The Definition Of A Performance Stage

by Brandon on Jan 6, 2010 11:58 PM CST in Green Bay Packers Analysis

Mike McCarthy is rarely critical of players publicly.

I pointed it out yesterday that the Green Bay Packers' pass protection has been much better over the past 7 weeks in large part because RT Mark Tauscher had returned from injury and RT Allen Barbre was sent down to a deep part of the bench. Barbre's 2009 season was one of the worst I've ever seen. He's been awful, and I've lost track of how many sacks he allowed in a half-season as the starter. Maybe it's been a dozen? More?

When McCarthy was asked about the offensive line in the 2nd half of the season, he was quick to point out the boost from Tauscher's return, but he did mention Barbre too and used a new term to spin the awful:

Allen Barbre went through a performance stage where he didn't play as well as you would have liked.

I say Barbre's awful, one of the worst players I've ever seen, and he says it's a "performance stage." Tomato, tomahto.

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Ah

This just made my day. And reminded me of George Carlin. Good post.

Friends don't let friends be cub fans

by BIGPAMPERINO on Jan 7, 2010 1:17 AM CST reply actions

I think it's a possibly optimistic view from McCarthy on the player in the future

Performance stage here meaning that in his limited (and we all know why that was) time he performed poorly and that he obviously expected more. Is it spin? Sure, but like all spin it has a cause. Maybe (I’m doubtful) Barbre will figure things out and McCarthy is still high on the kid—perhaps a position switch would do well for him.

Either way, like you said, he doesn’t usually throw his players under the bus in public and I think that’s the case here.

Get out of my dreams and into my Chuckie Carr
-Molitorfan 12/23/09

by Michael M on Jan 7, 2010 1:35 AM CST reply actions

Surely you mean

Tomaito, tomato…? ;-)

Yeah, I agree with the above post; MM was about as critical in public as you’d want there (and I share his doubts that Barbre will figure things out; I hope so, but, well…).

by rudi on Jan 7, 2010 2:58 AM CST reply actions

Was it really all Barbre's fault?

It’s amazing what two good (great in their day) tackles will do for you. They hold that line together. They provide leadership. They protect the QB. The inside linemen can concentrate on blocking inside a little more without having to worry about the outside as much. When Clifton and Tauscher first started playing, no one knew what to expect from them. But they really showed that they were good. They are still good. Even during the rough year when the line was broken up by TT, they remained among the two best tackles in the NFL. Too bad the rest of the line wasn’t as good. Imagine how many yards Ryan Grant would be getting if the Packers had better interior linemen? Sadly, the tackles’ days are numbered. TT needs to draft some linemen fast. Either that or he needs to trade for them or get them via free agency. Other need is CB, maybe…and safety.

If Ted Thompson wants to win me over (getting to the playoffs was a start), then he needs to make good decisions. He’s made some bad ones (really bad ones) in the past. He might have helped to turn things around this year starting with the draft. Now when the playoffs are over (superbowl or not), he should look to improve where the Packers need it the most…O-line. I might start to think he is getting the hang of this football thing after all. If it turns out the draft was just luck and he really has no clue what he is doing, then I’ll go back to begging for his immediate termination.

by starmark on Jan 7, 2010 3:52 AM CST reply actions

OL

Everyone knows the Pack needs OT in the draft! Its not a secret and Thompson knows it more than anyone. Problem is that good OT arent available in FA , they don’t make it to FA! And in the draft, the best ones get picked extremely high! In 06 there was Ferguson, but he was taken one spot ahead of us and we got Hawk! In other years we drafted too late to have a shot at the top OT… They are always gone in the first 10 picks if they are really good. This past year, we picked 9th and the top 3 OT all went before us. The 4 OT Oher went in the 20’s!

After the top 10 picks any OT is kinda a crap shoot! Thompson has tried to find a diamond in the rough (Barbre and Giacomini) in later rounds and those have failed. Lang appears to me to be the RT next year and he was taken in the 4th! What we NEED now is a LT, and like I said those are really difficult to find outside the top 10 picks. Reality is, CLifton will likely be back next year and we find someone who can learn for a year from him!

Clifton has been a very good OT, but has never been a Pro Bowl starter. He is excellent in Pass Pro, but has never been a good run blocker!

by Strohman on Jan 7, 2010 9:47 AM CST up reply actions

Its nice to have you both (starmark and strohman) on here just talking football without all the TT, Favre, MM chattle! Thanks for your contributions!!

Here’s to hoping for another diamond in the rough next year!

by TrevorR on Jan 7, 2010 2:08 PM CST up reply actions

I think we’re ok at C and RG with Spitz and Sitton, but Colledge has been pretty bad this year. I think Lang could be a good replacement at LG, but like Strohman said to you below this, it looks like he is going to be our RT of the future. TT definitely needs to do something about our OL, and I think he will. I think last offseason he did a great job addressing some of our problems, and for that reason I have some confidence that he’ll be able to do the same this offseason.

by packallday555 on Jan 7, 2010 4:25 PM CST up reply actions

Let's actually put some names into the mix...

I am not going to pretend to be the most knowledgeable on college prospects on this board, so I would love to hear opinions as to which tackle wise fans should root to have drop to us whenever we pick. Here is a link to a listing of top OTs on a site that I like for draft coverage: http://walterfootball.com/draft2010OT.php

I doubt that Okung, Campbell, or Davis would ever drop to the late first round for a reason that would not also make us hesitant. So, I would love to hear opinions on how knowledgeable fans would rank these tackles if all declared and were on the board when we pick:
Bryan Bulaga, Iowa
Charles Brown, USC
Joseph Barksdale, LSU
Trent Williams, Oklahoma
Jason Fox, Miami
Ciron Black, LSU

I look forward to hearing people’s thoughts!

by NYCPac on Jan 9, 2010 10:12 AM CST up reply actions

I was really excited to see Barbre

I guess you can only do so much with short arms after all. Yeah, his performance stage couldn’t have been worse, really.

"I don't know how a guy gets single covered in that situation when you're dropping eight men," Tony Dungy, 12/20/09

by PackaCracka on Jan 7, 2010 9:29 AM CST reply actions

Barbre was an absolutely horrible RT. He has short arms and on top of that has SUPER slow feet. Some of the time he literally wouldn’t even ever touch the LE he was going up against. He actually was a good run blocker for us, so maybe we could try him at LG? It might be a strech, and I’m kind of just saying it because I hate Colledge starting for us there but it maybe could work.

I want to at least see Giancomini play at RT for us. A while back there was a good article on him, and it made it sound like he could possibly turn out to be an ok RT. Of course, that could have just been the media spin on it but they did say in training camp he had the best winning % in the 1-on-1 blocking they did. Obviously that’s just 1-on-1 and doesn’t translate to a real game situation but it still shows that he is able to block pretty well.

by packallday555 on Jan 7, 2010 4:33 PM CST reply actions