GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Packers coach Mike McCarthy has just about had it with people scrutinizing the way his team shares the ball among its talented group of receivers.
Asked Wednesday about the relatively limited number of snaps that veteran Donald Driver has been receiving in recent games, McCarthy called the line of questioning "a bunch of garbage."
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The issue of involving everybody in the Packers' passing game already has come up a handful of times this season, and McCarthy sternly said that he won't apologize for having "too many guys" to whom to throw the ball.
"Donald's very proud," McCarthy said. "He's been a great player, (he'll) continue to be a great player here. But we have a lot of people, and we're using them all. That's the reality of it. Every week, it's somebody else that we're going to pick at because he didn't have the numbers he had the week before. Frankly, I think it's a bunch of garbage."
It certainly wasn't anything approaching the rants by Jim Mora or Dennis Green, both of which went viral on the Internet. But it was somewhat out of character for the Packers coach, who keeps a steady public persona and rarely makes waves in his news conferences.
"It's what it is," McCarthy said, slightly raising his voice. "Now, do they want the ball? Yeah. Yeah, they want the ball. They all want the ball. And if they don't want the ball, then I have a real issue with them. That's part of playing in this league. But every week to come in here and a guy scores three touchdowns one week and he doesn't have any the next week, and that's an issue? I mean, what are we doing here? Those are good, positive things about your team. And I'm not going to continue to sit here and answer this thing every week."
Sharing the ball has become something of an issue for the Packers early in the season.
Wide receiver James Jones said after the season-opening victory over the New Orleans Saints that he believed he should have received more snaps. Tight end Jermichael Finley expressed frustration to reporters after a Week 4 victory over the Denver Broncos, grousing that the team wasn't able to get him the ball more despite being double-teamed.
Aaron Rodgers has been asked about the challenges of keeping all his receivers happy several times, and he usually says that he simply throws to whomever is open.
Driver said he isn't concerned.
"I'm fine with it," Driver said. "I think you have to get to a point where you can't worry about how many balls you get. Because you start worrying about how many balls you get, that's when you start losing games. Then you put pressure on Aaron to try to make sure everyone stays happy."
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press