Packers fight social media ‘echo chamber’
Down season has challenged Green Bay
Mike McCarthy isn’t on social media. But the Green Bay Packers coach knows his players are, so he makes sure he’s aware of anything that could affect the locker room — and there was plenty a few weeks ago.
Depleted by injuries on defense and unusually uneven on offense, the Packers were on the brink of irrelevance in the NFC playoff race at 4-6, and one swipe on a smartphone revealed every report, rumor and recommendation: McCarthy’s on the hot seat! His relationship with star quar-
terback Aaron Rodgers is falling apart! The roster has been exposed! Blow it up!
The vitriol was unlike anything McCarthy recalls in 11 years building one of the NFL’s most successful programs (Brett Favre’s un-retirement saga in 2008 included). And the one thing that really bothered Mc-
Carthy was knowing his players kept having to answer for criticisms directed elsewhere, which took a toll.
“The negativity — frankly, I think it’s a good thing to have, because you can grow,” McCarthy told USA TODAY Sports a day after the Packers improved to 7-6 by blowing out the talented Seattle Seahawks at Lambeau Field. “Whether you like it or not, the negatives that are said about you, you have to look at them and identify them as perception or opinion or agenda-driven opinion (or) reality.
“Let’s be real: Some of them are real. Some — too many of them — are not. But you need to look at those and be honest about your operation and learn from it. I like that challenge. I like the conflict of it. I didn’t like the effect it was having on our team, but I’m proud of their resiliency and just their approach. Hey, we haven’t accomplished (expletive) yet. We’ve won three games. But the way they’ve kept going through that period is exactly what you’re looking for.”
Messaging is a complicated and important issue in the current NFL. There is a “post-truth” aspect to the way the league is covered and consumed, with appeals to emotion and personal belief often more impactful than objective facts. The social media echo chamber can amplify the sense that a situation is approaching critical mass.
Whether it’s the Los Angeles Rams seeing that coach Jeff Fisher’s days could be numbered amid dysfunction (they were) or the Buffalo Bills hearing that Rex Ryan could be fired and Tyrod Taylor benched with another loss (they weren’t) or the Packers reading this could be McCarthy’s last stand (highly unlikely), it’s human nature to react. The league is younger than ever, meaning the average NFL player is likely getting a lot of “screen time.” The same goes for fans, who now have a direct way to voice their frustration through portals such as Twitter.
“It’s a lot easier for the outside noise to creep into the locker room nowadays with technology,” Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari said.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ ramblings on scenarios for a quarterback change probably won’t amount to anything. When the locker room opened to the media Thursday, though, star rookie Dak Prescott was among those scrolling through their phones. Odds are players see the speculation, and veterans such as tight end Jason Witten have seen those things affect people.
“This is the Dallas Cowboys. One thing ’s said, and it’s instant,” Witten said. “Sometimes, you have to deal with that clutter that probably didn’t exist 10, 12, 14 years ago.”
The media have a duty to follow up on story lines, and McCarthy gets that. He just doesn’t want to let negativity become the mes- sage of his team, which is why he regularly asks Packers director of public relations Jason Wahlers not only what’s being said but also how it might affect individuals.
At the low point, Bakhtiari said, McCarthy kept his message simple: “It’s all about us.” Wide receiver Randall Cobb said the Packers were “very proactive in the locker room, making sure we stuck together, and whatever it was that we saw, making sure it was cleared up between whoever they tried to put against each other.”
McCarthy doesn’t feel he needs to justify his “close relationship” with Rodgers, the two-time NFL MVP who has faced scrutiny over everything from his play to his leadership to his personal life. That part of the media landscape is only intensifying, and McCarthy plans to ask some of his own questions in the offseason as he studies the program: Why are players having to answer all these questions? Are they being messaged properly? Can the team help?
McCarthy also wants to analyze how the Packers interact with their fans, making sure they’re expressing the type of players and locker room they have. Because when you have success like they’ve had under McCarthy, each win can start to be seen as merely meeting expectations and each loss as grounds for termination, even when you’re stuck playing non-stop 2-shell coverage with third-string cornerbacks.
Completing this comeback “definitely” would mean more, McCarthy said, mostly because of what it would say about his players’ commitment to his plan.
He’s a believer that cultures are always either improving or deflating … if not at the rate some make it appear.
“If my job’s going to be judged off of what goes on in the social media world,” McCarthy said, “then I think we’re all in trouble.”