McCarthy affirms commitment to Rodgers

July 30, 2008

 

Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy answer a question about quarterback Brett Favre at NFL football training camp .


GREEN BAY - Brett Favre or no Brett Favre, the Green Bay Packers are firmly committed to Aaron Rodgers as their starter.

And that hasn't changed after Favre formally filed for reinstatement by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Tuesday. Packers coach Mike McCarthy affirmed the team's commitment to Rodgers, saying he would start all four of the Packers' preseason games and probably get more playing time than Favre used to in the preseason.

"He'll be starting all of the games as the starter," McCarthy said of Rodgers. "We've talked about possibly playing our first group maybe a little longer, and those are things that we'll discuss. The health of your football team obviously factors into that, so that is our plan going into the preseason with Aaron."

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Rodgers insisted Favre's potential presence in training camp didn't bother him. Is that a sign of self-confidence, or a result of encouragement he has received from his coaches?

"All that, I think," Rodgers said. "Confidence in myself, confidence in how the coaches and personnel staff feel about me. And then, he's not here yet. I think we're still dealing with a hypothetical at the moment."

Teammates say Rodgers is handling the situation well.

"Aaron has handled himself very, very well," Packers tackle Mark Tauscher said. "He's obviously matured a bunch and knows the situation."

As for Favre, McCarthy said he has a plan in place. The first step would be a physical examination and conditioning test.

"The same for every player," McCarthy said. "He'll come in and he'll go through a physical. Then he will be evaluated, he'll have a run test to see where his conditioning is and we'll evaluate that, and then we'll have a practice plan for him."

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FAVRE FATIGUE? It's only two days into training camp, and players already are tired — not from the practices, but from constantly being asked about Favre.

"Anytime you have a situation where there's a distraction, or there's one guy getting all of the attention and the buzz, rather than us being able to concentrate on executing plays, it gets a little redundant," cornerback Charles Woodson said. "You get tired of questions — and it's only going to get worse if he shows up at camp tomorrow, or the next day. We've just all got to be prepared, and like I said, just be professionals."

Tauscher said it's a waste of time to think about things you can't control.

"We're going to play football," Tauscher said. "I think you're really wasting energy thinking about all that. Aaron's our quarterback and we're moving forward with him. We're just going to continue to deal with it. We can't control it. Brett and the organization will control it."

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LIFE OF BRIAN: Rookie quarterback Brian Brohm says the transition to life in the NFL has gone pretty well thanks to the progress he made during organized team activity (OTA) practices in the offseason.

"The first two days have been good," said Brohm, a second-round pick out of Louisville. "I feel pretty comfortable out there, just retaining information from the OTAs in the summer and turning it over to now. We're reinstalling the exact same things we did in OTAs, I feel like I've picked it up really well and it's coming along pretty fast."

One main area of improvement for Brohm: He's holding on to the ball too long under pressure.

"That's something I think I've improved upon in these first few days," Brohm said. "I've been getting the ball out of my hand quicker, moving when pressure's coming. It's something that I've been really focused on since OTAs because there were instances where I wasn't positively sure of where to go, so I was a little late on some throws. But now the second time through, I feel a lot more comfortable. The more reps you get, the better you're going to get at it."

Brohm has never met Favre, but that might change by the end of the week.

"Obviously if he comes back and that's what the Packers decide to do, I'm going to try to learn as much as possible from him," Brohm said. "Anytime you can learn from a future Hall of Famer, I think it's always a plus."

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NOTES: CB Tramon Williams did not fully participate in Tuesday's practice after straining a hip flexor Monday night. DTs Justin Harrell (back) and Ryan Pickett (hamstring) also were sidelined. ... Woodson jokingly chanted "We want Brett!" as players left the practice field Tuesday, but later decided he should be chanting harder for RB Ryan Grant. "My concern really is Ryan Grant," Woodson said. "When do we get that guy in camp? Because he's just as big a part of our offense as Brett is. So I should've said, 'We want Ryan Grant.' Hopefully that gets worked out." Grant, an exclusive-rights free agent, is sitting out practice in hopes of getting the team to commit to a long-term deal.

 

Associated Press