McCarthy: Packers feel 'sense of urgency'
Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy spoke with media briefly Friday morning for the final time until his team hosts the Detroit Lions on Sunday at Lambeau Field. Here are some highlights of his conversation.
On secondary being healthy: The secondary, the whole health of our football team, particularly the players we’re not sure of yet, today obviously gives us more information. The defensive secondary, it gives you the chance to go out and play the way you’ve been playing. We put our corners on islands a lot, so it helps you out there.
On Sam Shields’ health after returning to practice from shoulder injury: Sam is doing good. Going through different techniques and so forth.
On Lions defensive changes from years past: Well, they haven’t had a whole lot of personnel changes. There’s a lot of players there from last year, and just really the defensive tackles is the only major changes. But there’s definitely similarities from last year to this year. They’re very talented. It’s a very sound defense. This is going to be a tough, challenging football game. It always is (Vic interrupts) and their defense is a good challenge.
On Damarious Randall’s success: Well, I mean, Damarious Randall, very talented young man and has made big plays. I think like any young player, you just look for that consistency week in and week out. Obviously he had a lot more opportunities last week and very pleased with the progress that he’s making
On Casey Hayward’s chances of playing Sunday after passing concussion protocol: I hope so. Today will be a good today, and he did some things yesterday. I feel like he’s progressing nicely.
On Ron Wolf being honored this weekend: I look at my experience with Ron Wolf in ’99, you could just see the program, the Packer Way of what he established in the ‘90s here in Green Bay. It was a great comparison for me as a young coach to come from one organization, the Kansas City Chiefs, a successful organization, to have something to compare it to. So I was always thankful for that opportunity, but getting to know Ron more on a personal level, really away from football. I’ve been on some trips with him and really just to hear his perspective, being in the room with Ron and Tony LaRussa and Tom Crean and Jack Harbaugh, some of these trips we’ve done, just to hear just to hear a philosophical conversation, you get a better understanding of what he’s all about, his love for baseball, his other interests, obviously. So this is obviously a very special weekend for him, and we’re all very proud of what he’s accomplished. He’s being recognized for what he’s accomplished.
On how team has responded after consecutive losses: Just a sense of urgency. Trust me, everybody understands the importance of performance every week. so we poured our energy and our urgency into beating the Detroit Lions. That’s all we’re focused on. I felt very good walking off the field yesterday with our padded work. I thought our energy was definitely where it needed to be, and the film reflected that. So we’re working through the week. It’s been a good week so far.
-rwood@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @ByRyanWood