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McCarthy won't give Favre special treatment

Coach insists that if game were tomorrow, Rodgers would be starter

Image: Aaron Rodgers, Mike McCarthy
Mike Roemer / AP
Packers coach Mike McCarthy has stood behind Aaron Rodgers through the whole Brett Favre saga. But unless something goes awry on Monday, the competition for the job begins, writes NBCSports.com contributor Tom Curran.
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By Tom E. Curran
NBCSports.com
updated 12:29 a.m. ET Aug. 4, 2008

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Tom E. Curran

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GREEN BAY, Wis. - It appears there will be an airing of grievances before Brett Favre gets his shotat supplanting Aaron Rodgers.

Packers head coach Mike McCarthy, faced now with the reality that the Packers legend is in town and soon to be in uniform, said Sunday night that nothing will be decided until he gets face-to-face with Favre on Monday. And, despite the media coaching the Packers have been getting from Ari Fleischer, McCarthy’s tone betrayed his irritation.

“I had an opportunity to talk to Brett Favre today,” McCarthy said after his Packers completed an intrasquad scrimmage in front of 56,600 fans at Lambeau Field. “He’ll be reinstated. He will go through a physical just like every other player that’s come through. He’ll go through a conditioning test. At that time there will be a conversation with Brett. From that conversation, there will be information in that conversation that I will use to make a decision on how we move forward with the quarterback position. I will share that with the team first. There’s been no decision made. It’s important for Brett and I to sit down face to face and have a discussion.”

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Asked if Favre had been promised a chance to compete with Rodgers for the starting job, McCarthy said, “There’s been no promises. Once again, there’s been indecision throughout Brett’s path back to Green Bay. It’s important for us to sit down and communicate. There are some things we need to go through.”

This, no doubt, will be McCarthy’s chance to unload on Favre for being a distraction to the rest of the football team. It will also be his chance to mention that Favre’s actions screw with the fortunes of the=2 0team which, in turn, screws with the job security of the head coach which, in turn, screws with the family of the head coach. It will also be McCarthy’s chance to ask Favre for an explanation and/or retraction of his comments about GM Ted Thompson being a liar.

Whether McCarthy capitalizes on this chance and takes a pound of flesh – verbally – from Favre would be interesting to know. It would also be interesting to know if Favre would stand for any of it or if he feels he’s been done more wrong by McCarthy.

In the end, though, the talk figures to be just a formality.

Even though McCarthy insisted, “If there was a game tomorrow, Aaron Rodgers would be our starter,” there is going to be a competition unless something goes awry on Monday.

And, judging by the tenor of the crowd at Lambeau on Sunday, they’re ready to throw in with Favre and kick Rodgers onto the tracks.

During a fairly sloppy, 7-for-20, 84-yard, 1-pick evening, Rodgers was booed.

McCarthy scoffed at the booing.

Said Rodgers: “I’ll tell you this: it’s not the first time I’ve been booed and it probably won’t be the last.”

Rodgers teetered between adamant and upset during his postgame l ocker room press conference. But he did retain most of his calm.

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“It’s out of my control,” he said. “As much as it affects this team and affects me personally, him coming back, it’s out of my control. I wasn’t worried about it and now he’s back and I guess I have a shot to compete.

“I’ve just been trusting the organization what they’re telling me and I know at some point I’m going to get an opportunity,” Rodgers added. “Right now, I’m the starter and until that changes, that’s my focus.”

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