APC Mailbag, Bye Week Edition: Mike McCarthy, Dez or Clay, and the Packers’ offense

Matthew Wendling on Facebook asks: What would it take for McCarthy to officially be on the hot seat?

I always liked the idea of having a statute of limitations on head coaching gigs. I know fans often ask “what have you done for me lately?” if they haven’t won the big one in a while. Or in some cases, like Jim Harbaugh, they just wear out their welcome despite winning.

Sean Payton and the Saints won a Super Bowl in 2009, and has since gone 63-40, not including this season or the suspension season.

Since the Packers won a Super Bowl in the 2010 season, Mike McCarthy has gone 66-29.

The New York Giants won a Super Bowl in 2011 and former coach Tom Coughlin went 28-36 in the four seasons after that before he left the team.

So maybe I wouldn’t say there even is a statute of limitations from last Super Bowl win, but a coach’s ability to continue winning regular season games. And that’s something McCarthy clearly does. I think for McCarthy to officially get fired, it would take someone like Aaron Rodgers voicing displeasure and back to back 7-9 seasons that don’t feature an injured Rodgers. They’ll likely make coordinator changes long before Mike’s seat gets really warm.

Joel Cram on Facebook wants to know who is more overrated: Clay Matthews or Dez Bryant?

This is a great question. Both players once made huge impacts and now still have high expectations, but don’t deliver in the same ways.

Bryant’s last full season playing 16 games came back in 2013. Matthews was more recent in 2015, despite seemingly slowed by injuries regularly. Both have been All-Pro’s once, but Matthews edges out Bryant in Pro Bowls 6 to 3, respectively. Matthews has helped the Packers win a Super Bowl. On the other side, Bryant led the league in TD catches in 2013. In terms of receiving touchdowns, Bryant is sitting 39th all-time while Matthews is 72nd on the all-time sacks list.

I hate to say it, but I’m going Clay here. I think his production is more replaceable and at least Bryant can be a decoy on offense or put up 100 yards of offense any given Sunday. Plus, Matthews is in way too many commercials for not being a top pass rusher in the league anymore.

In the week leading up to the Saints game, I heard many a Packer fan say that they just need to let Brett Hundley loose and take the training wheels off. I agree to an extent, but they can’t run the same offense that Rodgers ran, because no one can do what Aaron Rodgers does. They should cater an offense to their back ups needs and strengths. Quick passes can be helpful because this offensive line is perpetually injured this year, but the ascension of Aaron Jones is what’s most important for relieving Hundley. It’ll also be a great building block for next season. Imagine— a well rounded offense.

What a dreamy thought.

Thanks for the questions, folks!