McCarthy Q&A

[Patler]

I thought that once he gave a 4-line answer about how he isn't worried about his contract, that McGinn might have figured out from past interviewing experience that if he says he isn't worried about it, he isn't gonna talk about it. Evidently he hasn't learned that yet. Maybe after this interview?

My impression was that he started the interview with a goal of finding controversy between MM and the organization or more likely between MM and TT. He tried to ask enough questions to get SOMETHING he could later use as evidence of a controversy.

[Bretsky]

Why would we have done that???

Not sure what the salary we'd have had to give him for a franchise RB would be, but we are 13 Million under the cap.

I'm not sure you franchise him, but if you want to win now it buys him another year to develop the youngyans who might not be ready yet.

On the other hand, he could have just got it done before FA; but we've beaten that one to death already

[Packnut]

MM

All I ask from MM is to NOT call a freakin slant on 1st and goal from the 1

[vince]

Deleted - not sure what happened, but I edited my original post and it reposted it as new...

[RashanGary]

I agree, Patler.

He could have asked more open ended questions. Give McCarthy some oppertunites to talk and let his ideas out. You never know, if you let a guy talk and make him feel comfortable you might have a guy start spilling things that he's proud of or things that he's unsure of.

When you go in and make assertions and then set up a situation where all the coach can do is defend the assertions, then you end up in a situation like what we have here and you get very little meaningfull dialog. McGinn probably thinks he's a hard hitter and that he's a bad ass. Not the case, I'm affraid. I've seen many really strong and well reasoned posters have very negative views of McGinns interview tactics. I could care less if you want to dig up the dirty, that is their job, but he's not doing a very good job getting it.

[Maxie the Taxi]

A. I'm very comfortable with my salary. I'm blessed to have this position. To sit there and complain about what you make, you'll never hear me do that.

Talk about old school!

[Patler]

Why would we have done that???

Not sure what the salary we'd have had to give him for a franchise RB would be, but we are 13 Million under the cap.

$6.999 million for RBs in 2007.

[HarveyWallbangers]

I believe the Packers went after FAs they didn't get, so I doubt they expected to be $13M under the cap when they didn't match the 4y/$26M contract that Houston gave Ahman.

If the OL doesn't block, it doesn't matter if we have Ahman in his prime. Those guys need to improve in year 2. Ahman averaged 4.0 yards/carry last year. I'll be interested to see what Brandon Jackson averages this year.

[Bretsky]

I believe the Packers went after FAs they didn't get, so I doubt they expected to be $13M under the cap when they didn't match the 4y/$26M contract that Houston gave Ahman.

If the OL doesn't block, it doesn't matter if we have Ahman in his prime. Those guys need to improve in year 2. Ahman averaged 4.0 yards/carry last year. I'll be interested to see what Brandon Jackson averages this year.

Bottom line is we didn't make it happen in FA, whether we tried or not. I would be a bit curious as to what decently high priced FA's we went after; from what I've read they were all third tier type guys.

Regardless, what's done is done and we have what we have with 13,000,000 in cap space

Key is the OL and I'd completely agree with that

[vince]

More from Coach McCarthy. Looks like he's made himself available this week for one-on-one interviews for any and all takers...

He sure is a straight shooter. He seemed a little edgy at times in this interview. He's gotta be relieved they're over...

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/sports/packers/227994

Packers: McCarthy expects the best
By JASON WILDE
608-252-6176
jwilde@madison.com

GREEN BAY — The PR machine that is the NFL sends out a booklet before each season kicks off full of nuggets to promote itself as the most popular sport in America. This year's had two interesting headlines within the first three pages.

The NFL: Unpredictable!

The NFL: More exciting than ever!

Below those screaming headlines, some pretty interesting information followed.

Seven of the 12 teams that made the playoffs in 2006 were not in the playoffs in 2005. That marked the 11th straight season in which at least five teams qualified for the postseason after staying home the previous year. And three teams — Baltimore, New Orleans and Philadelphia — won their divisions after finishing last in the division a year earlier.

Did you catch that, Green Bay Packers fans?

It is against this it's-anybody's-ballgame backdrop that the Packers open their second season under Mike McCarthy Sunday at Lambeau Field against Philadelphia. And McCarthy, while unwilling to make any predictions about his team, believes it has as good a chance as anybody to end up in Glendale, Ariz., in Super Bowl XLII.

"The vision has been confirmed, the course we're taking. Our program is in place, the foundation is set, and we need to start seeing the dividends," McCarthy said. "You're never going to get me to talk about wins or losses, because I do not view it that way. I don't think there's a football coach alive that's ever gone into a game let alone a season and just said you hope you do this, you hope to do that. We're trying to win every football game.

"We're going to win the world championship here in Green Bay again. That's the view, that's the vision. We've made progress towards that goal, and we need to continue to have those small successes as we build toward that goal, and that's the way I view it."

While realism would tell you that the goal won't be achieved this year, McCarthy isn't conceding anything. Last week, he sat down for an extended question-and-answer session in his office. An edited transcript of that conversation follows.

WSJ: At your training camp-opening news conference, when you were asked where the offensive improvement would come from, your response was, "From within." Then, you added, "That's what I'm selling — doesn't look like you're buying it." After the way camp played out, why should people buy that now?

Mike McCarthy: Because I definitely feel like we have some talented young players here that are only going to improve. And I think they have improved. I think we made a lot of progress throughout training camp. The injuries at the running back can create concern, that's understandable, but also it gave some young players a lot of opportunities they wouldn't have had. The development of Brandon Jackson was pushed even further ahead than it would be in a normal training-camp environment. I think our tight end group has improved, just the confidence they're playing with. The offensive line is clearly better than it was last year at this time, and I think our receiver group is much improved. And now we add James Jones to that bunch, and Greg Jennings just has to stay healthy, because he's an up-and-coming young player. On defense, it's pretty much the same guys, and how can you argue with the confidence and intensity they're playing with? So I definitely feel our football team has improved, and it's come from within.

WSJ: At running back, you go into the opener with a guy who missed all of training camp with a knee injury (Vernand Morency), two rookies who also missed parts of camp with injuries (Brandon Jackson and DeShawn Wynn) and a guy you got in a trade on cut-down day (Ryan Grant). What makes you think you can have success running the ball with that group?

MM: How much time did it take you to make that question sound so positive? (Laughs.) I tell you, my only concern with the running back group is the medical condition of it. Because a big part of their performance is illustrated by their availability. If Morency would have taken all his snaps, I wouldn't be concerned about him. Brandon I'm excited about because I see a young, talented player that's improving all the time. DeShawn Wynn could be that same type of guy. He's a very talented, instinctive player who just needs to play. I feel good about the way we're going into the game and what we're asking them to do. We need to put them in positions to be successful, and I feel we have a good plan to do that (against the Eagles).

WSJ: You said the other day that your ideal way to play is to run it 55 times and hold the ball for 40 minutes. Last year, though, Brett Favre threw a career-high 613 passes. With your running backs and your quarterback, what's more realistic?

MM: To me, when you put together an offensive scheme, the scheme has to have the flexibility to take advantage of all your players. And then, who are you playing? How does your offense match up against their defense, and what's it going to take to beat that team? What is the path, the course you're going to take to win that football game? That's how we'll view every game.

WSJ: You have one of the youngest teams in the league for the second straight year, with an average age of 25.7 and 28 rookies, first- or second-year players. And yet that doesn't seem to faze you at all.

MM: They're well-coached.

WSJ: Good one.

MM: I wasn't kidding. But that's the challenge of it. I think we're doing a really good job of that, just with what we've done from Year 1 to Year 2. I think it's very obvious that there's improvement going on throughout the football team. Look at the defensive back group, the young safeties and young corners. (Defensive tackle) Johnny Jolly. Our offensive linemen. Greg Jennings. Aaron Rodgers. The program is in place to take these young players and develop them at a quick rate. That's where we are right now. I can't change the youth of our football team. I'm just trying to take advantage of it. There's a lot of positives to being young, too.

WSJ: Like?

MM: They don't have bad habits. What they don't have in experience they make up for it with a little bit of blind faith, unconditional trust, doing it the right way. There's positives to youth.

WSJ: So you've talked a lot about getting Favre to take fewer risks and manage the game more. Coaches have wanted him to do that forever. What makes you think you and your staff will actually get him to do that?

MM: First of all, it's the responsibility of the quarterback. As far as risk, Brett's responsibility is to run the offense — keep himself in the best-available-play mindset, and then execute. That's what he does best. When you get outside the box and do things you may have done before because you had this guy and that guy, that's not in our best interest. He's a very bright football player. He has a ton of knowledge (and) an experience level that's second-to-none. There's so much to tap into.

WSJ: How much of your philosophy of reining Favre in is related to how good you think your defense will be?

MM: The thing about Brett, more than anybody I've ever coached, you can't jump up and applaud him when he makes that keyhole throw and say, "Man, what a great throw." And I think that's happened a lot to him. "That's a phenomenal throw." Frankly, he made a throw in the Seattle game that he had no business throwing, and it was a touchdown. So everyone's all high-fiving him and this and that, and I said, "You got away with one there." And he's like, "Ride me, dog. Ride me. I'm hot." And I'm like, "Hot my (expletive)." It's important to be in-tune with that. He can make those throws, but he doesn't need to try to do that all the time. Maybe there was a point he had to do that. I don't know; I wasn't here. The guy can still throw the football very accurately, as instinctively as anybody playing. His ability to put the ball in tight spots is very good. The one thing he can do to clearly change our offense is, if we rise our completion percentage to 63 percent-plus, and we cut those interceptions down, we're going to get a lot of production from the passing game. Because the one thing this team can do on offense is throw the football.

WSJ: The four-game winning streak at the end of the year last year to finish 8-8 raised expectations. Is it fair for fans to expect you to win 10 games this year and make the playoffs?

MM: We have an obligation to the fans to make sure we put a team on the field they can be proud of and buy into, as far as expectations. All I can tell you is we're building off what we accomplished last year. We've ridden the wave through the offseason program, through training camp. This football team is improving. I'm trying to win them all. That's what I give you. I'm not going to predict how many games we win. I'll be disappointed if we don't win enough of them to put us in position to get to Arizona (for Super Bowl XLII). That's my outlook. And I think it's a cop-out to stand in front of the football team and say it's OK to do enough to get you another opportunity.

WSJ: You tried a few different things in camp — no practices on Wednesdays, taking a non-traditional approach to the final two preseason games. How much of the reasoning behind that was the need for a fast start after this team has started each of the last three seasons 1-4?

MM: No. 1, the Wednesdays off, we did work on Wednesdays. We just didn't practice. Everybody thinks I had this big, soft camp up here. It cracks me up, because I thought it was a pretty physical camp. The preseason games, I felt like I had to because of all the injuries. I really feel like it's a credit to being in-tune with the pulse of your football team. That's my job, and that's how I go about it. There's two different ways of being a head coach as far as how much interaction you have with your team, and I need to be down there amongst them and have my finger on the pulse. The training-camp schedule was a quote-unquote "big risk," but it was something I felt very comfortable about. I'll be honest with you: I didn't even ask anybody opinion on it. I just did it. I didn't call a single head coach and ask them what they thought. Because I knew that, based on the conversations I had with people in the strength-and-conditioning community, that that was the best thing for my football team. I talked to Ted about it, and he was in favor of it because he doesn't want to get anybody hurt. But I felt very confident in doing it, and we're going to do it moving forward because it worked. It's a good idea that worked. And I feel good about that.

WSJ: Your predecessor, Mike Sherman, had a lot of success here, but a lot of people in this building thought he was too serious and too uptight. You said last year that it was your understanding that there was an "environment of tension" around here under him. Is it important to have a little fun? Because your players seem to have responded to that approach.

MM: I had someone ask me the other day about being "laid-back." I said, "My god, laid-back? I've never considered myself laid-back." I've always thought I'd be classified as an aggressive coach, as far as the way you work your players and teach your meetings. I don't know Mike Sherman very well. The times I have been around him, I found him to be a personable, nice guy. But I've never worked with him. I know some people are different at work than they are away from work. I'll just say this: This is an incredible opportunity, but more importantly, it's an opportunity I feel I fit. I have great respect for the chair of being the head coach of the Green Bay Packers. I fully understand that. But I feel like I fit here. And the resources Bob Harlan and Ted Thompson have given me have allowed me to be myself. To say that I have fun at this job, yeah, I enjoy every second of it. I love the tough decisions, I embrace the tough conversations, because I know that's my responsibility, and I take the tougher things head-on because I know that's in the best interest of our football team. When things come up. So, what, you're saying I'm having a great time?

WSJ: It just seems like, for a lot of people, it's a little more fun to be around here than it was before.

MM: I'll say this: We've put a lot of time, a lot of conversation, into it. There were definitely walls in this organization when I got here. No doubt about that. And how they were built, you'd know more about that than I would. I felt those walls had to come down. I felt the communication had to be open. To create growth, you have to have an environment that gives you a chance to grow. Beating people down and negative reinforcement works, but it's a short-term solution. I'm not trying to win 'em all just this year, I'm trying to win 'em all every year. That's what we're trying to get done here. It's the program we're trying to build. So if it seems that way, I take that as a compliment, because that's the way we want it. It's a hard-working, positive environment that our players want to be around.

WSJ: You seem to still be a quarterbacks coach at heart, so how much satisfaction do you take in what you saw from Aaron Rodgers this preseason, and how comfortable are you with him as the starter in 2008, or whenever Favre finally steps aside?

MM: Well, I am a quarterbacks coach at heart, but (offensive line coaches James) Campen and (Jerry) Fontenot would tell you I'm really a wannabe line coach. I love offensive line play, and I love that position. Those guys don't get enough credit. But I take a lot of satisfaction in Aaron Rodgers' success, because it's nice to see a young man do that, particularly in his situation. That's a hard chair to sit in, following Brett. But I think (quarterbacks coach) Tom Clements has done a phenomenal job, and Aaron, he's more comfortable in his own skin and (his place) in this organization. Honestly, he's only going to get better. He's a talented young man. He's playing out-of-the-pocket so much better than he did last year, he's better in his decision-making, he's not always trying to make the "big throw" all the time. He's learned to take the completions and run the offense. I'm very happy with him. He's the future of our franchise, so his development is very important.

WSJ: A lot was made of what this team didn't add in the offseason. How comfortable are you with the roster you take into the opener?

MM: I'm very comfortable. The only thing I worry about is injuries. And it's really a short-term worry because it affects my game-plan. I don't concern myself with injuries over the long term because you can't control them. The only thing I ever worry about is, is he available or is he not available? There's nothing worse than someone saying he's OK and then you prepare all week for him to play in the game and then in pregame he goes, "I can't go." Everybody wants to talk about the running backs. They're talented young guys who we need to put in position to be successful, but I just want to know who's playing and how much. That's the only concern I have. Then it's our job to create that situation and it's their job to perform. Really, it's no more than that.

WSJ: Last thing. The public perception of this team, based on that lack of offseason moves, would seem to be different than what you think this team is going to do.

MM: What is the public perception?

WSJ: I think they want to believe that you guys are going to be better than you were last season, but you haven't given them much reason to think that'll happen. You signed Frank Walker in free agency, and that's it. So is this team better than people think? Are you going to surprise some people?

MM: I hope so, if they don't think we're going to be that good. I definitely think we're a team that's better than we were last year. Now, that doesn't mean anything. We've got to play the games. But I definitely feel like this is a team that's better than it was last year and has a chance to grow into something that we'll talk about for a long time. Now, if we can get from here to there, time will tell. But I'm excited about our young guys. I am. I know what the weaknesses are. And we need to try to improve on those. We've got to stay true to who we are and stay on course. There is a way to win the world's championship. We've got to find that path. And that's really staying true to our strengths. I believe that in my heart. To me, this is not a talent business. This is a character business. This is a people business. We have a lot of talent on our football team. So does every other team. But that's not what's going to win the game. It's the toughness and the character to overcome the hurdles that will be presented to us. That's how we'll win. It has nothing to do with our physical ability.

[RashanGary]

I liked that one a little better than McGinns. McGinn asked questions that only had one possible answer. This guy asked a couple of those but he also let MM ramble and in that rambling, we got some sneak peaks.

I personally love how he says he is going to be flexible as far as putting his guys in position that fits their strengths. I'm a big fan of flexibility. I also like how it sounds like the Mike Sherman office of doom has been replaced iwth open communication. That is good to hear.

[HarveyWallbangers]

MM: They're well-coached.

Nice!

[esoxx]

Regardless, what's done is done and we have what we have with 13,000,000 in cap space

Since they cut Ferguson isn't it around $15,0000?

Ah, who's keeping track anyhow.