GREEN BAY, Wis. – From the sound of things on Monday, Mike McCarthy would have rather his Green Bay Packers' players not brought up the meeting that occurred Saturday night at the hotel on the eve of the game at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"Team meetings are kind of like Las Vegas, what's said in there should stay in there," McCarthy said Monday. "But that's fine, they shared it with you. That's their prerogative."

Jordy Nelson was one of six Packers chosen to be playoff captains by their teammates. AP Photo/Mike Roemer

Several players described it as a players-only session in which the six playoff captains, who were elected last week even before the Packers had clinched a playoff spot, spoke to the rest of the team. It occurred a few minutes into the meeting after McCarthy dismissed everyone but the players.

"I thought it was very important to give those six men the platform to speak to their teammates," McCarthy said. "And obviously when coaches and other people are not in the room, the conversations are different. It's not the first time we've done it, but that was really what happened."

Each of the six captains -- quarterback Aaron Rodgers, receiver Jordy Nelson, receiver Randall Cobb, safety Morgan Burnett, linebacker Julius Peppers and cornerback Jarrett Bush -- took a turn.

"He gave us an opportunity to talk in front of the team and speak what we thought," Nelson said after the game. "It wasn't anything mind-blowing or anything, but just making sure guys understand the opportunity that's ahead of us. Some of us have been there. Some have been there and came up short. Some have been there and won it all, and some haven't experienced any of it. You just try to educate other guys on what this opportunity means and what it can do, how hard it is to get there, and how hard it is to win."

When those six were named last week, Clay Matthews was perhaps the most noticeable name left off the list as voted on by the players. Matthews had perhaps his best game of the season on Sunday, when he recorded two sacks to reach double digits for the fourth time in his six seasons, but McCarthy didn't think it was because his star linebacker was motivated by a captaincy snubbing.

"I don’t think so," McCarthy said. "I don't know that for a fact. Frankly, I was in a conversation with Clay a few days before I decided to make that decision, and it was something that Clay brought up. So this was something that was being kicked around. I think Clay sees the big picture.

"I think it's important to understand the dynamics of every locker room. Morgan Burnett is a young guy that’s ascending and the way the votes panned out, it reflected that. So you could see by the way the voting goes, just based off the numbers, just kind of the way the locker room looks at their leadership, and I think it's great the way it panned out, and I don't think Clay is taken aback. It's not a contest. Clay Matthews is a leader. We have more than six leaders on our team, but you can only vote for six, but that's really the way it is."

McCarthy went on to say that Matthews has "probably had his best year in my opinion" and that Matthews' move to inside linebacker on a part-time basis has been a major factor in the improved run defense.

"Our run defense has taken a huge step the last eight weeks, and he's definitely part of that," McCarthy said.