GREEN BAY — Mike McCarthy is holding out hope that second-year cornerback Casey Hayward might finally make his 2013 season debut this week against Cleveland, but the Green Bay Packers coach knows that Hayward hasn't seen as much improvement from his injured hamstring as he'd hoped for in recent weeks.
That said, if Hayward finally does get the go-ahead to play, the Packers could have enough options for the defensive backs in their nickel and dime groups that safety Jerron McMillian, who made multiple critical errors during Sunday's 19-17 victory at Baltimore, may not be needed in that substitution package.
Hayward hasn't played all season because of a hamstring injury that he originally suffered while working out on his own a week before training camp opened on July 26. He aggravated the injury in his only preseason appearance, Aug. 23 against Seattle. He practiced on a limited basis for the second straight week last week but has yet to be cleared by the medical staff.
"Talking to Casey I think it was Friday or Saturday, he's a little frustrated. He's not quite where he needs to be," McCarthy said Monday. "Hopefully when he goes through his (testing) segment (Tuesday), we'll set the plan for him. But the last two weeks obviously he's been able to work on Thursday. We will not do a whole lot of work on the field Wednesday as a football team. Hopefully we can get him back out there and see where he is."
If Hayward has made progress, the Packers will have five cornerbacks — starters Sam Shields and Tramon Williams, Davon House, Micah Hyde and Hayward — to choose from for their six-DB dime package. House began Sunday's game against the Ravens as the third corner in that group (with Williams moving inside to the slot) but was replaced by Hyde, who played well in his stead.
"I think we've got some different options," defensive coordinator Dom Capers said Monday. "(But) I think you've got to be conscious of, with all the change, we've had a lot of change in our defense and I'm always conscious of that in terms of how much we can do. I was somewhat a little bit concerned about that going into the game, that I'd rather do a few things and do them extremely well and have the guys play fast and hard than to have any hesitation, especially when you've got two or three new guys playing in there for the first time."
McMillian served as the dime defensive back and tripped and fell to allow the Ravens to convert a fourth-and-21 with a 63-yard pass from Joe Flacco to Tandon Doss. McMillian then failed to get the defensive play call on the ensuing play and was beaten by tight end Dallas Clark for an 18-yard touchdown that pulled the Ravens to within two points.
"It's an unfortunate thing that happened. We're sitting in there (on fourth-and-21) and we had them," Capers said. "We had gotten the sack. They had the penalty. We hit them third-and-long. They checked the ball down for 6 yards, which is exactly what you want. I was hoping they'd check it down for something less than 21 yards, but when you end up voiding an area (by falling down, as McMillian did), it was an unfortunate play because you'd like for the game to be over right there."
McMillian took responsibility for that mistake after the game, but he said on the ensuing play that the defensive call never got to him. Capers said Monday that in situations where the offense is in hurry-up as the Ravens were after the long pass, defensive line coach Mike Trgovac is giving defensive hand signals from the sideline and all 11 players are expected to look over and get the call, rather than relying on one of their teammates to echo the call. McMillian failed to do it and was the closest man to Clark on the TD.
"You don't ever want confusion in those situations but in the heat of the battle it happens sometimes," Capers said. "They have to find Trgo on the sideline to get the signal. You try to echo it but you can never count on the communication in that situation. Each guy has to be responsible for seeing that signal."
Capers said that while the nickel and dime inside positions aren't exactly the same — the nickel generally covers the third receiver in the slot, while the dime tends to match up with a tight end or running back out of the backfield — there are some similarities which would allow, say, Hyde and Hayward to play as the third and fourth cornerbacks.
"There's some carryover there," Capers said. "I think there's some correlation there."
Jason Wilde wrote: