The Facts: HC Mike McCarthy spent much of his post-season wrap-up press conference Wednesday afternoon hammering away at the poor fundamentals that caused his defense to miss too many tackles and his pass-catchers to drop too many passes. But he spent almost as much time extoling the virtues of free agent-to-be Finley and making it crystal clear that he wants the 24-year-old fourth-year tight end back next season. “He knows he has a lot of really good football in front of him," McCarthy said. "I think Jermichael is a very talented young man and I would emphasize young. He needs an offseason program -- like a lot guys -- and I think he’ll continue to grow and be an outstanding football player for us.”

Diehards Line:That said, McCarthy acknowledged this week that Finley must pay more attention to detail and the finer points of his game to realize his full, vast potential. In other words, he has to be better at the fundamentals. Finley finished the regular season having caught 55 passes for 767 yards and eight touchdowns but also dropped 11 passes according to STATS INC, which ranked him fifth in the league in drops. Only Atlanta’s Roddy White (15), Miami’s Brandon Marshall (12), Kansas City’s Dwayne Bowe (12) and Cleveland’s Greg Little (12) dropped more, and White (181 targets, 8.3 percent drop rate), Marshall (145 targets, 8.3 percent), Bowe (141 targets, 8.5 percent) and Little (121 targets, 9.9 percent) all had more passes thrown in their direction than Finley (93 targets, 11.8 percent). ... Still, McCarthy spoke of Finley as if he’s going to be back with the team next year, despite his unrestricted free agent status. If the Packers can’t get a long-term deal done, they figure to use the $5.4 million tight end franchise tag on Finley to keep him.