From Mike McCarthy's press conference:
It starts up front, and you talk about footwork, targets, pad level, finish, just all the basic fundamentals that you practice, day in and day out...
I'm not looking to ... personnel changes is really not on my mindset right now. I'm more focused on the meeting today and make sure they clearly understand exactly what went wrong and what we need to do to fix it. It's not about changing parts. It's about getting the parts cleaned up and working in a better fashion...
I would say Donald played well actually yesterday. I know his production was only the one catch for eight yards, but when you look at his route running, I thought he did a much better job of running some routes.
I've brought up three quotes from Mike McCarthy, and each one addresses a key point when discussing how to fix the offense:
- The offensive line has to improve their run blocking. The pass blocking hasn't been lights out, the blind side sack by DE Greg White that leveled Rodgers and led to his 3rd INT during the Bucs' game is one example, but the pass blocking has been good overall. The lineman aren't getting any push, and not giving the running backs anywhere to run. These same five guys started for the majority of the 2007 season, so they've shown they can be good, and they can all play better.
- There is no magic player sitting on the bench. They could try Brandon Jackson instead of Ryan Grant, or Josh Sitton instead of Jason Spitz, etc. All the starters are playing because they are the best players on the roster, no one on the bench is going to give the offense spark, and it has to be a team effort.
- WR Greg Jennings has caught over 30% of Rodgers' completions and 50% of his passing yards. The ball isn't getting spread around enough. It's not WR Donald Driver's fault alone, although his receptions and yardage is down, everyone not named Jennings is under performing. The biggest problem for the passing offense back in 2005 and 2006 was Favre only had one good receiver (Driver) to throw to. Right now Rodgers has only one good receiver. Is Rodgers intentionally not looking for other receivers? Are the other receivers not getting open? I have no idea, it's probably a bit of both, and something that needs to be fixed.