You’ve heard the refrain. The Green Bay Packers are soft. They’re not physical. They get pushed around by tougher teams.
That’s what happens when you get shoved around, beat down and run over, around and through like the Packers did in their playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers. It’s also what happens when you give up 400-odd yards rushing to Adrian Peterson in two regular season games.
The 49ers and Minnesota Vikings are what people call tough, physical teams. Their offensive lines are stout, they run the ball effectively and so on.
Compared to those two grinding, punishing teams, the Packers look kind of like a fancy bottle of conditioner. Kind of… soft.
But don’t tell Mike McCarthy that. As usual, McCarthy sees absolutely nothing wrong with his football team.
Soft? Nonsense!
“To me, we’re a physical, tough football team,” McCarthy said at the combine. “I totally disagree. I don’t know how you can put the tape on and say the Green Bay Packers aren’t physical.”
Really? You don’t?
You and… no one else!
McCarthy went on to point to the Super Bowl run during the 2010 season as a measure of the Packers toughness, unaware that it happened two seasons ago with a different group of guys.
McCarthy then pointed to his stomach. “You want to see just how tough we are?” he said, pulling up his shirt. “We’re as rock solid, as tough as this midsection right here! You see those six-pack abs? Huh? Go ahead, tough ’em! Feel just how hardcore the Green Bay Packers are!”
Indeed.