In a game that left many Packers fans a little skittish, the mild-mannered leadership of Ted Thompson, Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers have become the Chinese Triad of the NFL. They lead the team that most other teams just lower their eyes and walk past on the other side of the street, hoping not to meet. Those that do come face to face may leave with their honor intact, but they leave losers nonetheless especially if the conflict takes place on Packers turf.
All three of these guys have long term contracts, they’re here to stay. They are all hard-working thinkers, and they all LOVE the Green Bay Packers and playing winning football.
1. Ted Thompson:
Rarely mentioned (though more and more recently) is the fact that Ted Thompson is the hardest working GM in the business. He does not get mired in money battles for high priced free agents, he builds through the draft and has already won one Super Bowl with a very young team and one that was riddled with injuries and relied on young players.
Ted Thompson is the reason the Packers have more drafted players than any other team and more players that have never played for another team than anybody else. Remember, Super Bowls begin with personnel decisions. Ted Thompson had to make the most difficult decision probably in Packer history…to trade Brett Favre. Dangerous…very dangerous. But he did it and that decision, along with all the draft picks and free agent acquisitions, is why we are where we are today.
2. Mike McCarthy
Last night, Mike McCarthy tied Vince Lombardi as the second winning-est coach in Packers history with 98 wins. All indications are he will tie or break 100 yet this year. McCarthy has been creative and outside the box in his best seasons (2010…BJ Raji on offense) and this year has been more creative than ever, not just putting Julius Peppers in on offense but also in the way he has been utilizing Randall Cobb.
At the same time, McCarthy’s strength is in consistency and organization. He is not afraid to change if it is for the better. All great empires are greatest when their leaders are long-lived. “Long live coach McCarthy!” Ha!
3. Aaron Rodgers
Last, and certainly not least is Aaron Rodgers. Aaron and McCarthy have cemented the best head coach-quarterback tandem in the NFL. And if you don’t think that is important, just look at what has happened to the 49’ers this season.
And as far as records are concerned, the number of milestones Aaron Rodgers reaches – sooner than anyone ever has – seems to be growing every game. If our line (who has been playing as well as anyone in the business lately) can keep Aaron healthy, then all the records that used to be Brett Favre’s that we had to (or will have to) watch Peyton Manning break…well they will belong to Aaron Rodgers in the end.
Game recap:
So the Packers head to Buffalo 10-3 having put up another 500+ yard night against the Falcons (503) and winning 43-37. Aaron Rodgers threw for 327 yards and had another 100+ passer rating…well another well over 100 passer rating at 123.3. Jordy Nelson had another 40+ yard touchdown catch…this makes number 7 and this time it pretty much clinched the win. Eddie Lacy and James Starks had 73 and 75 yards respectively which means the ground game is alive and well at Lambeau. But Lacy had an additional 5 catches for 33 yards and at times made the Atlanta defense look silly.
It’s cliche but true. The defense was a tale of two halves, giving up 465 yards and 37 points. Julio Jones alone racked up 259 yards on 11 catches and Atlanta at times seemed like they were sending Green Bay’s backfield back to the stone age. But they did enough.
All in all, a win is a win and the Packers can notch their belt and move on. One good thing in a close win that was less satisfying than some other ones is that the Packers know that they have a lot of corrections to make.