GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Mike McCarthy said back in January: “We may not run the ball until July.”
It was only a slight exaggeration.
The Green Bay Packers coach put his team through a pass-heavy offseason program, both to make sure Aaron Rodgers & Co. were sharp but more so to make sure the defense that struggled last season got plenty of work on its shortcomings.
It was refreshing to hear McCarthy admit that trying to run the ball during nonpadded practices was essentially a waste of reps.
It’s finally time to see what the Packers have in the running game.
“We kind of do have to shift gears and make sure we’re giving the time [to the running game], particularly in pads,” McCarthy said Wednesday on the eve of the first training camp practice. “That will start Saturday.”
That’s when the Packers will first practice in pads after two days of mandatory, nonpadded practices Thursday and Friday. McCarthy said the first eight practices will be crucial to the development of the run game.
“We’ve got to make sure we come out of there where our pads are set and guys are getting those quality reps as opposed to half-line drills and 9-on-7 drills, a little more of that than we’ve done in the past,” McCarthy said. “So that’s clearly, if you keep track of that stuff, when you do watch practice, you’ll see that.”
It will give Ty Montgomery the first chance to show off the work he did this offseason, both with his physical conditioning and the running back-specific drills he did both with position coach Ben Sirmans and during his work in Texas with trainer Rischad Whitfield, aka the Footwork King, to complete his conversion from receiver.
McCarthy came away impressed with Montgomery, who reported for training camp at 222.8 pounds, which was bulked up from his receiver weight.
“He’s just stepped out in front and just keeps going,” McCarthy said of the 24-year-old. “I think he did a really good job of, frankly, he’s been able to focus on the position. Very comfortable, obviously, the understanding and the details of the things he was asked to do to be able to rep those things from day one, obviously, helps him out a lot. Yeah, he looks good. I’m very pleased with the way he has stepped up to the front of the class.”
Back in early May, after the draft, McCarthy proclaimed Montgomery his starter even after general manager Ted Thompson picked three running backs in the draft. Still, McCarthy and Sirmans will have to spend significant snaps on the rookie backs: Jamaal Williams (fourth round), Aaron Jones (fifth round) and Devante Mays (seventh round) plus undrafted rookies Kalif Phillips and William Stanback.
“Well, you have a set plan; that’s why we have a staff meeting every day,” McCarthy said. “We’ll talk about the corrections from the day before, and you set the reps for the next practice. Unfortunately, injuries usually takes care of some of that and you’re always stressed; you may have to sometimes adjust your practice. You just work through it. The teaching part of it in the classroom, we’ve got the gymnasium walk-throughs and things like that. You’re really focused on doing more of that when you have that time, because we’re obviously very young at the running back position. That’s the stuff you focus on. The reps usually takes care of itself. Frankly, the players’ availability and their performance level each day really controls who gets the reps.”
