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RHODES 'VERY FIRED UP' AS PACKERS READY TO OPEN TRAINING CAMP JULY 25
posted 07/15/99
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| Head Coach Ray Rhodes |
Training camp for the Green Bay Packers' 1999 National Football League season is close at hand and Ray Rhodes, for one, has pronounced himself "very fired up about it."
And, as the Packers' fiery new head coach suggests, with good reason.
"This is a football team...with a lot of top players on it and a lot of guys that have been to championships and won a Super Bowl," he points out, with a pardonable gleam in the eye. "And I'm fired up for the guys. I think their last year came to a halt way too soon for everybody...the players, the organization, the fans here...And I'm very excited about the start of the season because this is what you live for."
For Rhodes, his largely new coaching staff and the players, it all begins Sunday afternoon, July 25, when rookies, quarterbacks and selected veterans report to team headquarters at Lambeau Field for the opening of training camp.
Following physical examinations, all hands will check in at St. Norbert College in neighboring West De Pere, Wis., which will be serving as the Packers' training base for the 42nd consecutive year, the team having first established itself on the Fox River campus in 1958.
The early arrivals then will practice twice on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (July 26-28) before the camp shifts into its full-scale mode.
Remaining veterans are scheduled to report Thursday, July 29, and two-a-day practices for the full, 80-player squad will begin Friday, July 30, with both workouts (8:45 a.m. and 2:45 p.m.) in shorts.
Training Camp Practice Times and Training Camp Fan Packages
Two weeks later, Rhodes will unveil his first Packers team in a preseason home opener against the New York Jets on national television (CBS) Saturday night, August 14.
After completing a four-game, non-league agenda, the tough-minded Texan will make his formal debut as the 12th head coach in the team's 80-year history when the Green and Gold kick off their '99 regular season against the Oakland Raiders in Lambeau Field Sunday afternoon, September 12.
Although Rhodes has acknowledged from the outset that he is taking over a contending team and thus would not be making sweeping changes in personnel or philosophy, he has indicated there will be a somewhat more aggressive approach on both sides of the football.
"With Sherman (Lewis) coming aboard (as coordinator), I think the tendencies on offense will remain the same," he said, noting, "It's a comfortable feeling for a lot of our players to have Sherman there to keep things the way they've been.
"As far as how we approach games, I'm sure one of the things that we'll look at in training camp is airing the ball out a little bit more. On our football team, we do have guys that can run and catch the deep ball, and we need to give Brett (Favre) the opportunity to throw it downfield a little bit more."
Defensively, Rhodes observed, "I've always been more aggressive-minded, as far as blitzing. I do believe in blitzing a little bit more. And we'll do some of that. We'll have the first and second-down things that Fritz Shurmur's done here - Fritz is one of my friends in this business that has done an outstanding job with defensive football - and we'll continue to do a lot of those things...But we are going to blitz just a little bit more.
"I think Fritz's defenses have always been in the top ranking every year - in the top three or four - and that's a credit to Fritz Shurmur and his teaching, because he's an excellent teacher. But we do feel that we can be a little bit more aggressive and create a few more turnovers from the defensive standpoint."
Expanding on the commitment to "airing out" the football on offense, Rhodes explained, "When you go through a lot of videotapes (of games from the 1998 season), a lot of teams came in and started squatting a lot on our football team. When I say squatting, they were not giving our players - our receivers - the ability to do a lot of things in the short game because they're sitting there thinking everybody's going to be short. I think if we mix it up by throwing the ball downfield, I think it's going to help our football team."
Favre, whom he labeled "one of the top one or two (quarterbacks) in the league, period," will necessarily be the central figure in this process - and for the team as a whole.
"Brett knows that this is his football team, from a leadership standpoint," Rhodes asserted. "He's the leader on the football team. He's got the most tenure - he's a proven player and a top player, and I think it's important for Brett to take the bull by the horns and direct this football team."
Rhodes indicated that he is counting upon flanker Robert Brooks - "all the way back as far as being healthy" - to play a key role in the "airing out" project, along with Pro Bowler Antonio Freeman, the NFL's yards-receiving leader in 1998.
Brooks, previously hampered by back problems that twice required surgery during the past year, has been pronounced in the best physical condition he has enjoyed since 1995, when he set a club single-season record for yards receiving.
Elsewhere on offense, Rhodes points to "Mark Chmura at the tight end position - he and Tyrone Davis are two excellent tight ends. (And) the offensive line is a veteran group of guys (including center Frank Winters and tackles Earl Dotson and Ross Verba) with a couple of young guys...But it's a veteran group that is a solid offensive line."
"And, with a healthy Dorsey Levens - if we can keep him healthy - we're going to have a nucleus of an offense that is going to be very competitive."
Understandably, Rhodes is happy to have acquired the services of veteran guard Raleigh McKenzie as an unrestricted free agent, having lost starting guard Adam Timmerman from the offensive line in the offseason through free agency. "The thing that's good about Raleigh," he said, "is that Raleigh is a guy who has played every position on the offensive line."
McKenzie has moved in at left guard, where Marco Rivera held forth in 1998, and Rivera has transferred to right guard, the position he played as a collegian at Penn State and the one at which he is most comfortable.
Rhodes admits that, "as depth it hurt to lose" running backs Travis Jervey and Darick Homes to free agency "but we drafted a young man, De'Mond Parker of Oklahoma, who's a very exciting little football player...And, again, it's still early and I think there's going to be room for us to add whatever we want to add to our football team at that position."
Turning to the other side of the football, he said, "From the defensive standpoint, I think the key is how well your young players come around," Rhodes said. "We've got some young guys in the secondary who are going to need to be a factor.
"And, from the defensive line standpoint, we'll miss Reggie White. Let's face it - he will be missed. But Vonnie Holliday (who will step in at White's previous left end station)...I think he is one of the young up-and-coming superstars on the defensive line...You add Santana Dotson, a top performer...And Gilbert Brown's been solid...At the other defensive end position, we have (Keith) McKenzie, (Vaughn) Booker."
"And I think our linebacking corps (returning starters George Koonce, Bernardo Harris and Brian Williams) is a solid linebacking corps."
In this connection, Rhodes observed, "I think one big surprise for me is Jude Waddy - the type of player he is...how quick he is. He's a guy that's been very impressive in everything we've done thus far," the Packers' field leader said of the sinewy William & Mary alumnus, whom he already has designated as the team's fourth linebacker.
With respect to the secondary, he noted, "We drafted three quality cornerbacks (Antuan Edwards of Clemson in the first round, Fred Vinson of Vanderbilt in the second and Mike McKenzie of Memphis) with the top three picks in the draft (to supplement returning starters Craig Newsome and Tyrone Williams)...And I think all three of these guys will make a contribution to our football team this year...all three."
Rhodes obviously is hopeful that this trio will help Newsome and Williams contain such players as the Vikings' Randy Moss and Cris Carter and the Detroit Lions' Herman Moore, the big receivers who caused the Packers some discomfort defensively in 1998.
With Reggie White having called it a career after 14 distinguished seasons, the Packer coach has formally anointed the irrepressible LeRoy Butler as the leader of the defensive platoon.
"LeRoy most definitely will fill the leadership position on our defense," Rhodes declared. "He's always been one of the most vocal guys on the defensive side as it is, and it's just a natural for LeRoy, because he's really the veteran citizen on defense. And not only is LeRoy an outstanding player but, from a leadership standpoint, the players have a tremendous amount of respect for him."
Rhodes is patently comfortable with the kicking game heading into training camp - as well as the return phase - now that the accomplished Desmond Howard is back in a Green Bay uniform.
"(Ryan) Longwell is an outstanding placekicker," he said, "and we feel the young man we drafted is going to be a very solid punter. In Josh Bidwell (a fourth-round selection from the University of Oregon), I really like what I see."
Longwell, now a third-year pro, last season officially became the most accurate field goal kicker in the team's 80-year history, lifting his career percentage to 84.13 (53 field goals in 63 attempts) and Bidwell compiled a remarkable 41.8-yard net punting average during his senior season at Oregon, a performance new Packers special teams coach Steve Ortmayer termed "unheard of in the NFL...nobody does that."
On the return of Howard, the former Heisman Trophy winner, who became the first special teams performer in Super Bowl history to win "Most Valuable Player" honors when he amassed 244 return yards to play a key role in the Packers' 35-21 victory over New England in SB XXXI, Rhodes asserted, "Having Desmond is tremendous for our football team. His accomplishments when he was here earlier are still in everybody's mind. He's an outstanding returner and also an excellent receiver."
Rhodes, subsequently focusing once more on the now imminent opening of training camp - and the season in the offing, repeated, "I'm excited...I'm excited for our fans, I'm excited for our players...and this organization.
"I know our players are excited about it...And I think we've got some guys that are going to go on a mission to get things done..."
The Packers' public relations department has been expanded by the addition of David Gaylinn, a 1999 graduate of Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications, as an intern for the '99 season, and Damian A. Areyan, who has been a media relations student assistant in the University of Arizona Office of Athletic Media Relations since 1997, as a training camp intern.
Gaylinn, a native of Saddle River, N.J., has recently completed an internship with the New York Liberty of the WNBA. He also has had internships with New York's WFAN Radio and Sports Channel New York, now Fox Sports New York.
Areyan, a Torrance, Calif., resident, comes to his Packers assignment following a 1998 summer internship with the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA and a concurrent stint as a production/desk assistant with Fox Sports News.
1999 GREEN BAY PACKERS PRESEASON SCHEDULE:
| Date |
Opponent |
Time |
TV |
| Sat., Aug. 14 | NEW YORK JETS (Gold Pkg.)
(Midwest Shrine Game) | 7:00 p.m. | CBS |
| Mon., Aug. 23 | DENVER BRONCOS
(at Madison, Wis.) | 7:00 p.m. | ABC |
| Sat., Aug. 28 | at New Orleans Saints | 7:00 p.m. | State |
| Thurs., Sept. 2 | MIAMI DOLPHINS
(Bishop's Charities Game) | 7:00 p.m. | State |
All times indicated are Wisconsin
TV-RADIO COVERAGE: The Packers' preseason games against New Orleans (Aug. 28) and against Miami (Sept. 2) will be televised over the state Packer Television Network: WBAY-TV (Channel 2, Green Bay), the originating station; WISN-TV (Channel 12, Milwaukee); WISC-TV (Channel 3, Madison); and WSAW-TV (Channel 7, Wausau).
Chris Roth, WBAY-TV's sports director, will call the play-by-play for the New Orleans game and Green Bay native and CBS/TNT announcer Kevin Harlan will handle that assignment for the Miami contest, with former Packers linebacker Brian Noble providing the analysis for both games.
The opening game, against the New York Jets in Green Bay, will be televised nationally by CBS, and the second contest, against the Denver Broncos at Madison, Wis., will be aired nationwide by ABC.
A NEW 'VOICE:' Wayne Larrivee, longtime former Chicago Bears broadcaster and one of the nation's preeminent play-by-play announcers, will make his formal debut as the new "voice" of the Packers Radio Network, when the Green and Gold open their preseason schedule against the New York Jets in Lambeau Field Saturday night, August 14.
Larrivee takes over for Jim Irwin, who retired following the 1998 season after a 30-year career on the network. He will be joined by Larry McCarren, current sports director for Green Bay's WFRV-TV and member of the Packer Hall of Fame following a distinguished 12-year playing career in a Green Bay uniform, who has shared the network booth with Irwin and Max McGee for the past four seasons.
Larrivee, who also broadcasts college football and basketball games on ESPN and Raycom, will be launching his 22nd year as a play-by-play broadcaster of NFL games, having previously been the "voice" of the Kansas City Chiefs for seven years (1978-84) and of the Chicago Bears for 14 seasons (1985-98).
The recipient of numerous awards and accolades over his career, Larrivee was named Illinois 'Sportscaster of the Year' in 1997 and is a seven-time winner of the Silver Dome Award for "Best Radio Football Play-by-Play" from the Illinois Broadcasters Association. He also has received two Emmys for his work on Chicago Bulls broadcasts.
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