So, anyone watch any football over the weekend?

Once again, I find myself questioning just how good of a coach Mike McCarthy really is.  Brad Childress outcoached him...again.  Brad freaking Childress.  Blowing through timeouts in the second half, once again abandoning the run altogether, poor play calling, they all pale in comparison to this team's biggest issue, penalties.  Explain to me how you can commit so many penalties, while being held "accountable?"  Well-coached teams don't commit so many penalties or make so many stupid mistakes.  How does this not fall on the coaching, especially when you consider it's become an annual issue under McCarthy?

McCarthy loves to preach accountability, yet we've seen none of it.  I've had it with his lame talks of "we'll have to review the film"  shut up.  Just. Shut. Up.  

The afore mentioned play calling, sucked.  Once again, we see the Packers in a big game, where coach McCarthy opts to be one dimensional and completely goes away from the run.  Have they ever attempted more than 15 rushes in a big game?  The biggest issue I had though, came in the fourth quarter on the failed Mason Crosby FG.  First of all, hindsight is 20/20, but it was an awful decision (and so was going for 2 when trailing 26-31, but it didn't really matter).  The play calling, where to begin?

2nd and 3 and not running the ball?  Oh, but then again, McCarthy never runs in meaningful games, so why am I complaining?  So after Rodgers gets sacked on 2nd and short, resulting in 3rd and 8, you call a terrible play, with the primary route going 20 yards downfield?  On the play, Rodgers did have a receiver (appeared to be Driver) flash over the middle, but it would have still been well short of the first down.

Here's the thing, and stop me if you've heard this before, McCarthy was calling a play that he was hoping would have worked big (possibly touchdown) with the idea of falling back on a FG.  Again, how many times have we seen him play for FGs?  So, you settle for a 51 yard FG (never a gimmie), with a kicker who has been anything but consistent this season?  You don't want to rethink that, Mike?

With just over 5 minutes left in the game at the time, you had to think that was probably going to be your last chance to pull ahead.  No. Field. Goals.  Call a play on third down that will at least get you 5-6 yards, knowing full well you're in 4 down territory.  It's four down territory because of the time and score.  The score, because as I said earlier, GOING FOR TWO WAS AN AWFUL DECISION!  Again, easy to say now, but I was screaming it at the time, YOU DON'T GO FOR TWO HERE, MIKE!  

Lets just say Crosby hit that FG and made it 31-29.  Two point game.  But then, just as they did, the Vikings go down field and score a TD.  38-29, two score game.  Now, had you just kicked the extra point (as you should have, regardless of what "the chart" says, even though I'm certain it probably said kick the PAT) you're still very much in the game, at 38-30.

I realize the payoff was that had they converted, it's a 3 point game, but you have to review everything.  Like the scenario I just laid out.  The idea of the two point conversion is to prolong the game as long as possible.  You don't want to use it too early, because it might set you back.  If you're down 15, you save the 2 point attempt for your last TD, keeping you alive as long as possible.  McCarthy didn't do that.

Again, the play calling on 2nd and 3rd down, and the decision to attempt the FG were viewed as bigger blunders, but the 2 point conversion attempt was arguably as costly.

And speaking of the FG attempt, did anyone honestly think Crosby was making that, when he was lining up?  I don't know who I have less confidence in, Mason Crosby or Mike McCarthy.

Oh and one last, quick thing, defensively, Dom Capers?  What?  Thats what you call a more aggressive game plan?  Yes, there were a lot of instances of just not beating your man, but I saw a lot more of a coordinator seeing his guys not beating their men, and just giving up on the blitz.

The Bottom Five:

32. Cleveland Browns
31. Tampa Bay Bucaneers
30. Detroit Lions
29. St Louis Rams
28. Tennessee Titans

I must say, after listening to Favre's post-game comments to Pam Oliver, I found myself partially torn for the first time in months.  When Favre said "I hope they still love me as much as I still love them" I had to ask myself, why do I hate this man.

For five minutes, Favre won me back.

Then I remembered all the waffling, all the back and forth, all the lies, the dog and pony shows put on, the imaging, the back-pedaling, and those feelings subsided.  Well, hate is the wrong word, but you get the picture.  I don't hate Brett Favre, but I don't root for the enemy.

That's what kills me, all of these fans who root for Brett Favre, and openly wish he beats the Packers, all the while calling themselves Packer fans.  Look, I don't care if you root for Brett Favre, but just don't call yourself a Packers fan if thats the case.  All of these fans hold onto Brett Favre as the reason why Ted Thompson should be fired, when in fact one could argue, that may be the one thing Thompson has done right - signing Charles Woodson and Ryan Pickett aside.

Seeing Favre on the field at Lambeau, and hearing how emotional he was after the game did win him some points back with me though.  When it's all said and done, we'll all overlook this season with Minnesota, five years down the road when he's being inducted into the Hall of Fame, and when he makes his return to the organization to get his number retired.  All water under the bridge.  But man oh man do I wish his return to Lambeau would have been as a Bucaneer last season, and not a Viking this season.

The Top Five:

5. Philadelphia Eagles
4. Denver Broncos
3. Minnesota Vikings
2. Indianapolis Colts
1. New Orleans Saints

Bucks Talk aka Where Most of You Stop Reading

I'll keep it short and sweet this week.  Brandon.  Jennings.  The kid is the real deal.  There will be some growing pains this season, but there will be just as many, if not more, performances like Saturday night.

There. That wasn't too painful, was it?  Maybe next week we can work our way up to a full paragraph of Bucks talk.

Oh, and sort of Bucks related, I loved these tweets from Charlie V:
 
FANS LETS NOT PRESS THE PANIC BUTTON, THE SEASON IS YOUNG, WE WILL BE MORE THAN ALRIGHT, AND WHY WERE MILWAUKEE FANS BOOING ME

and...

Brett Farve did get booed too, Milwaukee fans hating on Farve and myself

Two things, Charlie.  Bucks fans booed you, because you suck.  You were a so-so player in Milwaukee, and are the type of player that is easy to hate.  You show up when you want to and are all about Charlie V.  You even stated the Twitter thing from last year was great for you because it got your name out there.  Nice.  You're a turd, that is why you were booed.

Secondly, Milwaukee was not "hating" on Favre - and please, don't even put yourself in the same sentence as Brett Favre.  GREEN BAY WAS "HATING" ON FAVRE, CHARLIE.  For f%$k's sake, you lived here, Milwaukee is not Green Bay.  Idiot.

 Rambling Home...

After watching her on Celebrity Rehab, and now on Sex Rehab, I feel like with my wit and charm (two things Dan Walsh does not posses, by the way) I could get Amber Smith.  That is also assuming she relapses and alcohol is involved, but still...

Much was made of this last week, but seriously, how many different teams has Brett Favre now called the "best team I've ever played on?"  Forget the 96 Packers, what about how bad he's slighting all those Pro Bowl teams he was a member of, when he says that...

On a scale of 1-10, how closely does Hulk Hogan going to TNA compare to Favre going to the Vikings?  Probably a 4, but still, I'm suddenly interested in TNA...

Still don't wish Charlie V or Ramon Sessions were Bucks...

They're going to take their dog to the park over there.  There, I just used all three correctly, why can't 80% of our population?  Not that hard, people...

Why don't we see more Survivor Series elimination matches at the Survivor Series?  Wasn't that the point of the pay-per-view?

TV shows you won't see me watching: The League, and of course, Lost...

It looks like Johnny Bananas' days may be numbered on The Ruins...

Speaking of The Ruins, I loved Wes' line of "I've been called a renegade and assassin, but I want to change that to bounty hunter now".  Um, who's been calling you a renegade or assassin?  And can someone please tell Evan, $25,000 in American money is not worth $52,000 Canadian.  All reasons why I love that show...

After watching him carve the Packers up, twice, I still wouldn't bet on Brett Favre, down the stretch.  We'll talk if he's still playing like this in December...

As a reminder (yes, I feel pathetic for doing this) you can follow the Brew Town Beat on Twitter, at: twitter.com/brewtownbeat

Since they're at the Riverside this Saturday, lets enjoy some Black Crowes, shall we? 

Oh and in the spirit of Dan Walsh and all of his dork retreats, I'll buy a sparks for the first person who tracks me down a the show and tells me they read the MMH...If only I could have the Robinson brothers play an acoustic set in my living room...