Mike McCarthy Presser 8/19: No Official Decision at Right Tackle

Two weeks into the preseason, Mike McCarthy and his staff now have a fairly good hold on how their team looks. Some position battles are nearing the end; others are just reaching their apex. McCarthy commented on these while giving his usual player injury update.

• McCarthy on the starting right tackle, "No job has been won yet. We need to play better. The offensive line was better as a whole against St. Louis." The offensive line did hold up well against the Rams' pass rushing tandem of Chris Long and Robert Quinn. Had it not been for the latter's lone sack on a blown assignment by David Bakhtiari, Aaron Rodgers would have been untouched for the second consecutive game. As for Barclay, he has his flaws, but he's the Packers' strongest run blocking tackle. McCarthy won't call the race this early, but it's safe to say Barclay has a stranglehold on the job.
• James Nixon and Matthew Mulligan each left Saturday's game with an injury. McCarthy identified Nixon's as an ankle injury while stating that Mulligan would be "challenged to go this week." For those not fluent in McCarthy, that means he's out.
• On a more positive note, McCarthy plans on DuJuan Harris starting this week against the Seahawks. Barring a setback, this will be Harris' first reps against live tackling this season. McCarthy didn't forget about Eddie Lacy, however. The coach said the rookie tailback played "very well" in St. Louis but needs to clean up a few details.
• It looks like McCarthy will give Micah Hyde a shot at winning the punt return job. Hyde had a decent return against St. Louis while both Jeremy Ross and Johnathan Franklin struggled. Hyde had issues judging punts at Iowa, but if the coaches think he's rectified those issues, he could be the guy.
• Apparently, the quality of the quarterback meetings has been improved by the addition of Vince Young. "It's been a better room since Vince came in here. The minute he walked in, [Graham] Harrell and [B.J.] Coleman picked it up." The criticisms of Young since entering the league have centered around his maturity and mental makeup, so hearing these compliments from McCarthy go a long way towards suggesting he's changed.
• McCarthy was satisfied with the way Mason Crosby responded to his poor Family Night performance. In McCarthy's words, Crosby has been "stroking the football with a lot of consistency" the past two weeks. Given his comments and Giorgio Tavecchio's missed field goal (albeit a 49-yarder) in the second preseason game, it sure sounds like Crosby has regained the lead for the kicking job.

That's all from McCarthy. For more of the latest Packers news and analysis, keep your internet machines tuned to Acme Packing Company.

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