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With the Green Bay Packers firing Mike McCarthy, Joe Philbin has stepped up to be the interim coach, which means he will be in charge of play calling, something he hasn't done for about 20 years.
“Trying to think. Might have been about 20 years, maybe,” Philbin said via USA Today.
The last time that Philbin called plays was when he was the offensive coordinator of the Northeastern Wildcats in 1995. Just because he hasn't actually called the plays in 20 years, doesn't mean he hasn't been a seasoned coordinator in college and the NFL and it should come back naturally.
This is his second stint as offensive coordinator of the Packers, also doing the job in 2010 when the team won the Super Bowl.
Philbin said the one big difference with calling plays is that he can't peek ahead to future opponents, he has to put all of his efforts into this weeks game against the Atlanta Falcons.
“Sometimes, because I wasn't calling the plays, I could kind of peek ahead a little bit so we could move forward a little bit,” Philbin said. “I think that will be the biggest difference. I'm not going to be looking at our next opponent until the game is over.”
“And then obviously just sequencing the calls the right way and hopefully they work when we call 'em,” he added.
This is going to be an important few weeks for Philbin as he auditions for his job in the NFL next year, either with the Packers or another team if the Packers new coach decides to go in a different direction.
