Chris Havel meets w/Mike McCarthy in his office
Posted Apr. 02, 2006
Chris Havel
McCarthy putting his stamp on the Packers
You can tell a lot about a man by the office he inherits.
“This is really nice,†I say.
“Too nice,†Mike McCarthy replies.
How nice, I think, that McCarthy can see the forest for the cherry wood. The Green Bay Packers’ first-year coach seems to appreciate the fine leather upholstery and the neatly polished credenza, but not as much as he finds the extravagance unnecessary, if not embarrassing.
Hand-me-downs can be so uncomfortable.
McCarthy’s office is showroom perfect. His team? Not so much.
Not yet, anyway.
Here’s the good news:
The situation isn’t ideal, but it is correctable. And after a 75-minute meeting with the new coach Friday afternoon, I am beginning to see why GM Ted Thompson chose McCarthy to run the team.
McCarthy, 42, is a down-to-earth, shot-and-beer kind of guy. Circumstance is teaching him to be a grin-and-bear-it kind of guy.
Busy first 3 months
When he was hired in January, he said he was stepping into his dream home. All it needed was a few coats of paint and some light housekeeping.
Manners, professional courtesy and good sense kept him from saying, “That, and a wrecking ball.â€ÂÂ
Let’s recap the events almost three months into McCarthy’s tenure.
• Brett Favre, the future Hall of Famer at quarterback, isn’t sure whether he wants to play or retire.
• Javon Walker, the team’s most talented receiver, is certain he’d rather retire than play for the Packers.
• Free agency hasn’t been the free spending free-for-all some hoped.
• Thompson re-signed defensive end Aaron Kampman, and acquired nose tackle Ryan Pickett and safety Marquand Manuel. He signed a slew of players to cost-effective, salary cap-friendly, one-year deals.
On the surface, it appears the Packers’ offseason has been an exercise in frugality, if not futility. Fans need to realize what matters most is that this offseason hasn’t been an exercise in frivolity.
Deserves a chance
While Favre ponders, Walker blusters, free agency drags and the NFL draft draws near, McCarthy restructures, reorganizes and redefines practically every aspect of the team.
We know when the free-agent signing period ends. What I want to know is when the coach’s honeymoon begins?
It’s as if some fans are so preoccupied with Favre, Walker and the moves Thompson didn’t make that they forget McCarthy’s been on the job just two months, not two years. Some fans are down on him before he’s had a chance to lose his first game.
Certainly, the doom-and-gloom outlook may be dead-on as this season unfolds, but I detected nothing of the sort inside the team’s headquarters. McCarthy’s office may have all the comforts, but the one luxury the Packers’ coaches can’t afford is self-pity.
There is too much work to be done, and too much potential to be realized, to be derailed by negativity. The atmosphere and the energy  like the new coach  bears little or no resemblance to what came before.
Thompson believes in building through the draft, and McCarthy believes in gearing everything with younger players’ needs in mind.
He moved the April minicamp to May so players have seven weeks to focus on the new strength and conditioning program. He also pushed it back so the rookies and veterans could begin on equal footing.
His training camp schedule enables the coaches to review that day’s film between practices. If a player isn’t making progress, it increases the odds the problem will be identified and corrected.
“When you compete against a guy every day, you tend to learn their strengths and weaknesses,†he said. “Thereâà ¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s so much good film to learn from, and the quantity, too. In the old system, you’d get backed up. You couldn’t watch all that film.â€ÂÂ
McCarthy intends to burn the midnight oil during the offseason, in general, and the minicamps, in particular, to hit training camp running.
“Iââ⠀šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢ve told the guys from Day One, if you don’t know what you’re supposed to do by June 22, your chances of making the football team are not very high. When training camp starts, I’m not looking to wear out our team to find the best 53. To me, I’d rather wear them out in March, April, May and June.
“When we get to training camp, we’ve got to come together. We’ve got to solidify our timing and rhythm, and we’ve got to come out of the gate fast. History shows you’ve got to start fast to make the playoffs.â€ÂÂ
Once the season starts, McCarthy has no intention of working 20-hour days and sleeping in his office. He also has no desire to fuss and fret over a game plan once it’s in place on Saturday morning.
“If it isn’t set by then, it’s already too late,†he said.
McCarthy, who will call plays from the sideline, stressed that the quarterback-play caller relationship is vital.
“The communication between the quarterback and play caller has got to be ongoing and consistent. You’re limiting your ability to succeed if you don’t do that,†he said. “When you call plays in the NFL, that quarterback has to know exactly why you called that play. He may not like it. He may want something else. But when I call that play, he has to know why I called it. If he doesn’t know, we haven’t spent enough time together.â€ÂÂ
He said that coming together occurs during the minicamps.
“I don’t call plays off the seat of my pants. I work way too hard to operate like that. But you have to be on the same page. I refer to it as the push and pull concept. If I’m pushing the envelope as a play caller, you’ve got to have the discipline as a quarterback to pull back if it’s not there.
“ThatÃ¢à ‚¬â„¢s how you get balance. It has to be like that.â€ÂÂ
McCarthy’s play calling is based as much on the game’s flow as it is on the opponent’s tendencies.
“Halftime adjustments are way overrated. If you wait until halftime, what the heck were you doing in the first and second quarters?†he said.
McCarthy is big on utilizing the tight end as a pass catcher.
“Itââ €šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s critical to what we do,†he said. “You have to be able to attack the middle of the field.â€ÂÂ
He also said he plans to give offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski and defensive coordinator Bob Sanders the freedom to run their units as they see fit within his philosophy.
Delegating responsibility? What a concept.
After 75 minutes with McCarthy, I don’t know if I’ll like the way he coaches, but I definitely like the way he thinks.
His office is pretty sweet, too.
Re: Chris Havel meets w/Mike McCarthy in his office
Quote:
Originally Posted by motife
McCarthy is big on utilizing the tight end as a pass catcher.
“Itââ €šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s critical to what we do,†he said. “You have to be able to attack the middle of the field.â€ÂÂ
Does M3 choose Davis with the #5 to get this or is Bubba/Lee an average enough TE combo?
