On McCarthy
I waited until after his press conference to comment.My fear is that he is Marty Schottenheimer with a bad, possibly volatile temper. Oh, ...and he has ZERO history of excellence.
He may not be an improvement over Sherman.
Things that buttress this line of thought:
Steve the Homer True - "This is the longshots of all longshots." "Ted Thompson has hired his own Mike Sherman." "The decision is indefensible."
Jim Bates - He was angry at being passed over. Although he wouldn't say so publicly, ...I suspect he's pissed because of who he was passed over for. He sounds awfully bitter, more so than you would expect.
Numerous people close to McCarthy were shocked and surprised that he got the job. Even those that like him seem to realize this is stretch, at best. It's too early for him. He's not ready.
John Clayton - League insiders caught by surprise. People are "stunned". League perception is that they wanted Childress, and when they lost out on him they would get Bates.
On the other hand, ...well the best you can say is this:
Maybe he has all the tools and attributes necessary to be a good coach in the NFL. And since there was no lead-pipe-lock in the existing coaching candidates, this is the best you can hope for.
He runs quarterback clinics in the offseason. He appears to be an expert and is probably one of the best candidates to mentor Aaron Rodgers (or if we get lucky, DJ Shockley).
Ok. Maybe.
But he's still a longshot.
He's a west coast offense "purist", almost as much as Holmgren. This means less running, more passing.
To be charitable, he's a less than articulate guy. I hear a lot of Tice in him, ...but maybe we have to look past that and give him the benefit of the doubt.
The deal is done, and we are stuck with this gamble.
If he fails, we'll revisit this territory when it comes time to fire Thompson in about, ...say 10 months.
Going forward, I have the following concerns:
1. He doesn't appear to be prepared for this job. He doesn't know who his staff will be, and doesn't even know if he will call his own plays. At the very least, this suggests he will have a weak staff.
2. He doesn't appear to be eager to re-up with Bates. Good grief. Who are we going to get for the defense?
3. His inability to speak in coherent sentences raises a red flag. How well will he communicate to the players?
4. He's already been run out of one town in a dispute with his QB, now that he's The Man, how many players will he lose or dump because of disputes?
So, to summarize ...I'm quite skeptical, but open-minded.
Thumbs down.
UPDATE: Thumbs down on the pick. No one really knows if he will be a good coach or how soon he could get the Packers back in the playoffs. Maybe next year, maybe never. I don't have any idea how good he will be. No one does. That's why I say thumbs down, ...it's such a gamble.
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