| | By John Clayton
ESPN.com
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Driving across the bridge over Fox River, the big, green roadway sign says, "Holmgren Way Next Right." If you don't take that exit, Lombardi Avenue is next.
Face it, this is Green Bay, Wis. There are two ways to do things --
the Holmgren Way or the Lombardi Way. Both are the same. The coach is the
boss. The players must follow directions or become ex-players. If NFL
players obey those two rules, Green Bay, Wis., once again becomes Titletown
USA.
|  | | Mike Sherman wasted no time showing who's the boss at Packers camp. |
Ray Rhodes tried to be a players' coach here last year. Doesn't work
in Green Bay. This is a coach's town, so the Packers brought in a Holmgren
assistant, Mike Sherman, to bring back the Holmgren Way.
"The reality of it was players were given a lot of freedom and
didn't use it to the best of the team," quarterback Brett Favre said. "I
think we were a lot of individuals last year and it showed."
Favre remembers a humiliating loss to Tampa Bay. "The offense, the
defense and special teams showed no togetherness," Favre said. "It was
embarrassing."
Sherman's way is Holmgren's way, which is just like Lombardi's. Be the boss. Give the order. Yell at those who don't follow the orders. Clearly, Sherman is showing who is the boss at Packers practices.
"My way is like Mike, but I'm not Mike Holmgren and he's not me,"
Sherman said. "We both have strengths and weakness. I'm going to do it my
way. But a lot of my ways are similar to Mike's. If they do something wrong, I will tell them. Do it twice, I'll tell them a little louder. Mike Holmgren
may be loud, but it would be the first time."
Packers players are responding, but they did the same last year under Rhodes. This year, though, practices have been longer, some going longer than
two-and-a-half hours. Of course, that's something the players can control.
Sherman keeps making the team get it right before moving on to the next
play.
Offensive line coach Larry Beightol, a carryover from Rhodes' staff,
takes it one step further. An offensive lineman who makes a mistake must
drop to the ground for a quick series of pushups.
"We're getting pretty strong because they're getting a lot of
pushups," Sherman said deviously.
Burned by last year's 8-8 record, general manager Ron Wolf can't
wait until the exhibition and regular seasons in order to see how this team
performs. He remembers camp going well last year. Rhodes ran a good training
camp that featured more running than Sherman's.
"For whatever reason, something happened once the season started,"
Wolf said.
Because no one can pin down what went wrong, Sherman is leaving
nothing to chance. He's bombarding his players with attention to the little
things.
"Starting meetings on time was a big thing, so he went through the
building and changed all the clocks," defensive tackle Vonnie Holliday said
of the new digital clocks. "There is no more, 'This clock is a minute
behind.' He's in and out of every drill at practice. He's out there yelling at
guys, getting in their faces and really getting on the coaches if it isn't
done right. It's going to be his way."
A year ago, players celebrated Holmgren's departure. Winning had its
fault because players felt Holmgren never gave them the full opportunity to
enjoy it. He nagged at them too much.
|
“ |
He
(Sherman) is in and out of every drill at practice.
He's out there yelling at guys, getting in their
faces and really getting on the coaches if it isn't done right. It's going to be his
way. ” |
|
|
— Vonnie Holliday, Packers defensive end |
"Mike Holmgren had a reason for doing everything," Favre said.
"He'd tell us not to talk about injuries. Players would say, 'Hey, it's my
injury.' He was not going to let anything slip through the cracks. Yeah, it
was redundant at times to sit there and listen to it, but guys were scared
to speak out on things that were no big deal."
Sherman will follow the philosophy that if you are hurt, the coach
will determine who will miss practice, not the players.
"You have to be as precise as you possibly can be without limiting
the player," Sherman said. "They have to know there is a better way to do
things."
Sherman is showing the Packers that way. But he does have his
moments to catch them off guard. During the next to last week of June
offseason workouts, Sherman huddled with guard Ross Verba without anyone
knowing about it.
He told Verba to stand up on a bus ride to practice and say,
"We're not practicing today, let's go bowling." Coaches were stunned at
this supposed mutinous act. Players couldn't believe their ears. Pretty soon
the bus pulled up to a bowling alley and the games began.
"We had four practices in a row and it was a Friday and I wanted to
trade a Friday for three good days next week," Sherman said. "It was very
exciting. We had competitive bowling. There were prizes."
Sherman got his three good days next week. He took some internal
heat for riding buses the short distance to the practice field each day in
minicamp.
"People were saying why are we paying all this money for buses,"
Sherman said. "I'm trying to get everybody to practice at the same time.
You get them on the bus, they are travelling together laughing with each
other and the coaches. We're getting used to being a team. I think the
chemistry factor was a little bit off last year."
Said Favre, "Ray came in; the team was in place, figuring he was
inheriting a good team. He figured that they are paid a lot of money and as
a former player, he felt the players would do the right thing. It took an
8-8 season for us to realize that didn't work. We can't do it ourselves."
How much detail does Sherman adhere to? He's the only Packers coach
to hop a bike ride from one of the kids from the outdoor training camp
practice field to the office, a long ride across the parking lot of Lambeau.
Imagine Lombardi or Holmgren doing that.
John Clayton is the senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.
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