Green Bay enters camp with Super Bowl on team’s mind
Mike McCarthy made no grand pronouncements Wednesday.
There was not any sort of guarantee from the 12thyear Green Bay Packers head coach.
Going into training camp, McCarthy said he and his staff were focused on the same steady, focused approach that has sent the team to the postseason each of the past eight years.
With two-time MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers still in his prime, McCarthy believes that will give the Packers a shot at reaching the Super Bowl in Minneapolis in February.
“We have full confidence. The goal here has never changed. It’s been the same since Day 1,” McCarthy said in his annual pre-camp news conference, in advance of Thursday morning’s first practice.
“You obviously have to get in the playoffs to get to the Super Bowl.
“(Training camp is about) trying to find a balance of training your team the right way, being smart, but also getting them ready to win a championship.”
The Packers started last season 4-6, but won eight straight games — including playoff victories over the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys — to reach their second NFC championship game in three years.
But just as they did at the end of the 2014 season, when they struggled in the final three minutes in Seattle with a Super Bowl berth on the line, they fell short last season, getting blown out by the Atlanta Falcons at the Georgia Dome.
While that was quite a wild ride, McCarthy is hoping for a smoother road this season, and the journey started Wednesday when players reported to Lambeau Field at 6 a.m.
“Exciting time, lot of energy in the building,” McCarthy said. “It’s good to be back.”
Divers search for NFL star’s $100,000-plus earring
An NFL star’s diamond earring valued at more than $100,000 is now presumed lost on the murky bottom of a Georgia lake.
WXIA-TV reported Tuesday that Atlanta Falcons star wide receiver Julio Jones lost it when he hit a boat wake and took a spill while jet skiing in Lake Lanier, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) outside Atlanta.
He resurfaced but his pricey earring didn’t.
SCUBA divers have been searching the lake bottom, hoping to capture a flashlight’s reflection off the jewelry amid old trees that have been submerged since the man-made lake’s creation in the 1950s.
So far, no luck.
Raiders sign Melifonwu
The Oakland Raiders have signed second-round pick safety Obi Melifonwu to a four-year contract.
Melifonwu signed the deal Wednesday, two days after Oakland’s rookies reported to training camp in Napa. The team does not hold its first full training camp practice until Saturday.
The Raiders still have not signed their firstround pick, cornerback Gareon Conley.
Anderson goes on PUP list
Buffalo Bills safety Colt Anderson has been placed on the active/physically unable to perform list because of a foot injury a day before the team opens training camp.
The Bills didn’t reveal the severity of the injury or when Anderson was hurt in making the announcement on Wednesday, when players reported to the team’s training camp facility in suburban Rochester, New York. Anderson can be activated off the list at any time he’s cleared for practice.