McCARTHY TAKES CHARGE

Packers’ Boss Benches Lacy, Assumes Play Calling ;

Pack Responds

Mike McCarthy had seen enough. After opening fast just as he wanted at 6 – 0 he watched as his Green Bay Packers skidded through a 2- 4 drought that included embarrassing losses to the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears. His star running back had apparently blown a mandatory curfew the night before the Motor City Miracle along with a 3^rd string rookie RB. The offense was floundering, the defense was more than doing its job, so – consequences be damned – McCarthy took back full control of his team beginning with RB Eddie Lacy.

McCarthy is not nor ever will be the type pf coach who airs out his players in the media. His is far from Bill Belichick aloof to the media but he never allows a peek inside the inner workings of the Packers. When Lacy was involved in only 5 running plays against Detroit in a game the Packers desperately needed to claw back in the race for the NFC North crown everyone knew something was up. ESPN’s Adam Schefter broke the story that Lacy and fellow RB rookie Alonzo Harris had missed a curfew the night before.

McCarthy didn’t waste any time. He cut Harris the next day, signed rookie RB John Crockett to the 53 man squad from the practice squad and inserted him into the lineup ahead of Lacy, benched Lacy and in general took over. The last move in his arsenal was to take back the play calling from Asst. Offensive Coordinator Tom Clements, a  move that personally hurt McCarthy but was done “…because I felt it was in the best interest of the team” said McCarthy after the Pack corralled the Dallas Cowboys 28 – 7 Sunday. “It (taking the play calling duties back from Clements) hurt me personally but I felt it was something that needed to be done.”

For his part Lacy only offered that he and the boss had “…aired things out in private...” True to form McCarthy gave little insight as to the nature of the conversations he had with Lacy leading up to the matchup with Dallas. Thus far Lacy had been inconsistent while rumors swirled about everything from his weight to his conditioning to his preparedness and commitment. Although Lacy had shown signs of breaking out with back-to-back 100 yard performances his benching not only caught his attention but the attention of every player on the squad.

McCarthy is bold, aggressive coach who has his finger on the pulse of his team. Much like a father who won’t let a son skate by when the kid screws up McCarthy’s brash initiative in taking Lacy to the woodshed and keeping it in house certainly achieved the results he was looking for. While confirming he and Lacy had cleared the air McCarthy further tweaked the Packers bell cow by saying “Whoever (Lacy or underappreciated RB James Starks) has the hot hand is the guy that’s gonna get the ball.” The rest of the team got McCarthy’s less-than-subtle message. Gee – if he’ll bench Eddie Lacy what’ll he do to me?

Message delivered. Message received.

Lacy responded with a 124 yard game rushing and Starks chipped in with 71 yards of his own giving Green Bay their first 200+ yard game rushing this season. It couldn’t have come at a better time. Green Bay had been steadily losing the time of possession battle most of the season but things changed significantly on Sunday with the Pack holding the ball for a whopping 38 minutes to Dallas’ 22 minutes.

McCarthy’s assuming control of the play calling was more about “…flow and rhythm…” as he said afterwards. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers knew he would be in for a deluge from the media looking to milk more out of the play calling switch. “I don’t think it was about the play calling” said Rodgers. “It was about the execution. Today the execution was better.” Rodgers refused to take the bait when the subject of who was calling the plays was brought up again. “I’m not going to get into that. I don’t think it’s important. We won tonight.”

Winning is the ultimate panacea in the NFL. It rights all wrongs and justifies all means. Tom Clements is a longtime assistant under McCarthy and while McCarthy felt awful about relieving Clements of the play calling job he nonetheless did so with the intent on driving his team the way he felt it needed to be driven. Getting lost in the offenses struggles and now the play calling is the fact that the Packers defense is among the hottest in the NFL right now.

Once again the D flexed some muscle and hounded backup QB Matt Cassell. In spite of yielding 2 lengthy runs to Dallas’ Darren McFadden the Pack gave up only 1 TD. After McFadden put Dallas into the red zone with a 50 yard blast Sam Shields tipped the next pass in the end zone intended for Dez Bryant and snagged his own deflection for a key turnover. Unheralded RB Robert Turbin came in to briefly provide Dallas with a spark but his touchdown run would be the only points the Cowboys would get on a miserably wet night.

Poor Dez Bryant can’t seem to catch a break or a ball thrown at him in Green Bay. Last year he was at the epicenter of a firestorm when his catch was overturned late in a playoff game that sunk the Cowboys hopes. Last night he bobbled the ball after literally yanking it away from rookie CB Quentin Rollins for a first down. McCarthy’s challenge flag hit the field before the call was completed and upon further review the replay showed Bryant bobble the ball and it made contact with the ground nullifying his apparent first down. Bryant has seen this movie before. He got up shaking his head wondering what part of his soul he’d have to sell to get a catch in Lambeau.

With a solid running game intact for maybe the first time all season Rodgers did not have to seek out a phone booth to morph into a superhero to pull one out. As the Packers were staked to a 14- 0 lead at the half on Rodgers 13 yard p[ass to Starks and a 3 yarder to Starks the ground attack successfully stifled Dallas and any hope they may have had of claiming the crown in the putrid NFC Least. Even at a dreadful 4 – 9 the ‘Boys still have a remote shot of a playoff spot.

After Turbin closed the gap to 14- 7 it looked as if Dallas might get back in the game. Green Bay was held to a 3 and out twice at 14-7 but the defense responded with a double 3 and out of their own to stymie the Cowboys. Starks blew the game wide open with a 30 yard dash when the banged up offensive line opened a hole the likes of which hasn’t been seen since Charlton Heston parted the Red Sea. Starks nimbleness was on display as he found the truck sized hole and simply bolted between the Cowboys safeties into the end zone.

On a night defined by the run it was only fitting that Eddie Lacy close out the scoring. After dragging 5 Cowboys on his back down to the Dallas 1 yard line on a 24 yard run that showed Lacy’s rare combination of speed and brute strength Lacy sealed the game on a 1 yard plow horse TD into the teeth of the Dallas defense. Lacy and Starks took turns celebrating each other’s success on the sidelines and the Packer running game has never looked better this year.

One area of interest in the play calling switch came not in who was making the calls but how quickly the calls were being relayed. Over the past few weeks Rodgers has dwindled the clock down to scant milliseconds before receiving the snap. McCarthy had no one to second guess him and the calls not only were good calls executed well they came in to Rodgers so promptly it helped to reestablish the flow of which McCarthy so reverentially speaks.

Minnesota was upended in the desert against Arizona so now Green Bay is back in the driver’s seat for the NFC North and the playoffs. At this stage of the season style points are out the window in lieu of just get the W any way you can. In the cold weeks ahead opponents facing the Packers knowing Lacy is rolling with Starks is right behind him the running game could very well finally open the airwaves for the Pack to become the aerial force most expected them to be. And as it gets colder standing in the way of a raging bull like Lacy becomes even more unpleasant and much more difficult to stop him.

McCarthy has emphasized “Open fast/ close faster” all season. The Pack opened fast at 6 – 0. After their somnambulant stretch it’s time to start closing faster. Against Dallas they did just that.

For now the win will sustain them until next Sunday when the vastly improved Oakland Raiders are next on the schedule.