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McCarthy's Monday news conference
By Tom Silverstein of the Journal Sentinel

Nov. 29, 2010 12:07 p.m. |(17) Comments

Green Bay -- Here's what Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy had to say Monday, a day after his team's 20-17 loss to the Atlanta Falcons at the Georgia Dome:

* Injuries: LB Brandon Chillar (shoulder and TE Spencer Havner (hamstring) are out this week. Didn't say how long they'd be out. RB Dimitri Nance (concussion) will go through the normal process of evaluation this week to get cleared. WR Greg Jennings (foot sprain) may miss a day of practice. CB Pat Lee (ankle) will be challenged to play this week.

* RB James Starks may have to be active this week. Asked if he was ready, McCarthy said, "He better be."

* Said he thought the passing game was outstanding against Atlanta and that's why he stayed with it. Said he never really got to his I-formation plays much.

* He defended QB Aaron Rodgers' decision to check to a quarterback sneak on second and 1 in the second quarter. "It was a good check," he said. Should have been executed.

* Of the lack of running attempts, he said it was because of the opponent and environment. "We played in a dome, a very fast track and had favorable match-ups," he said.

* Said they need to tackle better. Have been doing tackling drills three days a week since the spring and he expects better.

* On TE Tony Gonzalez's catch on 4th and 3, he said he had "no information that led me to challenge that play." He said there's obvious evidence and "blind" evidence, i.e,, the Falcons hurrying to the line of scrimmage to get the play off. He said he saw neither.

* He said he saw Gonzalez get both arms under the ball from the sideline and thought it was a good catch. He said typically referee Pete Morelli's crew is one that gets calls correct. Said he didn't see anything that indicated Gonzalez might have trapped it until much later.

* Said there was no reason to take a timeout if there's no evidence a play needs to be challenged.
* Asked about the replays not being relayed to the coaching booth fast enough on the road, he said, "That's part of the game. I'm not going down that road."

* Kickoff return at the end was poor tackling.

* Said it was louder than he ever remembered it being at the Georgia Dome but thought the team handled it well on both sides of the ball. Said defense used 10 different combinations in the first 18 plays with no problem.

* Felt team played with an edge the previous three weeks, but edge wasn't as sharp as it had been in Atlanta game.

Captain Erv wrote:

* Said there was no reason to take a timeout if there's no evidence a play needs to be challenged.
* Asked about the replays not being relayed to the coaching booth fast enough on the road, he said, "That's part of the game. I'm not going down that road."

MartyConlonOnTheRun wrote:

Captain Erv wrote:

* Said there was no reason to take a timeout if there's no evidence a play needs to be challenged.
* Asked about the replays not being relayed to the coaching booth fast enough on the road, he said, "That's part of the game. I'm not going down that road."

This is where you have to be like, our press box tv saw the replay 5 seconds before the snap. Do you have a designated assistant that has access to your headset to let you know? Don't let him blame it being on the road. If we saw it, they saw it. Wish they would ask why he chose not to use those TOs at the end of the first to try get a FG. Could've been the difference.

LUKE23 wrote:He also has the best TD/INT ratio ever for qualified players.

chuckleslove wrote:

MartyConlonOnTheRun wrote:

* Said there was no reason to take a timeout if there's no evidence a play needs to be challenged.
* Asked about the replays not being relayed to the coaching booth fast enough on the road, he said, "That's part of the game. I'm not going down that road."

This is where you have to be like, our press box tv saw the replay 5 seconds before the snap. Do you have a designated assistant that has access to your headset to let you know? Don't let him blame it being on the road. If we saw it, they saw it. Wish they would ask why he chose not to use those TOs at the end of the first to try get a FG. Could've been the difference.

From what I heard the coaches TVs were on roughly a 20 second delay, the same as the TVs in the media room. So the 40 second play clock starts rolling as soon as the previous play is over and the ball is set and Atlanta didn't rush they snapped the ball with around 10 seconds left on the play clock IIRC, you are talking a very very small window in which they would have actually seen any replay.

I hate the NFL replay system and wish they would go to the college replay system where this wouldn't have even been an issue.

I wasn't upset about the no challenge, I wanted it challenged for sure but I fully understand why they didn't know to challenge it on the road, the technology they have in place for challenging is very biased towards the home team.

MartyConlonOnTheRun wrote:Thats interesting. I feel you are setting yourself up for teams bending the rules. What is to stop you from having an open phone line to an off-sight assistant watching the broadcast?

MickeyDavis wrote:Is the delay in the coaches box for replays a normal thing? I don't understand why they don't get the same replays we see at home? If the delay was a Falcons thing I'm ticked off. But maybe every team does that at home to their opponents. Maybe that's why McCarthy didn't want to talk about it, because we do the same thing at Lambeau.