McCarthy anxious for Packers’ training camp to begin

The Green Bay Packers are taking physicals Wednesday in advance of the first practice at training camp on Thursday.

Coach Mike McCarthy said Wednesday morning he’s been anxious for camp to open, in the wake of a season in which the Packers went a 15-1, but lost their playoff opener at home to the New York Giants.

While 15-1 was nice, McCarthy said everybody knows that the post-season is what really counts.

He said offensive tackle Derek Sherrod won’t pass his physical due to a leg injury from last season, and tight end Andrew Quarless will stay out with a bad knee.

Rookie running back Alex Green is close to returning after tearing an ACL last year, but McCarthy has not received a final clearance for him yet.

The coach says fullback John Kuhn might not be ready either, as he recovers from a knee injury.

The Packers will have 27 practices at camp. McCarthy says the first 10 are the most important. He says there will be more tackling drills, among other things, but only for fundamentals. He says it won’t get too physical, so the players don’t run the risk of new injuries.

McCarthy says he’s glad that all four pre-season contests are on Thursdays because it allows for more of a weekly routine during camp.

Murphy favors dropping two exhibition games

Green Bay Packers President Mark Murphy no longer supports an 18-game regular season.

At Tuesday’s annual meeting of Packer stockholders, Murphy said the NFL’s biggest challenge is to preserve the health and safety of its players. Afterward, he told reporters he would not only favor continuing the present 16-game schedule, but he also favors cutting the number of exhibition games from four to two.

Murphy says the resulting loss of revenue would be a challenge, and there would have to be discussions on whether two pre-season games are enough to develop younger players. But he says those kinds of things have to be considered to make pro football as safe as possible.

Commissioner Roger Goodell has made player safety a priority, with bigger fines and tighter rules on defense.

Meanwhile, the New Orleans’ Saints bounty scandal has put a new spotlight on player safety, along with lawsuits filed by 2,000 former NFL players saying the league didn’t do enough to protect them from concussions.

About 12,500 stockholders attended Tuesday’s meeting, half of what the Packers expected.

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