A football team will have a hard time being considered "tough" with a below-average running game and a struggling defense. People see the Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rodgers putting up points with a bevy of receivers and equate that to a finesse program.
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Coach Mike McCarthytakes offense every time that's suggested.
"To me, we're a physical, tough football team," McCarthy said at the NFL Scouting combine, via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "I totally disagree. I don't know how you can put the tape on and say the Green Bay Packers aren't physical.
"We beat the Pittsburgh Steelers (in the Super Bowl), and they're known as one of the most physical football teams of the last couple decades."
You can't win 47 regular-season games over the last four years without being physical to a point. But there have been defensive issues, particularly tackling, the last two years that speak directly to the topic.
The Packers aren't pushovers, but they're not the San Francisco 49ers or Seattle Seahawks either.
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"How do we play any different from the approach, the identity today that we did in 2010?" McCarthy said. "How do you swing that far? You don't go from here to here.
"Now, there's spots in our play, and I really don't want to get into this because I haven't with the team yet, that we need to eliminate. As far as being physical, tough."
Improvements at the line of scrimmage, where the offensive line had its issues and the run defense ranked No. 17, would likely address some of that talk.
Follow Kareem Copeland on Twitter @kareemcopeland.
