GREEN BAY, Wis. -- It might not be a stretch to say that training camp has become more mental than physical.

Consider this: In the 34 days since the Green Bay Packers opened camp on July 27, they've spent less than an hour per day average on the field. Since then they've been on the field for a grand total of 33 hours, 52 minutes of practice time. That was 15 public practices, including the annual Family Night at Lambeau Field.

That’s less practice time than last year’s camp, when the Packers practiced for 34 hours, 21 minutes during 16 public practices.

With two-a-day practices abolished under the collective bargaining agreement in 2011, training camps were destined to change. But who would have figured that the percentage of time on the field would drop so dramatically?

When asked how much of training camp was spent practicing, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said: “Less than half, for sure.”

Rodgers, who was drafted in 2005, is one of the few players still around who took part in the pre-CBA training camp where two-a-day practices were common. The days might be just as long now, but they’re filled with meetings, film sessions and walk-throughs instead of hours and hours of on-field work.

“Those are [still] long days,” Rodgers said. “The meetings are tough because they seem endless at times, but they’re all really important. The mental part, especially for young players, is the most important thing. When you can start to slow down your mind, it actually allows you to play faster; you’re reacting more.

"I think a prime example of that is [receiver] Trevor Davis. Trevor’s had a fantastic camp for us, a guy who runs an incredible time on the clock, didn’t play maybe as fast last year. This year he’s playing fast because he’s thinking less, he’s confident. He’s obviously done a great job for us on the punt return team, but he’s become a legitimate receiver. So I’m really happy about the strides he’s made, and that’s a prime example of a guy who’s probably a little more focused this year and the mental part has come a lot easier than it did last year, which is natural."

Coach Mike McCarthy seems to have found a rhythm with his camp schedule. The team was never on the field for more than three straight days.

After the two required helmets-and-shorts practices to open camp, McCarthy had his team in full pads for every session after that.

“Well, scheduling, best we've had in the CBA era,” McCarthy said before Tuesday’s final practice of camp. “The opportunity to practice and having the built-in extra teaching time, the extra walk-through time in the building is higher than it's been. That's really a reflection of going to camp earlier, so you're able to have more of those type of instruction days, rest-recovery days built into the training camp.

"So from that standpoint it was really, I felt, the best layout of schedule since 2011, and so with that I think the quality of work on the field, based on what we did in the OTAs, with the emphasis that we had in the OTAs and then obviously we had to get more done in the padded work with the run game ... I feel good about that."

McCarthy cut a few practices short -- and changed one practice from morning to mid-afternoon -- but never had to make any significant alterations during camp for injuries.

It wasn’t until well into preseason that the injuries piled up, and it was only in the last week when a couple of position groups -- outside linebacker (where Clay Matthews, Nick Perry and Jayrone Elliott all dropped out) and offensive line (where Bryan Bulaga and Lucas Patrick joined Don Barclay on the sideline) -- got hit especially hard with injuries.

“Well, you're allowed to be on the field three hours a day,” McCarthy said. “There's drill work, there's other things that are factored into that. Your medical report, what you're doing internally here in the strength-conditioning. There's functional training components that are built into this week because you have a veteran group that's not going to play that much as opposed to younger guys. So I mean it's all factored in to what you're trying to get done each and every day.”

Total public practices: 15

Longest practice: 2 hours, 39 minutes on July 29

Number of practices longer than 2:30: Seven (two more than last year)

Shortest practice: 1 hour, 1 minute on Aug. 5 (rain-shortened Family Night)

Number of practices less than two hours: Three (four fewer than last year)

Average practice time: 2 hours, 15 minutes (14 minutes longer than last year)