McCarthy: Packers' young quarterbacks struggling

GREEN BAY - The Green Bay Packers are conducting their final organized team activities session Tuesday before closing out the offseason with a three-day minicamp next week.

Coach Mike McCarthy spoke to the media before Tuesday’s practice, and the following is a summary of his remarks:

(On the young quarterbacks) "I think the young quarterbacks have struggled, and really offensively we haven’t practiced very well. And that’s normal this time of year. The defense is normally ahead of you. I’m looking forward to getting back on the field today. The work the last two practices has not been very good for the whole offense. With that being said, I think these guys are playing uphill right now, which is good for them. We have two more installs to go through. Install Seven today and we’ll install No. 8 tomorrow. Then will review Thursday and Friday. And then we’ll get into the review practices next week. History will tell you that’s when it starts to flip a little bit and the offense gets more productive. We’re kind of going through that phase right now."

(On Jordy Nelson being two years removed from knee surgery) "Well, it’s all about sharpening your skills. The proof is in the pudding. Any time you come back from a major injury, history would support a jump in the second year. Because that first year back, there’s a number of different thresholds you have to get over. So now Jordy is here working on the specifics of getting better, not only himself but working on the other quarterbacks and we have receivers and concepts that we may have in and so forth. It’s not that rehab component of we have to get to the next spot and get to the next spot and get back. I think that in itself is a big key for Jordy or any player in a second year coming off of a major injury."

(On Davon House helping the rookies at their hotel) "It’s giving back. We all need to do that both personally and professionally, and I think that’s a great example of being in tune with the big picture and it’s about the team and improving as a team. The message when we walked off the field in our last practice — and this is normal, you always have a sizable gap between your veteran players and your first year players, it needs to start to close especially before we depart next Thursday just as far as what we’re doing because how we’re doing it takes time, we understand that, and our veterans know that. They understand that the bottom half of the roster or however you view it, the newer people, we need to close that gap and come together. It’s all about the opportunity to be an excellent football team."

(On second-year safeties Kentrell Brice and Marwin Evans) "You look at the safety position, in my view it’s a primary position on defense — your pass rushers, your corners and the safety position, and if you want to take it a step further it’s their ability to play more than one position. We don’t play just with a traditional free safety and strong safety, they’re interchangeable. That speaks volumes about Ha Ha (Clinton-Dix) and Morgan (Burnett), and our young guys are able to do the same. But the ability to play the dime linebacker, the nickel, the star and the other positions, versatility is a very important characteristic of our safety group and we’ll obviously emphasize that as we move forward."