woodbuck27
08-10-2006, 10:38 AM
Offense's effort riles Jagodzinski
By TOM SILVERSTEIN
tsilverstein@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 9, 2006
Green Bay - After a rather mild start to training camp, Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski added a little spice Wednesday with a salty evaluation of his unit's practice performance.
Jagodzinski identified a couple of individuals who weren't holding up their end of the bargain but laid into the entire unit for its uneven display.
"Inconsistency," fumed Jagodzinski. "Pre-snap penalties. Guys not lining up the right way, jumping offside. All that is is focus and it ain't nothing to do with talent. I could tell you to line up right and you'd go right. I could tell you to line up left and you'd go left. All that is is (lack of) consistency and lack of focus. Today really bothered me. It's not going to be tolerated."
Coach Mike McCarthy eliminated the night practice and changed the morning workout from a full-padded practice to shorts and shells (lightweight shoulder padding), but that didn't seem to motivate the team. There were drops, penalties, fumbles and interceptions.
The Packers have two practices today and a walk-through Friday before their exhibition opener against the San Diego Chargers. Given it will be McCarthy's first game as Packers coach and a sloppy performance would reflect poorly on the coaches, it's understandable why Jagodzinski was pitching a fit.
"You have to string good practices together," Jagodzinski said. "Set the bar and you don't accept anything less than that. I don't care. Get with the program. It's not like they don't know what to expect. The young guys they have to grow up fast."
When asked about veteran wide receiver Rod Gardner, who made several big catches but also had a ball stripped from him and apparently had some assignment errors, Jagodzinski didn't pull punches.
"He knows what's expected of him," he said. "Consistency. Go play like a pro. That's what's expected of him. There's nothing else to say about him. Play like a pro. Come out here and go to work. Bring your lunch bucket and go. I'm not just on him. It's on the group. When one guy does it, it harms the whole group, all 11 of them."
When asked about rookie receiver Cory Rodgers, who continues to struggle holding on to the ball, he said, "He's inconsistent. We need to be more consistent in practice in catching balls and making plays."
When asked about false start penalties committed by left tackles Junius Coston and Josh Bourke, which earned them immediate banishment to the sideline, Jagodzinski said, "As soon as they have one of those they're out. You can't do that to your football team. If you're first and 10, now you're sitting there first and 15. Everybody is responsible to everybody else. You have to get 11 guys going in the same direction.
"The pre-snap stuff bothers me a lot. It wrecks the tempo of practice. We're all about tempo and being fast. We want to get in 70 plays a game. We're not going to do that doing what we did today."
Familiar ground: Just four days after attending the Hall of Fame induction of his late father, Reggie White, JeremyWhite visited practice.
Jeremy, his mother, Sara, and sister Jecolia, were in Milwaukee for a fund-raiser at the Sleep Wellness Institute and decided to make a side trip to Green Bay. One of the motivations for coming back to where the family made its home from 1993-'98 was to interview Brett Favre for a DVD Sara is making about Reggie White's life.
"They have a ton of people (on it)," Jeremy White said. "We have everyone from Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin to Eugene Robinson and LeRoy Butler. My mom said, 'We don't have Brett.' So that's what we came up for."
Jeremy, 20, left many friends in the area, but he said most have gone on to college, as he has and weren't around to visit with. So he came to practice to see how the team his father helped lead to a Super Bowl title was doing.
"Last time I was at a practice I was like 8 or 9 and I was with my cousin," Jeremy said. "For some reason they told me don't call him Uncle Reggie, don't call him Dad. I don't know what it was. Maybe they didn't want people to think we were getting special treatment. We had to call him Mr. White."
Jeremy White said he had no problem with the Packers contingent that attended the ceremony having to leave before Reggie White's induction so they could get back for the team's annual intrasquad scrimmage.
"They said, ‘We have to get back to our scrimmage; there's 70,000 people waiting,'" White said. "I said, ‘You don't have to tell me twice. I know how Green Bay is. They come out to everything.'"
Injury list: Jagodzinski conceded to a degree of surprise when guard Jason Spitz practiced Wednesday less than 24 hours after limping off with a high-ankle injury. Spitz was moving somewhat gingerly but made it through a full workout.
"I wouldn't even classify that as tough," Spitz said. "At this point in camp everybody's got something. If it hurts you ice it down afterwards and you get over it. I wanted to go back out yesterday, but they wouldn't let me. Brought me in for X-rays. I'm fine. Not a big deal."
Said Jagodzinski: "We need more guys like that."
Quarterback rotation: Favre will start, Aaron Rodgers will play the most and the plan is to play both Ingle Martin and Brian Wrobel Saturday night in San Diego, according to Jagodzinski.
"Coach (McCarthy) and Ted (Thompson) will decide how many snaps Brett will get," Jagodzinski said.
Injury update: Offensive tackle Will Whitticker said he had an MRI performed on his injured hamstring on Tuesday and was awaiting the results.
Whitticker, who was injured last Friday in practice, said he was told there was a buildup of fluid around the area, making it more difficult to perform the test. Whitticker said he did not know if he has suffered a bad hamstring tear or just a pull.
Wide receiver Greg Jennings, meanwhile, is hopeful of returning from a hip injury in time for the game Saturday. Jagodzinski said the coaches were hopeful rest would allow him to heal in time to play.
Short yardage: Former Packers quarterback and coach Bart Starr watched practice and was scheduled to speak to the team Wednesday night . . . Linebacker Brady Poppinga worked again in seven-on-seven drills but did not take part in any team work . . . Kicker Billy Cundiff nailed all six of his attempts: from 31, 31, 34, 36, 41 and 48 yards. Dave Rayner missed wide left on a 41-yarder.
Bob McGinn of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
From the Aug. 10, 2006 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By TOM SILVERSTEIN
tsilverstein@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 9, 2006
Green Bay - After a rather mild start to training camp, Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski added a little spice Wednesday with a salty evaluation of his unit's practice performance.
Jagodzinski identified a couple of individuals who weren't holding up their end of the bargain but laid into the entire unit for its uneven display.
"Inconsistency," fumed Jagodzinski. "Pre-snap penalties. Guys not lining up the right way, jumping offside. All that is is focus and it ain't nothing to do with talent. I could tell you to line up right and you'd go right. I could tell you to line up left and you'd go left. All that is is (lack of) consistency and lack of focus. Today really bothered me. It's not going to be tolerated."
Coach Mike McCarthy eliminated the night practice and changed the morning workout from a full-padded practice to shorts and shells (lightweight shoulder padding), but that didn't seem to motivate the team. There were drops, penalties, fumbles and interceptions.
The Packers have two practices today and a walk-through Friday before their exhibition opener against the San Diego Chargers. Given it will be McCarthy's first game as Packers coach and a sloppy performance would reflect poorly on the coaches, it's understandable why Jagodzinski was pitching a fit.
"You have to string good practices together," Jagodzinski said. "Set the bar and you don't accept anything less than that. I don't care. Get with the program. It's not like they don't know what to expect. The young guys they have to grow up fast."
When asked about veteran wide receiver Rod Gardner, who made several big catches but also had a ball stripped from him and apparently had some assignment errors, Jagodzinski didn't pull punches.
"He knows what's expected of him," he said. "Consistency. Go play like a pro. That's what's expected of him. There's nothing else to say about him. Play like a pro. Come out here and go to work. Bring your lunch bucket and go. I'm not just on him. It's on the group. When one guy does it, it harms the whole group, all 11 of them."
When asked about rookie receiver Cory Rodgers, who continues to struggle holding on to the ball, he said, "He's inconsistent. We need to be more consistent in practice in catching balls and making plays."
When asked about false start penalties committed by left tackles Junius Coston and Josh Bourke, which earned them immediate banishment to the sideline, Jagodzinski said, "As soon as they have one of those they're out. You can't do that to your football team. If you're first and 10, now you're sitting there first and 15. Everybody is responsible to everybody else. You have to get 11 guys going in the same direction.
"The pre-snap stuff bothers me a lot. It wrecks the tempo of practice. We're all about tempo and being fast. We want to get in 70 plays a game. We're not going to do that doing what we did today."
Familiar ground: Just four days after attending the Hall of Fame induction of his late father, Reggie White, JeremyWhite visited practice.
Jeremy, his mother, Sara, and sister Jecolia, were in Milwaukee for a fund-raiser at the Sleep Wellness Institute and decided to make a side trip to Green Bay. One of the motivations for coming back to where the family made its home from 1993-'98 was to interview Brett Favre for a DVD Sara is making about Reggie White's life.
"They have a ton of people (on it)," Jeremy White said. "We have everyone from Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin to Eugene Robinson and LeRoy Butler. My mom said, 'We don't have Brett.' So that's what we came up for."
Jeremy, 20, left many friends in the area, but he said most have gone on to college, as he has and weren't around to visit with. So he came to practice to see how the team his father helped lead to a Super Bowl title was doing.
"Last time I was at a practice I was like 8 or 9 and I was with my cousin," Jeremy said. "For some reason they told me don't call him Uncle Reggie, don't call him Dad. I don't know what it was. Maybe they didn't want people to think we were getting special treatment. We had to call him Mr. White."
Jeremy White said he had no problem with the Packers contingent that attended the ceremony having to leave before Reggie White's induction so they could get back for the team's annual intrasquad scrimmage.
"They said, ‘We have to get back to our scrimmage; there's 70,000 people waiting,'" White said. "I said, ‘You don't have to tell me twice. I know how Green Bay is. They come out to everything.'"
Injury list: Jagodzinski conceded to a degree of surprise when guard Jason Spitz practiced Wednesday less than 24 hours after limping off with a high-ankle injury. Spitz was moving somewhat gingerly but made it through a full workout.
"I wouldn't even classify that as tough," Spitz said. "At this point in camp everybody's got something. If it hurts you ice it down afterwards and you get over it. I wanted to go back out yesterday, but they wouldn't let me. Brought me in for X-rays. I'm fine. Not a big deal."
Said Jagodzinski: "We need more guys like that."
Quarterback rotation: Favre will start, Aaron Rodgers will play the most and the plan is to play both Ingle Martin and Brian Wrobel Saturday night in San Diego, according to Jagodzinski.
"Coach (McCarthy) and Ted (Thompson) will decide how many snaps Brett will get," Jagodzinski said.
Injury update: Offensive tackle Will Whitticker said he had an MRI performed on his injured hamstring on Tuesday and was awaiting the results.
Whitticker, who was injured last Friday in practice, said he was told there was a buildup of fluid around the area, making it more difficult to perform the test. Whitticker said he did not know if he has suffered a bad hamstring tear or just a pull.
Wide receiver Greg Jennings, meanwhile, is hopeful of returning from a hip injury in time for the game Saturday. Jagodzinski said the coaches were hopeful rest would allow him to heal in time to play.
Short yardage: Former Packers quarterback and coach Bart Starr watched practice and was scheduled to speak to the team Wednesday night . . . Linebacker Brady Poppinga worked again in seven-on-seven drills but did not take part in any team work . . . Kicker Billy Cundiff nailed all six of his attempts: from 31, 31, 34, 36, 41 and 48 yards. Dave Rayner missed wide left on a 41-yarder.
Bob McGinn of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
From the Aug. 10, 2006 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel