The Green Bay Packers are flawed.
They are also 5-1.
The main reason for the success is head coach Mike McCarthy.
Green Bay's second-year head man has done wonders with this outfit.
McCarthy's firm, be accountable approach has worked brilliantly with the
Packers. He is universally respected in the locker room. When you talk to the
Packers players, they praise his consistency, work ethic and daily message.
Take last week for example.
McCarthy was beside himself that Green Bay was so lackadaisical with taking
care of football in the team's only loss, to the Bears. James Jones fumbled
twice and it killed the Pack. McCarthy spent Wednesday and Thursday at practice
drilling the Packers on ball security. It wasn't a problem against the Skins.
The defense has been really good this season. The 17-14 win against the
Redskins was a microcosm of how the defense played. Nick Barnett, A.J. Hawk and
company shut down the running attack. Corey Williams stripped Santana Moss of
the ball and Charles Woodson took it to the house to change the game. All-Pro
Aaron Kampman and Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila made key, late sacks that the coach later
praised.
McCarthy and his staff had a plan and stuck with it.
And McCarthy also deserves an enormous amount of credit for his work with
Brett Favre. This can't be stressed enough.
McCarthy preached ball security all off-season and preseason to the future
Hall of Famer. And look at the start for Favre.
McCarthy told us last week, "I think we have a really good working
relationship. It started in 1999 when I was his position coach and it really is
the foundation of what we are able to accomplish now. I look at the quarterback
room as a vital part of the success of our football team. Tom Clemens does an
outstanding job. It's really helped Tom being down on the field now as opposed
to be up in the box. It's really helped the network of communication that goes
on during game day. We all spend an incredible amount of time together.
"On Monday night, we spent 2½ hours watching film, watching games. On
Tuesday, Brett comes in for a 4-5 hour period. When we break for lunch, I come
in and visit with him again. And I'm in all the quarterback meetings and the
quarterback and receiver meetings we do together. There's a lot of quality time
spent together. It's so important, especially with me calling plays. The
quarterback and the play caller have to be on the same page."
Green Bay's run game has been anemic. McCarthy wants to establish balance.
Favre needs it. Turnovers are often the result of when too much is on the
shoulder of the quarterback.
"Any time you have a problem area you need to take as close a look as
possible," McCarthy said. "We, as a coaching staff, need to be
critical of ourselves. Maybe we are trying to put the players in a perfect play
every time. Running the ball is about attitude, approach and fundamentals. What
I am referring to schematically is more run-at runs. In our play book, that's
runs you run against any defense, get a hat on a hat even if you don't have the
best angle. We need to get back to getting down hill and stop trying to be so
perfect."
And someone needs to emerge among Vernand Morency, DeShawn Wynn, Brandon Jackson and Ryan Grant.
"I don't think we are in a position to go with one guy based on our
experience at the position," McCarthy said. "We try to do the running
back by committee, which for us is a product of three guys. But we might need to
adjust. We are trying to go with more of a lead runner, normal down and distance
guy, with the other runner being more of a situational player.
"I also think this would help the line be on the same page with the main
running back."
Will it work this year? It probably won't because of a lack of a true lead
runner. But you don't want to doubt McCarthy on a bye week examining the
problem. Ted Thompson and the Packers will have gobs of money to pay Michael Turner next year.
The Packers have a three-game lead over the Bears. An improbable trip to the
playoffs, with Favre listening to McCarthy, the defense among the best in the
league, especially with two lockdown corners, is now highly likely. There aren't
too many people who thought that in the preseason.
We asked McCarthy if he saw this coming. Without missing a beat, the coach
said, "I honestly thought about 6-0. And we were a few plays away. I don't
mean to sound cocky, but that's what I thought."
That's Mike McCarthy, Packers backbone. That's Mike McCarthy, Coach of the
Year candidate. That's why these guys love playing for him and why this
overachieving team is 5-1.
Schein's 9 Nuggets
1. What was amazing about New England's win in Dallas, in a highly
entertaining and competitive game, was you never thought the Cowboys would win
during the ebb and flow of the contest. You didn't even blink even when Dallas
took the lead in the third quarter. Tom Brady calmly led the Pats down the field
and hit Kyle Brady for a touchdown.
With Sammy Morris and Laurence Maroney hurt, this game became all about Brady
and his weapons. And Brady delivered a sensational performance once again,
hitting Wes Welker for two touchdowns, while Donte' Stallworth and Randy Moss
each had one.
In talking to Stallworth on Monday, the speedy receiver, who totaled 136
receiving yards and scored on a 69-yard catch thanks to a stiff-arm, says
Brady's greatness starts behind the scenes.
"He is definitely a student of the game," Stallworth said.
"Your best player is the hardest worker on the team. He does a great job
with communication and that's so imperative between quarterback and receiver,
and he takes time to work on it with Randy, Wes and myself."
2. 'My Saints' finally joined the party, pummeling Seattle in every possible
way. Do people want to keep criticizing Reggie Bush? Come on! New Orleans'
defense was stout. And how about Lance Moore? When pressed this summer, Saints
general manager Mickey Loomis said Moore could be this year's Marques Colston.
Moore started at receiver and ran an end around into the end zone.
3. It's hard to stop gushing about Adrian Peterson. My rookie of the year
choice is playing like a five-year megastar, with 224 powerful rushing yards
against the Bears in Chicago. But his 53-yard kickoff return, which set up Ryan
Longwell's game-winning field goal, was his most important scamper of the day.
What was Lovie Smith thinking about kicking to Peterson? If there's one coach
who should know the difference a returner can make, it's Smith.
4. Donnie Edwards (8 tackles) and Jared Allen (2.5 sacks on overmatched Levi Jones in 10 minutes) were largely responsible for Kansas City's win against the
Bengals.
But perhaps Edwards' biggest play was getting in the face of safety Bennie
Sapp, who completely melted down. Edwards told us Monday, "Bennie got into
it with T.J. (Houshmandzadeh) and he got two penalties on the play, defensive
holding and unsportsmanlike conduct. And he just really lost his poise.
Sometimes, guys aren't thinking. And guys need to step up and remove your
teammate from the situation even if he's yelling at you. And that's what I
did."
5. LaDainian Tomlinson was breathtaking with four touchdowns in another huge
statement win for the Chargers.
But perhaps the biggest set of plays came when Shawne Merriman and Shaun Phillips sacked Daunte Culpepper when Oakland had a chance to tie the game at
14.
San Diego won 28-14 to improve to 3-3 before the bye week.
"I like to just go out there and pin my ears back and just go,"
Merriman told us Monday. "Whenever I get a chance to do that, it works. It
is going to end up pretty good for us. Whenever my coach or my team needs me to
drop back, I'll do it for the sake of winning. I did that a few weeks ago
against Tony Gonzalez. But what I do is get after the quarterback."
Hopefully Ted Cottrell remembers that the rest of the season as the Chargers
seem poised to go on a roll. What a novel concept! Let's not reinvent the wheel
here.
6. Be careful before you question the aesthetic quality of Baltimore's 4-2
record, let's remember they start three rookies on the offensive line, two
because of injuries. Kyle Boller looked pretty good this weekend, subbing for an
injured Steve McNair. Todd Heap left the game early with an injury. Boller will
get the nod again this weekend vs. the Bills. And with the way the Baltimore
defense flew around Sunday, there's a realistic chance the Ravens will be 5-2
before their bye. That's pretty impressive when you consider they haven't hit a
stride yet and Matt Stover represents the bulk of the offense.
7. I am so disappointed in Santana Moss. I am stunned he fumbled on the
game-changing play and was guilty of several drops. But to then pull himself out
of the game? Come on Santana. That's not you.
8. How about America's team with a thorough pounding of the Texans 37-17?
Give Jack Del Rio credit for calling an onsides kick in the first half to be
aggressive and wake everyone up. I thought that was a turning point. The Jags,
behind a lockdown defense, an efficient Dave Garrard and an electric Maurice Jones-Drew, didn't look back.
I cannot wait for the Colts-Jags showdown Monday Night in Jacksonville.
9. The beauty of the Browns pouring 41 points on the Dolphins? Nobody is
surprised anymore. Derek Anderson and Braylon Edwards have been phenomenal. But
to me, the real story is the play of Eric Steinbach, Joe Thomas and the
offensive line. Yes, the Browns are 3-3. And yes, I was dead wrong about the
Browns in the preseason.
Adam Schein hosts the Afternoon Blitz on Sirius NFL Radio with Solomon
Wilcots and Jim Miller from 3-7 ET. His Scheintology columns appear daily and
his video NFL picks reports appear every Friday during the season on FOXSports.com.