GREEN BAY – The Packers' coordinators and offensive assistant coaches met with the media over the past couple of days. Here's a sampling of their key comments.
Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia
On K Brandon McManus kicking in practice Thursday:
Probably the big thing is how he feels tomorrow, and medically, when he talks to those guys, what it looked like. It was good to see him out there kicking and feeling like he can complete a practice. So that part was good.
On Pittsburgh's special teams:
This will be our biggest challenge. They've got seven real, real coverage guys. Not only are they covering kicks, they're playing a lot of defense for them as well. They have a lefty punter, I've had him before, you know. (Corliss) Waitman can put it over in the right corner, he can put it in the left corner, he hits multiple punts. They've been a really good return team for a long time, for as long as Danny's (Smith) been there. They have multiple returners, and they're getting their guy back. Going against Danny, I think we've gone against each other now between college and pro football, it's been probably over 35 years. He's one of my mentors in the National Football League, and he's one of my dear friends. Playing against him is always a challenge. It'll be a very physical donnybrook, to some degree, us against them.
Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley
On facing QB Aaron Rodgers:
He's a great player – obviously one of the best to ever play the game. What's noticeable about him is it looks like he's rejuvenated and he's moving around extremely well, making all the throws and it looks like he's having a lot of fun again out there. So, I've got a ton of respect for him, what he's still able to do at this point in his career and it'll be a challenge to go up against him, and it's a cool challenge. I think as a coach or a player, anytime you go against a Hall of Famer, you look forward to that challenge.
On CB Nate Hobbs:
Nate's had a really good week of practice. I've been around some of the best corners, whether it was (Darrelle) Revis or Ronde (Barber) or (Richard) Sherm(an). You have to have a short memory. I'm not going to lose confidence in a player; I'm just not going to do that. You've got to keep coaching those guys and you've got to keep talking to them and showing them how to improve, how to get better. But they can't lose confidence and we can't lose confidence. That's not part of who we are or what we're going to do. He is hard on himself, he's extremely competitive, he's talented. He's getting into the swing of things after coming back from his knee (injury) that he had. I'm excited to see him because he's a fighter and I believe in him and I believe he's going to go out there and take a step forward this week.
On DL Micah Parsons:
That's what closers do, in that game. I mean, he had a couple of opportunities 1-on-1 and he won 'em fast,. Our job as coaches is to continue to find ways to put him in position where he's not lining up in the same place every single time, and maybe that causes some confusion and maybe he gets those 1-on-1 opportunities and when he does, I mean, he'll tell ya. He doesn't believe he can be blocked and I don't believe he can be blocked either and he closed out the game for us. He should've had four. Four.
On LB Quay Walker:
I think Quay is playing at an elite level right now. His communication, the way he's calling things out, the way he's studying the game, the way he's practicing, his leadership on our team, to me, is at a whole different level on the field and off the field. Then you see what he's able to do in the run game and then last week, when he had an opportunity to go 1-on-1 with some of those backs and really do a nice job on the pressures … I think he's taken a step and I believe there's more room. I love being around the guy right now and I give him a ton of credit. He's doing an awesome job.
Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich
On RB Josh Jacobs:
He's one of the most relentless runners I've ever seen, especially when he's down in the red zone. He had two runs at the end of the game where he just willed us, basically willed the ball and got us a 7-yard gain and then another 8- or 9-yard gain and it was just incredible, just the plays he made right there, and then obviously the last play where he scored the touchdown. Yeah, it's just his mindset and his relentless effort to get in, I think, is special.
On Pittsburgh's defensive front:
Obviously you've got T.J. Watt, and he's one of the best pass rushers in the NFL, but they're really good across the board. Their interior guys, Cam Heyward obviously gets a lot of pub, but the other guys I think are really good, too. And then you have Herbig and Highsmith on the other side, so the challenges are across the board with everyone they have in their pass rush. They're an aggressive defense, they're going to challenge you, they're going to play man coverage, they have Jalen Ramsey and (Joey) Porter (Jr.), some really good DBs that are going to go up there and really challenge you and force you to beat them.
Passing game coordinator Jason Vrable
On WR Matthew Golden in clutch moments:
Since training camp, and going back to his last year of college, it's his hands. He has tremendous hand-eye coordination. He keeps his feet on the ground when he catches. Some guys will jump and move, all different things. He does such a good job of running through the football and attacking it. You saw that one against Dallas, it was tight windows and he came back and plucked it. I can't say he hasn't had a drop because he has had one, in practice one time. So I saw it once. There's been some bumps and bruises and figuring things out. He's a rookie, so we knew there'd be some growing pains, but I think if you really watch the tape the last couple weeks, it's starting to look like a great product out there, and it's starting to slow down for him. I think our whole staff is confident and our quarterback has built some trust lately with him, the way he's catching the ball for us.
On WR Romeo Doubs off the field, after last year's incident:
What everybody said is that was like an outlier, whatever happened, and I think everybody's moved past it. For four years, and I've been here for a while now, I think he is the most consistent player that I've been around in this building. Every single day he's the first one at the JUGS machine. As soon as we break the meetings, he'd go over there. It's him and maybe Tucker Kraft are fighting over it, or Ben Sims to get there. Every single thing he does is to get better and be a great teammate. Truly, his excitement for Christian right now coming back, they already started having a dance going. It's genuine, he missed him out there.
Running backs coach Ben Sirmans
On RB Josh Jacobs being in the zone, or flow state:
When he sees this is now a time of urgency, he's not a guy to press from a negative standpoint. He's a guy that understands how to, I guess, ignite himself, and when he ignites himself in those situations, because he knows that the team needs him, that pushes him to having the flow that I'm not going to be denied. It's on, you're not going to stop me. Sometimes the situations at hand help to put him in the flow.
Wide receivers coach Ryan Mahaffey
On WR Christian Watson's pending return:
Just seeing him and the time he's put in to get himself into the position he's at right now, very happy to have him back out there. Listen, he's a tall, physical, fast athlete who's extremely bright, and anytime you're able to add that type of person to the practice field, I think it just brings a lot of infectious energy. You've seen his progression as a leader, him being able to help other guys and how cerebral he is with the way he's able to process the game. It's been a real joy to see him back out there running around.
Quarterbacks coach Sean Mannion
On the fourth-down pass to WR Romeo Doubs that was incomplete:
It's a long shot downfield. You can miss it by just a tiny bit and it can still be a pretty good throw. Unfortunately didn't connect. I love the decision. I love that he got it up early. A lot of times on deep balls you just want to get it up early with air, and I think Jordan's done a really nice job of that. I just loved how decisive he was getting to it and getting to it on his first hitch there. We work those every day in practice. You'd love to hit them all. Unfortunately we were just a tick long on that one.
On QB Jordan Love using his legs:
That's been great. It's come up really in every game we've played, where he's been able to move the chains with his legs or extending outside the pocket. I think about the one late in the Cincinnati game, where he hit MG on that one, because I think that's where he's really dangerous, both as a runner and being able to extend and keep his eyes downfield.
Offensive line coach Luke Butkus
On T.J. Watt vs. RT Zach Tom:
You play a guy like T.J. Watt, you gotta be ready for him. It's gonna be a great challenge. Everybody knows where he's gonna line up. It's gonna be a challenge for Zach to get ready to block him, but again it starts with our fundamentals, our sets, our footwork, our hands. He's relentless in everything he does.
On Jordan Morgan taking over at RG:
Some good, some bad. I think that's a snapshot of everything we've done this year. We need to be more consistent overall. As a unit, it's not where we need to be. It's not the standard that we set here over the past few years and over the years before we got here. I think every man in that room will tell you the same. There's a standard we have in that room and we gotta live up to it.
Tight ends coach John Dunn
On TE Tucker Kraft becoming a go-to guy:
All that stuff starts in practice. Obviously you want to see it come through in games and the more times that you come up with those plays, normally the more opportunities, the more trust you get. Every game is different. They're not all built the same in terms of maybe how you're attacking defenses, what their coverages are. There's a lot that goes into it
