And mark another one blasted out of the sky for Mike McCarthy.
The Packers coach fired back at criticism from counterpart Jim Schwartz of the Lions Thursday, and actually killed two birds with one shot.
Back in June, Schwartz took a poke at the Packers for canceling a day of OTAs to go skeet shooting.
“We had no sporting clays today or no amusement parks or water parks. Work day of minicamp,” Schwartz said following the Lions’ final practice of minicamp last month. “We take a lot of pride in the fact that we play for a blue-collar town and we try to reflect that kind of work ethic, and we have very few opportunities to practice this off-season. . . . Every one was crucial and couldn’t afford to waste any.”
So when McCarthy appeared on Green and Gold Today on ESPNMilwaukee radio, and was asked about the rivalry between the Lions and Packers, he scored a pair of shots.
“Their approach is really tailored to the way they go about their business, starting with their head coach,” McCarthy said. “I don’t know what the problem with skeet shooting is; I thought that was probably one of the best events we’ve ever had here.”
Here’s where it gets good. McCarthy then explained that the event had police officers at each station handling the guns, so the Packers were sure to be safe.
“Just the interaction with the policemen and the players was excellent. You were literally handed a gun, pulled the trigger and handed it back to the police officer. That part of it was in place for the safety,” McCarthy said. “But it was really a neat day. We’ve tried some different things, and by far it was our best group dynamic/team building event that we had. I actually got a chuckle out of hearing someone else worried about us taking our team skeet shooting.”
So, apparently the Packers can be around cops without being placed in the back of their cars, which the Lions have had a bit of trouble with this offseason.
McCarthy went onto talk about not getting caught up in the back-and-forth of bulletin board material, saying he’d prefer to focus on the football.
He then paused and said: “We have a lot of confidence in the way we run our program, and we’re always trying to make it better. And I think skeet shooting is going to be the difference in us getting back to the Super Bowl. So there.”
Oh my.