arm and they didn't go after him at all.
If they find a mismatch they need to exploit it! I think that is probably what Rodgers is referring to more.

There are a lot of things I'd like to see them do more on offense.
First being more creative.
-Getting the RB's involved more in the passing game. I mean that Montgomery wheel route was a perfect example. I'd love to see them put Jones and Montgomery on the field together.
-Graham is a mismatch. Find ways to get him isolated 1 on 1.

I'd like Rodgers to explain more of what he wants from a game plan standpoint.

It will be interesting to hear what Rodgers has to say today. Maybe he will explain more of what he wants to see happen.

I do think the "rift" is overblown.

I don't think that ARod routinely overturns playcall after playcall beyond what is normal in the NFL game.

I don't have a problem with a player saying, "Hey, y'know I'd love to open things up a bit, push the ball down field, take some chances, etc." All of that is cool.

What I don't like is the pissy, "someone else is to blame" demeanor. That seemed pretty diva-ish to me. And I don't imagine that his teammates and coaches are overly thrilled about it. That's detrimental to the team.

Rodgers could have said, "I missed a few throws, Cobb was out, we had some drops, I thought we could have attacked the D a little more" and that would have been cool... as long as he is including himself in the discussion.

Rodgers certainly has not been terrible by any stretch. But he hasn't been great either, and he needs to admit it. If you want Davante to get the ball more, don't throw a yard and a half behind him when he's open.

Rodgers needs to get over himself and play better ball. I only saw the 3 quarter of the Bills game and he could have been picked 3 times. Yes, MVS should have come back to a ball that probably shouldn't have been thrown. I rip on MM for having a stale offense and his play calling at times but Rodgers is not playing well - period.

The good news is that this offense has a ton more potential than it is showing. Hopefully, we can get two wins out of these next two games and get healthy for the meat of the order.

BTW - is anyone else having trouble with the comments box. Cursor and focus disappears while typing. Very frustrating.

Rodgers would never say it but he this may be the worst receiver corps he's had in years. Prime Jordy was an elite receiver with speed and big play ability, making Adams and Cobb really good secondary targets. Now Prime Jordy is replaced by ok Allison, who makes some nice plays but scares no defense. Adams is a top ten receiver now but the drop off is significant. Those big plays Rodgers used to make with Jordy aren't there anymore because of lack of speed so Rodgers responds with Adams should be targeted 20 times. He knows Adams is his only elite receiver and hungers for those big plays. The younger receivers should be gradually integrated to see if we have something there. They were drafted for size and speed but the way McCarthy sits rookies we may not know if any of them are any good for a couple years. Thus Rodgers frustration. Playing Jones as a 3rd string back when he's probably as good as Dalvin Cook is also likely causing Rodgers to simmer some underneath. Rodgers is saying changes need to be made not only with the plays but with personnel groupings.

Rodgers probably has plenty of autonomy at the LOS, but you can only check to certain plays, based on the personnel grouping on the field.
I didn't get to watch the game, so I have no idea what they had as far as personnel the majority of the time, but as someone earlier mentioned, they may have been leaning to stuff that would keep Rodgers out of harms way.
When you feel you have a game in control i.e. stifling a rookie QB, there's no need to show stuff you may want to use against future opponents.

"Ha Ha Clinton-Dix: Great play but it's only one gem among a bunch of rocks. Let's see more before we believe he has remembered how to play the position."

He knows how, it's just that he's only bothered to put in effort to go with his skills now that he's in a contract year.

While I would personally prefer a more structured offense that had at least a small amount of ball control incorporated into it, I think some of the criticism here would be mitigated if the receivers/TEs could have held on to the ball at key moments. Drops by Adams, Cobb, and Kendricks have cost us big. So that's an execution thing.

As for the defense, I don't think you can draw any real conclusions until we play those tough road games mentioned earlier.

I think Rodgers is under pressure from Adams and some other players to get Adams (and Graham) the ball more. Rodgers is basically saying publicly that it's not his fault. It's the gameplan's fault.....hence the coaches fault as to why he isn't getting Adams and Graham the ball more.

I get the feeling that Adams is complaining privately to Rodgers.

Adams has complained recently to the national TV announcers that he doesn't get the national respect that he feels he deserves.

Sounds like a Jr. High cluster of girls speculating on who said what drama.

Unbelievable that the collective football wizards on this site are reading into who is giving shade.

Of all the stupid things athletes say in front of a mic, you find fault with Rodgers? Players are required to be available to press, and he gave some honest assessment of the entire Offense including himself. Nothing more. Applaud him for holding his units underachievement accountable instead of the usual blah blah we did our job blah.

This speculation is brain seepage alright.

Jersey Al,

Perhaps you're correct.
We all know, from both Rodgers' and MM's mouths over the years, that Aaron has had complete control over play selection in the past- via run/pass options and formation/ route checks that are inherent in the play design, as well as complete authority to switch out of a given play and into any other should he see fit. The only thing Rodgers didn't have total control of was personnel (with exception to being able to keep a specific personnel package on the field by going no huddle.)

With that said, we HAVE seen MM scale back Rodgers' autonomy previously- most notably the season that MM gave up play calling and the offense struggled. It was divulged at the time when MM took the play calling back over, he revoked some of Rodgers' ability to wholesale changes at the LOS. Rodgers got a bit pouty, he seemed to almost intentionally defy MM in his pressers from time to time... things were contentious between the two of them for a few weeks. Ultimately, things got back on track and Rodgers went back to running the offense.

Fast forward to 2017 / 2018. MM and Philbin retrospect the entire body of work and make subtle changes to the offense. So subtle, that most claim it hasn't changed all that much besides some protection calls. However, a number of weeks ago in a locker room interview, Rodgers was asked about the changes, became smug, and in a chippy tone rattled off something to the effect of 'I don't know why he would change anything, the offense was fine the way it was.' (major paraphrase from memory).

Perhaps it's possible that part of the offensive changes
included reeling in Aaron Rodgers a bit. As I've argued before, it has always seemed strange to me that, for instance, MM year after year talks about needing to be better in the run game, occasionally adding with seemingly some level of frustration, "And frankly, that starts with the number of attempts", although in subsequent weeks (and seasons) there's no real change. I've always felt like this could be MM saying "Hey, It's not right to call out my QB in a presser, but I'm calling runs, and my QB changes them to passes.. all. the. time." Absolutely speculative on my part, of course.

Also speculative, I do believe Rodgers' "coming back from injury" game last season was a catalyst for change- perhaps both in moving on from Jordy Nelson, but also in assessing and reeling in Rodgers. Leading up to that game, Rodgers told the press, "I know Jordy has juice left, and I'm going to get him some TD's this week." Well, he certainly tried, forcing the ball to Jordy despite throwing into double and even triple coverage, while other WRs were open all over the field. But I digress.

Maybe MM did revoke some of Rodgers' ability to completely change out of the call at the LOS. It could help explain some of the comments and the tension we're currently seeing between the two. Maybe a reporter needs to nut-up and straight out ask the question. I know.. it will never happen, but I'd love to know.

At 35 mil a year, AR could buy out MM's contract and fire him lol.

One of the things I've always wanted to know as much as anything related to this team is one of the's topics today.

That is, how much and for how long has ARod been permitted to change plays, how often does he do it , how often does his audibles work and what is his contribution to establishing the plays in the first place.

Unless MM or ARod or an insider goes over every play for say the last ten years, we'll never really know.

And in that regard MM is in a tough position. Because Rodgers is considered one of the most important players in the the league and carries a big stick, he can take swipes at MM, but unless MM wants to risk Rodgers inciting a mutiny or undermining him he can't say anything bad about him.

I do believe with Rodgers pay plus his past and future tenure and overall stature with the team he knows he can poke the bear and get away with it. There is a wee bit of a power struggle going on and there's little MM can ultimately do about if Rodgers wants to go further.

It would really steam me inside if I gave my QB a good play who then audibled out of it killing a drive or a chance to win and not being able to explain to anyone who's idea it was to go that route. We might never know who was responsible for the play calling unless it somehow comes out in a book ten years from now.

I know MM gets a lot of grief, but how would it benefit him to reel Rodgers in if Rodgers was so good at analyzing defenses and making the proper play adjustments. It makes no sense unless after studying the tapes they found by sticking to the script they had the most success.

https://www.packers.com/news/aaron-rodgers-i-ve-gotta-play-better-and-we...

My memory isn't the greatest. I always thought MM and Philbin prepared the game plan. In 2018, GB also now have both a passing game and running game coordinators, though I take leave to doubt that they actually coordinate much of anything in terms of team-specific game plans. I never really thought AR was sitting next to MM/Philbin while the game plan was developed, or that he had anything close to an equal voice in its preparation. I guess I thought AR got a chance to look at the game plan and to make suggestions and tweaks to it before it was presented to the rest of the team.

It is telling that some huge majority of articles are written about offensive play-calling and very few, if any, about the defensive coordinator's game plan.

This article is mirror Aaron Rodgers should install at home, before he start to call others names:

https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/2018/10/3/17901138/packers-film-room-...

To blame this all on mccarthy is ridiculous. Rodgers is one of the greatest QBs to play the game and he can throw to whoever he wants. After missing some easy throws, refusing to be decisive and throw to open receivers which would have led to 1st downs rather than stalled drives

(refer to SB nation article: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.acmepackingcompany.com/platform/amp/201...)

Rodgers is agitated because he isn’t playing well while other QBs on rookie contract deals are lighting the league up.

The message for this season was “the players need to be held accountable.” And now the leader of this team is spitting in the face of that message by pinning it on the gameplan.

Rodgers can talk when he Stops missing throws and actually targeting guys that are open (there were a ton on Sunday).
The gameplan and the scheme is fine. Players need to execute and he backtracked and said as much yesterday