Published: Nov. 8, 2014
Packers hope 2 things are favorable
Green Bay better in 2nd half lately
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
GREEN BAY — The Packers have two things working in their
favor as the second half of the season is set to begin Sunday at Lambeau Field
against NFC North rival Chicago.
Green Bay has scored on its first possession of the game in
four of its last five games. When that was brought to coach Mike McCarthy’s
attention, he went “pfft.”
“Don’t jinx it,” he said with a smile.
But by doing that, it has helped the Packers turn a 1-2
start into a 5-3 record, one game behind Detroit for the division lead.
Getting out to good starts has also been a habit since
McCarthy took over before the 2006 season.
The Packers are tied for the NFL’s best record in games
after a bye week (7-1) in that span, and McCarthy’s record is tied for
second-best in NFL history with Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid. Hall of
Fame coach Marv Levy has the best record at 8-1.
“Any time you have your bye week, you go back and do a lot
of self-evaluation and evaluate the things that were good in the first half of
the season and the things you’ve got to improve upon,” Packers defensive
coordinator Dom Capers said. “One of the things that we have been able to do,
most of the time, is improve our play in the second half of the season.
“We’ve played better in the second half than we have in the
first.”
Under McCarthy, the Packers are 41-22-1 in the second half.
Only twice have the Packers been under .500 in the final eight games of the
regular season. The first was in 2008 (2-6) and the Packers finished 6-10. The
other time was last year. The Packers went 3-4-1 in the second half, but won
the division. Twice the Packers have been 7-1 in the second half.
In 2010, the year the Packers won the Super Bowl, they went
5-3.
“What we have to do is seek more consistency,” Capers said.
“There’s some real good spots and there’s spots where we weren’t consistent
enough.” However, if there is one statistic to worry about, it’s the Bears are
also 7-1 in games after the bye week since 2006. Like the Packers, the Bears
were on a bye last week.
At 3-5, the Bears need something to go their way or they’re
going to fall out of the division race picture and maybe even playoff contention.
A Bears loss coupled with a Lions victory put the “Monsters of the Midway” four
games out of the division lead with seven games left in the regular season.
“I know they’re a talented team,” Capers said. “Our
challenge is to go out and start the second half of the season playing our best
football. That’s what our goal is; that’s what our focus is.”
The Packers have won five straight in their first game after
the bye week. Their only loss in games after the bye since 2006 was to the
Tennessee Titans in overtime in 2008.
In 2009, Capers’ first season as the Packers’ defensive
coordinator, the Packers were 4-4, but went 7-1, only losing at Pittsburgh,
37-36, to end a five-game winning streak.
“We know we’re capable of those things,” Capers said.
Also that season, with help from the improved play in the
second half, the Packers set a franchise record in run defense, allowing 83.3
yards per game.
The run defense has been the Packers’ biggest downfall so
far, ranking last in the NFL (153.5 yards per game).
“If you’re able to take the one part that you felt you need
to change, it would’ve been changed a long time ago,” McCarthy said. “Run
defense or run offense, It comes down to trusting the guy next to you and
everybody doing your job. That’s where the play starts.
“You need to whoop the man over ya and make a tackle. I
think we try to do things too right. We just got to get back to the basics.”
As for the fast starts in the last five games, there is no
script to it. Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh liked to script the first 15 plays
of a game and because of his success during the 1980s with the San Francisco
49ers, many coaches followed suit.
Despite being a one-time 49ers coach, McCarthy doesn’t like
to script the first 15 plays, instead scripting plays more closely associated
with the down-and-distance situation.
“I was never truly comfortable going down for the first 15,”
he said.
What the Packers are doing well is creating turnovers. They
rank third in the NFL in turnover margin at plus-8.
“I think we can turn it around,” Capers said about the run
defense. “The way I look at it is this is the start of the second half of the
season. To me, it’s all about what we do in the second half of the season.”
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