Mike McCarthy: Training camp, himself, winning championships

Mike McCarthy, the Green Bay Packers head coach entering his twelfth season in the NFL, nearly leaped onto the podium this morning as he addressed the media on the first day of Training Camp in Green Bay.

Take a look at the video of McCarthy’s more than 20-minute press briefing today and the first thing one notices is his excitement and desire to get the balls flying through the air and listening to the pop of pads.

Thats’ a good thing. If an NFL head coach saunters to the podium and gives reporters eight minutes of his time, then you might wonder what’s going on (other than Belichick, that is).

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But for McCarthy today, he was visibly excited. You could hear it in his answers and see it in his eyes.

He even complimented some reporters for the smartness of their questions and then did his best to answer them honestly and completely.

He even set everyone back a bit with the use of the word smartass. In fact, today was vintage Mike McCarthy – the head coach at his some of his best.

The highlights of his first presser of training camp included a rambling answer that didn’t even answer the question … but made sense, believe it or not.

Asked about the part of the team he really likes and the area the team that needs to get better, McCarthy struggled to find his footing with a concrete answer, instead launching into a rambling soliloquy about a number of variables that might determine the direction of this year’s team.

"“Number one, you like the players, you like the people. This is a hardworkin’ bunch. I think the things from the year before – it’s the worst thing in this business to think that just because you did it last year, you’re going to do it this year … to me, that falls in the category of complacency. But with that you have those lessons and those elements are still part of your locker room. But this is the ultimate team game so you have to work to pull all that together. That’s why I stay focused on the grind. Every team’s different. Our stress points are going to be different. The thresholds on how we need to get over them to be that quality team. They’re going to come at you with different timing and different people. Hopefully, the injuries aren’t a huge factor, but it’s part of the game. All those different variables, you fight through them. The goal here has never changed. It’s been the same since day one. So, you have to stack success and you obviously have to get into the playoffs to get to the Super Bowl. In my younger years I’d come in here and answer those questions and the problem is I actually thought about them. Now I don’t even think about it … I thought about it because I wanted to give you a good answer. Now I’m comfortable about not giving you the good answer. That’s the reality of it. I’m not trying to be a smartass, I just focus on what we need to do. You got so many things … there are so many things you did in the old days … that are obviously still good, but training your team smarter is the way [of] the last decade or so in this league … you have to be in tune with that. Trying to find a balance to training your team the right way … also to get them ready to win a championship.”"

Whew! I wasn’t sure he would ever get to the end of that. But the best quote of the day came just after that last answer. He was asked if there was a positive carryover effect from winning eight straight games at the end of the 2016 season:

"“Oh, absolutely. If you want to get into a deep philosophical conversation … I said this back in ’06 … programs win championships. I never said … sell the farm and be a one-year wonder. That’s never been the way we’re going to do it here. That’s clear cut. That’s not the way we do business. That’s not our philosophy. We build a program and keep investing in that program, bringing in the younger players and you gotta keep growing. Those eight playoff victories are a clear reflection of a championship level program. That’s the reality of it. My focus is on continuing to grow that … and learn from the past  years. We’ve always focused on the program. We’ve never sold out to win one game. That’s our mode of operation.”"

In addition to talking about the young running back corps and just about every other phase of the team and the plans for training camp, he even talked about what it was like as a coach to prepare for training camp.

“I’m very fortunate to have a loving wife and five … children. The training is getting harder. I’m training during the summer time, but you have to get away. I spend most of my time in Green Bay and going up to Door County on the weekends … just gettin’ ready and going back through it and staying focused on the details.”

One questioner asked McCarthy on whether the plan is changed at this time of year or whether there are adjustments made. Here is what McCarthy said.

“I think your plan is always evolving because I think it has to,” he said. “We’ve got 12 years and there’s a lot of detail that goes into planning a training camp, a lot of time. You have to get to get better each year on how you train your team … the new wrinkles each year … the running back group … they’re young. You have to make sure they get more fundamental work. You’re always tilting the drill work.”

On the question about the Packers chances of tying the record of consecutive playoff appearances with nine: “Very nice question … never thought about it. I don’t think about records. Why we are successful is because we stay in tune with the practicality. Now it’s getting back to football … 30-plus rookies in camp. they need to learn how to practice the Green Bay Packers way. We have to get that started tomorrow. It’s about stacking success each and every day and how you install, how you teach, how you emphasize. how you transfer the energy into practice. It’s one thing to run around in underwear and helmets … we have to get these guys ready for these padded practices …” He also talked about fundamentals and footwork and said that training camp is the “last time” the players will have the opportunity to fix and perfect their fundamentals because once they get into the season it’s all about schemes.”

On Ty Montgomery making the full-time move to running back:

"“He’s just stepped out in front and keeps on going. Frankly, he’s been able to focus on the position, so … very comfortable in understanding the details … to be able to rep those things from day one helps him out a lot … he looks good. I’m very pleased with the way he’s stepped to the front of the class.”"

Next: Predicting the Packers 53-man roster

On the defensive backfield, McCarthy said the players, for the most part are healthy. He said he feels really good about the players in camp and that it’s going to be an extremely competitive camp.

On the fact that  Martellus Bennett slept in the locker room Tuesday night … “I didn’t check, but I heard all about it. I was here late last night, so he came after I left … I usually don’t check lockers for people sleeping.”

On the single cutdown of players this year, McCarthy said that anytime coaches have a chance to coach players longer, it’s a benefit. “I think it will be a benefit in the fourth preseason game in August.”