Posted by Mike Spofford on June 15, 2016 – 10:49 am

GREEN BAY — With the PAT kick remaining at 33 yards and the two-point conversion an option from the 2-yard line, Head Coach Mike McCarthy suggested on Wednesday that the Packers will be prepared to go for two, and defend two-point tries, more often in 2016.

“We practice it a lot more. It will be evident in training camp,” McCarthy said prior to Wednesday’s second minicamp practice. “On defense, we have to make sure we’re prepared for it, and we’re prepared to go for it. It’s definitely part of our training.”

Star NFL quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh and Drew Brees in New Orleans have been outspoken about wanting to go for two more often after touchdowns. McCarthy agrees that percentage-wise, he feels the Packers would come out ahead if they went for two more often, but the decision isn’t that simple.

“I would have zero issue as an offensive coach going for it every single time, just the way we’re built and the confidence we have in our tight red-zone plan,” he said. “But I think you have to look at the whole picture, too.”

The bigger picture includes game situations and the status of a team’s defense, so nothing is absolute in McCarthy’s mind, regardless of the statistics and probabilities. But the head coach, who eschewed the two-point try at the end of regulation and kicked the PAT to go to overtime in the playoffs at Arizona, partly because of the Packers’ depleted receiving corps at the time and the way the defense had played the bulk of the game, might take a more aggressive approach this year.

“I would have confidence to go after the defense and win more than 50 percent of the time,” McCarthy said.

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