McCarthy: Hayward slowed by glute strain
Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy spoke to the media following Wednesday's practice. Here are the highlights from his news conference:
Packers injury report
OLB Andy Mulumba (knee, out), ILB Brad Jones (quadriceps, did not practice), CB Casey Hayward (glute, DNP), T Bryan Bulaga (knee, limited in practice), DB Micah Hyde (knee, limited).
On Bulaga:
Bryan went through all the walk-throughs. I don't know the exact amount of reps.
More optimistic about Bulaga?
Absolutely.
On Hayward:
Casey has a glute strain.
On cleaning up penalties:
You stay focused on the things you need to improve on. Playing within the rules is important. If you try to establish a style of play, we just emphasize it.
On Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson:
Calvin Johnson is a great player. They move him around. His ability to make big plays in all phases of the passing game is unique. He's obviously a focal point.
On the Lions' offense under new coach Jim Caldwell:
There have been changes. The utilization of the run game. There's still big-play potential.
On studying a new coach in the offseason:
You look into every coach's past history or how they may project.
On how the Packers' tight ends are doing:
After two games, I think opportunities in passing game have been limited but they improved from Week 1 to Week 2.
On Lions running back Reggie Bush:
He's an excellent football player. How we're going to go about attacking their offense, he's a weapon. He's unique. Their big-play ability with their offense is one of our toughest challenges this year.
On wide receiver Jordy Nelson's growth:
I think Jordy Nelson has been everything everybody thought he would be. He came in and contributed right away. He's a big receiver, smart and finishes catches. He does it all.
On having three straight NFC North games:
The biggest thing is the number of games in however many days are in front of us. This is a division game and we're going to take them one at a time. This is a big game going into Detroit.
On last year's Thanksgiving loss in Detroit:
It was a bad day. We lost the game. Bad day.
On the Packers defense's improvement:
We've played two games. We improved from Week 1 to Week 2 on defense.
On Lions linebacker DeAndre Levy:
New York Giants game, I thought he was outstanding. We have great respect for him. He's clearly one of their best players on defense. I really like both of those linebackers.
On Nelson's high number of touches:
Jordy Nelson's production is obviously a credit to him and the rest of our offense. However that sorts out, it's about scoring points at the end of the day.
On linebacker Andy Mulumba's knee injury:
He's lost for the season. Very unfortunate.
On recent NFL developments with Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice:
It's important to check your mail. We've definitely done that. We've talked about it as a football team.