So let's step aside from the Incognito/Martin fiasco a little bit and take a look at how exactly did Philbin really qualify as our head coach. Looking back, we did not really have any clue as to what his role was in Green Bay. First, we speculated he called the plays and assigned players their roles. Then we learned, that it was Mike McCarthy calling the plays. So we figured he was key to developing Aaron Rodgers, until we learned it was the QB coach that was most responsible for that(by Philbin's own words). After some head scratching we learned he was responsible for "game planning", which is a vague description at best. We never really learned exactly what was Philbin's contribution to that high powered Green Bay offense. I admittedly wanted Philbin to be our HC at the time as it looked like he would bring some offensive competency to a team sorely lacking in it. However, after watching how he conducted himself and interacted with the players on Hard Knocks, I was feeling a little unsettled. Now after watching how this team continues to be out-coached, out-matched and unprepared from week to week, and now this Martin issue, I'm really having my doubts about Philbin. Granted, Ireland hasn't exactly given him a decent roster to work with but looking at our game day decisions and how he has handled the locker room, I'm leaning more towards a cleanhouse approach for the offseason, which we should've done before with Sparano/Ireland(perhaps then go after Harbaugh). Thoughts?
I think these threads are getting out of hand. 4 weeks ago Philbin was the next Don Shula. Now we are questioning the hire? We don't know the full story behind this mess, how about we let the facts come to the surface before burying Philbin?
I think after our 4 game skid plus these other issues merit questioning Philbin's ability to be our HC.
2, if not 3 of those games we should have won.. Factor in poor officiating and some fluke plays in to that equation.. Is Philbin bulletproof? Hell no. But I think we are getting ahead of ourselves awfully quickly. We had a brutal scheduled to start the season and are still in position to secure a wild card spot if we beat the teams we are supposed to beat.
The NFL season is always a roller coaster. We were bringing up these questions before the Martin/Incognito fiasco. We don't need to let the "facts come to the surface" because we are talking about his ability on the field. We said it again and again, as someone who was supposed to be integral to the Packers offense we sure didn't see it here. Part of it is personnel. But this staff has a real hard time adapting to the personnel we do have.
We knew pretty early on in the process that he was responsible for the offensive game plan. Its also not a nebulous or unspecific term. He formulated the strategies used for each opponent week to week based on their strengths and weaknesses. McCarthy called the plays that Philbin put into the playbook. Simple win-loss records do not let you know if a team is out-coached, out-matched or unprepared. He has been none of those things this year or last. There are numerous reasons you can win or lose a game and to categorically assume that all losses = being out-coached, out-matched and unprepared is absurd.
