McCarthy knew the Vikings D-line would kill the Packers. That’s why there were supposed to be so many three-step drops. The problem was that the Vikings were playing the quick slants and outs. Rodgers did NOT read the coverages well and he did NOT go through his progressions well; instead, he held the ball and got killed.

Yes, MM did know this and he did have Rodgers doing many three step drops, and initially they worked very well. But like yyou pointed out the Vikes started to play these quick routes. It was at that point that MM had to start changing up his play-calling a bit. We drove down into Vikes territory really at ease. And we had done this by passing 7 times compared to running only 1 time. Condsidering we were fairly deep into Vikes territory why not start to try and run a bit more? As the field shortens passing becomes much more difficult, especially since all we were running was short routes anyway.

I am no Daryn Colledge fan (in my opinion he should consider teaching high school becasue he’d be better at it), but in partial defense of his, ahem, efforts, the passing plays were not designed as though Rodgers was taking seven step drops. He was supposed to challenge, then cut, to give Rodgers the 2.8 seconds he needed.

Ah the Rodgers fumble play. The problem with Colledge challenging and cutting on this play was that he failed miserably at both. His challenge was soft and his cut really didn’t even slow Allen up. In the mean time Barbre did one of his oles (that we have been so accustom to seeing these first four weeks) on Edwards. Rodgers initial read was Jennings on the right side but seeing as how Barbre hardly even touched Edwards, Rodgers wasn’t able to make that read. As a result he turned to run away from Edwards, and right as he turned around he Allen coming with a full head of steam from the other side. That play was not a result of him holding the ball, but rather porous o-line play. He does however, need to make sure that he holds onto that football.

That’s Vikings football at it’s best. They get ALL the bounces in the dome.

Imagine if Rodgers was getting protection. He would look like the he did in preseason…ie DOMINANT. I didn’t hear any complaints about him hanging onto the ball too long, not getting to his progressions, etc. in the Arizona game. I know….it was the preseason….but it shows what his potential is when the pocket isn’t collapsing around him on nearly every play.

I’ve been completely doom and gloom about the o-line because it’s been so bad, but one thing we have to realize is that when Clifton was healthy the line was fairly solid except for Barbre. With Clifton back, if Tauscher can effectively replace Barbre sooner than later, the o-line could be solid.

Exactly. Our o-line really wasn’t that bad aside from Barbre. The Bears game Clifton did a great job on Brown, the problem was Barbre couldn’t even touch Ogunleye most of game. And Clifton did give up 2 sacks to Odom but Rodgers held the ball a bit too long on 1 of them, and then Colledge came in and sucked it up at LT, which was also the case against the Vikings. Clifton being back will help and if Tauscher can come back soon, I think it will help a lot.