One of the top headlines on the site reads:
Confidence shaken?
Is Mike McCarthy losing confidence in Aaron Rodgers? Get more on that, plus get an inside look at Cowboys-Steelers.
Then, after clicking the link, the anonymous writer has this to say:
With the game, and possibly a season, on the line, Packers coach Mike McCarthy’s choice of play-calling late in Sunday’s 35-31 loss to the Panthers could have been telling in his faith in first-year starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Greg A. Bedard of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal explains.
From the outside looking in, McCarthy’s choice of play-calling suggested that in crunch time, McCarthy does not have ultimate confidence in Rodgers, his first-year starter. McCarthy’s revelation on Monday that if he had gone for it on fourth down — something he considered — he would have called another running play seemed to support the notion that Rodgers might not have McCarthy’s complete confidence.
Talk about taking something completely out of context. The people at NFL.com neglected to mention that McCarthy had affirmed his total confidence in Rodgers, and it seems that they're sacrificing common football sense for trying to make a story out of nothing.
Green Bay had the ball on the 1-yard line. There's not enough room to pass the ball effectively; you only have 11 yards to work with before you hit the sideline/endline. Any respectible offensive line should be able to generate enough push to punch the ball from that distance. Shoot, Carolina did it five times that game.
Calling run plays has nothing to do with McCarthy's confidence in Rodgers. It's playing the percentages. Unfortunately, Carolina was able to firm up its goal-line defense at the same time.