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Mike McCarthy Press Conference Transcript - Dec. 26
posted 12/26/2007
(What factors will go into how long the starters will play?)
That's something that if you had asked me Monday, we'd play the whole game. But I think it's important for us to be smart with our football team. I want everybody to go through the week of preparation, and I want to use Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to make that decision. So I really don't have an answer for you, but I will be smart with the football team.
(With the guard situation, is there anything you can get out of this last game?)
I would just like the consistency to improve in some areas. That's what we're looking for, and another game will help those guys. It does not help with the number of times we have moved them. I'm aware of that. But it's important at that position for someone to grab a hold of it and solidify the interior of our line.
(After the Chicago game, you said you saw some things manifest from the St. Louis game. Anything in particular?)
No, I just didn't think we were very sharp against St. Louis. I thought St. Louis was a football game where our special teams clearly won the game for us. That was the most dominant performance that I've been part of, or that I've seen as far as field positions and the opportunities to score points, and we did not take full advantage of that on offense. The defense I thought started slow. The point I was making was our practice wasn't as sharp leading up to St. Louis, and to me it carried over to the game. To play in that stadium down there with that many fans from Green Bay, there were so many things in my opinion that tilted in our favor. We had an opportunity to play better. We won the game by 19 points, I'm aware of that, and that's just all in the realm of trying to win and improve. And as we went through Chicago week, there were some things that I did not like. I addressed it on Wednesday, I addressed it again on Thursday, a lot more in depth on Thursday. I'm not saying that's why we lost the game. I've seen our football team not have the best practice weeks, but it's more about how we went about it. That's the way we operate here, and we got back after it today and I thought today was a good practice.
(As you're considering how long to play starters, anything you'll study or anyone you'll ask for advice?)
Those are things I've done more in the offseason, when you have different conversations. I think it's very important just to keep your finger on the pulse of the football team, how they're preparing and how they're playing. I think there's a direct correlation. Sometimes you're proven wrong by the way the course of the week goes, but more times than not I think it's a direct carryover. We need to be smart. Ted and I have talked about it again today. We talked about it yesterday. We're just going to go with what we feel. I'm not calling somebody to get their vote of approval. But I know there are people who have been through this before. It's important for us to line up in two weeks and be healthy and ready to go.
(When you said on Monday, you thought about playing them the whole game, are you taking some emotion out of it now?)
I think so, definitely. It's important in any decision you make personally or professionally to take the emotion out of it. There was some emotion I'm sure involved in that decision, and you want to be playing very well. I think you can really categorize it a lot like the preseason. Everybody puts a lot of weight into the third preseason game. If in the third preseason game, if things don't go well, maybe you play a little longer in the fourth preseason game. I know our fourth preseason game, we felt the offense didn't have enough snaps so we played a little longer. Those are all types of experiences you draw from. Winning 12 football games, it's tough to do. We are the No. 2 seed in the NFC. It's important for us to take full advantage of that opportunity, and that will be the determining factor as we move through the week.
(Did you see during the game Sunday that Favre just wasn't into it?)
Brett? No, I thought he was into it. That's a tough game for a quarterback to throw the ball that many times. I wouldn't say that he was not into it. I thought the communication on the boundary was very good. I thought I put him in a tough position there in the fourth quarter. I was trying to spread their defense out and get the ball to our perimeter players and hopefully make a play to get it to a one-score or two-score game as it went through the third and fourth quarter. But I wouldn't say he was not into it. I don't have that opinion.
(Were the guys' concentration affected by the cold?)
I think we did not handle the weather very well at all, and that's something we talked about as a team today. We talked about the focus, we talked about the preparation leading up to that, what can we learn from that particular game, the wind and so forth. And we have moved on from it, but it's an experience that we need to definitely learn from, because our performance was unacceptable. We will not play like that again. I won't tolerate that.
(Do you feel like you still have to prove you can win in a bad-weather game, or were those conditions so extreme you don't worry about it?)
Those are extreme conditions. I've been a part of a number of games, and there's people in this league who have coached and played in a lot more games than I have, too. For people to keep telling us that's the worst ever seen it. I thought the game I participated in Chicago three years ago, I thought the wind was very similar that I recall, but the temperature was probably 30 degrees warmer. It was a different type of day from that standpoint. It's extreme weather. We're the Green Bay Packers. Everybody talks about coming to Lambeau in January and do not want to play there. We're supposed to like that weather, and we did not look like we liked it very much this past Sunday.
(Crosby is on the verge of leading the league in scoring, and on the verge of setting a Packers scoring record for a kicker. Did you have those expectations for him when you decided to go with him over Rayner?)
When I saw Mason Crosby go through training camp, I don't look at things that way, like hey, this guy is going to break all kinds of records. He clearly in my view was the best kicker, hands down. His preparation, the way he handled the everyday grind of it. We kicked those guys more than any kickers I've seen kick in training camp. One guy complained about it, one guy liked it. He's as steady as they come. I'm not surprised by it at all. He's very consistent for a young player. I really like that, especially in skill-position players as Mason is, and I think he has a very bright future. The way he lifts the ball up, that's as good as I've seen in my time in this league. I think he's talented, I think he's tough-minded, I think he's consistent, and that's what you're looking for.
(His last couple games at Lambeau, he's only made 2 out of 6, are you concerned about that?)
I'm not concerned about it, and if it comes down to making a decision whether to kick or not to kick, we'll probably kick it. I believe in Mason Crosby.
(Have you had any conversations with the league about the incident with Barnett and the official?)
I talked to Mike Pereira shortly after I spoke here. I'm comfortable with the conversation. It's something I can't share. I'll just say this about Mike. I think Mike does an excellent job of being pro-active, taking on issues when they do occur. I was very comfortable with the conversation, and I feel good about the direction we're going.
(Have you settled on Blackmon as your nickel?)
I don't know if we're ready for that. I know we have a couple positions...I'm comfortable with him being in there, but I'm also comfortable with the way we're playing those guys. I think competition is healthy, I think they all contribute when they play, the roles that they have been playing, so I don't feel the desire for just one guy at that particular position to take a hold of it. I think it benefits us as a group to have the depth there.
(Was that a match-up decision against the Bears or did you want to get a full game with him?)
I would say it's more probably match-up. I'm trying to reflect off Bob and the conversations earlier in the week. I could be wrong. I want to say it was more match-ups. But it's really that corner group, they're competing. Aaron Rouse, he's pushing the two safeties. I think that's healthy. We also have the same situation at the guard position. I think it's healthy when all those guys play, and they'll play a bunch this week too.
(Is Bush on track to come back this week?)
I expect him to come back this week, yes.
(Why didn't Rouse play last week?)
He kind of went through the week just with some things that he was struggling with, and it just kind of worked out that way.
(Physically?)
Physically, yes.
(Do you anticipate the Lions treating this game as their Super Bowl?)
I'm sure they're going to come in and do everything they can to win the football game. To end their season with two wins in a row is something they can build off of, and they have improved from last year clearly, so their program in my view is definitely going in the right direction. I'm sure those are all things they're looking at. And the opportunity to win here for the first time since 1991, to me those are all important points you can motivate your football team with. We talked today as a football team as we prepared for this game. It's important for us to finish 13-3 and be tied for the best regular-season record. Those are all things you point to during the course of a week when you put up the objectives and points of emphasis for your opponent.
(Are you doing anything different on the punt team this week?)
I'm not comfortable with the way the game went Sunday, but the mistakes that we made, just on the right side, the elementary technique, my goodness. We worked it a little longer than normal today. We have to handle the football. Once again, we have to handle the wind. We had the ball on the ground and had all the problems with it, and Chicago did a great job with it. We just need to do a much better job. We're not going to change the way we do it or schematically and so forth. We were very poor in that area.
(Have you ever seen any indication Jon Ryan has had trouble handling snaps before?)
We have worked with Jon on some of his mechanics, and that's an area he can continue to improve on. But I did not see any indication that would make me believe he'd have a game like he did in Chicago.
(Would it be too much of a risk to play Rodgers with that hamstring?)
Talking with Aaron down on the practice field, he was going to push it in rehab today, to see where he is with the hamstring. Obviously, he would like to play. But it will probably take the week. Tomorrow will be an indication, how he responds to today's rehab.
(Will you go in pads tomorrow?)
Yeah, we'll go full pads again tomorrow.
(Is that because of what happened last weekend?)
To me, everybody does it differently, but when you take the pads off, that's one of the aspects of scheduling you have to juggle. We've talked about it before, and I know you and I have talked about it individually. It's your fundamentals, the first thing that goes is your pad level. Our pad level was not very good at all in the Chicago game, whatever you want to put that to. It was more a reaction of the fundamentals of punt team. We needed it for the punt team today. It's more of an emphasis on working on fundamentals. |
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