GREEN BAY – Quarterback Aaron Rodgers came to a strong defense of his head coach on Wednesday, answering a query about the outside media criticism of Mike McCarthy and those questioning his job status with the Packers in the midst of a three-game losing streak.
"I think it's ridiculous," Rodgers said. "I think people don't understand how difficult it is to win in this league and win consistently. The success that we've had here, it's tough to do, and we've set the standard pretty high.
"But I wouldn't listen to some of those people out there. They're not in this locker room, they're not in the meeting rooms, they're not in the practice environments. They don't know what's going on. They don't know the type of work ethic that we have here and that Mike has here."
As for other media suggestions that there's a rift between Rodgers and McCarthy, or some type of dissension stemming from press conference comments, Rodgers didn't back down.
"Don't waste your time reading crap like that," he said.
The quarterback wasn't the only one defending his coach, either. After McCarthy’s assertive press conference on Monday, multiple players took to Twitter to express their agreement.
On Wednesday, receiver Davante Adams confirmed the locker room is on board with the team's leadership.
"We 100 percent buy into everything Coach Mike has to say," Adams said. "He's been winning around here for a long time. I think the Green Bay nation kind of gets spoiled when they see a lot of big plays and see the flashy things, and then you might go through a little bit of adversity and everybody is blaming coach and doing all these things, when you have to realize there's a lot more into it than that.
"I go into every game saying I want to have 500 yards receiving and it doesn't come out that way. So when Coach Mike doesn't have exactly the game that he may have wanted play-calling, I'm sure it beats him up. But he's human and the same for anybody else in this building. We definitely stand by him 100 percent in whatever he's saying to us, knowing that he's not going to lead us in the wrong direction."
Rodgers also brushed off criticism of his leadership style, calling it "white noise" when the team is in a rough patch trying to get back on the winning track.
Rodgers' focus is on regaining the third-down efficiency the team displayed earlier this season, and on getting the offense to start faster, which he believes will give the defense a confidence boost.
The Packers have played from behind, significantly, in their last two games, and that needs to change for the end result to change, beginning Sunday night at Washington. How that gets accomplished, Rodgers has no preference.
"It doesn't matter stats-wise if we're running it a bunch or throwing it a bunch," he said. "We just need to find a way to win.
"If we have to throw it 60 times to win, we've done that before. Obviously you'd love to have some balance, but at this point in the season it comes down to winning football games."
