Watching it live, Sunday’s loss in Washington looked like a slog for the Green Bay Packers offense. Everything appeared to be hard. It was ugly for long stretches.

The offense only scored 17 points, and most were quick to assign blame to the playcaller, coach Mike McCarthy.

That’s a wrong assessment. Oh, there was plenty of blame to go around, but McCarthy and his playcalls deserve very little of it. Time and time again, McCarthy’s players just didn’t execute.

In fact, after several rewatches of the All-22 tape, it became clear Sunday was one of McCarthy’s best-called games in a long time. He attacked the defense, almost always had the right call against the defensive look and provided ample opportunities for big plays down the field.

The players let him down, from the quarterback to the offensive line to the pass catchers.

Take the first series, for example.

On the very first play from scrimmage, the Packers ran a fairly traditional Cover 3 beater, designed to target the safety playing the middle third of the field. It worked perfectly. Aaron Rodgers looked off the safety, moving him right, and had a mostly clean pocket, while Davante Adams got his man turned around on the deep post to the left. He made a hard cut inside at the 40-yard line and was clear of the defender well before midfield. But Rodgers didn’t take the shot. He held the ball and eventually threw it away.

A few plays later, the protection let the offense down and prevented another potential big play. The combination route between Adams, Randall Cobb and Jimmy Graham was a thing of beauty, with Adams clearing the safety with a deep post, Cobb running a deep wheel route and Graham patiently running a deep out. Graham was wide open 15 yards downfield. Cobb got behind his man and might’ve had a touchdown. But the protection broke down immediately, and Rodgers was sacked before he could attack. Lane Taylor and Marcedes Lewis both missed blocks.

On third down, Cobb found himself isolated in man-to-man coverage from the slot. The route was an easy win inside. Drop. Punt.

On third down on the next series, the Packers went to a staple play: the slant-flat concept. Again, the call was perfect. Ty Montgomery motioned to the slot to the left and ran to the flat, creating confusion for both defenders in coverage, and Adams slanted inside uncovered. The throw was well behind him and he couldn’t make the spinning catch. Punt.

Later in the first half, Rodgers missed Cobb running open at least three times.

Once, Cobb smoked Josh Norman at the line of scrimmage and was running down the right sideline uncovered. He threw his arm in the air and called for the ball, but Rodgers, for whatever reason, went to a covered Adams to the left.

Later, Cobb worked along the back of the end zone and was open, but Rodgers’ throw on the run was a little off and Cobb couldn’t make the diving catch.

Finally, in the red zone, Cobb ran a perfect post route from the slot, widening the cornerback and then turning quickly inside, but Rodgers held the ball again and eventually threw it away. Early in the play, Aaron Jones flashed open in the slot and had 7-8 easy yards, but Rodgers didn’t let throw it.

The touchdown from Rodgers to Geronimo Allison was a terrific call from McCarthy.

The Packers have demonstrated an ability to create open receivers with the slant-flat concept. So McCarthy added a wrinkle: Instead of Allison just running the slant, he threw in a double move at the top of the route. It worked. The safety bit on the slant, Allison broke it off and went deep, and Rodgers had an easy touchdown throw.

Later, Allison ran another double move, this time fake the hitch before spinning out and going deep, and Rodgers missed it again.

Regardless of whether the Redskins dialed up man-to-man coverage or zone concepts, McCarthy had the right call.

On one play in the fourth quarter, Washington called another Cover 3 look. The Packers countered with Cobb running a vertical route up the seam from the slot. It was an impossible route for the safety to cover, and Cobb blew past him, expecting the ball. Rodgers didn’t see it.

This was a game where the quarterback struggled seeing the field. McCarthy schemed opened receivers all afternoon, but the distributor wasn’t sharp and it cost the Packers offense. Rodgers held the ball too often, especially on a bad knee, and especially when initial reads were open.

Really, his whole processing of the passing game looked off. That could be a result of limited practice time the last two weeks.

The drops were killer, too.

Cobb was open on each of his. His second was the game-changer. Once again, the scheme worked. The Packers got Cobb isolated on a safety, and he should have made the uncontested catch for a first down.

The Lance Kendricks drop was baffling. But the call was good: Kendricks chipped the edge rusher and was isolated against the linebacker in one-on-one coverage. He won clean with a wheel route up the sideline. Nothing more Rodgers or McCarthy could have asked for.

The third-and-5 later in the fourth quarter was another defendable call. The Redskins played man-to-man across the board, and the Packers countered with Montgomery running an angle route from the backfield. That should be an easy pitch and catch, especially with a safety in coverage. There just wasn’t enough separation and Rodgers’ throw wasn’t accurate. And Lucas Patrick was flagged for holding. Another punt.

Should McCarthy have run the ball more, and given Aaron Jones more opportunities? Probably. But the Packers ran it fine, and looking at the All-22, it’s easy to see why McCarthy kept throwing it. He had receivers open all over the place. The Packers probably should have thrown for 350 or more yards Sunday.

Coaches can only do so much. McCarthy put his offense in a position to succeed Sunday. His players just didn’t execute, really from the start of the game all the way through to the finish.