If you're like me—that is, if you're a Green Bay Packers fan and you scour newspapers and websites to satiate your NFL appetite between Sundays—chances are head coach Mike McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson have moved you to bang your head against the nearest solid surface at least a handful of times.
I've come to grips with the idea that neither one will say anything interesting on a regular basis. Interesting usually either equates to incendiary or revealing, neither of which is good for business in the NFL.
I also have to give Thompson props (mostly) for sticking to his guns when it comes to relying on the draft instead of free agency and trades when it comes to building a solid base in the organization.
There are still times when I scratch my head. Since Ryan Grant went down in week one, the Packers have very clearly struggled to run the ball effectively. It doesn't bother me that TT didn't pull the trigger on a trade for the likes of Marshawn Lynch or Jonathan Stewart, but then why sign Dimitri Nance? So he could carry the ball four times in the waning minutes of a 38-point victory? It's one thing to hoard draft picks and favor young talent over aging production, but it seems illogical to address an issue of immediate and temporary need with a player with no track record.
Then there's Mike McCarthy. You've got to hand it to the guy, he knows how to develop quarterbacks. Not only is Aaron Rodgers a stand-out, but Matt Flynn has developed into a legitimate No. 2 option. I'm not overly anxious to put that to the test, but by all accounts the former LSU quarterback's improvement has been marked under the tutelage of McCarthy.
It's too bad he can't figure out when to challenge a play or how to mix a ground game into a pass-first offense.
Nobody is going to confuse the Packers with a dominant rushing attack, but it seems like McCarthy's favorite time to run the ball is on second down following an incompletion. That sets up perfectly for John Kuhn to pick up two yards and leave the offense in third and long.
Often the Packers get away with it because Rodgers has been that good on third down, but it grinds my gears nonetheless.
Despite all of the above complaints, it's days like last Sunday that keep me grateful for being brought up a Cheesehead. Even after Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones repeatedly guaranteed that Wade Phillips would be the coach through the end of the season, he still pulled the trigger after that atrocious effort in Green Bay.
It's amazing Jones waited as long as he did to axe Phillips, but at least he got it right. Professional football teams don't generally respond well to head coaches that retain their jobs on a week-to-week basis. Last Sunday, the Vikings proved to be an exception, but the situation at the Metrodome is even worse than Dallas.
Not only has Brad Childress put forth a product unworthy of employment so far this year, he's sparred with owner Zygi Wilf enough times to warrant the boot, and Wilf inexplicably still hasn't sent Chilly packing. Childress cut Randy Moss without permission, without consulting the man who gave up a third-round draft pick to acquire No. 84 a month earlier. Ted Thompson would have ran Childress out of the city so fast he wouldn't have even had time to call Favre to ask for a ride to the airport.
To be good in an NFL management role, you can't panic (think Randy Moss lasting four weeks in purple) and you have to make cold, calculated decisions (think Thompson cutting Al Harris Monday).
Thompson and McCarthy may go about their business in a maddeningly monotone way, but it's the reason the Packers are 6-3 and not dealing with the same circus some other pre-season contenders have found.
Sick of McCarthy and company? E-mail Parker at pjgabriel@dailycardinal.com
