Mike McCarthy on Surviving a Four Game Losing Streak, Coaching in Green Bay Longer than Vince Lombardi
In this week's episode of The MMQB Podcast with Peter King, I sat down for conversations with Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy and 60 Minutes Sports correspondent Armen Keteyian. McCarthy and I spoke while I was in Green Bay last week for Green Bay Week, a week of stories our staff at The MMQB put together about the historic and unique NFL city. McCarthy spoke about how he kept his team together during a four game losing streak this season (they are now in a three game winning streak). He talked about his working relationship with Aaron Rodgers and surviving longer than the legendary Vince Lombardi as a coach in Green Bay.
I asked Keteyian why people should watch a documentary about a football player from two decades ago? Why is Lawrence Phillips' story relevant today? Keteyian gives his advice for Roger Goodell and NFL owners about how to reduce cases of domestic violence. Keteyian covered the Patriots often during his eight years as a CBS sideline reporter and he explains why Bill Belichick stands alone in his mind among NFL coaches.
McCarthy on how it feels to have coached for Green Bay, a historic NFL franchise, longer than any coach other than Curly Lambeau (1:58) and how his background as a Steelers fan in Western Pennsylvania gives him an appreciation for coaching for an organization with such a rich tradition (3:40). Peter admires McCarthy’s winter beard and asks him how much of an advantage the cold weather is when the Packers play a warm weather team (5:04). Green Bay had their first four game losing streak since 2008 this year, and McCarthy say he relied on consistency to get his team through it (6:35). While flying home from the fourth straight loss at Washington, McCarthy watched the entire game to review what went wrong (8:23). McCarthy explains how he got Aaron Rodgers out of his funk earlier this season (11:20) but he is concerned that he has a tendency to put too much on Aaron’s plate, because Aaron is really cerebral and it’s easy to think give him too much to study (12:20). McCarthy talks about using receiver Ty Montgomery in the backfield (13:20) and moving away from the no huddle offense. McCarthy on handling how social media has given the critics a platform (14:15) but he can't argue when the message isn't going his way because he doesn't have any social media accounts. McCarthy thinks Thursday night football has value but it's challenging for coaches and most difficult for the players (16:16).
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