Interview Question #1 for new DC: Is it important to stop the run? (A ‘no’ answer ends the interview.)

This or That: mullet or mustache?

GPG

"Beyond Barry, though, I don’t see too much cause for concern."

Optimist, glass half gull, rose colored glasses, don't worry/be happy, after all...tomorrow is another day!

So what you are saying Tim is "so there's still a chance!" You must be a good teacher. No doom and gloom in your classroom!

I was aghast, after MLF almost convinced Jim Leonard to be his DC...an inspired, creative attempt...he did a complete 180 to select Barry.

But Murphy's Football Committee must have been filled with that spirit of optimism and told MLF "hey great idea...go get him...he's been a DC failure for 4 straight years, but in Green Bay success is sure!" I find it difficult to believe Gutey and Ball gave a thumbs up...so it must have been a "Murphy's Law" decision.

Furthermore...did any of the 3 on the Committee advise Matt after last year to recruit the available Brian Flores?

But I will be as my dad told as a young man: "It pays to be an optimist. A pessimist is unhappy all the time, an optimist is just disappointed once in a while."

So let's see Barry Ball get timely sacks and the turnovers it relies on.

Barry's failing are MLF's failings. Like Maurice Drayton before him, MLF waits until the big game is lost before seeing the obvious. I would add Butkus to the list of questionable coaches. If MLF (or Murphy and Gute) do not start to realize this consistent organizational failing, then only a miracle will get the Packers over the hump.

If the offense did enough to win the game, they would have won the game.
They were 5-14 0n 3rd down.
They were 2-5 in the red zone.
AJ Dillon in this game, matched his season average of 3.5 YPC.
I don't want to hear him described as "Quadzilla" any longer for obvious reasons.
If he was that good, maybe he would have got the ball on the 2 pt. conversion attempt.

If you were to tell me something like rookie UDFA Tommy Devito did enough to win the game, i'd agree with you.
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In the most important defensive stat, the defense up to this game has done their job, giving up 20.3 PPG.
For those new to this sport, that is pretty good.

If you have a problem with Barry (legit), then your problem is with MLF or Mark Murphy, depending on who actually runs this team and makes the final decisions.
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Pause for Lakefront Brewery advertisement.
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Yes, the Packers have injuries, But they also had injuries when they dispatched the Lions and the Chiefs.
Every NFL team has injuries.
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The Packers have one more win than the Chicago Bears.
The NFC North is now looked at like it always has been, a weak division, sans a winning Packer team.
Maybe the Lions can get back on track, time will tell.

- Don’t get your panties in a Knot.-
Because Joe Barry is staying.

MLF already went through Mike Pettine.
You know the guy that left on his own to
be with the Vikings.

And before those two, Capers failed.

All have dealt with injuries.
And if one had the correct personal.
Their defense would top ten.
So as long we're in a rebuild mode.
And Barry counts on his favorites.
Don't expect changes.
Because No one could do better.
After 3 tries. Who would want it?

Despite the young team, I also think that we have a coaching problem. Coaching is about teaching and maximizing your resources. Yes, we have talent gaps but chronic under performance points to bigger issues. Tommy Devito and a scattering of weapons beat us and we let him through inconsistent play and negligence.

The Packers have a history of cross training coaches and elevating guys to secure their loyalty. Guys like Campen and Stenavich were pretty good O-line coaches and nothing more. Rich Bisaccia is going backwards. D-line, secondary you name it and wonder what is being taught and measured. Ultimately, this comes back to the head coach who is responsible for ORGANIZING the coaches and ensuring that each facet of the team is being maximized. Matt Lafleur is not doing the job of HC effectively.

Given the Packers injury situation it;s difficult to know what to expect against the Bucs. The Packers need to win the LOS especially on offense. We know that the Packers can't stop the run and we should expect the Bucs to run against our porous run defense. The Packers currently rank 31st in the league in run defense yards allowed per game. The flip side is that Tampa is only rushing for 91 yards per game, 29th in the league. Could be a battle of ineptitude in the ground game.

When the Bucs were part of the old NFL Central this game was referred to as the "Bay of Pigs" back in the 80s. Hopefully it won't be a return to those days.

Maybe we get some of our players back in time for the game. Maybe our young receivers like Melton and Heath surprise everyone. What we do know is that we can't have 3 turnovers agains and we can't run Reed on end arounds on every series, assuming that he plays this week. Let's just win the LOS and go from there. Thanks, Since '61

I see your list of new injuries doesn't include any on the O-line. Till they actually consistently block, it won't matter who the other people are that play.

I haven't been able to tell, but are they using certain offensive packages for each group of linemen they're now platooning? I know that opposing DCs will look for and find out if that's the case.

MLF's packages were always predictable in previous seasons based on the skill personnel on the field. Even I could guess what play they were going to run or at least weather it was a pass or run, better than 75% of the time. As we've talked about here in previous seasons, if we can guess, what do the professionals see? This season he had all new people, so the rest of the league had to start over. They've had enough games now.

I wonder?

It will take a successful offensive plan to overcome any of the defensive shortcomings. As we've learned in past playoff games, the D can even play relatively well, and the offense will hang them and special teams out to dry when even a single first down would win the game.

Tim needs to keep his win streak going MLF already broke his December streak.

GPG!

Remember Dom Capers? Dom had his moments in Green Bay, including the last Super Bowl championship, but hung on for what seemed forever after it was clear an offensive-minded coach(McCarthy) couldn't cover for all the defensive problems. Sound like 2023?

A main reason the Giants beat the Packers is they have an aggressive defensive coordinator who loves to put heat on opponents. Barry's passive approach almost always leads to a loss. When they put more heat on Detroit and Kansas City, guess what? They won. We forget the level of talent(lots of top draft picks) on the defense and you expect more. Yes, there have been injuries, but this is looking like the late years of Dom Capers with the Packers. I hope MLF has the cajones to look elsewhere for a coordinator.

Maybe we need another frustrating painful loss to the Giants to kickstart us on a great streak , but as I mentioned in another post losing to the Giants the way we did, in what has become our patented disgraceful Defensive performance is an insult. I grew up in the Lombardi era humiliating what were their legendary teams and I "cant takes no more". I'm sure they won't fire Barry this season but they should.

The Packers' defense against the run in their last five games:

@ PIT: 36 carries, 205 yds, 2 TDs, 5.7 YPC.

Vs LAC: 34 carries, 150 yds, 6.3 YPC.

@ DET: 31 carries, 140 yds, TD, 4.5 YPC.

Vs KC: 25 carries, 148 yds, TD, 5.9 YPC.

@ NYG: 34 carries, 209 yds, 2 TDs, 6.1 YPC.

The Titans don't let the high powered Dolphins offense past midfield.

Joe Barry leaves the barn, garage, side, and patio doors open for NY to waltz down the field. Defense is 50% mentality based. GB's defensive mentality is "have whatever you want except deep shots over the top".

This discussion is becoming an annual tradition. What more needs to be said about LaFleur’s leadership?

Add Butkus and Stenovich as OC to the serial problems. It’s not just Barry, it was not before this year and not just with this roster.

All teams have injuries, some have lost their all pro QB's for the season, does anyone expect the Packers to go injury free in this sport...some players seem to be injury prone as in AJ and Watson...season is nearing an end, let it play out and make some decisions..."young" players should know what theyre doing by now, other rookies on other teams seem to know...

"The defense and special teams, however… both rank 28th
As for the defense… I’ve had enough of watching Joe Barry kneecap this team week in and week out.
Enough is enough. Barry needs to be removed from his position immediately. That won’t happen, so we’ll have to settle for after the season."

I think most people know that I want Barry gone. That I have been wanting him gone for a long time. The defense has given up 4 200 yard rushing games this year. Which is bad, but when you look at what teams they have given that up to, it makes it worse. The first game was against the Falcons. Going into the game we knew they had a strong rushing attack. We also knew that Rider wasn't a huge threat as a QB. The next game was against the Lions, which is actually understandable. They were hot in that stretch and were tough to bring down. The next game was against the Steelers. Just like the Falcons, they had a stronger rushing attack and not a threatening passing attack. The last 200 yard rush game was against the Giants. Which 71 of those yards came from their 3rd string QB.

Its not just about the rushing yards though. Its the 28th ranking and these are the QB's that they have faced.
Fields, Ridder, Carr/Winston, Goff, Garoppolo, Wilson, Cousins, Rypien, Pickett, Herbert, Mahomes, DeVitto.
Not exactly the best of the best. Obviously Mahomes is the best. And Herbert and Cousins are very good QB's. Goff is above average and Wilson is back to above average. The rest are below average QB's.

On ESPN they have the QB rating. The QB's that they have faced this is their rankings. Mahomes - 4, Herbert - 5, Cousins - 6, Goff - 14, Wilson - 20, Fields - 21, Carr - 23, RIdder - 24, Pickett - 25. So they haven't exactly faced a ton of top QB's. Yet somehow they fact against a 3rd string QB who had a QBR of 60.9 combined in his previous 4 games. Against GB he has the highest rating of the week at 81.7.

Its not just the stats either. Its how the defense has let us down so many times this year. We knew the offense was going to be a struggle for much of the year with the youth we have. It was the defense that was supposed to lead us with all the high draft picks and experience. Yet, this is how each game has went.

-Week 2 we were up 24-12 going into the 4th Quarter. We lost 25-24 to the Falcons.
-Week 3 we made a great comeback against the Saints, down 17-0, we take the lead 18-17, to then allow the Saints to march down the field to the 28 and they missed the go ahead FG with 1 minute left in the game.
-Week 4 in the Lions game we were getting our asses kicked. Down 27-3. we got to within 10 at 27-17 to start the 4th quarter. Only to have the defense give up a 9 minute TD drive killing any miraculous chance of coming back. That game was within reach except the Defense blew it.
-Week 5 we had the lead in the 4th Quarter, up 13-10. The defense gave up the TD.
-Week 7 another blown lead in the 4th Quarter by the defense. up 17-16 they gave up the FG.
-Week 10 they had a 3rd Quarter lead. They were down at halftime 17-13. They start the 3rd with a FG, get a stop, get another FG to take a lead, to give up a 28 yard play immediately putting them in FG range and allowed them to take the lead. (its deflating for a team to crawl back into the game to give up big plays.
-Week 11. Packers had the 4th Quarter lead, defense allowed them to score a TD. The offense took the lead back with just over 2 minutes left in the game. The final drive of the game, with 23 seconds left Johnston dropped a likely TD, and at the very least putting them in a spot to kick the game tying FG.
-Week 13. Lucked out a bit by the non call on Valentine.
-Week 14. Gave up the game winning FG rather effortlessly after taking the late 4th quarter lead.

The defense gave up 5 4th quarter leads. Very easily could be 7. Also they blew any opportunity to come back against the Lions. 10 point game with 14 minutes left is plenty of time to come back.

Sorry but there is no reason to keep Barry after the season.

Nothing will be done about Barry until fans demand a change: Too much preaching to the choir here. Put a stamp on your comments & send to: (mailing address)

Attention: President Mark Murphy and Head Coach Matt LaFleur
Green Bay Packers
P.O. Box 10628
Green Bay, WI 54307-0628

Fans at the game this week should start a fire Joe barry chant. It worked in Pittsburgh so why not try it here ? I pointed out in earlier post , if barry is not fired after season, gute should use all draft picks on offense as we will need 3 score leads to have a chance at winning a game !!!

Yes, the defense absolutely sucked, but ST did it's part to screw the pooch as well. Agree that Barry has to go after this season, unless the defense has an unbelievable turn around the remaining games. I just hope MLF doesn't fall for the false sense of improvement, just because they're playing a really weak schedule the remainder of the regular season, like last year.

The most disappointing things watching that game was the number of times they went to the well with the end around, and the fact that MLF, a former OC and the current play caller had nothing better for a 2 point conversion. That would have been a great opportunity to run something different off that look. That he doesn't have something in his call sheet specifically for a "gotta have it" situation reflects poorly on him and Stenavich.

Is this article written by Tim "Don't Bring Him" Backes?

*mic drop*

Truly yours,
Pantz on the O-line

**In Coach JB's defense, he needs some time...give him some SPACE

*mic drop II*

There was near universal shock when Joe Barry was retained last year. It has been an article of faith that Barry is a terrible coordinator for quite a while. No major revelations there. The real question, and the one that should have been the focus, was the terrible play of the ST's. The Packers hired a highly respected coordinator, paid him a lot, and the failed results are continuing. So, what is the answer? Barry is easy pickings. Besaccia is a more difficult target. But there needs to be someone with some insight to tell us what is going wrong.
The real question about this game is actually two-fold. First, why did Love, who has looked so calm and decisive the last few games, start the game skittish, leading to inaccurate passes, poor decisions, and some very bad pass attempts? Did the coaching staff have anything to do with his performance? Because that kind of regression, for no apparent reason, is very suspect. The second problem was the offensive play calling, which was similar to the "keep doing the same thing, and hope for different results" of earlier in the year. This was not a failure by one or two players; it was a total team collapse. And that goes back to the head coach. And as far as playoffs? How about winning the next game? Looking ahead is a luxury no team can afford. Looking back, learning from mistakes, and being willing to make adjustments in-game are crucial.

Who would be the top 6 D-coordinator replacements we could go after when Barry gets canned after the season? Would our former D-backs coach be a candidate, and would he be interested? I don't see Jim Leonard being a serious candidate. He will be a college head coach next year, or he would have taken an NFL job already. He is waiting to see what the vacancies will be.

As far as injuries go, Aaron Jones is a problem for us. Talented yes. When he can play. Too expensive? Yes, and I don't see how redoing his contract is a real benefit to GB at this point. Time to trade him and move on. There are a bunch of college RBs who can run and catch that we can get after the 3rd round. Bahk unfortunately needs to also be gone. Too bad he probably isn't worth much in trade value. It would be great to get anything back at this point if he can still play. Others to move on from are P. Smith, D Campbell, and Savage. All too expensive when younger, cheaper, better, talent will be available through the draft and free agency.

Side note. is Musgrave done for the year? Kraft has looked great. He was a favorite of mine before the draft. Reminded me of a Iowa type of TE. Also, how long before Watkins can play again, he gets hurt alot. Especially hamstrings. I would love for us to draft either Xavier Leggett or Johnny Wilson. Either would be our top WR and look like gamechangers. Add them to the list of needs.

the Giants game embarrassment should have been the final straw with Barry .

Can't believe even 3 days later Barry Patch is still a Packer employee in any capacity. Risible!

Barry's continued employment is just a sick joke as to the competence of this organization. It's proof that the senior braintrust of GB is simply an oxymoron- in this case heavy on the morons! GB still only values its offense and allows whatever stupidity and incompetence the defense and STs supplies.

Murphy is only ruining whatever he thinks his legacy is before leaving in Jul 2025. He will never be talked about in the same breath as TT. More like the disaster of Dan Devine. He can't build a complete, complementary football team, but he sure can build good entertainment centers and golf courses lol!

And LaFleur. Rode on the coattails of Rodgers and Adams and really never needed a pro level defense or STs. He is what we thought of him - a one trick pony. And not the most consistent play caller game to game. His stubbornness not to replace Barry at the beginning of this season was sheer laziness and cowardly. A HC is PAID to make hard decisions. He is stubbornness and resistance to make urgent changes is much like his buddy Barry. He has no business being in a HC role if he can't make and execute necessary changes.

Don't get me wrong. I have been a Packer fan since I was a kid. But the last 12 years have been more than frustrating. Since LaFleur however, never have I seen such bad coaching / coaching recruitment and player development.

This is young team with some terrific young players. If only we could find a coaching staff that is deserving of their talent and potential! GPG

I was extremely disappointed to learn that Joe Barry was still employed by the Green Bay Packers on Tuesday morning.

I share both the exasperation with Barry and the frustration with the failure to fire him. What would it take for LaFleur to wake up and finally get rid of that guy? Do we have to give up 40 points/game for 5 games in a row? Would it require someone upstairs to tell him to do it, and how likely is that? Repeating myself -- what's the scenario in which Barry leaves?

With the sentiment 73% Packers 27% Bucs (via ESPN) and and line GB -3.5 , I lean to Seinfeld's "The Opposite" saga to continue, pushing the streak to 5-0. Bucs win. Won't be surprised if Bears upset Browns either given CLE has lost several starters this month.

So, the Packers have an "easy schedule" the rest of the way. Am I mistaken, or am I experiencing a moment of deja vu? Because this sounds just like the beginning of the year, when after a couple of losses, the Packers were going to play a "get well" game against an inferior opponent? We heard this especially against Oakland, and after a loss, it was an easy win against Denver, another loss. Now, we're supposed to believe that this was just a blip, and the Packers are still destined to make the playoffs, because the teams they're playing have bad records. If they do win Sunday, great. But until the game is over, and the Packers have more points on the scoreboard than the Bucs, nothing is set in stone.

Dont forget folks!! The Packers are "young"!!!!!