McCarthy: 'You don't own success, it's rented'
Packers coach Mike McCarthy spoke to the media on Sunday morning. Here are some highlights from his news conference:
On Corey Linsley:
Corey Linsley will attempt to do some work today. We’ll get a better idea of where Corey is and a number of our guys.
On Damarious Randall:
He’s in that same group.
On Detroit Lions’ confidence:
They look very confident. Obviously winning here and the last two, big victory on Thanksgiving Day. The video has been good.
On their turnaround:
They lost some close games. The change in offense has definitely helped them. Three wides, one back, one tight end focus is their best personnel group in my opinion. That’s what made them look different. Frankly, I think they played good defense all year.
On Sunday schedule:
Players were in the weight room this morning. We’ll correct Chicago game and then practice.
On Eddie Lacy’s ball security:
We need to be at the top of our game. Just like everybody. You usually practice about the same amount of time. There’s only so many things you can emphasize when you line up. We spend a lot of time on taking the ball away, take away drills, catches the ball, ball security drills. I think it definitely reflects in our turnover ratio in my time here. The team with the football has the best chance to win. When you’re minus-two, that’s what happens. You have a hard time winning the game.
On Andrew Quarless:
He won’t practice today. He won’t be activated today, but maybe this week.
On Aaron Rodgers being out of sync with receivers:
I think anytime things aren’t quite what they should be, you have to look at the details. It goes back to preparation. You have so much time on the field. We’re stressed a little bit this week. We’ll have a full Thursday practice tomorrow and our competitive combination drills.
On Thursday-to-Thursday games:
I don’t recall ever playing two Thursday games. Every time you play division games back-to-back is a challenge. There’s a different intensity to them. Playing back-to-back Thursday, frankly I hope we don’t do it every other year. If we don’t do it for 10 years, that would be great.
On quarterbacks/receivers issues with them being in the same room:
I think anytime you increase the opportunity to have more time to communicate and evaluate and be together in one room, there’s more to come out of it. The details are not what it’s supposed to be. I think we need to get more results. You look to improve communication.
On Aaron Rodgers’ players only meeting:
As far as the meeting with players only, I’m not aware of it. If it happened, it probably had to be away from here. There’s meetings that go on all the time. Offensive meeting, defensive meeting, you seem to talk about things when things are going well. We’ve been talking a lot more about preparation. There’s key points in every season. Once we get to the holiday season, their demands are going to go higher and they need to do a better job at work. There’s been more to talk about on offense because of the lack of production. You’ll have to ask the players. We didn’t have it during work hours.
On getting more from tight ends:
Keep working. Just have to detail your work. I wish I had something really smart to say to you about that, but it’s about working on the field. I can promise you the preparation is on point. Frankly, the way they practiced on Tuesday I felt very confident about our preparation. When you’re doing group things at a high level and group stuff is getting away from us, you have to look at the individual. That’ll be a big part of my message to the team.
On if fundamental errors are frustrating:
Let's make it clear - we've been successful here. Success, you don't own success, it's rented. You have to earn it every day. I love our players, but I hate losing as much as everybody. I was disappointed. I was frustrated. The games that are close always comes down to the details. Minus-2 football games, I'll never be happy about that.