OK, I'll start with the injuries. Ryan Grant had a stinger. He did not return. He could have gone back in the game. Jason Spitz has a quad, did not return. Will Blackmon had a foot injury, the same foot that he's injured in the past. Junius Coston had a calf and did not return. With that I'll take your questions.
(What's the best thing you take from this win?)
Momentum. Starting the game the way you're supposed to, jumping on your opponent. They came out of the gate with a big kickoff return. I thought our defense responded holding them to three points. We responded with the three touchdowns. I liked the way we started the game. The fundamentals, I'm sure when we look at the film we'll feel a lot better about the progress we made this week getting back to the basics. That showed up today. Playing all of our younger players and the improvement that gives you with depth, there are a number of positives that came out of this game today.
(Do you feel like you're playoff ready?)
We're playoff ready. We'll be playoff ready in two weeks. We'll take some time off here in the next couple of days and then we'll get back at it with the fundamentals on Friday and Saturday. We're not going to change our approach. We're going to continue working on improving and getting ready to win football games.
(Did the Chicago loss shake your team's confidence?)
I'd like to say that it didn't affect our confidence. I think it punched us right in the mouth. It was a good wake-up call. The most important thing about a wake-up call is how you respond to it. I really liked the way our football team responded today. That's what you're looking for, a decisive win at home, great crowd, perfect day at Lambeau Field. It's an excellent way to finish a 13-3 season.
(How difficult was it to balance rest with playing time?)
You just have to trust that you can only control the things that you can control. I'll be honest with you, I thought last night's game, the Giants and Patriots, really helped me. That was my plan all along, to play the starters three series and then take out selective players. The inactive list was what it was going to be all week. Then watching that game last night, you just have to trust your plan. Unfortunately injuries are a part of the game. You can only try to lessen the risk. That's what we did but we stayed focused on winning the game and improving as a football team. I felt very strongly through the week of preparation that our team was ready for that and they performed today at a high level. I was impressed the way our guys bounced back from Chicago.
(What is Will's status?)
We're going to need a lot more information on Will. It's the same foot. It was described to me as an aggravation of that injury. I think he feels a little better about it than the last time. We won't have answers there for a couple days.
(What about the other injuries?)
I haven't talked to Jason. Ryan Grant, like I stated, could have gone back in the game. Junius is a calf injury. Those always make you nervous. That's another injury that we'll need a couple days to have a better feel for how long he'll be down.
(Is it a quad bruise?)
I don't have the specifics.
(Can you talk about Brandon Jackson's play?)
I was very proud the way Brandon played today. If you look at the way his season's gone, he was the one running back that stayed healthy through training camp. He took every single rep. Then he was put into the starting lineup. Things really weren't very good in the run game early in the season and I think he showed today when the running back and the run-blocking unit are coordinated what he can do. I was happy for his success today and he's just a young back with a bright future.
(What were you thinking when Brett took off on that run?)
I was fine when he took off but when he cut it back inside I wasn't too excited. I didn't have a very good view of it because it was on the other side of the field. What can you say about Brett Favre? 21 yards rushing. It's about time.
(What was your reaction when he started slapping the ref?)
Nothing surprises me with his celebrations. Nothing surprises you.
(How do you feel about the team's progress from the start of the season to now?)
I think we're clearly a better football team than we were in Game 1. Just look at the areas that we needed to improve in. I think earlier in the season we were a football team finding ways to win. I think that's a credit to the big plays individual players were making in the early stages of the season. Then we built confidence and you could see the coordination coming in all three phases. We developed into a very good football team.
(How does it feel to tie a franchise record with 13 wins?)
I'm very proud of that. As a football team it's something we've acknowledged for the last couple weeks as a goal of ours. Any time you can stand here and say that you've set an all-time record in the history of the Green Bay Packers that speaks volumes. More importantly it's what you do with the 13 wins that's our focus. We're proud of the regular season that we put together.
{sportsad300}(Do you have any sense of what that TD meant to Koren Robinson?)
I think just the way everybody responded was evident of the path that Koren has taken in his personal life and how happy everybody was to see his success building each week. I was very happy for him personally. He was very excited about it. He's a gifted football player and I'm glad he's part of our program.
(Why did you try the onside kick?)
We established our game plan. We wanted to be aggressive. That's something that you really don't have the opportunity to practice in game situations. I thought we had an opportunity to get it but it didn't work out. Those are things in game-planning that you look to take advantage of.
(Of all the inactives, how many would have played in a different circumstance?)
I think Korey Hall is the only one that would have been close, of not playing.
(How do you determine how much time off is given during the bye week?)
Some of the things you learn on the job of being the head coach. Just to be honest, three days off was something that I was probably more comfortable with. Twice last year I went with a format of three days off. When you travel from this part of the country, and some of our players live in Florida and the West Coast, you really need to allow an extra day for travel. The four days off, that's where that formula came from. There are some targets I want to hit Friday and Saturday. We'll get that done in practice.
