GREEN BAY – The Packers' coordinators met with the media Monday. Here's a sampling of their key comments:
Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia
On Keisean Nixon saying after the playoff loss he didn't want to return kicks anymore:
I think him and I both, as well as other players, were not in very good mood after that particular game (Philadelphia), and going into that press conference. We've had conversations. So in in my mind, he's always going to be in the mix, and we'll see how it works out. But again, it's a new year. Hopefully we got past the part of where we played poorly and did some poor things. I know we did poorly in that last game, so I'd like to think we're going to be as good as the next play, try to move on and grow from the last play. I think Keisan hopefully will do the same thing.
On the new kickoff rule after a full season:
The thing that's good for us is we've had a year to go through it. We've seen some of the things that we did really well on both ends, the kickoff and the return part, and some things that we did extremely poorly on the kickoff return part. I think we, as coaches, have learned a lot of how we can give our guys in the return game some more tools to probably get themselves in a little bit better position. We're actually waiting for the new rule. They're going to give us three float players now, but we're not 100% sure where they're going to be able to line up. But it's here. It's here to stay. The UFL switched over to it this year.
On the draft class helping out on special teams:
It's a little bit too hard to tell right now. We had a bunch of walk-through stuff during the rookie minicamp, and right now, today, they were just drinking through a fire hose a little bit, trying to figure out where to line up and where to go. But it's a talented group. Obviously, we have some return possibilities in the two young receiver guys that have both done it before … some of the linebacker types and defensive end type guys that we drafted are going to be expected to compete to play some spots for us in the kicking game.
On the addition of Nate Hobbs, who played for Bisaccia with the Raiders:
He's a really talented football player. He's a lot bigger than you think, until you get up there and shake his hand. He can really run. He's a physical player. He's got great length, and he's played multiple positions. He's played in the slot, he's played outside, a force in the kicking game his rookie year. He was all over the place on kickoff, played outside at flyer on punt. So all that being said, what we've seen of him on defense, we've seen some of those in the kicking game as well. I just think we're getting a really good guy that loves football and loves the opportunity to compete.
On having Isaiah McDuffie back:
I remember he was one of the first calls I made after watching all the tape when I first got here. So he's a cornerstone. I think he is what we're trying to develop, as far as (special) teams guys, and a guy that goes above and beyond for the team. He's always putting the team above himself, and so it's good to have him knowing he's going to be around for a while. I expect him to (show) great leadership. He's always a power of example by the way in which he does things. He always does everything right. So it's exciting to have him back, especially not only on the field, but in the locker room, his presence, in the way in which he goes about his business. It's really good for the young guys to watch him.
On continuing to coach in Green Bay:
I had tremendous conversations with Coach LaFleur and the direction we're going, and felt like I've failed him at times (with) some of the things and the ways in which we've played. So I have a certain standard and expectation of how we're supposed to play in the kicking game, and I'm really excited about being here and being back with him and having the opportunity to win a championship. It's the only reason, really, we get up and go to work anymore in the NFL. There's really one game you want to go and win that one game, and fortunately, I've had a chance to do that. Now, once you do that, then you come to work every day with the mindset of, that's where you're going, and that's what you're going to do. And that's my obsession, that's my personal drive, that's my personal ambition, and I feel like this is a great place to do that, and I owe it to him to give him my best all the time.
Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley
On fifth-round pick Collin Oliver's possible role:
It's about taking the skill set and putting it to use rather than saying, 'This is our defense. Where is he going to play?' So we've got to get creative and figure out what he can do, what he can do well, and how much (he can) handle in his first year. Right? How much can we teach him? He's a sharp guy, but we don't want to overload him so then he gets on the field and he's thinking, because then he's not going to be playing fast and he's not going to be ready to play. It's our job, though, to get him ready to see what he CAN do, to help us win football games. But I don't just see him as a DPR and a special-teamer. I've watched him closely, and I see a skill set that we have to figure out how to put it to use. And that excites me. That's the fun thing about coaching.
On the Hobbs addition:
He's had a lot of success inside, and I thought his tape outside was equally as good. He is competitive, he's tough, he is physical, he plays the game fast, you can tell he loves it. It just jumps off the tape. I don't know if you guys watched any of it, but it certainly jumps off the tape the way the guy plays. And he's been a great addition and he does give you that versatility where you can move him around and again, I'm a big fan of that.
On reviewing Year 1 and expectations for Year 2:
This offseason, looking at what we did well, looking at really how we evolved in where we started and where we ended, really to pick up in where we're going, there's a lot that goes into that. First I would say, I'm proud of the way the guys played in Year 1. The thing that I'm most proud of, I do believe we got better, and I think we played our best football late in the season, and that was the most important thing to me. We were playing really hard at the end of the year. Like we were really physical, we were really running to the ball, guys were playing confident, guys were communicating and I just felt like we came alive and … throw out the numbers, the statistics and where we were … I think we played harder than our opponents at the end of the year and we were more physical.
Expectations? In a perfect world you want to get back to where you left off as fast as possible and build from there, so how fast can we do that? We have guys who have played in the system, we have some new pieces we need to add, we need to evolve, we can't just do the same thing and say here's the playbook and this is what we're running. No. We're a different team. It's a different year. Offenses are going to evolve, we have to evolve. I would say I would like us to be more consistent. There's a lot of things we did do well, but I think the consistency needs to improve. Certainly, I need to improve. Looking at myself personally, how I called games, what I called when I called it, how I got to certain things, can I get there faster. My relationship with the players in Year 2, I feel like there's kind of a trust built so the relationship I think can get even better. But to me, it's how fast can we get to where we finished the season and then build from there and evolve and be more consistent?
On DeMarcus Covington as new D-line coach:
We interviewed a bunch of really good coaches. The style of DeMarcus, how he has taught in a lot of different systems and a lot of different schemes – they've done a lot over there with coach Belichick in New England. I like the fact that he can coach a bunch of different techniques. He's been involved in a lot of different fronts. I love his demeanor, I love the way he coaches, I love the relationship he has with his players. We did our homework on him. I kinda knew him when I was at BC. They came to practices, I went to practices so I had a chance to watch him a little bit. Very, very smart big-picture guy, has been a coordinator so he can bring some new ideas, some fresh ideas. I'm big on trying to stay ahead of things.
On Year 2 for Edgerrin Cooper:
Consistency. We talked and sometimes joked about he might've had that gap, but he made the play over there, right? Like there was a toss run over there that instead of going over the top of the blocker, somehow he ran underneath the blocker and still made a TFL. Now it's getting the details down. Now it's lining up exactly where he needs to line up and doing it over and over and over again because then he's gonna show up faster and he's going to make more plays and he's going to become a more consistent player. When you see him now, he looks different. I mean, he's bigger now. He's gotta be close to 240 pounds and this Year 2 for him, he knows what it's going to take. He knows what he has to do now to stay healthy. You can tell he's dedicated that time into caring for his body and changed his body and now when you sit with him in that room it's, I mean, he's locked in and he's focused. Now he knows what he's doing. You're first rookie year you're kind of in survival mode a little bit, too.
Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich
On the new-look interior O-line:
We've got some really good competition across the entire offensive line. Love (Aaron) Banks' physicality. I think he's really going to step up our game there. Just a good veteran presence. He's a guy that we're going to lean on in a lot of different situations. I'm excited about having him in there to up our physicality, for sure.
There's a lot of good competition. The guys we've added plus the guys getting older and getting more experience, it's going to be really interesting to see how this all shakes out.
On adding WR Savion Williams to the mix:
He's a guy that is really interesting. You can come up with a zillion different ways to use him in your offense. That's one guy I'm really fired up about. The good thing now is like we have a good core of older wideouts and then we've got these two young guys coming in that are really special. It's not as if they have to start and be the guy at a certain position. We can put them in different places, see where they excel, and move them along from there. But I'm excited about a lot of the different things we can do with Savion, whether it's handing him the ball or his routes down the field. He's a guy that can make some plays.
On the challenges for college tackles to move to guard:
The further you go inside, the faster things happen. So you just have to change up how you play. Tackles are used to taking pass sets and kind of feeling, you get a little time to see what's going on and then you can react. Where when you move inside, now everything is obviously happening quicker. You've got to be stouter with your sets, quicker with your hands, all that stuff. There is a transition for sure when guys move inside.
On the goals for QB Jordan Love in third year as starter:
For him, it's consistency in everything he does, improving accuracy, improving his footwork and just really taking command of another step in the offense. One thing, we talked with all these guys (about) doing a great job communicating with each other, quarterback to receiver, quarterback to O-line, and just making sure everyone's on the same page with each other, not necessarily coach to player but player to player. I think that's where you get the best teams is those player-led teams where guys are really on the same page out on the field.
On improving the play-action game:
I think having Luke Musgrave back is going to help us in 12 personnel. You can do a lot of good stuff out of 12 personnel as far as the play-action game. And then just his juice and speed down the field is another area of our offense we've kind of scratched the surface on.
Having more tight ends available just helps you just as far as blocking on the edge. When you put your tight ends one-on-one with the defensive end in a lot of play-passes, that's not a good situation a lot of times. Tucker Kraft does a good job, but now, if you can have another tight end and kind of double-team the guy, then that makes it a little easier to get the ball down the field obviously.
